aaronbassett/midnight-dapp:transaction-flows

Transaction Flows

Submit, track, and handle transactions through the complete Midnight lifecycle: build, prove, submit, and confirm.

When to Use

• Submitting transactions to Midnight contracts
• Tracking transaction status and confirmation
• Implementing retry logic for failed submissions
• Building responsive UIs during proof generation
• Understanding the differences from Ethereum transactions

Key Concepts

Build-Prove-Submit-Confirm Flow

Midnight transactions go through four distinct phases:

1. Build: Create transaction with contract.callTx.* and witness data
2. Prove: Wallet generates ZK proof via local proof server (seconds)
3. Submit: Send proven transaction with walletAPI.submitTransaction()
4. Confirm: Wait for finality on the Midnight network

// Complete transaction flow
const tx = await contract.callTx.transfer(recipient, amount, witnesses);
const provenTx = await walletAPI.balanceAndProveTransaction(tx, newCoins);
const txHash = await walletAPI.submitTransaction(provenTx);
// Wait for confirmation...

User Experience Implications

Unlike Ethereum's instant signing, Midnight proof generation takes several seconds. Your UI must:

• Show loading states during proof generation
• Provide progress indicators when possible
• Handle timeouts gracefully
• Support cancellation
• Allow retries on failure

References

| Document | Description | |----------|-------------| | transaction-lifecycle.md | Complete transaction flow with state transitions | | signing-flow.md | Wallet signing and proof generation details | | confirmation-patterns.md | Polling, finality, and UI update strategies | | web3-comparison.md | Ethereum transaction patterns vs Midnight |

Examples

| Example | Description | |---------|-------------| | submit-transaction/ | Complete transaction submission flow | | tx-status-tracker/ | Transaction status tracking UI | | retry-patterns/ | Exponential backoff and retry UI |

Quick Start

1. Build the Transaction

import type { WitnessContext } from "@midnight-ntwrk/midnight-js-types";

// Define witnesses for private data
const witnesses = {
  get_secret: ({ privateState }: WitnessContext<PrivateState>): bigint => {
    return privateState.secret;
  },
};

// Build transaction
const tx = await contract.callTx.transfer(recipient, amount, witnesses);

2. Prove and Submit

// Show loading - this takes several seconds
setStatus("Generating proof...");

// Prove transaction (invokes local proof server)
const provenTx = await walletAPI.balanceAndProveTransaction(tx, newCoins);

// Submit to network
setStatus("Submitting...");
const txHash = await walletAPI.submitTransaction(provenTx);

setStatus("Submitted!");
console.log("Transaction hash:", txHash);

3. Track Status

function useTxStatus(txHash: string | null) {
  const [status, setStatus] = useState<TxStatus>("pending");

  useEffect(() => {
    if (!txHash) return;

    const checkStatus = async () => {
      // Poll for transaction confirmation
      const result = await checkTransaction(txHash);
      setStatus(result.status);
    };

    const interval = setInterval(checkStatus, 3000);
    return () => clearInterval(interval);
  }, [txHash]);

  return status;
}

4. Handle Errors with Retry

async function submitWithRetry(
  buildTx: () => Promise<Transaction>,
  maxRetries = 3
): Promise<string> {
  let lastError: Error | null = null;

  for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= maxRetries; attempt++) {
    try {
      const tx = await buildTx();
      const provenTx = await walletAPI.balanceAndProveTransaction(tx, newCoins);
      return await walletAPI.submitTransaction(provenTx);
    } catch (error) {
      lastError = error as Error;

      // Don't retry user rejection
      if (error.message.includes("rejected")) {
        throw error;
      }

      // Exponential backoff
      if (attempt < maxRetries) {
        await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 1000 * Math.pow(2, attempt)));
      }
    }
  }

  throw lastError ?? new Error("Transaction failed");
}

Common Patterns

Transaction State Machine

type TxState =
  | { status: "idle" }
  | { status: "building" }
  | { status: "proving" }
  | { status: "submitting" }
  | { status: "pending"; txHash: string }
  | { status: "confirmed"; txHash: string }
  | { status: "failed"; error: Error };

function txReducer(state: TxState, action: TxAction): TxState {
  switch (action.type) {
    case "START":
      return { status: "building" };
    case "PROVING":
      return { status: "proving" };
    case "SUBMITTING":
      return { status: "submitting" };
    case "SUBMITTED":
      return { status: "pending", txHash: action.txHash };
    case "CONFIRMED":
      return { status: "confirmed", txHash: action.txHash };
    case "FAILED":
      return { status: "failed", error: action.error };
    case "RESET":
      return { status: "idle" };
    default:
      return state;
  }
}

Optimistic UI Updates

async function transferWithOptimisticUpdate(
  recipient: Uint8Array,
  amount: bigint
) {
  // Optimistically update UI
  const previousBalance = balance;
  setBalance((prev) => prev - amount);

  try {
    const tx = await contract.callTx.transfer(recipient, amount, witnesses);
    const provenTx = await walletAPI.balanceAndProveTransaction(tx, newCoins);
    await walletAPI.submitTransaction(provenTx);
    // Success - optimistic update was correct
  } catch (error) {
    // Revert optimistic update
    setBalance(previousBalance);
    throw error;
  }
}

Performance Considerations

| Concern | Mitigation | |---------|------------| | Proof generation (5-30s) | Show progress UI, allow cancellation | | Network latency | Implement retry with exponential backoff | | Timeout during proof | Set appropriate timeout (60s+), retry on timeout | | User waits for confirmation | Show pending state, allow background monitoring |

Related Skills

• wallet-integration - Wallet connection before transactions
• proof-handling - Witness construction and proof generation
• state-management - Reading state before/after transactions
• error-handling - Transaction error messages and recovery

Related Commands

• /dapp-check - Validates transaction provider configuration
• /dapp-debug transactions - Diagnose transaction submission issues