The Problem
Solana programs (smart contracts) are the backbone of the ecosystem. But monitoring which programs exist, their upgrade status, whether they're verified, and whether they have IDLs requires manually querying the chain or using explorers that weren't built for this use case.
What It Is
ProgramWatch is a Solana program monitoring and discovery dashboard. It lets you filter and browse Solana programs by executable status, upgradeability, verification status, and IDL availability.
What It Shows
For each program, ProgramWatch displays: program address, version, status, account size, deployment slot, and derived address. The filtering system lets you narrow down by:
- Executable: Yes / No / Doesn't Matter
- Upgradeable: Yes / No / Doesn't Matter
- Verified: Yes / No / Doesn't Matter
- Has IDL: Yes / No / Doesn't Matter
Use Cases
- Security researchers auditing which programs are upgradeable (and therefore potentially mutable)
- Developers finding programs with IDLs to integrate with
- Ecosystem analysts tracking program deployment patterns
- Anyone who needs to monitor specific programs for changes
Community
ProgramWatch has its own Telegram and Twitter presence (@programwatch), signaling this is a serious long-term monitoring tool, not just a one-off project.
Why I Built It
Program transparency matters. Knowing whether a program can be upgraded — and by whom — is critical for assessing smart contract risk on Solana. ProgramWatch makes that information accessible without writing RPC queries from scratch.