⚡gRPC Docs

gRPC 101 for streaming low-latency Solana updates.

A geyser plugin on Solana allows you to push real-time updates from a Solana RPC node to an external source. Yellowstone gRPC is one such high-performance Solana Geyser plugin that allows you to stream real-time blockchain data via gRPC interfaces. This powerful tool enables developers to:

• Monitor on-chain activities: Track token mints, program interactions, and state changes.

• Stream account states: Efficiently retrieve account information.

• Stream transactions: Monitor transactions with minimal latency.

• Indexers: Build indexing pipelines

In short, this can be used to build applications that can respond quickly to changes on the blockchain.

Resources and Replits on Shyft gRPCs

We have developed multiple sample code covering top use cases for gRPC. They run out of the box, are in multiple languages (Typescript, Rust and python) and help you get started quickly. You can explore them here

• Shyft GitHub

• Shyft Replit

• Shyft Blogs

You can also join Shyft's discord for support and more resources.

Unlike regular RPCs which are used to interact with the Solana blockchain by sending HTTP POST requests, gRPCs are only used for streaming real-time updates on Solana with minimum latency.

Authentication

There are two ways to authenticate your server or connection when connecting to Shyft’s gRPC network:

1. Using X-Token:

x-token is available in the gRPC section of the dashboard

After purchasing the gRPC service on Shyft, you can find your x-token in the gRPC section of your Shyft dashboard. This token is used to establish a gRPC connection through the Yellowstone client. The advantage of this method is that it doesn’t require IP whitelisting.

const client = new Client(
  <YOUR-GRPC-ENDPOINT>,
  <YOUR-X-TOKEN>,
  undefined
); //initializing yellowstone client

1. By Whitelisting Your IP:

We recommend using token for authentication. Use IP whitelisting only when you cant use token authentication.

In certain scenarios, like when setting up bots, you may need to connect directly to the gRPC network via the gRPC URL without x-token. In such cases, you’ll need to whitelist your server’s IP address (the one used to receive streamed data). Once the IP is whitelisted, you can connect directly using the URL without needing an x-token. IP whitelisting can be easily managed through the gRPC section of the dashboard.

Whitelist your server IP to directly use without X-TOKEN

Please note, gRPC connections can be made from any IP address using x-token. Once an IP address is whitelisted, x-tokens are no longer required for connection from that IP.

What are Subscribe Requests?

Real-time updates in Solana’s Yellowstone gRPC plugins rely on Subscription streams. These streams let you receive updates like account changes, transactions, new blocks, or slot updates directly to your backend. To keep things focused and avoid unnecessary data, a subscription request lets you specify different kind of filters. using these filters you can specify exactly what type of updates you need.

Subscribe requests on gRPC look somewhat like this.

import { CommitmentLevel } from "@triton-one/yellowstone-grpc";

const req: SubscribeRequest = {
  accounts: {},
  slots: {},
  transactions: {},
  transactionsStatus: {},
  entry: {},
  blocks: {},
  blocksMeta: {},
  accountsDataSlice: [],
  ping: undefined,
  commitment: CommitmentLevel.CONFIRMED,
};

Most of the request parameters here are self-explanatory, working exactly with what they are named,

• accounts: You can subscribe to specific accounts (e.g., SOL-USDC OpenBook) by specifying this parameter and receive updates based on commitment levels (processed, confirmed, finalized).

• accountDataSlice: This field helps you to filter your gRPC stream, so that you receive only the relevant portion of streamed data. For example you are streaming accounts, for which the data size is 200bytes, but you only need 40 bytes after a certain offset. This field can help you filter those 40 bytes for every update in the stream.

• transactions & transactionsStatus: You can receive updates on all transactions or filter them based on specific criteria (vote/failed transactions, including/excluding accounts). Programs can also be monitored using this.

• slots, blocks & blocksMeta : Stay informed about new blocks and slots being produced on the blockchain.

• commitment: This specifies the commit level for any update, either processed, confirmed or finalized.

FAQ

Why is lag building up over time with gRPC?

If you notice that over time ag starts to build up, then there are two possible reasons.

• Your server is far away from the gRPC region you are connecting to. For example, if you are connecting to grpc.ams.shyft.to, your server should also be in the same region i.e Ams. We have seen cases where lag starts to build up over time if the server is far away. Its acceptable if ping < 10ms, although some users would want it to be less than 1ms.

• Another reason is that typescript sometimes is not able to keep up with gRPC speed. We suggest using Rust gRPC client for fastest processing. We have some sample codes in our Github repo and Replit.

• Don't use VPNs.

• At anytime you can verify the current slot of all our regions here.

Why am I getting Maximum IP limit reached for token error?

• Base $199/mo subscription gives you access to connect from one IP. If you connect from multiple IPs, you will get this error.

• You can also get this when you change your server and the connection was not gracefully shutdown. In those cases you can clear your previous connection through this link https://grpc.ams.shyft.to/clear-connections?xtoken=your-token Add your token in the end, grpc region doesnt matter.

How do I check if any gRPC region is lagging or not?

We have a public dashboard where you can see lag of all gRPC regions in our network. We compare it against Solana mainnet-beta. You can access it here.