Creating a Core Collection

The createCollection instruction creates a new Core Collection account on Solana with a name, metadata URI, and optional plugins.

Summary

createCollection deploys a new Collection account that groups Core Assets under shared metadata and plugins.

• Requires a fresh keypair as the collection address — reusing an existing address will fail
• Accepts optional plugins at creation time
• Costs ~0.0015 SOL in rent
• The payer becomes the updateAuthority by default

Quick Start

1. Install: npm install @metaplex-foundation/mpl-core @metaplex-foundation/umi
2. Upload collection metadata JSON to get a URI
3. Call createCollection(umi, { collection, name, uri })
4. Pass the collection address when creating Assets

Jump to: Simple Collection · With Plugins · Common Errors

Prerequisites

• Umi configured with a signer and RPC connection — see JavaScript SDK
• SOL for transaction fees (~0.002 SOL per collection)
• Metadata JSON uploaded to Arweave or IPFS with a collection image and name

Creating a Simple Collection

createCollection requires a name, a metadata uri, and a new keypair as the collection signer.

1import { createUmi } from '@metaplex-foundation/umi-bundle-defaults'
2import { createCollection } from '@metaplex-foundation/mpl-core'
3import { mplCore } from '@metaplex-foundation/mpl-core'
4import { generateSigner } from '@metaplex-foundation/umi'
5
6// Initialize UMI
7const umi = createUmi('https://api.devnet.solana.com')
8  .use(mplCore())
9
10// Generate a new keypair for the collection
11const collectionSigner = generateSigner(umi)
12
13// Create a new Collection
14await createCollection(umi, {
15  collection: collectionSigner,
16  name: 'My Collection',
17  uri: 'https://example.com/collection.json',
18}).sendAndConfirm(umi)
19
20console.log('Collection created:', collectionSigner.publicKey)

Creating a Collection with Plugins

Pass a plugins array to createCollection to attach plugins at creation time. The example below attaches the Royalties plugin.

import { generateSigner, publicKey } from '@metaplex-foundation/umi'
import { createCollection, ruleSet } from '@metaplex-foundation/mpl-core'

const collectionSigner = generateSigner(umi)
const creator1 = publicKey('11111111111111111111111111111111')
const creator2 = publicKey('22222222222222222222222222222222')

await createCollection(umi, {
  collection: collectionSigner,
  name: 'My NFT',
  uri: 'https://example.com/my-nft.json',
  plugins: [
    {
      type: 'Royalties',
      basisPoints: 500,
      creators: [
        { address: creator1, percentage: 20 },
        { address: creator2, percentage: 80 },
      ],
      ruleSet: ruleSet('None'),
    },
  ],
}).sendAndConfirm(umi)

Common Errors

Collection account already exists

The collection keypair was already used on this network. Generate a new signer each time:

const collectionSigner = generateSigner(umi) // Must be a unique keypair

Insufficient funds

Your payer wallet needs ~0.002 SOL. Fund it on devnet with:

solana airdrop 1 <WALLET_ADDRESS> --url devnet

Notes

• Plugins added at creation can be updated later using updateCollectionPlugin — see Update Collection
• The updateAuthority defaults to the payer — pass an explicit updateAuthority to set a different account
• All plugins available to Assets can also be applied to Collections — see Plugins Overview

Quick Reference