How to Send Tokens

Use the Token Program or the Token Extensions Program (aka Token22) to transfer SPL Tokens. In order to send a SPL token, you need to know its Associated Token Account (ATA) address, which is derived from:

the destination wallet
the token mint address
the token program used to create the mint

You can both get the token account's address and send tokens to it with the following examples:

import {
  address,
  createSolanaClient,
  createTransaction,
  getExplorerLink,
  getSignatureFromTransaction,
  signTransactionMessageWithSigners,
} from "gill";
import { loadKeypairSignerFromFile } from "gill/node";
import {
  getAssociatedTokenAccountAddress,
  getCreateAssociatedTokenIdempotentInstruction,
  getTransferInstruction,
  TOKEN_PROGRAM_ADDRESS,
  getTransferTokensInstructions,
  buildTransferTokensTransaction,
} from "gill/programs/token";

const signer = await loadKeypairSignerFromFile();

const { rpc, sendAndConfirmTransaction } = createSolanaClient({
  urlOrMoniker: "devnet",
});

const { value: latestBlockhash } = await rpc.getLatestBlockhash().send();

const mint = address("HwxZNMkZbZMeiu9Xnmc6Rg8jYgNsJB47jwabHGUebW4F");
const tokenProgram = TOKEN_PROGRAM_ADDRESS; // use the correct program for the `mint`

const destination = address("7sZoCrE3cGgEpNgxcPnGffDeWfTewKnk6wWdLxmYA7Cy");
const destinationAta = await getAssociatedTokenAccountAddress(
  mint,
  destination,
  tokenProgram,
);

const source = address("nick6zJc6HpW3kfBm4xS2dmbuVRyb5F3AnUvj5ymzR5");
const sourceAta = await getAssociatedTokenAccountAddress(
  mint,
  source,
  tokenProgram,
);

/**
 * instead of manually crafting the two instructions below, and deriving the ata's above:
 * you could use the `getTransferTokensInstructions()` function to simplify this code
 */
const transaction = createTransaction({
  feePayer: signer,
  version: "legacy",
  instructions: [
    // create idempotent will gracefully fail if the ata already exists. this is the gold standard!
    getCreateAssociatedTokenIdempotentInstruction({
      mint,
      payer: signer,
      tokenProgram,
      owner: destination,
      ata: destinationAta,
    }),
    getTransferInstruction(
      {
        source: sourceAta,
        authority: signer,
        destination: destinationAta,
        amount: 1_000_000,
      },
      { programAddress: tokenProgram },
    ),
  ],
  latestBlockhash,
});

// instead of the above, you can also simplify with `buildTransferTokensTransaction()`
const transaction2 = await buildTransferTokensTransaction({
  feePayer: signer,
  version: "legacy",
  latestBlockhash,
  amount: 1_000_000,
  authority: signer,
  destination: destination,
  mint,
  tokenProgram,
});

const signedTransaction = await signTransactionMessageWithSigners(transaction);

console.log(
  "Explorer:",
  getExplorerLink({
    cluster: "devnet",
    transaction: getSignatureFromTransaction(signedTransaction),
  }),
);

await sendAndConfirmTransaction(signedTransaction);