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Fetch a Signed VAA＃

This guide demonstrates how to fetch a signed Verified Action Approval (VAA), first programmatically using the TypeScript SDK, then manually using the Wormholescan explorer. VAA retrieval is a key step in manual messaging and transfer flows. Knowing how to locate a relevant VAA can also help with debugging and monitoring transactions while building out your integration.

Prerequisites＃

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:

Set Up Your Developer Environment＃

Follow these steps to initialize your project, install dependencies, and prepare your developer environment:

  1. Create a new directory and initialize a Node.js project using the following commands:

    mkdir fetch-vaa
cd fetch-vaa
npm init -y

  2. Install dependencies, including the Wormhole TypeScript SDK:

npm install @wormhole-foundation/sdk -D tsx typescript

Fetch VAA via TypeScript SDK＃

Follow these steps to search for and retrieve a VAA using the TypeScript SDK:

  1. Create a new file called fetch-vaa.ts using the following command:

    touch fetch-vaa.ts

  2. Open your fetch-vaa.ts file and add the following code:

    fetch-vaa.ts
    import { wormhole } from '@wormhole-foundation/sdk';
import evm from '@wormhole-foundation/sdk/evm';
import { serialize } from '@wormhole-foundation/sdk-definitions';
import { toChainId } from '@wormhole-foundation/sdk-base';

async function main() {
  // Initialize the Wormhole SDK with the network and platform
  // to match the source chain for the transaction ID
  const wh = await wormhole('Testnet', [evm]);
  // Source chain transaction ID for the VAA you want to fetch
  const txid =
    'INSERT_TRANSACTION_ID';
  // Call getVaa to fetch the VAA associated with the transaction ID
  // and decode returned data into a human-readable format
  const vaa = await wh.getVaa(txid, 'Uint8Array', 60000);
  if (!vaa) {
    console.error('❌ VAA not found');
    process.exit(1);
  }
  const { emitterChain, emitterAddress, sequence } = vaa;
  const chainId = toChainId(emitterChain);
  const emitterHex = emitterAddress.toString();

  const vaaBytes = serialize(vaa);
  const vaaHex = Buffer.from(vaaBytes).toString('hex');

  console.log('✅ VAA Info');
  console.log(`Chain: ${chainId}`);
  console.log(`Emitter: ${emitterHex}`);
  console.log(`Sequence: ${sequence}`);
  console.log('---');
  console.log(`VAA Bytes (hex):\n${vaaHex}`);
  // Return the VAA object for further processing if needed
  return vaa;
}

main().catch(console.error);

    This code does the following:

    • Initializes a Wormhole instance with the same network and platform as the source chain transfer transaction.
    • Accepts the transaction ID from the source chain transfer transaction.
    • Prints the associated chain, emitter, sequence, and VAA bytes to the terminal.
    • Returns the vaa object for any further processing.

  3. Run the script with the following command:

    npx tsx fetch-vaa.ts

  4. You will see terminal output similar to the following:

    npx tsx fetch-vaa.ts ✅ VAA Info Chain: 16 Emitter: 0x000000000000000000000000bc976d4b9d57e57c3ca52e1fd136c45ff7955a96 Sequence: 1512 --- VAA Bytes (hex): 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

Fetch VAA via Wormholescan＃

You can also use Wormholescan's UI to manually search for a VAA using the source transaction ID, VAA ID, or a wallet address. This type of quick search is helpful during debugging or testing of your integration. Follow these steps to fetch a VAA using Wormholescan:

  1. On Wormholescan, use the dropdown menu in the top right corner to select either Mainnet or Testnet.

  2. Enter your transaction ID in the search bar and select "return" or "enter" to submit your search request. Alternatively, you can enter the wallet address of the transaction signer and return any transactions under that account.

  3. Inspect the returned search results. Note that the source transaction ID, current status, transaction details, and the VAA ID are included.

Congratulations! You've now fetched a signed VAA using both the TypeScript SDK and Wormholescan UI. These skills are valuable when developing manual transfer or messaging processes, as well as debugging and testing an integration build.