How NEAR processes a transaction step by step
A signed NEAR transaction goes to the shard that owns your account, where a chunk producer orders it into a chunk and validators finalize the block.
Vahe HakobyanEditor-in-chief
Updated Oct 6, 20263 min readFact-checked
On this page
- A signer key authorizes transactions, and the account pays the gas.
- Final success or failure appears only after the receipts finish.
- A failed transaction can still consume gas.
NEAR splits its network into shards, so the work a single transaction starts can move between them. Signing starts that chain of work, and the result arrives later.
What you need before you start
Before anything can be signed, the network needs an account and a key. A signer key approves a transaction within the permissions the account owner granted it, so a function-call key has narrower reach than a full-access key.
How NEAR processes a transaction
Each stage of the flow has its own role after signing. The steps below run in this order.
- 1Sign and broadcastYour wallet signs with your signer key and sends it to a NEAR node.
- 2Reach your shardThe node routes it to the shard that owns your account.
- 3Enter a chunkA chunk producer orders it into a chunk, and validators finalize the block.
- 4Create receiptsEach cross-contract call becomes a receipt, even when it targets another shard.
- 5Run receipts laterReceipts execute in later chunks, so the work continues after the transaction.
- 6Read the outcomeSuccess or failure is clear only after every receipt finishes.
What to check after sending
Your wallet shows a transaction hash after you send. Paste that hash into a NEAR explorer to follow the flow.
- The transaction hash, which identifies your signed transaction.
- The receipt IDs, one for each unit of work.
- The final execution status, shown separately from each receipt.
- The gas used, which a failed transaction can still consume.
Frequently asked questions
A receipt is a unit of work that NEAR creates from a transaction or from another receipt. Each one has its own ID and status, and it can run on another shard.
Yes. A receipt it created can fail in a later chunk while the transaction itself is recorded as successful.
The wallet shows the hash right after you send. The explorer keeps the hash and reports the final execution status as a separate field once the receipts have finished.
The receipt for that call fails and the explorer marks it. Value moved by earlier receipts is not rolled back automatically.
