How to create a Solana token step by step (no code needed)

The short answer

To create a Solana token, you fill in six fields (name, symbol, decimals, total supply, logo and description), choose three authority settings, and sign one transaction that creates the mint account, your token account, the full supply and the Metaplex metadata. On SOLTidy's Token Creator that costs a flat 0.1 SOL plus about 0.0163 SOL of network rent and Metaplex fee, and no code. The free alternative is the spl-token command line, which needs separate Metaplex tooling for the name and logo.

I built the SOLTidy Token Creator, so this walkthrough describes what its form and code actually do, screen by screen. If you want the bigger picture first, how to launch a Solana token is the full launch checklist and how much it costs to create a Solana token has the lamport-level cost breakdown. This post is the procedure.

What do you need before you start?

You need a Solana wallet with about 0.12 SOL in it, a logo image, and four decisions made: name, symbol, decimals and supply. Specifically:

• A wallet. Phantom, Solflare, Backpack or any wallet that connects to Solana sites. The wallet that creates the token becomes its mint authority and metadata update authority, so use one you intend to keep.
• SOL. The form adds up about 0.1163 SOL (0.1363 SOL if you revoke the mint authority at creation) and refuses to continue if your balance is below that plus a small network-fee buffer.
• A logo. A square PNG, JPG, WebP or GIF of 1 MB or less if you use the built-in upload.
• Your decisions. Decimals are permanent from the first transaction, and supply becomes permanent once you revoke the mint authority. The table below helps.

A Solana token is not a smart contract you write. It is a mint account owned by the SPL Token program, which already exists on-chain. "Creating a token" means asking that program to set up a new mint for you.

What does each field mean?

Each field ends up either on-chain in the mint or metadata account, or off-chain in the metadata JSON file. This is the full form on SOLTidy, with the limits the code enforces:

Field	What it is	Limit in the form	Stored in	Can you change it later?
Name	The full token name wallets display	32 bytes (Metaplex limit)	Metaplex metadata account	Yes, unless metadata is immutable
Symbol	The ticker, such as MYT	10 bytes (Metaplex limit)	Metaplex metadata account	Yes, unless metadata is immutable
Total supply	Whole tokens minted to your wallet	Must fit in a u64 after decimals	Mint account	Only up, while the mint authority exists
Decimals	How finely one token divides	0 to 9, default 6	Mint account	Never
Token image	The logo	PNG, JPG, WebP or GIF, 1 MB	IPFS, linked from the JSON	Yes, by pointing to a new JSON
Description	One or two sentences on what the token is	1,000 characters, optional	Metadata JSON	Yes, with a new JSON
Website, X, Telegram	Project links	Must start with https://, optional	Metadata JSON (extensions)	Yes, with a new JSON
Metadata URI	Link to a JSON you host yourself (instead of uploading)	https:// or ipfs://, 200 bytes	Metaplex metadata account	Yes, unless metadata is immutable
Revoke mint authority	Fixes the supply forever	Checkbox, +0.02 SOL	Mint account	Irreversible
Enable freeze authority	Lets you freeze holder accounts	Checkbox, off by default	Mint account	Can be revoked, never re-added
Make metadata immutable	Locks name, symbol and URI	Checkbox, free	Metaplex metadata account	Irreversible

The 32, 10 and 200 limits are hard limits in the Metaplex Token Metadata program (MAX_NAME_LENGTH, MAX_SYMBOL_LENGTH, MAX_URI_LENGTH). They are bytes, not characters: an emoji takes four bytes, which is why the form shows a byte counter such as "7/32 bytes" under each field.

How many decimals should a Solana token have?

Six decimals is the usual choice for a tradable token, and nine is the other common option. Decimals are the number of digits after the decimal point; the mint stores supply as one unsigned 64-bit integer in the smallest unit, so more decimals means a lower maximum supply.

Decimals	Smallest unit	Maximum whole-token supply	Used by
0	1 token	about 18.4 quintillion	Tickets, points, items that cannot be split
2	0.01	about 184 quadrillion	Cent-style accounting
6	0.000001	about 18.4 trillion (18,446,744,073,709)	USDC and most Solana memecoins; SOLTidy's default
9	0.000000001	about 18.4 billion (18,446,744,073)	SOL itself; the spl-token CLI default

The ceiling comes from 2^64 - 1, which is 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 base units. A one-billion supply at 6 decimals is 1,000,000,000,000,000 base units, well inside it. SOLTidy's form does this arithmetic with exact big integers and, if your supply is too large, tells you the maximum for the decimals you picked.

Supply size does not make a token better or cheaper; it only moves the decimal point of the price. Pick a round number you can explain.

How do you create a Solana token on SOLTidy, step by step?

The whole process is one page and one signature. Here is each screen in order.

1. Open the Token Creator and connect your wallet. Go to the Solana Token Creator and click Connect wallet. Nothing is created and nothing is charged until you sign.
2. Fill in Token details. Enter the Name and Symbol and watch the byte counters. Enter the Total supply as whole tokens; commas are fine ("1,000,000,000"), and the hint underneath repeats the number back and confirms it is all minted to your wallet. Pick Decimals from the dropdown, where 6 is labelled "standard" and 9 "like SOL".
3. Add the logo and metadata. In the Logo & metadata panel, choose Upload image or I have a metadata URI.
   • With Upload image, pick the logo (a preview appears next to the file field), write an optional description, and add optional Website, X (Twitter) and Telegram links.
   • With I have a metadata URI, paste the link to a JSON file you host. The panel shows an example of the expected format.
   • If you leave both empty, the form warns that the token will have no logo or description. You can still create it and add metadata later.
4. Choose the authorities. Tick Revoke mint authority if the supply should be fixed forever. Leave Enable freeze authority off unless you have a regulatory reason to freeze holders. Tick Make metadata immutable only if you are certain the name and logo are final. What each authority means for buyers is covered in mint authority vs freeze authority.
5. Check the cost panel. The Create token panel lists mint account rent, metadata rent plus the Metaplex fee, your token account rent and the SOLTidy fee, with a total and your wallet balance. The rent figures are read live from the network when the page loads.
6. Click Create token. If you chose upload, the button first reads "Uploading to IPFS…" while the image and JSON are pinned. If you then reject the wallet prompt, the pinned URI is kept, so trying again does not upload twice.
7. Approve the transaction in your wallet. The button reads "Signing…". The wallet shows one transaction that spends the total from step 5 plus a network fee.
8. Copy the mint address. A "Token created" dialog shows the new mint address with a Copy button, a "View token on Solscan" link, the transaction link and next-step shortcuts: Revoke mint authority, Revoke freeze authority, Multisender and Burn LP tokens.

Save the mint address somewhere permanent. It is your token's identity everywhere: explorers, DEXs, aggregators and your own announcements.

What happens on-chain when you click Create token?

The transaction contains up to seven token instructions plus two compute-budget instructions, and it is atomic: either all of it succeeds or none of it does. In SOLTidy's code (buildCreateTokenInstructions), the order is:

1. Create the mint account. A System Program CreateAccount for 82 bytes, owned by the classic SPL Token program.
2. Initialize the mint. InitializeMint2 with your decimals, your wallet as mint authority, and a freeze authority only if you ticked it.
3. Create your token account. An idempotent associated token account for your wallet, 165 bytes.
4. Mint the supply. MintTo sends the entire supply, in base units, to that account.
5. Create the metadata. Metaplex CreateMetadataAccountV3 with the name, symbol and URI, your wallet as update authority, 0% seller fee, no creators or collection, and the mutable flag you chose. This comes before any revoke because Metaplex requires the mint authority's signature.
6. Revoke the mint authority (optional). SetAuthority with type MintTokens set to none.
7. Pay the SOLTidy fee. A plain SOL transfer of 0.1 SOL, or 0.12 SOL with the revoke.

Before sending, SOLTidy simulates the transaction to size a compute-unit limit and adds a priority fee from recent fees on the same accounts, so it does not stall when the network is busy.

Two keys sign it. Your wallet signs as payer and authority. The second signer is a mint keypair, a brand-new keypair generated in your browser whose public key becomes the mint address. It has to sign once to prove the new account address is being created by its owner, and after that it has no power over the token: the authorities are your wallet. The page never sees your wallet's private key, and the mint keypair is not stored.

If you want a vanity mint address (one that starts or ends with chosen letters), that needs a keypair you generate in advance and pass to the CLI; see how long a Solana vanity address takes.

How does the logo upload work?

When you upload, SOLTidy's server pins two files to IPFS through Pinata: first the image, then a JSON file in the standard Metaplex format that points to it. The token's on-chain URI is the gateway link to that JSON. The JSON looks like this:

{
  "name": "My Token",
  "symbol": "MYT",
  "description": "What the token is for.",
  "image": "https://gateway.pinata.cloud/ipfs/<image CID>",
  "extensions": {
    "website": "https://example.com",
    "twitter": "https://x.com/mytoken",
    "telegram": "https://t.me/mytoken"
  }
}

A few details that matter:

• The server checks the image's actual bytes, not only its declared file type, and rejects anything that is not a real PNG, JPG, WebP or GIF up to 1 MB.
• Links that do not start with https:// are rejected in the form and dropped from the JSON.
• The upload option appears only when the server has IPFS pinning configured. If it is unavailable, the form switches to the metadata-URI option and you host the JSON yourself, on IPFS, Arweave or another permanent host.

If a logo does not appear later, the cause is almost always the JSON or image link; why a token logo is not showing in Phantom or Jupiter walks through every fix.

Should you pick SPL Token or Token-2022?

For a standard tradable token, the classic SPL Token program is the safer choice, and it is the only program the Token Creator uses. Token-2022 is Solana's newer token program with optional extensions such as transfer fees, metadata stored inside the mint, and permanent delegates.

	Classic SPL Token	Token-2022
Program ID	TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA	TokenzQdBNbLqP5VEhdkAS6EPFLC1PHnBqCXEpPxuEb
Where name and logo live	Separate Metaplex metadata account (0.01 SOL Metaplex fee)	Inside the mint, with the metadata extension
Transfer fee ("tax")	Not possible	Possible, with the transfer-fee extension
Support in pools, wallets and bots	Universal	Wide, with some extensions handled less reliably
SOLTidy tool	Token Creator, 0.1 SOL	Tax Token Creator, 0.15 SOL

Choose Token-2022 only if you need one of its extensions. The Tax Token Creator builds a Token-2022 mint with a transfer fee between 0.01% and 10% and the metadata inside the mint; how the fee is collected afterwards is in how to set and claim Token-2022 transfer fees. Buyers check Token-2022 extensions closely, for reasons covered in Token-2022 explained for traders.

How do you create a Solana token with the spl-token CLI instead?

The spl-token command line creates the same classic token for network fees only, and if you are comfortable in a terminal it is a perfectly good route. With the Solana CLI and spl-token installed and a funded keypair configured:

spl-token create-token --decimals 6
spl-token create-account <MINT_ADDRESS>
spl-token mint <MINT_ADDRESS> 1000000000
spl-token authorize <MINT_ADDRESS> mint --disable

Three things to know, verified against the CLI source in the token-2022 repository:

• Decimals default to 9. Without --decimals, create-token uses SOL's 9 decimals.
• No freeze authority by default. The CLI only sets one if you pass --enable-freeze.
• No name or logo. A classic mint from create-token has no metadata account, so wallets show it as an unknown token. You add Metaplex metadata with Metaplex's own tooling, which costs the same ~0.0137 SOL as any tool, or add it later with Update Metadata, which can create a missing metadata account while the mint authority is still active.

For a Token-2022 token, the metadata can live in the mint itself, which the Token-2022 extension guide documents:

spl-token --program-id TokenzQdBNbLqP5VEhdkAS6EPFLC1PHnBqCXEpPxuEb create-token --decimals 6 --enable-metadata
spl-token initialize-metadata <MINT_ADDRESS> "My Token" MYT https://example.com/metadata.json

initialize-metadata takes the mint, name, symbol and URI as positional arguments and must be signed by the mint authority, so run it before revoking. Then create the account and mint as above.

The CLI runs each step as a separate transaction, so a mistake halfway leaves a partly configured mint. The browser tool's advantage is the single atomic transaction, the byte and supply checks, and the IPFS upload, not lower network costs.

What should you do right after creating the token?

Verify it, then lock down what buyers will check, then add liquidity. In order:

1. Open the mint on Solscan. Use the "View token on Solscan" link. Confirm the supply, decimals, name, symbol and logo match what you intended.
2. Check the mint authority. If you did not revoke it at creation and the supply is meant to be fixed, revoke it with Revoke Mint Authority (0.02 SOL) or spl-token authorize <MINT> mint --disable. Revoking is permanent.
3. Check the freeze authority. It should show as none if you left the box unticked. If you enabled it, revoke it with Revoke Freeze Authority before creating a pool, after thawing any account you froze.
4. Confirm the logo in a wallet. Look at the token in Phantom or Solflare. If something is wrong, fix it now with Update Metadata (0.02 SOL) while the metadata is still mutable.
5. Decide on immutability. Once the logo renders everywhere, you can lock the metadata with Make Token Immutable (0.02 SOL) so the token can never be renamed.
6. Distribute any allocations. Team, community or airdrop shares go out with the Multisender; how to airdrop tokens on Solana covers the rent each new recipient costs.
7. Add liquidity. Create a pool on a DEX such as Raydium or Meteora. SOLTidy does not create pools. The SOL you pair is capital at risk, and the starting price is simply the ratio of the two deposits.
8. Burn or lock the LP tokens. For fungible LP tokens, Burn LP Tokens shows your share before you sign; burned vs locked liquidity compares the options.
9. Wait for aggregators. Jupiter, DexScreener and Birdeye pick up the token on their own after the first trade; getting your token on Jupiter, DexScreener and Birdeye explains what is free and what is paid.

Creating the token does not give it a price, list it anywhere or make it worth anything. Do not copy another project's name or logo, and do not promise returns.

What are the most common mistakes?

Most failed or regretted token creations come from a short list of avoidable errors:

• Wrong decimals. Using the CLI without --decimals gives 9 when you meant 6. Decimals can never be fixed; you would have to create a new token.
• Revoking before metadata exists. Metaplex needs the mint authority to create metadata. SOLTidy orders the instructions correctly, but with the CLI you must add metadata first.
• Temporary logo hosting. A logo on a personal server or a file-sharing link disappears with it. Use IPFS or Arweave.
• Locking metadata too early. Immutable metadata cannot be repaired. Lock it after the logo renders, not before.
• Enabling freeze "just in case". Screeners and buyers flag an active freeze authority, and you cannot add one back if you later need it, so the choice only works one way.
• Creating from a wallet you will lose. The creating wallet holds every authority and the whole supply.

Bottom line

Creating a Solana token is one form and one signature: name (32 bytes), symbol (10 bytes), decimals (usually 6), supply, a logo pinned to IPFS, and three authority choices, all written in a single atomic transaction that costs about 0.0163 SOL of rent and Metaplex fee plus any tool fee. The spl-token CLI does the same for network fees only if you are happy to handle metadata yourself. Whichever route you take, check the result on Solscan, revoke the authorities you do not need, and treat liquidity as money at risk. To do it without code, use the Solana Token Creator; for a transfer-fee token, the Tax Token Creator.