Set Up Your Solana DAO with Realms: Step by Step Guide

Setting up a Solana DAO with Realms is way easier than you think. No coding needed if you're just starting out. It's like making a group chat that controls money and votes on stuff, all on chain. You'll have your own DAO in like 10 minutes, and it costs next to nothing - think ~0.01 SOL tops for fees on mainnet. Devnet? Free basically.

I usually test everything on devnet first. Why? Mainnet SOL ain't cheap if you mess up. Sound familiar? Grab some devnet SOL from a faucet if you haven't.

First things first: Gear up

Okay, connect to realms.today. Hit that wallet button - Phantom, Solflare, whatever you got. Make sure it's on devnet or mainnet matching what you want. Switch your wallet network too, or it'll glitch out.

The thing is, Realms has three DAO flavors: multisig wallets (simple shared pots), NFT gated (NFT holders vote), and token gated (token holders boss around). We'll do an NFT Community DAO here 'cause it's fun and common for crews with drops. Got no NFTs? Skip to multisig later.

Quick prerequisites check

  1. Solana wallet with ~0.1 SOL (devnet: airdrop it).
  2. Certified Solana NFT collection. Candy Machine makes these auto. Grab the collection mint from Solana Explorer - metadata tab, scroll to collection. Example: 4dJw35V4aPrxfGSgER498f2XpitF1PJmMi22LWCVXLow.
  3. Chrome or Firefox. No weird browsers.

Why certified? Realms verifies 'em to avoid fakes. Non certified? Tough luck, won't gate properly.

Creating your DAO - the 6-step wizard

Click Create DAO top right. Pick "NFT Community DAO". Boom, wizard time.

  1. Name it. "MyNFTCrewDAO". Unique across Realms - can't duplicate. No changes later without proposals. Advanced? Custom program ID if you're forking stuff (pro move).
  2. Select NFT collection. Paste that collection mint address. Or pick from wallet. Know your collection size? Ours had 20 NFTs. Set voting threshold - I go 66%. Means 14 NFTs gotta agree for pass. Too low? Rug city. Too high? Stalled forever.
  3. DAO Council? Optional power squad. Skip for now - needs special council token or list of wallets. Fancy later.
  4. If council: Define members + threshold. Like step 2. Mint council tokens to 'em.
  5. Verify deets. Double check. Wrong collection? Start over.
  6. Create & sign. Transaction pops. Approve. ~0.002 SOL fee. Wait for confirm, dashboard loads.

Your DAO's live! Public URL in address bar. Only NFT holders interact. Pretty much magic. Mine looked bare at first - no assets yet.

Dashboard tour - what's all this?

Land on dashboard. Top right: your governance power. That's NFT count you hold. Click to delegate if cold storaged.

Right side: NFTs, Tokens, Programs tabs. Empty? Normal. Hit "DAO Wallets & Assets" - goldmine. Edit rules, add treasuries, deposit SOL (QR code for mobile). I usually deposit 1 SOL first to play.

Two proposal buttons: ⚙️ Params for config tweaks, ⊕ New Proposal for wild stuff. Proposals? Heart of DAOs. Vote yes/no, execute if passes.

Potential gotcha: No power?

First time? Deposit your NFT voting power. Hover governance - it'll nag. Or switch wallets. Fixed in seconds.

Tweak configs with Params proposals

Click Params. Options galore. Change community tokens? Or hit "Change config" under voting stuff.

Example: Shorten voting time. Say from 5 days to 2. Slide it, name proposal like "Speed up votes plz", add deets why. Create, sign. Boom, on dashboard.

Vote on it. Click proposal, approve/reject + comment. Threshold not met? Hunt allies. Solo? Can't pass. That's the point - decentralized AF.

In my experience, start with low thresholds for testing. 51% quorum. Fees? Tiny, ~0.000005 SOL per vote.

Advanced proposals - go nuts

Back to dashboard, ⊕ New Proposal. Dropdown heaven: transfer SOL, add members, upgrade programs, whatever.

  • Pick "Transfer" - send treasury SOL to address. Amount? Say 0.5 SOL.
  • Add instructions. Stack 'em: transfer + mint tokens.
  • Describe: "Fund dev work". Add proposal.

No match? Custom instructions via PR to their repo. Pro tip: Explore all types early. What's possible? Treasury spends, member adds, rule changes.

Adding members after launch

From Members tab. Paste wallet address. Options: voter or council? Amount of power (governance tokens). Say mint 1 token to newbie.

Proposal it. They get token in wallet - must deposit it manually to vote. Forgot? Zero power. Common noob trap. Switch to their wallet, connect, deposit button glows.

New council? Same, but double power usually. Total supply grows. Quorum recalcs.

Managing treasury like a boss

DAO Wallets page. Create sub wallets with rulesets (multisig thresholds). Deposit via QR or address.

Propose spends: "Transfer SOL" instruction. Target any address. Or add NFTs/tokens to treasury first.

Asset TypeHow to AddFee Est.
SOLDeposit button → QR/address~0.000005 SOL
Tokens (USDC etc.)New Asset → Token program~0.001 SOL
NFTsTransfer to DAO walletNetwork gas

Why table? Quick scan. I use this for quick treasury audits.

Multisig DAO instead? Simpler start

No NFTs? Create Multisig. Same wizard, pick Multisig.

  1. Name: "FartDAO" (unique).
  2. Quorum %: 60% (2/3 votes).
  3. Team wallets: List initial members. Mint gov tokens to 'em.
  4. Create. Auto deposits for creator.

Backend same as NFT. Just token gated by gov tokens. Add later via proposals. UI finicky on devnet sometimes - refresh, reconnect wallet.

Honestly, multisig's my go to for teams. No NFT hassle.

Common pitfalls & fixes

Wallet wrong network? Tx fails. Fix: Match Realms cluster (URL ?cluster=devnet).

Proposal stuck? Check quorum. Delegate power if cold wallet.

Name taken? Tweak it. Can't after? Proposal to edit (advanced).

Low SOL? Airdrop devnet: solfaucet.com. Mainnet: Buy ~0.1 SOL.

Council drama? Proposals to boot/mint less power. On chain, immutable ish.

Voting math quickie

20 NFTs, 66% threshold = 14 yes votes. Got 5? Need 9 more holders. Delegate? Power stacks to one wallet.

Level up: Councils & tokens

DAO live, add council. Propose new community token mint. List wallets, assign amounts. They deposit like members.

Council overrides sometimes. Set thresholds separate. Useful for launch teams before community tokens drop.

In my experience, councils prevent rugs early. Dissolve via proposal later.

Realms Explorer - find your DAO

Lost it? Copy realm ID from URL. Search realms.today by name. Public list browsable.

Examples: Mango, Metaplex use Realms. Peek theirs for inspo.

Next level tips

  • Integrate treasury tools: Squads for multisigs inside DAO.
  • Governance tokens: Launch SPL token, gate DAO with it.
  • Custom UI: Fork Realms, host your frontend.
  • Proposals galore: Program upgrades, NFT airdrops from treasury.