Transactions

Learn how users interact with NEAR through transactions composed of actions, signed with private keys, and processed by the network with deterministic gas costs

Users interact with NEAR by creating transactions. Specifically, users use their account’s private keys to sign transactions, which are then broadcasted and processed by the network.

A transaction is composed of one or more Actions, and each action costs a deterministic amount of gas units. These gas units are translated into a cost in NEAR tokens, which the user must pay for the transaction to be processed.

You can use an Explorer to inspect transactions in the NEAR network

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Transaction Lifecycle

Transactions in NEAR go through several stages from creation to finality:

1. Transaction Created

   User creates and signs a transaction with their private key

2. Broadcast

   Transaction is broadcast to the network

3. Validation

   Network validates the transaction structure and signature

4. Conversion to Receipt

   Transaction is converted into a Receipt containing all actions

5. Execution

   Receipt is executed and actions are performed

6. Finality

   Transaction reaches finality (typically 1-3 seconds)

Learn More

Explore the detailed anatomy of a transaction

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Transaction Components

Each transaction contains:

Required Fields

• Signer: The account that signs the transaction
• Receiver: The account on which to perform the actions
• Actions: The set of actions to be performed

Validation Fields

• PublicKey: The public key used to sign the transaction
• Nonce: A number incremented for each transaction
• BlockHash: Hash of a recent block for time-validity

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Transaction Status

As transactions are processed, they receive a status:

• Success: All actions executed successfully
• Failed: An action failed and was rolled back
• Unknown: Receipt is not known by the network

A transaction is considered final when all its receipts are processed. This typically takes 1-3 seconds.

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Gas and Fees

Every transaction requires gas to be processed:

• Gas is calculated in deterministic gas units
• Gas units are converted to NEAR tokens using the network’s gas price
• Users pay the fee upfront when the transaction is submitted
• Unused gas is refunded (minus a small refund fee)

Learn More

Understand how gas works in NEAR