> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.exclusivo.one/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Launch on Solana

> Deploying a Metaplex Core Candy Machine, step by step.

The Solana flow deploys a **Metaplex Core Candy Machine**. Artwork goes to
Arweave through Irys, and your sale phases become candy guards.

## Before you start

* A Solana wallet with enough SOL for Candy Machine rent and Arweave storage.
* Your artwork, either finished or as layers for the [generator](/exc/launchpad/layer-generator).
* The addresses your royalties split to.

## The steps

<Steps>
  <Step title="Collection">
    Name, symbol, description, total supply and your collection artwork.

    Pick the symbol carefully — it's what Magic Eden and Tensor key their
    listings on, and it isn't something you'll want to change later.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Royalties and pricing">
    Your mint price in SOL, your creator royalty, and the addresses it splits to.

    A collection whose parent royalty reads `0` isn't necessarily royalty-free —
    zero on the parent is often just an unset field. Royalty checks at sale time
    read the token itself.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Sale phases">
    Whitelist and public windows, each with its own price, start time and
    per-wallet cap. → [Sale phases](/exc/launchpad/sale-phases)
  </Step>

  <Step title="Reveal (optional)">
    Set your placeholder art here if you want a delayed reveal. Skip it and the
    collection mints revealed.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Artwork">
    Your images and metadata. If you used the layer generator, they arrive here
    as recipes and previews — the full-resolution files get built during
    deployment.

    Metadata is checked before anything goes on-chain, so a malformed file is
    caught here rather than after you've paid for it.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review and publish">
    Deploys the Candy Machine and loads your items in.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Compressed NFTs

You can launch as compressed NFTs, which cuts the per-mint cost dramatically at
large supply.

<Warning>
  Compressed NFTs work differently enough that some third-party tools mishandle
  them. They have no token accounts, so anything that checks ownership the usual
  way will think a transfer never happened.

  We handle it. Not everyone does — worth testing your collection against any
  tool you depend on before you commit to compression.
</Warning>

## When something goes wrong

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Candy guard was not created">
    Usually a stale checkpoint rather than a real failure. The deploy resumes
    from where it thinks it got to, and if a previous attempt got further than
    that, it tries to redo finished work.

    Check the draft's stage before re-running.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Artwork won't upload">
    Arweave uploads need a funded balance, and the launch screen shows a banner
    when yours is short. Top it up and retry — don't start the draft again.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Metadata rejected before deploy">
    Usually a missing `properties.files` block, a missing `category`, or
    attributes that aren't a flat list of `{ trait_type, value }` pairs.
    → [Artwork and metadata](/exc/launchpad/assets-and-metadata)
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Images don't show up after minting">
    Metadata refresh is separate from minting. If your images resolve in the
    metadata but not in wallets, run a metadata refresh from `/mint/manage`.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Phantom marks the collection as spam">
    Phantom classifies newly created Core assets automatically, and there's no
    setting on our side that changes it. It sorts itself out as the collection
    picks up activity.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Getting your rent back

When a collection has fully minted out, closing the Candy Machine returns most
of its account rent to your wallet. On a large collection that's real money —
worth doing.