Apex Quickstart

Prerequisites

You need:

An Apex API key from the OrbitFlare dashboard under Dashboard > Apex.
A funded Solana keypair file (the JSON array format written by solana-keygen), with at least 0.002 SOL to cover the 0.001 SOL tip and network fees.
Any Solana RPC URL for fetching a blockhash and confirming, for example your OrbitFlare RPC endpoint.

Every example reads the same environment variables:

export APEX_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
export APEX_RPC="http://fra.apex.orbitflare.com"   # nearest Apex endpoint, see Endpoints and regions
export SOLANA_RPC_URL="https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com"
export KEYPAIR_PATH="payer.json"

These examples send a real transaction on mainnet. If it lands, it pays a 0.001 SOL tip plus the network fee. If it does not land, it costs nothing.

Send Your First Transaction

Check that the Apex endpoint is reachable

GET /ping needs no key and returns pong:

curl -s "$APEX_RPC/ping"

Fetch the tip accounts

curl -s "$APEX_RPC" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"getTipAccounts","params":[]}'

Your transaction must transfer at least your tier’s floor (0.001 SOL on the standard tier) to one of these accounts. See Tips.

Build, sign, send, and confirm

Each tab is a complete program. It builds a memo transaction with a compute budget and a tip, sends it with JSON-RPC sendTransaction, and waits for confirmation.cURL cannot sign a transaction, so the cURL tab uses a small Node.js script to build and sign one and print it as base64. Everything after that is plain cURL.

# 1. Save this as sign.mjs, then: npm install @solana/web3.js
cat > sign.mjs <<'SCRIPT'
import {
  ComputeBudgetProgram, Connection, Keypair, PublicKey, SystemProgram,
  TransactionInstruction, TransactionMessage, VersionedTransaction,
} from "@solana/web3.js";
import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";

const payer = Keypair.fromSecretKey(
  Uint8Array.from(JSON.parse(readFileSync(process.env.KEYPAIR_PATH ?? "payer.json", "utf8"))),
);
const connection = new Connection(process.env.SOLANA_RPC_URL, "confirmed");
const { blockhash } = await connection.getLatestBlockhash("confirmed");
const message = new TransactionMessage({
  payerKey: payer.publicKey,
  recentBlockhash: blockhash,
  instructions: [
    ComputeBudgetProgram.setComputeUnitLimit({ units: 100_000 }),
    ComputeBudgetProgram.setComputeUnitPrice({ microLamports: 10_000 }),
    new TransactionInstruction({
      programId: new PublicKey("MemoSq4gqABAXKb96qnH8TysNcWxMyWCqXgDLGmfcHr"),
      keys: [{ pubkey: payer.publicKey, isSigner: true, isWritable: true }],
      data: Buffer.from(`apex curl ${Date.now()}`),
    }),
    SystemProgram.transfer({
      fromPubkey: payer.publicKey,
      toPubkey: new PublicKey(process.argv[2]),
      lamports: 1_000_000,
    }),
  ],
}).compileToV0Message();
const tx = new VersionedTransaction(message);
tx.sign([payer]);
console.log(Buffer.from(tx.serialize()).toString("base64"));
SCRIPT

# 2. Pick a tip account and sign a transaction that tips it.
TIP_ACCOUNT=$(curl -s "$APEX_RPC" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"getTipAccounts","params":[]}' | jq -r '.result[0]')
TX_BASE64=$(node sign.mjs "$TIP_ACCOUNT")

# 3. Send it. params: [base64 transaction, config, mevProtect]
SIGNATURE=$(curl -s "$APEX_RPC" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-api-key: $APEX_API_KEY" \
  -d "{\"jsonrpc\":\"2.0\",\"id\":1,\"method\":\"sendTransaction\",\"params\":[\"$TX_BASE64\",{\"encoding\":\"base64\"},false]}" \
  | jq -r '.result // .error')
echo "accepted: $SIGNATURE"

# 4. Confirm on any Solana RPC. Repeat until confirmationStatus is "confirmed".
curl -s "$SOLANA_RPC_URL" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"jsonrpc\":\"2.0\",\"id\":1,\"method\":\"getSignatureStatuses\",\"params\":[[\"$SIGNATURE\"]]}" | jq '.result.value[0]'

// send.mjs
//   npm install @solana/web3.js
//   node send.mjs
import {
  ComputeBudgetProgram, Connection, Keypair, PublicKey, SystemProgram,
  TransactionInstruction, TransactionMessage, VersionedTransaction,
} from "@solana/web3.js";
import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";

const APEX_RPC = process.env.APEX_RPC ?? "http://fra.apex.orbitflare.com";
const API_KEY = process.env.APEX_API_KEY;
const SOLANA_RPC = process.env.SOLANA_RPC_URL ?? "https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com";
const TIP_LAMPORTS = Number(process.env.TIP_LAMPORTS ?? 1_000_000);
const MEMO_PROGRAM = new PublicKey("MemoSq4gqABAXKb96qnH8TysNcWxMyWCqXgDLGmfcHr");

async function apexRpc(method, params) {
  const res = await fetch(APEX_RPC, {
    method: "POST",
    headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json", "x-api-key": API_KEY },
    body: JSON.stringify({ jsonrpc: "2.0", id: 1, method, params }),
  });
  const body = await res.json();
  if (body.error) throw new Error(`${method} failed ${body.error.code}: ${body.error.message}`);
  return body.result;
}

if (!API_KEY) throw new Error("APEX_API_KEY is required");
const payer = Keypair.fromSecretKey(
  Uint8Array.from(JSON.parse(readFileSync(process.env.KEYPAIR_PATH ?? "payer.json", "utf8"))),
);
const connection = new Connection(SOLANA_RPC, "confirmed");

const tipAccounts = await apexRpc("getTipAccounts", []);
const tipAccount = new PublicKey(tipAccounts[Math.floor(Math.random() * tipAccounts.length)]);

const { blockhash, lastValidBlockHeight } = await connection.getLatestBlockhash("confirmed");
const message = new TransactionMessage({
  payerKey: payer.publicKey,
  recentBlockhash: blockhash,
  instructions: [
    ComputeBudgetProgram.setComputeUnitLimit({ units: 100_000 }),
    ComputeBudgetProgram.setComputeUnitPrice({ microLamports: 10_000 }),
    new TransactionInstruction({
      programId: MEMO_PROGRAM,
      keys: [{ pubkey: payer.publicKey, isSigner: true, isWritable: true }],
      data: Buffer.from(`apex javascript ${Date.now()}`),
    }),
    SystemProgram.transfer({ fromPubkey: payer.publicKey, toPubkey: tipAccount, lamports: TIP_LAMPORTS }),
  ],
}).compileToV0Message();
const tx = new VersionedTransaction(message);
tx.sign([payer]);

const started = Date.now();
// params: [base64 transaction, { encoding, maxRetries? }, mevProtect]
const signature = await apexRpc("sendTransaction", [
  Buffer.from(tx.serialize()).toString("base64"),
  { encoding: "base64" },
  false,
]);
console.log(`accepted in ${Date.now() - started} ms: ${signature}`);

const result = await connection.confirmTransaction({ signature, blockhash, lastValidBlockHeight }, "confirmed");
if (result.value.err) throw new Error(`failed on chain: ${JSON.stringify(result.value.err)}`);
console.log(`confirmed after ${Date.now() - started} ms`);

# send.py
#   pip install solders requests
#   python send.py
import base64
import json
import os
import random
import time

import requests
from solders.compute_budget import set_compute_unit_limit, set_compute_unit_price
from solders.hash import Hash
from solders.instruction import AccountMeta, Instruction
from solders.keypair import Keypair
from solders.message import Message
from solders.pubkey import Pubkey
from solders.system_program import TransferParams, transfer
from solders.transaction import Transaction

APEX_RPC = os.environ.get("APEX_RPC", "http://fra.apex.orbitflare.com")
API_KEY = os.environ["APEX_API_KEY"]
SOLANA_RPC = os.environ.get("SOLANA_RPC_URL", "https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com")
TIP_LAMPORTS = int(os.environ.get("TIP_LAMPORTS", "1000000"))
MEMO_PROGRAM = Pubkey.from_string("MemoSq4gqABAXKb96qnH8TysNcWxMyWCqXgDLGmfcHr")


def apex_rpc(method, params):
    r = requests.post(APEX_RPC, headers={"x-api-key": API_KEY},
                      json={"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": method, "params": params}, timeout=5)
    body = r.json()
    if "error" in body:
        raise RuntimeError(f"{method} failed {body['error']['code']}: {body['error']['message']}")
    return body["result"]


def solana_rpc(method, params):
    r = requests.post(SOLANA_RPC, json={"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": method, "params": params}, timeout=10)
    return r.json()["result"]


def confirm(signature, timeout_s=30.0):
    deadline = time.time() + timeout_s
    while time.time() < deadline:
        status = solana_rpc("getSignatureStatuses", [[signature]])["value"][0]
        if status and status.get("err"):
            raise RuntimeError(f"failed on chain: {status['err']}")
        if status and status.get("confirmationStatus") in ("confirmed", "finalized"):
            return status["slot"]
        time.sleep(0.5)
    return None


with open(os.environ.get("KEYPAIR_PATH", "payer.json")) as f:
    payer = Keypair.from_bytes(bytes(json.load(f)))

tip_account = Pubkey.from_string(random.choice(apex_rpc("getTipAccounts", [])))
blockhash = Hash.from_string(
    solana_rpc("getLatestBlockhash", [{"commitment": "confirmed"}])["value"]["blockhash"])

instructions = [
    set_compute_unit_limit(100_000),
    set_compute_unit_price(10_000),
    Instruction(MEMO_PROGRAM, f"apex python {time.time_ns()}".encode(),
                [AccountMeta(payer.pubkey(), is_signer=True, is_writable=True)]),
    transfer(TransferParams(from_pubkey=payer.pubkey(), to_pubkey=tip_account, lamports=TIP_LAMPORTS)),
]
tx = Transaction([payer], Message.new_with_blockhash(instructions, payer.pubkey(), blockhash), blockhash)

started = time.perf_counter()
# params: [base64 transaction, {encoding, maxRetries?}, mevProtect]
signature = apex_rpc("sendTransaction", [base64.b64encode(bytes(tx)).decode(), {"encoding": "base64"}, False])
print(f"accepted in {(time.perf_counter() - started) * 1000:.1f} ms: {signature}")
print("landed in slot", confirm(signature))

// src/main.rs. Cargo.toml dependencies are listed under "Rust dependencies" below.
//   cargo run --release
use std::str::FromStr;
use std::time::{Duration, Instant};

use orbitflare_apex::prelude::*;
use orbitflare_apex::rpc::{RpcClient, SolanaRpc};
use orbitflare_apex::tip;

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let api_key = std::env::var("APEX_API_KEY")?;
    let solana_rpc_url = std::env::var("SOLANA_RPC_URL")
        .unwrap_or_else(|_| "https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com".into());
    let keypair_path = std::env::var("KEYPAIR_PATH").unwrap_or_else(|_| "payer.json".into());
    let payer = read_keypair_file(keypair_path)?;
    let region = Region::Frankfurt;

    // One persistent QUIC connection, authenticated by a certificate derived from the key.
    let client = ApexSenderClient::connect(region, &api_key).await?;
    let tip_accounts = RpcClient::new(region, &api_key).get_tip_accounts().await?;
    let tip_account = tip::pick_tip_account(&tip_accounts).ok_or("no tip accounts")?;

    let nonce = std::time::SystemTime::now()
        .duration_since(std::time::UNIX_EPOCH)?
        .as_nanos();
    let memo = Instruction::new_with_bytes(
        Pubkey::from_str("MemoSq4gqABAXKb96qnH8TysNcWxMyWCqXgDLGmfcHr")?,
        format!("apex rust {nonce}").as_bytes(),
        vec![AccountMeta::new(payer.pubkey(), true)],
    );
    let instructions = [
        ComputeBudgetInstruction::set_compute_unit_limit(100_000),
        ComputeBudgetInstruction::set_compute_unit_price(10_000),
        memo,
        tip_instruction(&payer.pubkey(), &tip_account, MIN_TIP_LAMPORTS),
    ];

    let solana = SolanaRpc::new(solana_rpc_url);
    let blockhash = solana.latest_blockhash().await?;
    let tx = VersionedTransaction::from(Transaction::new_signed_with_payer(
        &instructions,
        Some(&payer.pubkey()),
        &[&payer],
        blockhash,
    ));

    let sent_at = Instant::now();
    let signature = client.send_transaction(&tx).await?; // unidirectional stream, no acknowledgement
    println!("sent in {} us", sent_at.elapsed().as_micros());

    match solana.confirm(&signature.to_string(), Duration::from_secs(30)).await? {
        Some(slot) => println!("landed in slot {slot} after {} ms: {signature}", sent_at.elapsed().as_millis()),
        None => println!("not confirmed within 30 s: {signature}"),
    }
    Ok(())
}

package main

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"log"
	"os"
	"time"

	"github.com/gagliardetto/solana-go"
	computebudget "github.com/gagliardetto/solana-go/programs/compute-budget"

	apex "github.com/orbitflare/orbitflare-apex-go"
	"github.com/orbitflare/orbitflare-apex-go/rpc"
)

func getenv(name, fallback string) string {
	if v := os.Getenv(name); v != "" {
		return v
	}
	return fallback
}

func main() {
	ctx := context.Background()
	apiKey := os.Getenv("APEX_API_KEY")
	payer, err := solana.PrivateKeyFromSolanaKeygenFile(getenv("KEYPAIR_PATH", "payer.json"))
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	region := apex.Frankfurt

	client, err := apex.Connect(ctx, region, apiKey)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	defer client.Close()

	tipAccounts, err := rpc.New(region, apiKey).GetTipAccounts(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	tipAccount, _ := apex.PickTipAccount(tipAccounts)

	solanaRPC := rpc.NewSolanaRPC(getenv("SOLANA_RPC_URL", "https://api.mainnet-beta.solana.com"))
	blockhash, err := solanaRPC.LatestBlockhash(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	memo := solana.NewInstruction(
		solana.MustPublicKeyFromBase58("MemoSq4gqABAXKb96qnH8TysNcWxMyWCqXgDLGmfcHr"),
		solana.AccountMetaSlice{solana.Meta(payer.PublicKey()).WRITE().SIGNER()},
		[]byte(fmt.Sprintf("apex go %d", time.Now().UnixNano())),
	)
	tx, err := solana.NewTransaction([]solana.Instruction{
		computebudget.NewSetComputeUnitLimitInstruction(100_000).Build(),
		computebudget.NewSetComputeUnitPriceInstruction(10_000).Build(),
		memo,
		apex.TipInstruction(payer.PublicKey(), tipAccount, apex.MinTipLamports),
	}, blockhash, solana.TransactionPayer(payer.PublicKey()))
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	if _, err := tx.Sign(func(solana.PublicKey) *solana.PrivateKey { return &payer }); err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	sentAt := time.Now()
	signature, err := client.SendTransaction(ctx, tx)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	fmt.Printf("sent in %d us\n", time.Since(sentAt).Microseconds())

	slot, landed, err := solanaRPC.Confirm(ctx, signature.String(), 30*time.Second)
	switch {
	case err != nil:
		log.Fatal(err)
	case landed:
		fmt.Printf("landed in slot %d after %d ms: %s\n", slot, time.Since(sentAt).Milliseconds(), signature)
	default:
		fmt.Printf("not confirmed within 30 s: %s\n", signature)
	}
}

A successful sendTransaction returns the transaction’s signature:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "result": "5gwAmfVM..."
}

Accepted does not mean landed. The signature comes back as soon as the Apex endpoint holds the transaction and starts racing it. Always confirm with getSignatureStatuses on a Solana RPC, as each example does.

Rust Dependencies

The Rust tab uses the QUIC client, which is the fastest path. Add the crate from crates.io:

[dependencies]
orbitflare-apex = { version = "0.1", features = ["rpc"] }
tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }

That is the whole dependency list. The client re-exports every Solana type the example needs through orbitflare_apex::prelude, pinned to the versions the endpoint sends with, so you do not add or version-match any solana-* crate yourself. If you build transactions against your own Solana crates instead, hand the client the serialized bytes with send_transaction_bytes. See Rust client for the full API.

Go Dependencies

The Go tab uses the QUIC client from orbitflare-apex-go and builds the transaction with solana-go:

go mod init apexdemo
go get github.com/orbitflare/orbitflare-apex-go@latest github.com/gagliardetto/solana-go@v1.24.0
go run .

The module requires Go 1.26 or newer. See Go client for the full API.

Already Calling sendTransaction?

Apex speaks the standard Solana sendTransaction shape, so moving existing code over is a URL swap plus two changes:

Point your send calls at http://<code>.apex.orbitflare.com and add the x-api-key header (or ?api-key=).
Add the tip instruction to every transaction.

Keep using your regular Solana RPC for everything else: blockhashes, account reads, simulation, and confirmation. Apex endpoints only accept sends.

What’s Next?

Sending transactions

Binary HTTP, batches, and QUIC streams.

Tips

The tip rule in full and how the tip is used.

Errors and rate limits

Every rejection code and what to do about it.

Best practices

Warm connections, tip sizing, confirming, and retries.

Get Started

Agents

Products

Solutions

Fetching Data

RPC

Data Streaming

Apex

Trading APIs

Prerequisites

Send Your First Transaction

Rust Dependencies

Go Dependencies

Already Calling sendTransaction?

What’s Next?

Sending transactions

Tips

Errors and rate limits

Best practices

​Prerequisites

​Send Your First Transaction

​Rust Dependencies

​Go Dependencies

​Already Calling sendTransaction?

​What’s Next?

Sending transactions

Tips

Errors and rate limits

Best practices

Prerequisites

Send Your First Transaction

Rust Dependencies

Go Dependencies

Already Calling sendTransaction?

What’s Next?