How to Send and Transfer SOL on Solana

This guide walks will show you how to build a Javascript function that transfers SOL from one wallet to another on the Solana blockchain utilizing the Metaplex Umi client wrapper and MPL Toolbox package.

Prerequisite

• Code Editor of your choice (recommended Visual Studio Code)
• Node 18.x.x or above.
• Basic Javascript knowledge

Initial Setup

Initializing

Start by initializing a new project (optional) with the package manager of your choice (npm, yarn, pnpm, bun) and fill in required details when prompted.

npm init

Required Packages

Install the required packages for this guide.

npm i @metaplex-foundation/umi

npm i @metaplex-foundation/umi-bundle-defaults

npm i @metaplex-foundation/mpl-toolbox;

Imports and Wrapper Function

Here we will define all needed imports for this particular guide and create a wrapper function where all our code will execute.

import { mplToolbox, transferSol } from '@metaplex-foundation/mpl-toolbox'
import {
  generateSigner,
  publicKey,
  signerIdentity,
  sol,
} from '@metaplex-foundation/umi'
import { createUmi } from '@metaplex-foundation/umi-bundle-defaults'
import { base58 } from '@metaplex-foundation/umi/serializers'

// Create the wrapper function
const transferSolana = async () => {
  ///
  ///
  ///  all our code will go in here
  ///
  ///
}

// run the wrapper function
transferSolana()

Setting up Umi

This example is going to run through setting up Umi with a generatedSigner(). If you wish to set up a wallet or signer in a different way you can check out the Connecting to Umi guide.

Generating a New Wallet

If you wish to generate a new wallet/private key to test with you generate a new signer with umi.

const umi = createUmi('https://api.devnet.solana.com')
  .use(mplCore())
  .use(irysUploader())

// Generate a new keypair signer.
const signer = generateSigner(umi)

// Tell Umi to use the new signer.
umi.use(signerIdentity(signer))

// This will airdrop SOL on devnet only for testing.
await umi.rpc.airdrop(umi.identity.publickey)

Use an Existing Wallet Stored Locally

const umi = createUmi('https://api.devnet.solana.com')
  .use(mplToolbox())

// You will need to us fs and navigate the filesystem to
// load the wallet you wish to use via relative pathing.
const walletFile = const imageFile = fs.readFileSync('./keypair.json')

// Convert your walletFile onto a keypair.
let keypair = umi.eddsa.createKeypairFromSecretKey(new Uint8Array(walletFile));

// Load the keypair into umi.
umi.use(keypairIdentity(umiSigner));

Transferring Sol

The mpl-toolbox package provides a helper function called transferSol that creates the instructions needed in order to execute a transfer on the blockchain.

// Here we call the transferSol() function and send it to the chain.

const res = await transferSol(umi, {
  source: umi.identity,
  destination: publicKey('111111111111111111111111111111'),
  amount: sol(1),
}).sendAndConfirm(umi)

Full Code Example

import { mplToolbox, transferSol } from '@metaplex-foundation/mpl-toolbox'
import {
  generateSigner,
  publicKey,
  signerIdentity,
  sol,
} from '@metaplex-foundation/umi'
import { createUmi } from '@metaplex-foundation/umi-bundle-defaults'
import { base58 } from '@metaplex-foundation/umi/serializers'

const transfer = async () => {
  const umi = createUmi('https://api.devnet.solana.com').use(mplToolbox())

  const signer = generateSigner(umi)

  umi.use(signerIdentity(signer))

  // Airdrop 1 SOL to the identity
  // if you end up with a 429 too many requests error, you may have to use
  // the filesystem wallet method or change rpcs.
  await umi.rpc.airdrop(umi.identity.publicKey, sol(1))

  //
  // Transfer SOL
  //

  const res = await transferSol(umi, {
    source: umi.identity,
    destination: publicKey('111111111111111111111111111111'),
    amount: sol(1),
  }).sendAndConfirm(umi)

  // Log the signature of the transaction
  console.log(base58.deserialize(res.signature))
}

transfer()