Helius Rust SDK for Agents

Complete guide to the Helius Rust SDK for AI agents. Async Rust bindings for DAS API, transactions, Helius Sender, webhooks, Enhanced WebSockets, staking, Wallet API, and full API quick reference.

The Helius Rust SDK provides async Rust bindings for all Helius APIs, ideal for high-performance agent workloads.

• Crate: helius (crates.io)
• Version: 1.x (uses solana-client 3.0, solana-sdk 3.0)
• Runtime: Async (tokio 1.x)
• Rust: 1.85+ (edition 2021)
• HTTP Client: reqwest
• License: MIT

Installation

[dependencies]
helius = "1.0.0"
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["macros", "rt-multi-thread"] }
solana-sdk = "3.0.0"

The crate defaults to native-tls. For pure-Rust TLS (useful when OpenSSL is unavailable), use:

helius = { version = "1.0.0", default-features = false, features = ["rustls"] }

Quick Start

use helius::error::Result;
use helius::types::*;
use helius::Helius;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<()> {
    let helius = Helius::new("YOUR_API_KEY", Cluster::MainnetBeta)?;

    // Get all NFTs owned by a wallet
    let assets = helius.rpc().get_assets_by_owner(GetAssetsByOwner {
        owner_address: "86xCnPeV69n6t3DnyGvkKobf9FdN2H9oiVDdaMpo2MMY".to_string(),
        page: 1,
        limit: Some(50),
        ..Default::default()
    }).await?;

    // Get transaction history (with token account activity)
    let txs = helius.rpc().get_transactions_for_address(
        "86xCnPeV69n6t3DnyGvkKobf9FdN2H9oiVDdaMpo2MMY".to_string(),
        GetTransactionsForAddressOptions {
            limit: Some(100),
            transaction_details: Some(TransactionDetails::Full),
            filters: Some(GetTransactionsFilters {
                token_accounts: Some(TokenAccountsFilter::BalanceChanged),
                ..Default::default()
            }),
            ..Default::default()
        },
    ).await?;

    // Send a transaction via Helius Sender (ultra-low latency)
    let sig = helius.send_smart_transaction_with_sender(
        SmartTransactionConfig {
            create_config: CreateSmartTransactionConfig {
                instructions: vec![transfer_instruction],
                signers: vec![wallet_signer],
                ..Default::default()
            },
            ..Default::default()
        },
        SenderSendOptions {
            region: "US_EAST".to_string(),
            ..Default::default()
        },
    ).await?;

    Ok(())
}

Client Constructors

Helius::new — Basic sync client

let helius = Helius::new("YOUR_API_KEY", Cluster::MainnetBeta)?;

Simplest constructor. No .await needed. Provides RPC methods, webhooks, Enhanced Transactions, smart transactions, and Wallet API. No async Solana client or WebSocket support.

Helius::new_async — Full-featured async client

let helius = Helius::new_async("YOUR_API_KEY", Cluster::MainnetBeta).await?;

Recommended for production. Includes async Solana RPC client and Enhanced WebSocket streaming. Requires .await because it establishes a WebSocket connection.

Helius::new_with_url — Custom RPC endpoint

let helius = Helius::new_with_url("http://localhost:8899")?;

For dedicated RPC nodes, proxies, or local development. No API key required.

HeliusBuilder — Advanced configuration

use helius::HeliusBuilder;

let helius = HeliusBuilder::new()
    .with_api_key("YOUR_API_KEY")?
    .with_cluster(Cluster::MainnetBeta)
    .with_async_solana()
    .with_websocket(None, None)
    .with_commitment(CommitmentConfig::confirmed())
    .build()
    .await?;

HeliusFactory — Multi-cluster

let factory = HeliusFactory::new("YOUR_API_KEY");
let devnet_client = factory.create(Cluster::Devnet)?;
let mainnet_client = factory.create(Cluster::MainnetBeta)?;

Accessing embedded Solana clients

helius.connection()          // Sync SolanaRpcClient (Arc)
helius.async_connection()?   // Async SolanaRpcClient (requires new_async or HeliusBuilder)
helius.ws()                  // Enhanced WebSocket (Option)
helius.rpc()                 // Helius RpcClient (Arc)
helius.config()              // Config (Arc)

Deep Dives

Best Practices

Recommended patterns, pagination, common mistakes, and error handling

API Reference

Full method list for every category

Resources

GitHub Repository

Source code, examples, and issue tracking

docs.rs

Full API documentation on docs.rs

Code Examples

Working examples for every feature organized by category

Migration Guide (0.x to 1.0)

Upgrade from solana-sdk 1.x to 3.0