Transactions

A Transaction is the only way to modify the Ripple Ledger. All transactions have certain fields in common:

There are several different types of transactions that perform different actions, each with additional fields relevant to that type of action:

Additionally, there are Psuedo-Transactions that are not created and submitted in the usual way, but may appear in ledgers:

Transactions are only valid if signed, submitted, and accepted into a validated ledger version. There are many ways a transaction can fail.

Signing and Sending Transactions

Signing a transaction cryptographically proves that the person in charge of the account sending the transaction is authorized to do so. Only signed transactions can be submitted to the network and included in a validated ledger. A signed transaction is immutable: its contents cannot change, and the signature is not valid for any other transaction.

You can sign a transaction using a secret key: either the master secret, or a regular secret if the account has a regular key pair associated with it. (See SetRegularKey for details.)

Multi-signature transactions are in development.

Typically, you create a transaction in JSON format first. Here is an example of an unsigned Payment-type transaction in JSON:

{
  "TransactionType" : "Payment",
  "Account" : "rf1BiGeXwwQoi8Z2ueFYTEXSwuJYfV2Jpn",
  "Destination" : "ra5nK24KXen9AHvsdFTKHSANinZseWnPcX",
  "Amount" : {
     "currency" : "USD",
     "value" : "1",
     "issuer" : "rf1BiGeXwwQoi8Z2ueFYTEXSwuJYfV2Jpn"
  },
  "Fee": "10",
  "Flags": 2147483648,
  "Sequence": 2,
}

After doing that, you generate the signed binary format for the transaction. There are two ways to do this:

  1. Convert it to a binary blob and sign it offline. This is preferable, since it means that the account secret used for signing the transaction is never transmitted over any network connection.
    • You can use RippleAPI to perform offline signing.
  2. Have a rippled server sign the transaction for you. The sign command takes a JSON-format transaction and secret and returns the signed binary transaction format ready for submission. (Transmitting your account secret is dangerous, so you should only do this from within a trusted and encrypted sub-net, to a server you control.)
    • As a shortcut, you can use the submit command with a tx_json object to sign and submit a transaction all at once. This is only recommended for testing and development purposes.

In either case, signing a transaction generates a binary blob that can be submitted to the network. This means using rippled's submit command. Here is an example of the same transaction, as a signed blob, being submitted with the WebSocket API:

{
  "id": 2,
  "command": "submit",
  "tx_blob" : "120000240000000461D4838D7EA4C6800000000000000000000000000055534400000000004B4E9C06F24296074F7BC48F92A97916C6DC5EA968400000000000000F732103AB40A0490F9B7ED8DF29D246BF2D6269820A0EE7742ACDD457BEA7C7D0931EDB74483046022100982064CDD3F052D22788DB30B52EEA8956A32A51375E72274E417328EBA31E480221008F522C9DB4B0F31E695AA013843958A10DE8F6BA7D6759BEE645F71A7EB240BE81144B4E9C06F24296074F7BC48F92A97916C6DC5EA983143E9D4A2B8AA0780F682D136F7A56D6724EF53754"
}

After a transaction has been submitted, if it gets accepted into a validated ledger, you can view the final transaction using the API. For example, here is what the WebSocket API tx command shows for the same transaction. The field names that begin with capital letters are part of the ledger object; the fields that begin with lower-case letters are additional information generated by the server for the request:

{
  "id": 6,
  "status": "success",
  "type": "response",
  "result": {
    "Account": "rf1BiGeXwwQoi8Z2ueFYTEXSwuJYfV2Jpn",
    "Amount": {
      "currency": "USD",
      "issuer": "rf1BiGeXwwQoi8Z2ueFYTEXSwuJYfV2Jpn",
      "value": "1"
    },
    "Destination": "ra5nK24KXen9AHvsdFTKHSANinZseWnPcX",
    "Fee": "10",
    "Flags": 2147483648,
    "Sequence": 2,
    "SigningPubKey": "03AB40A0490F9B7ED8DF29D246BF2D6269820A0EE7742ACDD457BEA7C7D0931EDB",
    "TransactionType": "Payment",
    "TxnSignature": "3045022100D64A32A506B86E880480CCB846EFA3F9665C9B11FDCA35D7124F53C486CC1D0402206EC8663308D91C928D1FDA498C3A2F8DD105211B9D90F4ECFD75172BAE733340",
    "date": 455224610,
    "hash": "33EA42FC7A06F062A7B843AF4DC7C0AB00D6644DFDF4C5D354A87C035813D321",
    "inLedger": 7013674,
    "ledger_index": 7013674,
    "meta": {
      "AffectedNodes": [
        {
          "ModifiedNode": {
            "FinalFields": {
              "Account": "rf1BiGeXwwQoi8Z2ueFYTEXSwuJYfV2Jpn",
              "Balance": "99999980",
              "Flags": 0,
              "OwnerCount": 0,
              "Sequence": 3
            },
            "LedgerEntryType": "AccountRoot",
            "LedgerIndex": "13F1A95D7AAB7108D5CE7EEAF504B2894B8C674E6D68499076441C4837282BF8",
            "PreviousFields": {
              "Balance": "99999990",
              "Sequence": 2
            },
            "PreviousTxnID": "7BF105CFE4EFE78ADB63FE4E03A851440551FE189FD4B51CAAD9279C9F534F0E",
            "PreviousTxnLgrSeq": 6979192
          }
        },
        {
          "ModifiedNode": {
            "FinalFields": {
              "Balance": {
                "currency": "USD",
                "issuer": "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrBZbvji",
                "value": "2"
              },
              "Flags": 65536,
              "HighLimit": {
                "currency": "USD",
                "issuer": "rf1BiGeXwwQoi8Z2ueFYTEXSwuJYfV2Jpn",
                "value": "0"
              },
              "HighNode": "0000000000000000",
              "LowLimit": {
                "currency": "USD",
                "issuer": "ra5nK24KXen9AHvsdFTKHSANinZseWnPcX",
                "value": "100"
              },
              "LowNode": "0000000000000000"
            },
            "LedgerEntryType": "RippleState",
            "LedgerIndex": "96D2F43BA7AE7193EC59E5E7DDB26A9D786AB1F7C580E030E7D2FF5233DA01E9",
            "PreviousFields": {
              "Balance": {
                "currency": "USD",
                "issuer": "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrBZbvji",
                "value": "1"
              }
            },
            "PreviousTxnID": "7BF105CFE4EFE78ADB63FE4E03A851440551FE189FD4B51CAAD9279C9F534F0E",
            "PreviousTxnLgrSeq": 6979192
          }
        }
      ],
      "TransactionIndex": 0,
      "TransactionResult": "tesSUCCESS"
    },
    "validated": true
  }
}

Reliable Transaction Submission

Reliably submitting transactions is the process of achieving both of the following:

  • Idempotency - A transaction will be processed once and only once, or not at all.
  • Verifiability - Applications can determine the final result of a transaction.

To accomplish both of these, your application should:

  1. Construct and sign the transaction first, including a LastLedgerSequence parameter that gives the transaction a limited viable lifespan.
  2. Persist details of the transaction before submitting.
  3. Submit the transaction.
  4. Confirm that the transaction was either included in a validated ledger, or that it has expired due to LastLedgerSequence.
  5. If a transaction fails or expires, you can modify and resubmit it.

Main article: Reliable Transaction Submission

Identifying Transactions

The "hash" is the unique value that identifies a particular transaction. The server provides the hash in the response when you submit the transaction; you can also look up a transaction in an account's transaction history with the account_tx command.

The transaction hash can be used as a "proof of payment" since anyone can look up the transaction by its hash in order to verify its final status.

Common Fields

Every transaction type has the same set of fundamental fields:

Field JSON Type Internal Type Description
Account String Account The unique address of the account that initiated the transaction.
AccountTxnID String Hash256 (Optional) Hash value identifying another transaction. This transaction is only valid if the sending account's previously-sent transaction matches the provided hash.
Fee String Amount (Required, but auto-fillable) Integer amount of XRP, in drops, to be destroyed as a cost for distributing this transaction to the network.
Flags Unsigned Integer UInt32 (Optional) Set of bit-flags for this transaction.
LastLedgerSequence Number UInt32 (Optional, but strongly recommended) Highest ledger sequence number that a transaction can appear in.
Memos Array of Objects Array (Optional) Additional arbitrary information used to identify this transaction.
Sequence Unsigned Integer UInt32 (Required, but auto-fillable) The sequence number, relative to the initiating account, of this transaction. A transaction is only valid if the Sequence number is exactly 1 greater than the last-valided transaction from the same account.
SigningPubKey String PubKey (Automatically added when signing) Hex representation of the public key that corresponds to the private key used to sign this transaction.
SourceTag Unsigned Integer UInt32 (Optional) Arbitrary integer used to identify the reason for this payment, or the hosted wallet on whose behalf this transaction is made. Conventionally, a refund should specify the initial payment's SourceTag as the refund payment's DestinationTag.
TransactionType String UInt16 The type of transaction. Valid types include: Payment, OfferCreate, OfferCancel, TrustSet, AccountSet, and SetRegularKey.
TxnSignature String VariableLength (Automatically added when signing) The signature that verifies this transaction as originating from the account it says it is from.

Note: The deprecated PreviousTxnID transaction parameter was removed entirely in rippled 0.28.0. Use AccountTxnID instead.

Auto-fillable Fields

Some fields can be automatically filled in before the transaction is signed, either by a rippled server or by the library used for offline signing. Both ripple-lib and rippled can automatically provide the following values:

  • Fee - Automatically fill in the transaction cost based on the network. (Note: rippled's sign command supports limits on how high the filled-in-value is, using the fee_mult_max parameter.)
  • Sequence - Automatically use the next sequence number for the account sending the transaction.

For a production system, we recommend not leaving these fields to be filled by the server. For example, if transaction costs become high due to a temporary spike in network load, you may want to wait for the cost to decrease before sending some transactions, instead of paying the temporarily-high cost.

The Paths field of the Payment transaction type can also be automatically filled in.

Transaction Cost

In order to protect the Ripple Consensus Ledger from being disrupted by spam and denial-of-service attacks, each transaction must destroy a small amount of XRP. This transaction cost is designed to increase along with the load on the network, making it very expensive to deliberately or inadvertently overload the network.

The Fee field specifies an amount, in drops of XRP, to destroy as the cost for this transaction. If the transaction is included in a validated leger (whether or not it achieves its intended purpose), then the amount of XRP specified in the Fee parameter is destroyed forever. You can look up the transaction cost in advance, or let rippled set it automatically when you sign a transaction.

Canceling or Skipping a Transaction

An important and intentional feature of the Ripple Network is that a transaction is final as soon as it has been incorporated in a validated ledger.

However, if a transaction has not yet been included in a validated ledger, you can effectively cancel it by rendering it invalid. Typically, this means sending another transaction with the same Sequence value from the same account. If you do not want to perform the same transaction again, you can perform an AccountSet transaction with no options.

For example, if you attempted to submit 3 transactions with sequence numbers 11, 12, and 13, but transaction 11 gets lost somehow or does not have a high enough transaction cost to be propagated to the network, then you can cancel transaction 11 by submitting an AccountSet transaction with no options and sequence number 11. This does nothing (except destroying the transaction cost for the new transaction 11), but it allows transactions 12 and 13 to become valid.

This approach is preferable to renumbering and resubmitting transactions 12 and 13, because it prevents transactions from being effectively duplicated under different sequence numbers.

In this way, an AccountSet transaction with no options is the canonical "no-op" transaction.

LastLedgerSequence

We strongly recommend that you specify the LastLedgerSequence parameter on every transaction. Provide a value of about 3 higher than the most recent ledger index to ensure that your transaction is either validated or rejected within a matter of seconds.

Without the LastLedgerSequence parameter, there is a particular situation that can occur and cause your transaction to be stuck in an undesirable state where it is neither validated nor rejected for a long time. Specifically, if the load-based transaction cost of the network increases after you send a transaction, your transaction may not get propagated enough to be included in a validated ledger, but you would have to pay the (increased) transaction cost in order to send another transaction canceling it. Later, if the transaction cost decreases again, the transaction may become viable again. The LastLedgerSequence places a hard upper limit on how long the transaction can wait to be validated or rejected.

AccountTxnID

The AccountTxnID field lets you chain your transactions together, so that a current transaction is not valid unless the previous one (by Sequence Number) is also valid and matches the transaction you expected.

One situation in which this is useful is if you have a primary system for submitting transactions and a passive backup system. If the passive backup system becomes disconnected from the primary, but the primary is not fully dead, and they both begin operating at the same time, you could potentially encounter serious problems like some transactions sending twice and others not at all. Chaining your transactions together with AccountTxnID ensures that, even if both systems are active, only one of them can submit valid transactions at a time.

In order to use AccountTxnID, you must first set the asfAccountTxnID flag, so that the ledger keeps track of the ID for the account's previous transaction.

Memos

The Memos field allows for arbitrary messaging data that can accompany the transaction. It is presented as an array of objects. Each object has only one field, Memo, which in turn contains another object with one or more of the following fields:

Field Type Internal Type Description
MemoData String VariableLength Arbitrary hex value, conventionally containing the content of the memo.
MemoFormat String VariableLength Hex value representing characters allowed in URLs. Conventionally containing information on how the memo is encoded, for example as a MIME type.
MemoType String VariableLength Hex value representing characters allowed in URLs. Conventionally, a unique relation (according to RFC 5988) that defines the format of this memo.

The MemoType and MemoFormat fields should only consist of the following characters: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789-._~:/?#[]@!$&'()*+,;=%

The Memos field is currently limited to no more than 1KB in size (when serialized in binary format).

Example of a transaction with a Memos field:

{
    "TransactionType": "Payment",
    "Account": "rMmTCjGFRWPz8S2zAUUoNVSQHxtRQD4eCx",
    "Destination": "r3kmLJN5D28dHuH8vZNUZpMC43pEHpaocV",
    "Memos": [
        {
            "Memo": {
                "MemoType": "687474703a2f2f6578616d706c652e636f6d2f6d656d6f2f67656e65726963",
                "MemoData": "72656e74"
            }
        }
    ],
    "Amount": "1"
}

Flags

The Flags field allows for additional boolean options regarding the behavior of a transaction. They are represented as binary values that can be combined with bitwise-or operations to set multiple flags at once.

Most flags only have meaning for a specific transaction type. The same bitwise value may be reused for flags on different transaction types, so it is important to pay attention to the TransactionType field when setting and reading flags.

The only flag that applies globally to all transactions is as follows:

Flag Name Hex Value Decimal Value Description
tfFullyCanonicalSig 0x80000000 2147483648 Require a fully-canonical signature, to protect a transaction from transaction malleability exploits.

Payment

[Source]

A Payment transaction represents a transfer of value from one account to another. (Depending on the path taken, additional exchanges of value may occur atomically to facilitate the payment.)

Payments are also the only way to create accounts.

Example payment:

{
  "TransactionType" : "Payment",
  "Account" : "rf1BiGeXwwQoi8Z2ueFYTEXSwuJYfV2Jpn",
  "Destination" : "ra5nK24KXen9AHvsdFTKHSANinZseWnPcX",
  "Amount" : {
     "currency" : "USD",
     "value" : "1",
     "issuer" : "rf1BiGeXwwQoi8Z2ueFYTEXSwuJYfV2Jpn"
  },
  "Fee": "10",
  "Flags": 2147483648,
  "Sequence": 2,
}
Field JSON Type Internal Type Description
Amount String (XRP)
Object (Otherwise)		 Amount The amount of currency to deliver. Note: If the tfPartialPayment flag is set, this is not the amount actually received. (Formatted as per Specifying Currency Amounts.)
Destination String Account The unique address of the account receiving the payment.
DestinationTag Unsigned Integer UInt32 (Optional) Arbitrary tag that identifies the reason for the payment to the destination, or the hosted wallet to make a payment to.
InvoiceID String Hash256 (Optional) Arbitrary 256-bit hash representing a specific reason or identifier for this payment.
Paths Array of path arrays PathSet (Optional, auto-fillable) Array of payment paths to be used for this transaction. Must be omitted for XRP-to-XRP transactions.
SendMax String/Object Amount (Optional) Highest amount of source currency this transaction is allowed to cost, including transfer fees, exchange rates, and slippage. Does not include the XRP destroyed as a cost for submitting the transaction. (Also see Specifying Currency Amounts) Must be supplied for cross-currency/cross-issue payments. Must be omitted for XRP-to-XRP payments.
DeliverMin String/Object Amount (Optional) Minimum amount of destination currency this transaction should deliver. Only valid if this is a partial payment. (This field is part of rippled 0.29.0, and becomes valid August 17 at 17:00 UTC.)

Special issuer Values for SendMax and Amount

Most of the time, the issuer field of a non-XRP currency amount indicates the account of the gateway that issues that currency. However, when describing payments, there are special rules for the issuer field in the Amount and SendMax fields of a payment.

  • There is only ever one balance for the same currency between two accounts. This means that, sometimes, the issuer field of an amount actually refers to a counterparty that is redeeming issuances, instead of the account that created the issuances.
  • When the issuer field of the destination Amount field matches the Destination account address, it is treated as a special case meaning "any issuer that the destination accepts." This includes all accounts to which the destination has extended trust lines, as well as issuances created by the destination which may be held on other trust lines.
  • When the issuer field of the SendMax field matches the source account's address, it is treated as a special case meaning "any issuer that the source can use." This includes creating new issuances on trust lines that other accounts have extended to the source account, as well as issuances from other accounts that the source account possesses.

Creating Accounts

The Payment transaction type is the only way to create new accounts in the shared Ripple ledger. To do so, send an amount of XRP that is equal or greater than the account reserve to a mathematically-valid account address that does not exist yet. When the payment is processed, a new AccountRoot node will be added to the ledger to reflect the newly-created account.

If you attempt to send an insufficient amount of XRP, or any other currency, the Payment will fail.

Paths

If present, the Paths field must contain a path set - an array of path arrays. Each individual path represents one way value can flow from the sender to receiver through various intermediary accounts and order books. A single transaction can potentially use multiple paths, for example if the transaction exchanges currency using several different order books in order to achieve the best rate.

You must omit the Paths field for direct payments, including:

  • An XRP-to-XRP transfer.
  • A simple transfer on a trust line that connects the sender and receiver.

If the Paths field is provided, the server decides at transaction processing time which paths to use, from the provided set plus a default path (the simplest possible way to connect the specified accounts). This decision is deterministic and attempts to minimize costs, but it is not guaranteed to be perfect.

The Paths field must not be an empty array, nor an array whose members are all empty arrays.

For more information, see Paths.

Payment Flags

Transactions of the Payment type support additional values in the Flags field, as follows:

Flag Name Hex Value Decimal Value Description
tfNoDirectRipple 0x00010000 65536 Do not use the default path; only use paths included in the Paths field. This is intended to force the transaction to take arbitrage opportunities. Most clients do not need this.
tfPartialPayment 0x00020000 131072 If the specified Amount cannot be sent without spending more than SendMax, reduce the received amount instead of failing outright. See Partial Payments for more details.
tfLimitQuality 0x00040000 262144 Only take paths where all the conversions have an input:output ratio that is equal or better than the ratio of Amount:SendMax. See Limit Quality for details.

Partial Payments

A partial payment allows a payment to succeed by reducing the amount received, instead of increasing the SendMax. Partial payments are useful for returning payments without incurring additional costs to oneself.

By default, the Amount field of a Payment transaction specifies the amount of currency that is received by the account that is the destination of the payment. Any additional amount needed for fees or currency exchange is deducted from the sending account's balances, up to the SendMax amount. (If SendMax is not specified, that is equivalent to setting the SendMax to the Amount field.) If the amount needed in order to make the payment exceeds the SendMax parameter, or the full amount cannot be delivered for any other reason, the transaction fails.

The tfPartialPayment flag allows you to make a "partial payment" instead. When this flag is enabled for a payment, it delivers as much as possible, up to the Amount value, without exceeding the SendMax value. Fees and currency exchange rates are calculated the same way, but the amount being sent automatically scales down until the total amount deducted from the sending account's balances is within SendMax. The transaction is considered successful as long as it delivers equal or more than the DeliverMin value; if DeliverMin is omitted, then any positive amount is considered a success. This means that partial payments can succeed at sending some of the intended value despite limitations including fees, lack of liquidity, insufficient space in the receiving account's trustlines, or other reasons.

A partial payment cannot provide the initial XRP to fund an account; this case returns the error code telNO_DST_PARTIAL. Direct XRP-to-XRP payments also cannot be partial payments temBAD_SEND_XRP_PARTIAL.

The amount of XRP used for the transaction cost is always deducted from the sender’s account, regardless of the tfPartialPayment flag.

Partial Payments Warning

When the tfPartialPayment flag is enabled, the Amount field is not guaranteed to be the amount received. The delivered_amount field of a payment's metadata indicates the amount of currency actually received by the destination account. When receiving a payment, use delivered_amount instead of the Amount field to determine how much your account received instead.

Limit Quality

Ripple defines the "quality" of a currency exchange as the ratio of the numeric amount in to the numeric amount out. For example, if you spend $2 USD to receive £1 GBP, then the "quality" of that exchange is 0.5.

The tfLimitQuality flag allows you to set a minimum quality of conversions that you are willing to take. This limit quality is defined as the destination Amount divided by the SendMax amount (just the numeric amounts, regardless of currency). When set, the payment processing engine avoids using any paths whose quality (conversion rate) is worse (numerically lower) than the limit quality.

By itself, the tfLimitQuality flag reduces the number of situations in which a transaction can succeed. Specifically, it rejects payments where some part of the payment uses an unfavorable conversion, even if the overall average average quality of conversions in the payment is equal or better than the limit quality. If a payment is rejected in this way, the transaction result is tecPATH_DRY.

Consider the following example. If I am trying to send you 100 Chinese Yuan (Amount = 100 CNY) for 20 United States dollars (SendMax = 20 USD) or less, then the limit quality is 5. Imagine one market maker is offering ¥95 for $15 (a ratio of about 6.3 CNY per USD), but the next best offer in the market is ¥5 for $2 (a ratio of 2.5 CNY per USD). If I were to take both offers in order to send you 100 CNY, then it would cost me 17 USD, for an average quality of about 5.9.

Without the tfLimitQuality flag set, this transaction would succeed, because the $17 it costs me is within my specified SendMax. However, with the tfLimitQuality flag enabled, the transaction would fail instead, because the path to take the second offer has a quality of 2.5, which is worse than the limit quality of 5.

The tfLimitQuality flag is most useful when combined with partial payments. When both tfPartialPayment and tfLimitQuality are set on a transaction, then the transaction delivers as much of the destination Amount as it can, without using any conversions that are worse than the limit quality.

In the above example with a ¥95/$15 offer and a ¥5/$2 offer, the situation is different if my transaction has both tfPartialPayment and tfLimitQuality enabled. If we keep my SendMax of 20 USD and a destination Amount of 100 CNY, then the limit quality is still 5. However, because I am doing a partial payment, the transaction sends as much as it can instead of failing if the full destination amount cannot be sent. This means that my transaction consumes the ¥95/$15 offer, whose quality is about 6.3, but it rejects the ¥5/$2 offer because that offer's quality of 2.5 is worse than the quality limit of 5. In the end, my transaction only delivers ¥95 instead of the full ¥100, but it avoids wasting money on poor exchange rates.

AccountSet

[Source]

An AccountSet transaction modifies the properties of an account in the Ripple Consensus Ledger.

Example AccountSet:

{
    "TransactionType": "AccountSet",
    "Account" : "rf1BiGeXwwQoi8Z2ueFYTEXSwuJYfV2Jpn",
    "Fee": "10000",
    "Sequence": 5,
    "Domain": "6D64756F31332E636F6D",
    "SetFlag": 5,
    "MessageKey": "rQD4SqHJtDxn5DDL7xNnojNa3vxS1Jx5gv"
}
Field JSON Type Internal Type Description
ClearFlag Unsigned Integer UInt32 (Optional) Unique identifier of a flag to disable for this account.
Domain String VariableLength (Optional) The domain that owns this account, as a string of hex representing the ASCII for the domain in lowercase.
EmailHash String Hash128 (Optional) Hash of an email address to be used for generating an avatar image. Conventionally, clients use Gravatar to display this image.
MessageKey String PubKey (Optional) Public key for sending encrypted messages to this account. Conventionally, it should be a secp256k1 key, the same encryption that is used by the rest of Ripple.
SetFlag Unsigned Integer UInt32 (Optional) Integer flag to enable for this account.
TransferRate Unsigned Integer UInt32 (Optional) The fee to charge when users transfer this account's issuances, represented as billionths of a unit. Use 0 to set no fee.
WalletLocator String Hash256 (Optional) Not used.
WalletSize Unsigned Integer UInt32 (Optional) Not used.

If none of these options are provided, then the AccountSet transaction has no effect (beyond destroying the transaction cost). See Canceling or Skipping a Transaction for more details.

Domain

The Domain field is represented as the hex string of the lowercase ASCII of the domain. For example, the domain example.com would be represented as "6578616d706c652e636f6d".

To remove the Domain field from an account, send an AccountSet with the Domain set to an empty string.

Client applications can use the ripple.txt file hosted by the domain to confirm that the account is actually operated by that domain.

AccountSet Flags

There are several options which can be either enabled or disabled for an account. Account options are represented by different types of flags depending on the situation:

  • The AccountSet transaction type has several "AccountSet Flags" (prefixed asf) that can enable an option when passed as the SetFlag parameter, or disable an option when passed as the ClearFlag parameter.
  • The AccountSet transaction type has several transaction flags (prefixed tf) that can be used to enable or disable specific account options when passed in the Flags parameter. This style is discouraged, and new account options will not have new corresponding transaction flags.
  • The AccountRoot ledger node type has several ledger-specific-flags (prefixed lsf) which represent the state of particular account options within a particular ledger. Naturally, the values apply until a later ledger version changes them.

The preferred way to enable and disable Account Flags is using the SetFlag and ClearFlag parameters of an AccountSet transaction. AccountSet flags have names that begin with asf.

All flags are off by default.

The available AccountSet flags are:

Flag Name Decimal Value Description Corresponding Ledger Flag
asfRequireDest 1 Require a destination tag to send transactions to this account. lsfRequireDestTag
asfRequireAuth 2 Require authorization for users to hold balances issued by this account. (This prevents users unknown to a gateway from holding funds issued by that gateway.) lsfRequireAuth
asfDisallowXRP 3 XRP should not be sent to this account. (Enforced by client applications, not by rippled) lsfDisallowXRP
asfDisableMaster 4 Disallow use of the master key. Can only be enabled if the account has a RegularKey configured. lsfDisableMaster
asfAccountTxnID 5 Track the ID of this account's most recent transaction. Required for AccountTxnID (None)
asfNoFreeze 6 Permanently give up the ability to freeze individual trust lines or disable Global Freeze. This flag can never be disabled after being enabled. lsfNoFreeze
asfGlobalFreeze 7 Freeze all assets issued by this account. lsfGlobalFreeze
asfDefaultRipple 8 Enable rippling on this account's trust lines by default. (New in rippled 0.27.3) lsfDefaultRipple

New in rippled 0.28.0: You cannot send a transaction that enables asfDisableMaster or asfNoFreeze using a regular key. You must use the master key to sign the transaction.

The following Transaction flags, specific to the AccountSet transaction type, serve the same purpose, but are discouraged:

Flag Name Hex Value Decimal Value Replaced by AccountSet Flag
tfRequireDestTag 0x00010000 65536 asfRequireDest (SetFlag)
tfOptionalDestTag 0x00020000 131072 asfRequireDest (ClearFlag)
tfRequireAuth 0x00040000 262144 asfRequireAuth (SetFlag)
tfOptionalAuth 0x00080000 524288 asfRequireAuth (ClearFlag)
tfDisallowXRP 0x00100000 1048576 asfDisallowXRP (SetFlag)
tfAllowXRP 0x00200000 2097152 asfDisallowXRP (ClearFlag)

Blocking Incoming Transactions

Incoming transactions with unclear purposes may be an inconvenience for some gateways, which would have to identify whether a mistake was made, and then potentially refund accounts or adjust balances depending on the mistake. The asfRequireDest and asfDisallowXRP flags are intended to protect users from accidentally sending funds to a gateway in a way that is unclear about the reason the funds were sent.

For example, a destination tag is typically used to identify which hosted balance should be credited when the gateway receives a payment. If the destination tag is omitted, it may be unclear which account should be credited, creating a need for refunds, among other problems. By using the asfRequireDest tag, the gateway (or any account) can ensure that every incoming payment has a destination tag, which makes it harder to send an ambiguous payment by accident.

Accounts can protect against unwanted incoming payments for non-XRP currencies simply by not creating trust lines in those currencies. Since XRP does not require trust, the asfDisallowXRP flag is used to discourage users from sending XRP to an account. However, this flag is not enforced in rippled because it could potentially cause accounts to become unusable. (If an account did not have enough XRP to send a transaction that disabled the flag, the account would be completely unusable.) Instead, client applications should disallow or discourage XRP payments to accounts with the asfDisallowXRP flag enabled.

TransferRate

The TransferRate field specifies a fee to charge whenever a gateway's issuances change hands. See Transfer Fees article in the Knowledge Center for more information.

In rippled's WebSocket and JSON-RPC APIs, the TransferRate is represented as an integer, the amount that must be sent in order for 1 billion units to arrive. For example, a 20% transfer fee is represented as the value 1200000000. The value cannot be less than 1000000000. (Less than that would indicate giving away money for sending transactions, which is exploitable.) You can specify 0 as a shortcut for 1000000000, meaning no fee.

SetRegularKey

[Source]

A SetRegularKey transaction changes the regular key used by the account to sign future transactions.

{
    "Flags": 0,
    "TransactionType": "SetRegularKey",
    "Account": "rf1BiGeXwwQoi8Z2ueFYTEXSwuJYfV2Jpn",
    "Fee": "12",
    "RegularKey": "rAR8rR8sUkBoCZFawhkWzY4Y5YoyuznwD"
}
Field JSON Type Internal Type Description
RegularKey String Account (Optional) The public key of a new keypair, to use as the regular key to this account, as a base-58-encoded string in the same format as an account address. If omitted, removes the existing regular key.

Instead of using an account's master key to sign transactions, you can set an alternate key pair, called the "Regular Key". As long as the public key for this key pair is set in the RegularKey field of an account this way, then the secret of the Regular Key pair can be used to sign transactions. (The master secret can still be used, too, unless you set the asfDisableMaster account flag.)

A Regular Key pair is generated in the same way as any other Ripple keys (for example, with wallet_propose), but it can be changed. A Master Key pair is an intrinsic part of the account's identity (the address is derived from the master public key) so the Master Key cannot be changed. Therefore, using a Regular Key to sign transactions instead of the master key whenever possible is beneficial to security.

If your regular key is compromised, but the master key is not, you can use this method to regain control of your account. In some cases, you can even send a key reset transaction without paying the transaction cost.

OfferCreate

[Source]

An OfferCreate transaction is effectively a limit order. It defines an intent to exchange currencies, and creates an Offer node in the Ripple Consensus Ledger if not completely fulfilled when placed. Offers can be partially fulfilled.

{
    "TransactionType": "OfferCreate",
    "Account": "ra5nK24KXen9AHvsdFTKHSANinZseWnPcX",
    "Fee": "12",
    "Flags": 0,
    "LastLedgerSequence": 7108682,
    "Sequence": 8,
    "TakerGets": "6000000",
    "TakerPays": {
      "currency": "GKO",
      "issuer": "ruazs5h1qEsqpke88pcqnaseXdm6od2xc",
      "value": "2"
    }
}
Field JSON Type Internal Type Description
Expiration Unsigned Integer UInt32 (Optional) Time after which the offer is no longer active, in seconds since the Ripple Epoch.
OfferSequence Unsigned Integer UInt32 (Optional) An offer to delete first, specified in the same way as OfferCancel.
TakerGets Object (Non-XRP), or
String (XRP)		 Amount The amount and type of currency being provided by the offer creator.
TakerPays Object (Non-XRP), or
String (XRP)		 Amount The amount and type of currency being requested by the offer creator.

Lifecycle of an Offer

When an OfferCreate transaction is processed, it automatically consumes matching or crossing offers to the extent possible. (If existing offers provide a better rate than requested, the offer creator could pay less than the full TakerGets amount in order to receive the entire TakerPays amount.) If that does not completely fulfill the TakerPays amount, then the offer becomes an Offer node in the ledger. (You can use OfferCreate Flags to modify this behavior.)

An offer in the ledger can be fulfilled either by additional OfferCreate transactions that match up with the existing offers, or by Payments that use the offer to connect the payment path. Offers can be partially fulfilled and partially funded. A single transaction can consume up to 850 Offers from the ledger. (Any more than that, and the metadata becomes too large, resulting in tecOVERSIZE.)

You can create an offer so long as you have at least some (any positive, nonzero amount) of the currency specified by the TakerGets parameter of the offer. Any amount of that currency you have, up to the TakerGets amount, will be sold until the TakerPays amount is satisfied. An offer cannot place anyone in debt.

It is possible for an offer to become temporarily or permanently unfunded:

  • If the creator no longer has any of the TakerGets currency.
  • The offer becomes funded again when the creator obtains more of that currency.
  • If the currency required to fund the offer is held in a frozen trust line.
  • The offer becomes funded again when the trust line is no longer frozen.
  • If the creator does not have enough XRP for the reserve amount of a new trust line required by the offer. (See Offers and Trust.)
  • The offer becomes funded again when the creator obtains more XRP, or the reserve requirements decrease.
  • If the Expiration time included in the offer is before the close time of the most recently-closed ledger. (See Expiration.)

An unfunded offer can remain on the ledger indefinitely, but it does not have any effect. The only ways an offer can be permanently removed from the ledger are:

  • It becomes fully claimed by a Payment or a matching OfferCreate transaction.
  • A subsequent OfferCancel or OfferCreate transaction explicitly cancels the offer.
  • A subsequent OfferCreate from the same account crosses the earlier offer. (In this case, the older offer is automatically canceled.)
  • An offer is found to be unfunded during transaction processing, typically because it was at the tip of the orderbook.
  • This includes cases where one side or the other of an offer is found to be closer to 0 than rippled's precision supports.
  • Note: there is a bug that can cause offers to be removed incorrectly in rare circumstances. (See RIPD-456 for status.)

Tracking Unfunded Offers

Tracking the funding status of all offers can be computationally taxing. In particular, accounts that are actively trading may have a large number of offers open and be frequently involved in transactions that affect the funding status of their offers. Because of this, rippled does not proactively find and remove offers.

A client application can locally track the funding status of offers. To do this, first retreive an order book using the book_offers command and check the taker_gets_funded field of offers. Then, subscribe to the transactions stream and watch the transaction metadata to see which offers are modified.

Offers and Trust

The limit values of trust lines (See TrustSet) do not affect offers. In other words, you can use an offer to acquire more than the maximum amount you trust an issuing gateway to redeem.

However, possessing non-XRP balances still requires a trust line to the account issuing those balances. When an offer is taken, it automatically creates any necessary trust lines, setting their limits to 0. Because trust lines increase the reserve an account must hold, any offers that would require a new trust line also require the account to have the necessary XRP to pay the reserve for that trust line.

A trust line indicates an issuer you trust enough to accept their issuances as payment, within limits. Offers are explicit instructions to acquire certain issuances, so they are allowed to go beyond those limits.

Offer Preference

Existing offers are grouped by "quality", which is measured as the ratio between TakerGets and TakerPays. Offers with a higher quality are taken preferentially. (That is, the person accepting the offer receives as much as possible for the amount of currency they pay out.) Offers with the same quality are taken on the basis of which offer was placed in the earliest ledger version.

When offers of the same quality are placed in the same ledger version, the order in which they are taken is determined by the canonical order in which the transactions were applied to the ledger. This behavior is designed to be deterministic, efficient, and hard to game.

Expiration

Since transactions can take time to propagate and confirm, the timestamp of a ledger is used to determine offer validity. An offer only expires when its Expiration time occurs prior to the most-recently validated ledger. In other words, an offer with an Expiration field is still considered "active" if its expiration time is later than the timestamp of the most-recently validated ledger, regardless of what your local clock says.

You can determine the final disposition of an offer with an Expiration as soon as you see a fully-validated ledger with a close time equal to or greater than the expiration time.

Note: Since only new transactions can modify the ledger, an expired offer can remain on the ledger after it becomes inactive. The offer is treated as unfunded and has no effect, but it can continue to appear in results (for example, from the ledger_entry command). Later on, the expired offer can get finally deleted as a result of another transaction (such as another OfferCreate) if the server encounters it while processing.

Auto-Bridging

Any OfferCreate that would exchange two non-XRP currencies could potentially use XRP as an intermediary currency in a synthetic order book. This is because of auto-bridging, which serves to improve liquidity across all currency pairs by using XRP as a vehicle currency. This works because of XRP's nature as a native cryptocurrency to the Ripple Consensus Ledger. Offer execution can use a combination of direct and auto-bridged offers to achieve the best total exchange rate.

Example: Anita places an offer to sell GBP and buy BRL. She might fund that this uncommon currency market has few offers. There is one offer with a good rate, but it has insufficient quantity to satisfy Anita's trade. However, both GBP and BRL have active, competitive markets to XRP. Auto-bridging software finds a way to complete Anita's offer by purchasing XRP with GBP from one trader, then selling the XRP to another trader in order to buy BRL. Anita automatically gets the best rate possible by combining the small offer in the direct GBP:BRL market with the better composite rates created by pairing GBP:XRP and XRP:BRL offers.

Auto-bridging happens automatically on any OfferCreate transaction. Payment transactions do not autobridge by default, but path-finding can find paths that have the same effect.

OfferCreate Flags

Transactions of the OfferCreate type support additional values in the Flags field, as follows:

Flag Name Hex Value Decimal Value Description
tfPassive 0x00010000 65536 If enabled, the offer will not consume offers that exactly match it, and instead becomes an Offer node in the ledger. It will still consume offers that cross it.
tfImmediateOrCancel 0x00020000 131072 Treat the offer as an Immediate or Cancel order. If enabled, the offer will never become a ledger node: it only attempts to match existing offers in the ledger.
tfFillOrKill 0x00040000 262144 Treat the offer as a Fill or Kill order. Only attempt to match existing offers in the ledger, and only do so if the entire TakerPays quantity can be obtained.
tfSell 0x00080000 524288 Exchange the entire TakerGets amount, even if it means obtaining more than the TakerPays amount in exchange.

The following invalid flag combination prompts a temINVALID_FLAG error:

  • tfImmediateOrCancel and tfFillOrKill

OfferCancel

[Source]

An OfferCancel transaction removes an Offer node from the Ripple Consensus Ledger.

{
    "TransactionType": "OfferCancel",
    "Account": "ra5nK24KXen9AHvsdFTKHSANinZseWnPcX",
    "Fee": "12",
    "Flags": 0,
    "LastLedgerSequence": 7108629,
    "OfferSequence": 6,
    "Sequence": 7
}
Field JSON Type Internal Type Description
OfferSequence Unsigned Integer UInt32 The sequence number of a previous OfferCreate transaction. If specified, cancel any offer node in the ledger that was created by that transaction. It is not considered an error if the offer specified does not exist.

Tip: To remove an old offer and replace it with a new one, you can use an OfferCreate transaction with an OfferSequence parameter, instead of using OfferCancel and another OfferCreate.

The OfferCancel method returns tesSUCCESS even if it did not find an offer with the matching sequence number.

TrustSet

[Source]

Create or modify a trust line linking two accounts.

{
    "TransactionType": "TrustSet",
    "Account": "ra5nK24KXen9AHvsdFTKHSANinZseWnPcX",
    "Fee": "12",
    "Flags": 262144,
    "LastLedgerSequence": 8007750,
    "LimitAmount": {
      "currency": "USD",
      "issuer": "rsP3mgGb2tcYUrxiLFiHJiQXhsziegtwBc",
      "value": "100"
    },
    "Sequence": 12
}
Field JSON Type Internal Type Description
LimitAmount Object Amount Object defining the trust line to create or modify, in the same format as currency amounts.
LimitAmount.currency String (Amount.currency) The currency to this trust line applies to, as a three-letter ISO 4217 Currency Code or a 160-bit hex value according to currency format. "XRP" is invalid.
LimitAmount.value String (Amount.value) Quoted decimal representation of the limit to set on this trust line.
LimitAmount.issuer String (Amount.issuer) The address of the account to extend trust to.
QualityIn Unsigned Integer UInt32 (Optional) Value incoming balances on this trust line at the ratio of this number per 1,000,000,000 units. A value of 0 is shorthand for treating balances at face value.
QualityOut Unsigned Integer UInt32 (Optional) Value outgoing balances on this trust line at the ratio of this number per 1,000,000,000 units. A value of 0 is shorthand for treating balances at face value.

Trust Limits

All balances on the Ripple Network, except for XRP, represent value owed in the world outside the Ripple Ledger. The account that issues those funds in Ripple (identified by the issuer field of the LimitAmount object) is responsible for paying the balance back, outside of the Ripple Network, when users redeem their Ripple balances by returning them to the issuing account.

Since a computer program cannot force the gateway to keep its promise and not default in real life, trust lines represent a way of configuring how much you are willing to trust the issuing account to hold on your behalf. Since a large, reputable issuing gateway is more likely to be able to pay you back than, say, your broke roommate, you can set different limits on each trust line, to indicate the maximum amount you are willing to let the issuing account "owe" you (off the network) for the funds that you hold on the network. In the case that the issuing gateway defaults or goes out of business, you can lose up to that much money because the balances you hold in the Ripple Network can no longer be exchanged for equivalent balances off the network. (The Ripple Ledger will still reflect that you possess the same balance with that issuing gateway, but you won't be able to redeem, making it unlikely to be worth anything.)

There are two cases where you can hold a balance on a trust line that is greater than your limit: when you acquire more of that currency through trading, or when you decrease the limit on your trust line.

Since a trust line occupies space in the ledger, a trust line increases the XRP your account must hold in reserve. This applies to the account extending trust, not to the account receiving it.

A trust line with settings in the default state is equivalent to no trust line.

The default state of all flags is off, except for the NoRipple flag, whose default state depends on the DefaultRipple flag.

The Auth flag of a trust line does not determine whether the trust line counts towards its owner's XRP reserve requirement. However, an enabled Auth flag prevents the trust line from being in its default state. An authorized trust line can never be deleted. (New in rippled 0.30.0): You can pre-authorize a trust line with the tfSetfAuth flag only, even if the limit and balance of the trust line are 0.

TrustSet Flags

Transactions of the TrustSet type support additional values in the Flags field, as follows:

Flag Name Hex Value Decimal Value Description
tfSetfAuth 0x00010000 65536 Authorize the other party to hold issuances from this account. (No effect unless using the asfRequireAuth AccountSet flag.) Cannot be unset.
tfSetNoRipple 0x00020000 131072 Blocks rippling between two trustlines of the same currency, if this flag is set on both. (See No Ripple for details.)
tfClearNoRipple 0x00040000 262144 Clears the No-Rippling flag. (See No Ripple for details.)
tfSetFreeze 0x00100000 1048576 Freeze the trustline.
tfClearFreeze 0x00200000 2097152 Unfreeze the trustline.

Pseudo-Transactions

Pseudo-Transactions are never submitted by users, nor propagated through the network. Instead, a server may choose to inject them in a proposed ledger directly. If enough servers inject an equivalent pseudo-transaction for it to pass consensus, then it becomes included in the ledger, and appears in ledger data thereafter.

Some of the fields that are mandatory for normal transactions do not make sense for pseudo-transactions. In those cases, the pseudo-transaction has the following default values:

Field Default Value
Account ACCOUNT_ZERO
Sequence 0
Fee 0
SigningPubKey ""
Signature ""

SetFee

A change in transaction cost or account reserve requirements. This is typically in response to changes in the load on the network.

Note: You cannot send a pseudo-transaction, but you may encounter one when processing ledgers.

{
    "Account": "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhoLvTp",
    "BaseFee": "000000000000000A",
    "Fee": "0",
    "ReferenceFeeUnits": 10,
    "ReserveBase": 20000000,
    "ReserveIncrement": 5000000,
    "Sequence": 0,
    "SigningPubKey": "",
    "TransactionType": "SetFee",
    "date": 439578860,
    "hash": "1C15FEA3E1D50F96B6598607FC773FF1F6E0125F30160144BE0C5CBC52F5151B",
    "ledger_index": 3721729,
  }
Field JSON Type Internal Type Description
BaseFee String UInt64 The charge, in drops of XRP, for the reference transaction, as hex. (This is the transaction cost before scaling for load.)
ReferenceFeeUnits Unsigned Integer UInt32 The cost, in fee units, of the reference transaction
ReserveBase Unsigned Integer UInt32 The base reserve, in drops
ReserveIncrement Unsigned Integer UInt32 The incremental reserve, in drops

Transaction Results

Immediate Response

The response from the submit command contains a provisional result from the rippled server indicating what happened during local processing of the transaction.

The response from submit contains the following fields:

Field Value Description
engine_result String A code that categorizes the result, such as tecPATH_DRY
engine_result_code Signed Integer A number that corresponds to the engine_result, although exact values are subject to change.
engine_result_message String A human-readable message explaining what happened. This message is intended for developers to diagnose problems, and is subject to change without notice.

If nothing went wrong in the process of submitting and applying the transaction locally, the response looks like this:

    "engine_result": "tesSUCCESS",
    "engine_result_code": 0,
    "engine_result_message": "The transaction was applied. Only final in a validated ledger."

Note: A successful result at this stage does not indicate that the transaction has completely succeeded; only that it was successfully applied to the provisional version of the ledger kept by the local server. See Finality of Results for details.

Looking up Transaction Results

To see the final result of a transaction, use the tx command, account_tx command, or other response from rippled. Look for "validated": true to indicate that this response uses a ledger version that has been validated by consensus.

Field Value Description
meta.TransactionResult String A code that categorizes the result, such as tecPATH_DRY
validated Boolean Whether or not this result comes from a validated ledger. If false, then the result is provisional. If true, then the result is final. 
    "hash": "E08D6E9754025BA2534A78707605E0601F03ACE063687A0CA1BDDACFCD1698C7",
    "meta": {
      ...
      "TransactionResult": "tesSUCCESS"
    },
    "validated": true

Result Categories

Both the engine_result and the meta.TransactionResult use standard codes to identify the results of transactions, as follows:

Category Prefix Description
Local error tel The rippled server had an error due to local conditions, such as high load. You may get a different response if you resubmit to a different server or at a different time.
Malformed transaction tem The transaction was not valid, due to improper syntax, conflicting options, a bad signature, or something else.
Failure tef The transaction cannot be applied to the server's current (in-progress) ledger or any later one. It may have already been applied, or the condition of the ledger makes it impossible to apply in the future.
Retry ter The transaction could not be applied, but it might be possible to apply later.
Success tes (Not an error) The transaction succeeded. This result is not final unless it appears in a validated ledger.
Claimed cost only tec The transaction did not achieve its intended purpose, but the transaction cost was destroyed. This result is not final unless it appears in a validated ledger.
Client library error tej (ripple-lib only) The transaction was not submitted, because the client library blocked it, as part of its additional error checking.

The distinction between a local error (tel) and a malformed transaction (tem) is a matter of protocol-level rules. For example, the protocol sets no limit on the maximum number of paths that can be included in a transaction. However, a server may define a finite limit of paths it can process. If two different servers are configured differently, then one of them may return a tel error for a transaction with many paths, while the other server could successfully process the transaction. If enough servers are able to process the transaction that it survives consensus, then it can still be included in a validated ledger.

By contrast, a tem error implies that no server anywhere can apply the transaction, regardless of settings. Either the transaction breaks the rules of the protocol, it is unacceptably ambiguous, or it is completely nonsensical. The only way a malformed transaction could become valid is through changes in the protocol; for example, if a new feature is adopted, then transactions using that feature could be considered malformed by servers that are running older software which predates that feature.

Claimed Cost Justification

Although it may seem unfair to charge a transaction cost for a failed transaction, the tec class of errors exists for good reasons:

  • Transactions submitted after the failed one do not have to have their Sequence values renumbered. Incorporating the failed transaction into a ledger uses up the transaction's sequence number, preserving the expected sequence.
  • Distributing the transaction throughout the network increases network load. Enforcing a cost makes it harder for attackers to abuse the network with failed transactions.
  • The transaction cost is generally very small in real-world value, so it should not harm users unless they are sending large quantities of transactions.

Finality of Results

The order in which transactions apply to the consensus ledger is not final until a ledger is closed and the exact transaction set is approved by the consensus process. Therefore, a transaction that succeeded initially could still fail, and a transaction that failed initially could still succeed. Additionally, a transaction that was rejected by the consensus process in one round could achieve consensus in a subsequent round.

A validated ledger can include successful transactions (tes result codes) as well as failed transactions (tec result codes). No transaction with any other result is included in a ledger.

For any other result code, it can be difficult to determine if the result is final. The following table summarizes when a transaction's outcome is final, based on the result code from submitting the transaction:

Error Code Finality
tesSUCCESS Final when included in a validated ledger
Any tec code Final when included in a validated ledger
Any tem code Final unless the protocol changes to make the transaction valid
tefPAST_SEQ Final when another transaction with the same sequence number is included in a validated ledger
tefMAX_LEDGER Final when a validated ledger has a sequence number higher than the transaction's LastLedgerSequence field, and no validated ledger includes the transaction

Any other transaction result is potentially not final. In that case, the transaction could still succeed or fail later, especially if conditions change such that the transaction is no longer prevented from applying. For example, attempting to send a non-XRP currency to an account that does not exist yet would fail, but it could succeed if another transaction sends enough XRP to create the destination account. A server might even store a temporarily-failed, signed transaction and then successfully apply it later without asking first.

Understanding Transaction Metadata

The metadata section of a transaction includes detailed information about all the changes to the shared Ripple Consensus Ledger that the transaction caused. This is true of any transaction that gets included in a ledger, whether or not it is successful. Naturally, the changes are only final if the transaction is validated.

Some fields that may appear in transaction metadata include:

Field Value Description
AffectedNodes Array List of nodes that were created, deleted, or modified by this transaction, and specific changes to each.
DeliveredAmount String or Object DEPRECATED. Replaced by delivered_amount. Omitted if not a partial payment.
TransactionIndex Unsigned Integer The transaction's position within the ledger that included it. (For example, the value 2 means it was the 2nd transaction in that ledger.)
TransactionResult String A result code indicating whether the transaction succeeded or how it failed.
delivered_amount Object or String (New in rippled 0.27.0) The amount actually received by the Destination account. Use this field to determine how much was delivered, regardless of whether the transaction is a partial payment.

delivered_amount

The Amount of a Payment transaction indicates the amount to deliver to the Destination, so if the transaction was successful, then the destination received that much -- except if the transaction was a partial payment. (In that case, any positive amount up to Amount might have arrived.) Rather than choosing whether or not to trust the Amount field, you should use the delivered_amount field of the metadata to see how much actually reached its destination.

The delivered_amount field of transaction metadata is included in all successful Payment transactions, and is formatted like a normal currency amount. However, the delivered amount is not available for transactions that meet both of the following criteria:

  • Is a partial payment, and
  • Included in a validated ledger prior to 2014-01-20

If both conditions are true, then delivered_amount contains the string value unavailable instead of an actual amount. If this happens, you can only figure out the actual delivered amount by reading the AffectedNodes in the transaction's metadata.

Full Transaction Response List

[Source]

tel Codes

These codes indicate an error in the local server processing the transaction; it is possible that another server with a different configuration or load level could process the transaction successfully. They have numerical values in the range -399 to -300. The exact code for any given error is subject to change, so don't rely on it.

Code Explanation
telLOCAL_ERROR Unspecified local error.
telBAD_DOMAIN The transaction specified a domain value (for example, the Domain field of an AccountSet transaction) that cannot be used, probably because it is too long to store in the ledger.
telBAD_PATH_COUNT The transaction contains too many paths for the local server to process.
telBAD_PUBLIC_KEY The transaction specified a public key value (for example, as the MessageKey field of an AccountSet transaction) that cannot be used, probably because it is too long.
telFAILED_PROCESSING An unspecified error occurred when processing the transaction.
telINSUF_FEE_P The Fee from the transaction is not high enough to meet the server's current transaction cost requirement, which is derived from its load level.
telNO_DST_PARTIAL The transaction is an XRP payment that would fund a new account, but the tfPartialPayment flag was enabled. This is disallowed.

tem Codes

These codes indicate that the transaction was malformed, and cannot succeed according to the Ripple protocol. They have numerical values in the range -299 to -200. The exact code for any given error is subject to change, so don't rely on it.

Code Explanation
temMALFORMED Unspecified problem with the format of the transaction.
temBAD_AMOUNT An amount specified by the transaction (for example the destination Amount or SendMax values of a Payment) was invalid, possibly because it was a negative number.
temBAD_AUTH_MASTER The key used to sign this transaction does not match the master key for the account sending it, and the account does not have a Regular Key set.
temBAD_CURRENCY The transaction improperly specified a currency field. See Specifying Currency Amounts for the correct format.
temBAD_EXPIRATION The transaction improperly specified an expiration value, for example as part of an OfferCreate transaction.
temBAD_FEE The transaction improperly specified its Fee value, for example by listing a non-XRP currency or some negative amount of XRP.
temBAD_ISSUER The transaction improperly specified the issuer field of some currency included in the request.
temBAD_LIMIT The TrustSet transaction improperly specified the LimitAmount value of a trustline.
temBAD_OFFER The OfferCreate transaction specifies an invalid offer, such as offering to trade XRP for itself, or offering a negative amount.
temBAD_PATH The Payment transaction specifies one or more Paths improperly, for example including an issuer for XRP, or specifying an account differently.
temBAD_PATH_LOOP One of the Paths in the Payment transaction was flagged as a loop, so it cannot be processed in a bounded amount of time.
temBAD_SEND_XRP_LIMIT The Payment transaction used the tfLimitQuality flag in a direct XRP-to-XRP payment, even though XRP-to-XRP payments do not involve any conversions.
temBAD_SEND_XRP_MAX The Payment transaction included a SendMax field in a direct XRP-to-XRP payment, even though sending XRP should never require SendMax. (XRP is only valid in SendMax if the destination Amount is not XRP.)
temBAD_SEND_XRP_NO_DIRECT The Payment transaction used the tfNoDirectRipple flag for a direct XRP-to-XRP payment, even though XRP-to-XRP payments are always direct.
temBAD_SEND_XRP_PARTIAL The Payment transaction used the tfPartialPayment flag for a direct XRP-to-XRP payment, even though XRP-to-XRP payments should always deliver the full amount.
temBAD_SEND_XRP_PATHS The Payment transaction included Paths while sending XRP, even though XRP-to-XRP payments should always be direct.
temBAD_SEQUENCE The transaction is references a sequence number that is higher than its own Sequence number, for example trying to cancel an offer that would have to be placed after the transaction that cancels it.
temBAD_SIGNATURE The signature to authorize this transaction is either missing, or formed in a way that is not a properly-formed signature. (See tecNO_PERMISSION for the case where the signature is properly formed, but not authorized for this account.)
temBAD_SRC_ACCOUNT The Account on whose behalf this transaction is being sent (the "source account") is not a properly-formed Ripple account.
temBAD_TRANSFER_RATE The TransferRate field of an AccountSet transaction is not properly formatted.
temDST_IS_SRC The TrustSet transaction improperly specified the destination of the trustline (the issuer field of LimitAmount) as the Account sending the transaction. You cannot extend a trustline to yourself. (In the future, this code could also apply to other cases where the destination of a transaction is not allowed to be the account sending it.)
temDST_NEEDED The transaction improperly omitted a destination. This could be the Destination field of a Payment transaction, or the issuer sub-field of the LimitAmount field fo a TrustSet transaction.
temINVALID The transaction is otherwise invalid. For example, the transaction ID may not be the right format, the signature may not be formed properly, or something else went wrong in understanding the transaction.
temINVALID_FLAG The transaction includes a Flag that does not exist, or includes a contradictory combination of flags.
temREDUNDANT The transaction would accomplish nothing; for example, it is sending a payment directly to the sending account, or creating an offer to buy and sell the same currency from the same issuer.
temREDUNDANT_SEND_MAX (Removed in rippled 0.28.0)
temRIPPLE_EMPTY The Payment transaction includes an empty Paths field, but paths are necessary to complete this payment.

tef Codes

These codes indicate that the transaction failed to apply, but the transaction could have succeeded in some theoretical ledger. Typically this means that the transaction can no longer succeed in any future ledger. They have numerical values in the range -199 to -100. The exact code for any given error is subject to change, so don't rely on it.

Code Explanation
tefFAILURE Unspecified failure in applying the transaction.
tefALREADY The same exact transaction has already been applied.
tefBAD_ADD_AUTH Deprecated. This code should never be returned.
tefBAD_AUTH The key used to sign this account is not authorized to modify this account. (It could be authorized if the account had the same key set as the Regular Key.)
tefBAD_LEDGER While processing the transaction, the ledger was discovered in an unexpected state. If you can reproduce this error, please file a bug to get it fixed.
tefCREATED Deprecated. This code should never be returned.
tefEXCEPTION While processing the transaction, the server entered an unexpected state. This may be caused by unexpected inputs, for example if the binary data for the transaction is grossly malformed. If you can reproduce this error, please file a bug to get it fixed.
tefINTERNAL While attempting to apply the transaction, the server entered an unexpected state. If you can reproduce this error, please file a bug to get it fixed.
tefNO_AUTH_REQUIRED The TrustSet transaction attempted to mark a trustline as authorized, but the lsfRequireAuth flag is not enabled for the corresponding account, so authorization is not necessary.
tefPAST_SEQ The sequence number of the transaction is lower than the current sequence number of the account sending the transaction.
tefWRONG_PRIOR The transaction contained an AccountTxnID field (or the deprecated PreviousTxnID field), but the transaction specified there does not match the account's previous transaction.
tefMASTER_DISABLED The transaction was signed with the account's master key, but the account has the lsfDisableMaster field set.
tefMAX_LEDGER The transaction included a LastLedgerSequence parameter, but the current ledger's sequence number is already higher than the specified value.

ter Codes

These codes indicate that the transaction failed to apply, but it could apply successfully if some other transaction was applied first. They have numerical values in the range -99 to -1. The exact code for any given error is subject to change, so don't rely on it.

Code Explanation
terRETRY Unspecified retriable error.
terFUNDS_SPENT Deprecated. This code should never be returned.
terINSUF_FEE_B The account sending the transaction does not have enough XRP to pay the Fee specified in the transaction.
terNO_ACCOUNT The account sending the transaction does not exist in the ledger (yet).
terNO_AUTH The transaction would involve adding currency issued by an account with lsfRequireAuth enabled to a trustline that is not authorized. For example, you placed an offer to buy a currency you aren't authorized to hold.
terNO_LINE Used internally only. This code should never be returned.
terOWNERS The transaction requires that account sending it has a nonzero "owners count", so the transaction cannot succeed. For example, an account cannot enable the lsfRequireAuth flag if it has any trust lines or available offers.
terPRE_SEQ The Sequence number of the current transaction is higher than the current sequence number of the account sending the transaction.
terLAST Used internally only. This code should never be returned.
terNO_RIPPLE Used internally only. This code should never be returned.

tes Success

The code tesSUCCESS is the only code that indicates a transaction succeeded. This does not necessarily mean it accomplished its goal (for example, an OfferCancel can "succeed" if there is no offer for it to cancel). Success uses the numerical value 0.

Code Explanation
tesSUCCESS The transaction was applied and forwarded to other servers. If this appears in a validated ledger, then the transaction's success is final.

tec Codes

These codes indicate that the transaction failed, but it was applied to a ledger in order to apply the transaction cost. They have numerical values in the range 100 to 199. The exact codes sometimes appear in ledger data, so they do not change, but we recommend not relying on the numeric value regardless.

Code Value Explanation
tecCLAIM 100 Unspecified failure, with transaction cost destroyed.
tecPATH_PARTIAL 101 The transaction failed because the provided paths did not have enough liquidity to send the full amount.
tecUNFUNDED_ADD 102 DEPRECATED.
tecUNFUNDED_OFFER 103 The OfferCreate transaction failed because the account creating the offer does not have any of the TakerGets currency.
tecUNFUNDED_PAYMENT 104 The transaction failed because the sending account is trying to send more XRP than it holds, not counting the reserve. (See: Reserves)
tecFAILED_PROCESSING 105 An unspecified error occurred when processing the transaction.
tecDIR_FULL 121 The "owners count" of the account sending the transaction is already maxed out.
tecINSUF_RESERVE_LINE 122 The transaction failed because the sending account does not have enough XRP to create a new trust line. (See: Reserves) This error occurs when the counterparty already has a trust line in a non-default state to the sending account for the same currency. (See tecNO_LINE_INSUF_RESERVE for the other case.)
tecINSUF_RESERVE_OFFER 123 The transaction failed because the sending account does not have enough XRP to create a new Offer. (See: Reserves)
tecNO_DST 124 The account on the receiving end of the transaction does not exist. This includes Payment and TrustSet transaction types. (It could be created if it received sufficient XRP.)
tecNO_DST_INSUF_XRP 125 The account on the receiving end of the transaction does not exist, and the transaction is not sending enough XRP to create it.
tecNO_LINE_INSUF_RESERVE 126 The transaction failed because the sending account does not have enough XRP to create a new trust line. (See: Reserves) This error occurs when the counterparty does not have a trust line to this account for the same currency. (See tecINSUF_RESERVE_LINE for the other case.)
tecNO_LINE_REDUNDANT 127 The transaction failed because it attempted to set a trust line to its default state, but the trust line did not exist.
tecPATH_DRY 128 The transaction failed because the provided paths did not have enough liquidity to send anything at all. This could mean that the source and destination accounts are not linked by trust lines.
tecUNFUNDED 129 DEPRECATED. Replaced by tecUNFUNDED_OFFER and tecUNFUNDED_PAYMENT.
tecMASTER_DISABLED 130 The SetRegularKey transaction tried to unset the Regular Key, but the account has the lsfDisableMaster flag enabled. (Unsetting the Regular Key while also leaving the Master Key disabled would make the account unusable.)
tecNO_REGULAR_KEY 131 The AccountSet transaction tried to disable the Master Key, but the account does not have a Regular Key set. (Disabling the Master Key without having a Regular Key configured would make the account unusable.)
tecOWNERS 132 The transaction requires that account sending it has a nonzero "owners count", so the transaction cannot succeed. For example, an account cannot enable the lsfRequireAuth flag if it has any trust lines or available offers.
tecNO_ISSUER 133 The account specified in the issuer field of a currency amount does not exist.
tecNO_AUTH 134 The transaction failed because it needs to add a balance on a trust line to an account with the lsfRequireAuth flag enabled, and that trust line has not been authorized. If the trust line does not exist at all, tecNO_LINE occurs instead.
tecNO_LINE 135 The TakerPays field of the OfferCreate transaction specifies an asset whose issuer has lsfRequireAuth enabled, and the account making the offer does not have a trust line for that asset. (Normally, making an offer implicitly creates a trust line if necessary, but in this case it does not bother because you cannot hold the asset without authorization.) If the trust line exists, but is not authorized, tecNO_AUTH occurs instead.
tecINSUFF_FEE 136 The account sending the transaction does not possess enough XRP to pay the specified Fee. This error only occurs if the transaction has already been propagated through the network to achieve consensus,
tecFROZEN 137 The OfferCreate transaction failed because one or both of the assets involved are subject to a global freeze.
tecNO_TARGET 138 FORTHCOMING Part of multi-signature transactions.
tecNO_PERMISSION 139 FORTHCOMING Part of multi-signature transactions.
tecNO_ENTRY 140 FORTHCOMING Part of multi-signature transactions.
tecINSUFFICIENT_RESERVE 141 FORTHCOMING Part of multi-signature transactions. (Code may change; see RIPD-743 for status.)
tecNEED_MASTER_KEY 142 This transaction attempted to cause changes that require the master key, such as disabling the master key or giving up the ability to freeze balances. (New in rippled 0.28.0)
tecDST_TAG_NEEDED 143 The Payment transaction omitted a destination tag, but the destination account has the lsfRequireDestTag flag enabled. (New in rippled 0.28.0)
tecINTERNAL 144 Unspecified internal error, with transaction cost applied. This error code should not normally be returned.
tecOVERSIZE 145 This transaction could not be processed, because attempted transaction processing created an excessively large amount of metadata. (New in rippled 0.29.0-hf1 )

tej Codes

These codes are only ever returned by the ripple-lib client library, not by rippled itself.

Code Explanation
tejAbort The transaction was manually canceled by calling transaction.abort().
tejAttemptsExceeded The transaction was submitted multiple times, up to a total equal to the max attempts setting, without being successfully included in a ledger.
tejInvalidFlag One of the flags specified was invalid, or does not apply to this transaction type.
tejLocalSigningRequired The transaction could not be resubmitted because local signing is disabled.
tejMaxFeeExceeded The transaction cost that would be necessary to send the transaction is higher than the maximum transaction cost setting, which is either the _MaxFee parameter of the Transaction (if provided) or the maximum transaction cost configured for the remote. The default value is 1 XRP (100000 drops).
tejMaxLedger Currently-validated ledgers have surpassed the LastLedgerSequence parameter of the transaction without including it, so it can no longer succeed. (Also see Reliable Transaction Submission.) When using ripple-lib, this error effectively replaces all non-final errors, including tel-, tef-, and ter-class response codes.
tejSecretInvalid The secret included for signing this transaction was not a properly-formatted secret.
tejSecretUnknown The secret for a given account was omitted from the transaction, and ripple-lib was unable to automatically fill it in from saved data.
tejServerUntrusted The application attempted to submit an account secret to an untrusted server for transaction signing.
tejUnconnected The application is not connected to a rippled server, but it needs to be in order to process the transaction.