Sending Your First SOL Transfer (Devnet, via CLI)

This walkthrough focuses on executing a SOL transfer using the Solana CLI - while understanding the underlying mechanics at each step. If you’ve used payment APIs like Stripe or PayPal, the flow is conceptually similar: authenticate, define recipient, specify amount, submit. The difference is architectural, transactions go directly to the network and finalize in sub-seconds, without intermediaries. Environment Requirements Terminal (macOS, Linux, or Windows WSL) Solana CLI installed A keypair (e