Submitting a Simple Transaction

Let's walk through an example to send 10 ADA to CoinCashew's tip address 🙃

The minimum amount, or smallest UTXO, you can send in one transaction is 1 ADA.

First, find the tip of the blockchain to set the invalid-hereafter parameter properly.

block producer node

currentSlot=$(cardano-cli conway query tip --mainnet | jq -r '.slot')
echo Current Slot: $currentSlot

Set the amount to send in lovelaces. ✨ Remember 1 ADA = 1,000,000 lovelaces.

block producer node

amountToSend=10000000
echo amountToSend: $amountToSend

Set the destination address which is where you're sending funds to.

block producer node

destinationAddress=addr1qxhazv2dp8yvqwyxxlt7n7ufwhw582uqtcn9llqak736ptfyf8d2zwjceymcq6l5gxht0nx9zwazvtvnn22sl84tgkyq7guw7q
echo destinationAddress: $destinationAddress

Find your balance and UTXOs.

block producer node

utxo_json=$(cardano-cli conway query utxo --address $(cat payment.addr) --mainnet)

tx_in=""
total_balance=0
txcnt=0

# Use jq to iterate over all UTXOs
while read -r txid; do
    hash=$(cut -d'#' -f1 <<< "$txid")
    index=$(cut -d'#' -f2 <<< "$txid")
    amount=$(jq -r --arg txid "$txid" '.[$txid].value.lovelace' <<< "$utxo_json")
    
    if [[ "$amount" != "null" && "$amount" -gt 0 ]]; then
        echo "TxHash: ${hash}#${index}"
        echo "ADA: ${amount}"
        tx_in="${tx_in} --tx-in ${hash}#${index}"
        total_balance=$((total_balance + amount))
        txcnt=$((txcnt + 1))
    fi
done <<< "$(jq -r 'keys[]' <<< "$utxo_json")"

echo
echo "Total available ADA balance: ${total_balance}"
echo "Number of UTXOs: ${txcnt}"
echo "Final --tx-in string: ${tx_in}"

Run the build-raw transaction command.

block producer node

cardano-cli conway transaction build-raw \
    ${tx_in} \
    --tx-out $(cat payment.addr)+$(( ${total_balance} - ${amountToSend} )) \
    --tx-out ${destinationAddress}+${amountToSend} \
    --invalid-hereafter $(( ${currentSlot} + 10000 )) \
    --fee 200000 \
    --out-file tx.tmp

Calculate the current minimum fee:

block producer node

fee=$(cardano-cli conway transaction calculate-min-fee \
    --tx-body-file tx.tmp \
    --tx-in-count ${txcnt} \
    --tx-out-count 2 \
    --mainnet \
    --witness-count 1 \
    --byron-witness-count 0 \
    --protocol-params-file params.json | awk '{ print $1 }')
echo fee: $fee

Calculate your change output.

block producer node

txOut=$((${total_balance}-${fee}-${amountToSend}))
echo Change Output: ${txOut}

Build your transaction.

block producer node

cardano-cli conway transaction build-raw \
    ${tx_in} \
    --tx-out $(cat payment.addr)+${txOut} \
    --tx-out ${destinationAddress}+${amountToSend} \
    --invalid-hereafter $(( ${currentSlot} + 10000 )) \
    --fee ${fee} \
    --out-file tx.raw

Copy tx.raw to your cold environment.

Sign the transaction with the payment secret key.

air-gapped offline machine

cardano-cli conway transaction sign \
    --tx-body-file tx.raw \
    --signing-key-file payment.skey \
    --mainnet \
    --out-file tx.signed

Copy tx.signed to your hot environment.

Send the signed transaction.

block producer node

cardano-cli conway transaction submit \
    --tx-file tx.signed \
    --mainnet

Check if the funds arrived.

block producer node

cardano-cli conway query utxo \
    --address ${destinationAddress} \
    --mainnet

You should see output similar to this showing the funds you sent.

                           TxHash                                 TxIx        Lovelace
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
100322a39d02c2ead....                                              0        10000000