Transaction

Overview

The Transaction component is the fundamental building block for creating and managing BSV blockchain transactions. It provides a comprehensive API for constructing, signing, and serializing transactions.

Purpose

Transactions are the core mechanism for transferring value and storing data on the BSV blockchain. This component handles:

• Creating new transactions

• Adding inputs and outputs

• Fee calculation

• Transaction signing

• Serialization for broadcasting

Basic Usage

import { Transaction } from '@bsv/sdk'

// Create a new transaction
const tx = new Transaction()

// Add inputs and outputs
tx.addInput(/* ... */)
tx.addOutput(/* ... */)

// Sign the transaction
await tx.sign()

// Serialize for broadcasting
const rawTx = tx.toHex()

Key Features

Transaction Creation

• Build transactions from scratch

• Parse existing transactions

• Clone and modify transactions

Input/Output Management

• Add multiple inputs

• Create various output types

• Calculate change outputs

Fee Management

• Automatic fee calculation

• Custom fee rates

• Fee estimation

Signing

• Sign with private keys

• Multi-signature support

• Custom signing algorithms

Related Components

• Transaction Input - Managing transaction inputs

• Transaction Output - Creating outputs

• UTXO Management - Working with UTXOs

• Signatures - Digital signature operations

Code Examples

See Code Features - Transaction Creation for complete examples.

API Reference

Constructor

new Transaction(version?: number, inputs?: TransactionInput[], outputs?: TransactionOutput[], lockTime?: number)

Methods

• addInput(input: TransactionInput): void

• addOutput(output: TransactionOutput): void

• sign(): Promise<void>

• toHex(): string

• toBuffer(): Buffer

• getFee(): number

Common Patterns

Simple Payment Transaction

Create a basic P2PKH payment transaction with automatic fee calculation.

Data Storage Transaction

Include data in OP_RETURN outputs for on-chain storage.

Multi-Input Transaction

Combine multiple UTXOs efficiently.

Best Practices

1. Always verify inputs before signing

2. Use appropriate fee rates for timely confirmation

3. Validate output amounts

4. Handle errors during signing

5. Keep transactions under size limits

Learning Path References

• Beginner: Your First Transaction

• Intermediate: Transaction Building