Skill

send-solana-transaction

Name: send-solana-transaction
Author: MetaMask

send Solana transactions via MetaMask

Published by MetaMask Updated Jul 13

Covers Web3 Payments Solana

Description

Build and send a Solana transaction using MetaMask Connect. Covers both the React wallet-adapter approach (sendTransaction) and the vanilla browser approach (signAndSendTransaction wallet-standard feature).

SKILL.md

Send Solana Transaction with MetaMask

When to use

Use this skill when:

Sending SOL or interacting with Solana programs via MetaMask Connect
Building a Transaction with @solana/web3.js and submitting it through the wallet
Using sendTransaction from useWallet in a React app
Using the solana:signAndSendTransaction wallet-standard feature in a vanilla browser app

Workflow

Step 1: Build the transaction

Use @solana/web3.js to construct the transaction. Every transaction needs a recent blockhash and a fee payer.

import {
  Connection,
  Transaction,
  SystemProgram,
  PublicKey,
  LAMPORTS_PER_SOL,
} from '@solana/web3.js';

const connection = new Connection('https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com');
const { blockhash } = await connection.getLatestBlockhash();

const senderPubkey = new PublicKey('SENDER_PUBLIC_KEY');
const recipientPubkey = new PublicKey('RECIPIENT_PUBLIC_KEY');

const transaction = new Transaction().add(
  SystemProgram.transfer({
    fromPubkey: senderPubkey,
    toPubkey: recipientPubkey,
    lamports: 0.001 * LAMPORTS_PER_SOL,
  }),
);
transaction.recentBlockhash = blockhash;
transaction.feePayer = senderPubkey;

Step 2a: Send with React wallet-adapter (useWallet)

Prerequisites: createSolanaClient has been awaited before rendering, WalletProvider is configured with wallets={[]}, and the user is connected. See the setup-solana-react-app skill.

import { useWallet, useConnection } from '@solana/wallet-adapter-react';
import {
  Transaction,
  SystemProgram,
  PublicKey,
  LAMPORTS_PER_SOL,
} from '@solana/web3.js';

function SendTransactionButton() {
  const { publicKey, sendTransaction, connected } = useWallet();
  const { connection } = useConnection();

  const handleSend = async () => {
    if (!publicKey || !sendTransaction) return;

    try {
      const { blockhash } = await connection.getLatestBlockhash();

      const transaction = new Transaction().add(
        SystemProgram.transfer({
          fromPubkey: publicKey,
          toPubkey: new PublicKey('RECIPIENT_PUBLIC_KEY'),
          lamports: 0.001 * LAMPORTS_PER_SOL,
        }),
      );
      transaction.recentBlockhash = blockhash;
      transaction.feePayer = publicKey;

      const signature = await sendTransaction(transaction, connection);
      console.log('Transaction submitted:', signature);

      const confirmation = await connection.confirmTransaction(signature, 'confirmed');
      console.log('Transaction confirmed:', confirmation);
    } catch (err: any) {
      if (err.code === 4001) {
        console.log('User rejected the transaction');
        return;
      }
      console.error('Transaction failed:', err);
    }
  };

  return (
    <button onClick={handleSend} disabled={!connected || !publicKey}>
      Send 0.001 SOL
    </button>
  );
}

Step 2b: Send with vanilla browser (wallet-standard feature)

Prerequisites: createSolanaClient has been called and the wallet is connected via standard:connect. See the setup-solana-browser-app skill.

import { createSolanaClient } from '@metamask/connect-solana';
import {
  Connection,
  Transaction,
  SystemProgram,
  PublicKey,
  LAMPORTS_PER_SOL,
} from '@solana/web3.js';

const solanaClient = await createSolanaClient({
  dapp: { name: 'My DApp', url: window.location.href },
});

const wallet = solanaClient.getWallet();

// Connect first
const connectFeature = wallet.features['standard:connect'];
const { accounts } = await connectFeature.connect();
const account = accounts[0];
const senderPubkey = new PublicKey(account.address);

// Build the transaction
const connection = new Connection('https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com');
const { blockhash } = await connection.getLatestBlockhash();

const transaction = new Transaction().add(
  SystemProgram.transfer({
    fromPubkey: senderPubkey,
    toPubkey: new PublicKey('RECIPIENT_PUBLIC_KEY'),
    lamports: 0.001 * LAMPORTS_PER_SOL,
  }),
);
transaction.recentBlockhash = blockhash;
transaction.feePayer = senderPubkey;

// Serialize and send
const serializedTransaction = transaction.serialize({
  requireAllSignatures: false,
});

const signAndSendFeature = wallet.features['solana:signAndSendTransaction'];

// The `chain` field accepts the wallet-standard short forms ('solana:mainnet',
// 'solana:devnet', 'solana:testnet') or the full genesis-hash CAIP-2 scope
// (e.g. 'solana:5eykt4UsFv8P8NJdTREpY1vzqKqZKvdp'). It is optional and
// defaults to mainnet. Bare 'mainnet' (without the 'solana:' prefix) is
// INVALID here and throws 'Unsupported chainId' — the SolanaNetwork short
// names apply only to createSolanaClient's api.supportedNetworks keys.

// Requires `npm install bs58` and `import bs58 from 'bs58'` at the top of the file
try {
  const [{ signature }] = await signAndSendFeature.signAndSendTransaction({
    account,
    transaction: serializedTransaction,
    chain: 'solana:mainnet', // wallet-standard short form; full genesis-hash CAIP-2 IDs also accepted
  });

  // signature is a Uint8Array — encode with bs58 ('base58' is NOT a Buffer encoding)
  const signatureBase58 = bs58.encode(signature);
  console.log('Transaction submitted:', signatureBase58);

  // confirmTransaction expects the base58 signature string
  const confirmation = await connection.confirmTransaction(signatureBase58, 'confirmed');
  console.log('Transaction confirmed:', confirmation);
} catch (err: any) {
  if (err.code === 4001) {
    console.log('User rejected the transaction');
  } else {
    console.error('Transaction failed:', err);
  }
}

Step 3: Sign without sending (sign-only flow)

If you need to sign a transaction without broadcasting it (e.g., for offline signing or multi-sig):

React:

const { signTransaction } = useWallet();

if (signTransaction) {
  const signedTransaction = await signTransaction(transaction);
  // signedTransaction is now signed but NOT sent — broadcast manually if needed
  const rawTransaction = signedTransaction.serialize();
  const signature = await connection.sendRawTransaction(rawTransaction);
}

Browser (wallet-standard):

const signFeature = wallet.features['solana:signTransaction'];

const [{ signedTransaction }] = await signFeature.signTransaction({
  account,
  transaction: transaction.serialize({ requireAllSignatures: false }),
  chain: 'solana:mainnet',
});

// signedTransaction is serialized and signed — broadcast manually
const signature = await connection.sendRawTransaction(signedTransaction);

Step 4: Send multiple transactions (batch)

There is no solana:signAndSendAllTransactions feature. The solana:signAndSendTransaction feature is variadic — pass multiple inputs and it returns one result per input:

const signAndSendFeature = wallet.features['solana:signAndSendTransaction'];

const results = await signAndSendFeature.signAndSendTransaction(
  { account, transaction: serializedTx1, chain: 'solana:mainnet' },
  { account, transaction: serializedTx2, chain: 'solana:mainnet' },
  { account, transaction: serializedTx3, chain: 'solana:mainnet' },
);

for (const { signature } of results) {
  console.log('Tx signature:', bs58.encode(signature));
}

Step 5: Confirm the transaction

Always confirm after sending. Use 'confirmed' commitment for most use cases:

const confirmation = await connection.confirmTransaction(signature, 'confirmed');

if (confirmation.value.err) {
  console.error('Transaction failed on-chain:', confirmation.value.err);
} else {
  console.log('Transaction succeeded');
}

Step 6: Error handling

Error	Cause	Action
Code `4001`	User rejected in MetaMask	Show retry UI
Code `-32002`	Request already pending	Wait for user to act in MetaMask
`Blockhash not found`	Blockhash expired before submission	Fetch a new blockhash and rebuild
`Insufficient funds`	Sender balance too low for transfer + fees	Show balance check UI
`Transaction too large`	Transaction exceeds 1232 bytes	Split into multiple transactions

try {
  const signature = await sendTransaction(transaction, connection);
  await connection.confirmTransaction(signature, 'confirmed');
} catch (err: any) {
  switch (err.code) {
    case 4001:
      // User rejected
      break;
    case -32002:
      // Pending — ask user to check MetaMask
      break;
    default:
      if (err.message?.includes('Blockhash not found')) {
        // Retry with fresh blockhash
      }
      console.error('Transaction error:', err);
  }
}

Important Notes

Always fetch a fresh blockhash — blockhashes expire after ~60 seconds. Fetch getLatestBlockhash() immediately before building the transaction, not at app startup.
Set feePayer before signing — the transaction must have feePayer and recentBlockhash set before it is signed or serialized.
Serialize with requireAllSignatures: false — when using wallet-standard features directly, the wallet will add the signature. Serializing with requireAllSignatures: true (the default) will throw because the transaction isn't signed yet.
sendTransaction vs signAndSendTransaction — in the React adapter, sendTransaction handles serialization internally. With wallet-standard features, you must serialize the transaction yourself and pass the bytes.
chain is only honored by signAndSendTransaction — signAndSendTransaction reads the input's chain to pick the cluster, but signTransaction/signMessage ignore any chain field and use the connected session scope instead. Passing chain to signTransaction is harmless but doesn't switch networks; connect with the scope you want to sign on.
Solana networks — mainnet, devnet, and testnet scopes are all modeled by the SDK; non-mainnet availability depends on the connected MetaMask build/version, so handle connection errors rather than assuming a cluster is present.
disconnect() only revokes Solana scopes — EVM sessions remain active.
Chrome on Android — apply the beforeunload workaround for the known page-unload bug during wallet interactions.
Confirm before reporting success — a submitted transaction is not finalized until confirmTransaction returns. Always confirm before updating the UI.

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