Send a Transfer

Overview

Channel transfers are standard SPL token transfers submitted to the gateway - there is no dedicated Private Channels transfer instruction. The gateway routes the transaction to the write node, which executes it against the channel's off-chain accounts layer. Transfers confirm when the sequencer processes them, not when a Solana block confirms, and do not appear on Mainnet.

Switch Your Wallet RPC

Before sending a transfer, switch your wallet's RPC endpoint to the gateway URL instead of Solana Devnet:

http://localhost:8899

Transactions sent to a public Solana RPC will land on Mainnet, not the channel.

Authentication

If you started the stack without --profile auth (the default devnet configuration), the gateway operates in open mode and no token is required - skip this section.

When the Auth Service is enabled (JWT_SECRET is set on the gateway), all requests require a JWT bearer token in the Authorization header:

Authorization: Bearer <JWT_TOKEN>

See Authentication & Roles for how to register, log in, and obtain a token.

Build and Send a Transfer

If the recipient's associated token account does not exist on the channel yet, add a createAssociatedTokenAccountIdempotent instruction before the transfer. The code below handles both cases:

import {
  address,
  createSolanaRpc,
  pipe,
  createTransactionMessage,
  setTransactionMessageFeePayerSigner,
  setTransactionMessageLifetimeUsingBlockhash,
  appendTransactionMessageInstruction,
  signAndSendTransactionMessageWithSigners,
  assertIsTransactionMessageWithSingleSendingSigner,
  getBase58Decoder
} from "@solana/kit";
import {
  findAssociatedTokenPda,
  getCreateAssociatedTokenIdempotentInstruction,
  getTransferInstruction
} from "@solana-program/token";

const TOKEN_PROGRAM_ADDRESS = address(
  "TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA"
);

// Point to the gateway, not a public Solana RPC
const privateChannelRpc = createSolanaRpc("http://localhost:8899");

// Derive source and destination associated token accounts
const [sourceAta] = await findAssociatedTokenPda({
  mint: address(mintAddress),
  owner: address(senderAddress),
  tokenProgram: TOKEN_PROGRAM_ADDRESS
});

const [destinationAta] = await findAssociatedTokenPda({
  mint: address(mintAddress),
  owner: address(recipientAddress),
  tokenProgram: TOKEN_PROGRAM_ADDRESS
});

const transferInstruction = getTransferInstruction({
  source: sourceAta,
  destination: destinationAta,
  authority: transactionSigner,
  amount: 1_000_000n // 1 USDC (6 decimals)
});

// Create the destination ATA on the channel if it does not exist yet
const destinationAtaInfo = await privateChannelRpc
  .getAccountInfo(destinationAta, { encoding: "base64" })
  .send();

const { value: latestBlockhash } = await privateChannelRpc
  .getLatestBlockhash({ commitment: "confirmed" })
  .send();

// Sent to the Private Channels gateway (not Solana RPC directly), which
// expects the legacy transaction format - do not switch this to version 0.
const transactionMessage = !destinationAtaInfo.value
  ? pipe(
      createTransactionMessage({ version: "legacy" }),
      (m) => setTransactionMessageFeePayerSigner(transactionSigner, m),
      (m) => setTransactionMessageLifetimeUsingBlockhash(latestBlockhash, m),
      (m) =>
        appendTransactionMessageInstruction(
          getCreateAssociatedTokenIdempotentInstruction({
            payer: transactionSigner,
            ata: destinationAta,
            owner: address(recipientAddress),
            mint: address(mintAddress)
          }),
          m
        ),
      (m) => appendTransactionMessageInstruction(transferInstruction, m)
    )
  : pipe(
      createTransactionMessage({ version: "legacy" }),
      (m) => setTransactionMessageFeePayerSigner(transactionSigner, m),
      (m) => setTransactionMessageLifetimeUsingBlockhash(latestBlockhash, m),
      (m) => appendTransactionMessageInstruction(transferInstruction, m)
    );

assertIsTransactionMessageWithSingleSendingSigner(transactionMessage);

const signatureBytes =
  await signAndSendTransactionMessageWithSigners(transactionMessage);
const signature = getBase58Decoder().decode(signatureBytes);
console.log("Transfer signature:", signature);

Verify the Transfer

Query the recipient's channel balance through the gateway to confirm the transfer landed:

const [recipientAta] = await findAssociatedTokenPda({
  mint: address(mintAddress),
  owner: address(recipientAddress),
  tokenProgram: TOKEN_PROGRAM_ADDRESS
});

const balance = await privateChannelRpc
  .getTokenAccountBalance(recipientAta)
  .send();
console.log(balance.value.uiAmountString);

Next Steps

Withdraw Funds - withdraw tokens back to your Solana wallet