Stake SOL with a Validator

Stake SOL with a Validator

A complete example that creates a new stake account, funds it, and delegates it to a validator — all in two transactions. The first transaction allocates and initialises the account; the second delegates it once the first has confirmed.

require 'base64'
require 'solana/ruby/kit'

Kit   = Solana::Ruby::Kit
Stake = Kit::Programs::StakeProgram
TxMsg = Kit::TransactionMessages
Txns  = Kit::Transactions

rpc = Kit::Rpc::Client.new(Kit::RpcTypes.devnet)

# ── 1. Signers ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
# Your funding wallet — pays rent and signs as the fee payer.
owner = Kit::Signers.create_key_pair_signer_from_bytes(File.binread('wallet.bin'))

# A fresh keypair for the stake account itself (must sign the createAccount ix).
stake_keypair = Kit::Signers.generate_key_pair_signer

# The validator you want to delegate to (look this up via get_vote_accounts).
vote_address = Kit::Addresses.address('VALIDATOR_VOTE_ADDRESS_HERE')

# ── 2. How many lamports to stake? ────────────────────────────────────────────
# The account must be rent-exempt (200 bytes) plus however much you want to stake.
rent_exempt = rpc.get_minimum_balance_for_rent_exemption(Stake::STAKE_ACCOUNT_SPACE)
stake_amount = 500_000_000    # 0.5 SOL on top of rent exemption
lamports = rent_exempt + stake_amount

# ── 3. Build the first transaction: create + initialise the stake account ──────
create_ixs = Stake.create_account_instructions(
  from:          owner.address,
  stake_account: stake_keypair.address,
  authorized:    owner.address,   # owner is both staker and withdrawer
  lamports:      lamports
)

bh = rpc.get_latest_blockhash
constraint = TxMsg::BlockhashLifetimeConstraint.new(
  blockhash:               bh.value.blockhash,
  last_valid_block_height: bh.value.last_valid_block_height
)

create_msg = Kit::Functional.pipe(
  TxMsg.create_transaction_message(version: :legacy),
  ->(tx) { TxMsg.set_fee_payer(owner.address, tx) },
  ->(tx) { TxMsg.set_blockhash_lifetime(constraint, tx) },
  ->(tx) { TxMsg.append_instructions(tx, create_ixs) }
)

create_tx = Txns.compile_transaction_message(create_msg)

# Both owner and stake_keypair must sign: owner funds the account,
# stake_keypair authorises the createAccount on its own address.
create_signed = Txns.sign_transaction(
  [owner.key_pair.signing_key, stake_keypair.key_pair.signing_key],
  create_tx
)

create_sig = rpc.send_transaction(
  Base64.strict_encode64(Txns.wire_encode_transaction(create_signed))
)
puts "Create stake account: #{create_sig}"

Kit::TransactionConfirmation.wait_for_confirmation(
  rpc, create_sig,
  commitment:   :confirmed,
  timeout_secs: 60
)
puts "Stake account confirmed."

# ── 4. Build the second transaction: delegate to a validator ──────────────────
delegate_ix = Stake.delegate_instruction(
  stake_account: stake_keypair.address,
  vote_account:  vote_address,
  authorized:    owner.address    # must sign as the authorised staker
)

bh = rpc.get_latest_blockhash
delegate_constraint = TxMsg::BlockhashLifetimeConstraint.new(
  blockhash:               bh.value.blockhash,
  last_valid_block_height: bh.value.last_valid_block_height
)

delegate_msg = Kit::Functional.pipe(
  TxMsg.create_transaction_message(version: :legacy),
  ->(tx) { TxMsg.set_fee_payer(owner.address, tx) },
  ->(tx) { TxMsg.set_blockhash_lifetime(delegate_constraint, tx) },
  ->(tx) { TxMsg.append_instructions(tx, [delegate_ix]) }
)

delegate_tx     = Txns.compile_transaction_message(delegate_msg)
delegate_signed = Txns.sign_transaction([owner.key_pair.signing_key], delegate_tx)

delegate_sig = rpc.send_transaction(
  Base64.strict_encode64(Txns.wire_encode_transaction(delegate_signed))
)
puts "Delegate stake: #{delegate_sig}"

Kit::TransactionConfirmation.wait_for_confirmation(
  rpc, delegate_sig,
  commitment:   :confirmed,
  timeout_secs: 60
)
puts "Delegation confirmed. Stake account: #{stake_keypair.address}"

Note Stake activation takes one full epoch (roughly 2–3 days on mainnet). The account will show status activating until then.

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