Dev wallets without losing your deposit key
Workshop day one often starts with someone who ran solana-keygen once, saved nowhere, and overwrote the file. Development keys are disposable; the habit of labeling them is not.
Two-key minimum
Keep a faucet key (devnet airdrops only) separate from a deploy key (program upgrades and account creation). If the faucet key leaks in a screenshot, you lose test SOL, not your program authority.
File locations
Default ~/.config/solana/id.json is fine for solo work. Teams should check in a example key path list, not keys themselves. chmod 600 on every keypair file — shared laptops in classrooms make this matter.
Rotation habit
At project end, archive deploy keys in a password manager entry labeled with the program ID and cluster. Generate fresh keys for the next experiment. Devnet redeploy is cheap; explaining lost upgrade authority is not.
Browser wallets on devnet
When connecting Phantom or Solflare for client testing, switch the extension to devnet explicitly. Mainnet habit muscle memory causes real fund scares even when your script targets devnet RPC.
Questions about key management in your repo? Book a mentoring hour or see the glossary entry on devnet.