# Falcon tips & transaction requirements (/falcon/tips) > Exactly what Falcon accepts as a tip on a Solana transaction: instruction shape, allowed accounts, the 1,000,000 lamport minimum and the 1,232-byte cap. Falcon checks every transaction before it forwards anything. Yours has to deserialize cleanly, carry as many signatures as its message header requires, fit in 1,232 bytes, and pay a tip that matches all four rules below. ## Tip selection A tip only counts when **one top-level instruction** meets every condition at once: | Condition | Detail | | ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Program | System Program | | Instruction | `transfer`: the plain 8-byte-lamports transfer, not `transferWithSeed` | | Recipient | One of the [tip accounts](#amount-and-accounts), present in the transaction's **static account keys** | | Amount | At least 1,000,000 lamports, in one instruction | That rules out several arrangements that look like they should work: * **Amounts never add up.** Falcon walks the instructions in order and takes the first System transfer to an allowed tip account that already meets the minimum. Two half-sized transfers qualify as neither. * **Address lookup tables don't work for the tip.** The recipient is matched against static account keys only. * **A CPI tip doesn't count.** The transfer has to be an instruction in the transaction you submit, not something your program does internally. * A tip declared in an HTTP field, a header or a client variable means nothing. Only the instruction is read. ## Amount and accounts The minimum tip is **1,000,000 lamports (0.001 SOL)**, paid in one transfer to any of these accounts: ```text Fa1con11xLjPddfzRwRUB16sbFZggp2JeJkCeWREyR8X Fa1con11TM1RuAQzbQzYjTy4Ekfap9Lnc9fnEbQYEd6Q Fa1con113Bvi76nS5AzUiRDC2fqjfzkNMUNRLgQybMYt Fa1con1QGHJK232s8yZpzZZwqPexnAKcoyKj626LNsMv Fa1con1zUzb6qJVFz5tNkPq1Ahm8H1qKW7Q48252QbkQ Fa1con16d3MSwd3SAiwvr2LwgkpE7ot8zntbpuec8HAx Fa1con1i7mpa7Qc6epYJ6r4P9AbU77DFFz173r59Df1x Fa1con18nWn8TdAGL7JX8PertfMUGVSc899NawokJ4Bq Fa1con1GKusK2EqsfzrDzGPaYZSxQtFGzJiRMMU9Zm2g Fa1con1RDwVwM9VrJ53CwVefD3VU9c58EMpDawV7fLMi ``` Pick one at random per transaction: tipping the same account from everywhere makes every transaction compete for one write lock. A JSON-RPC tip rejection comes back as `-32602 transaction does not include required tip` with `"data":{"minimumLamports":N}`. `N` is the required minimum; trust it over a hard-coded value. ## Every other requirement | Requirement | Rule | Failure | | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Serialization | Standard Solana transaction wire bytes, legacy or v0 | `could not deserialize transaction` | | Trailing bytes | None; the buffer must end exactly where the transaction ends | `could not deserialize transaction` | | Size | ≤ 1,232 serialized bytes | `transaction exceeds maximum size of 1232 bytes` | | Signatures | At least one, and never more than 127 | `transaction has no valid signature` | | Signature count | Must equal `num_required_signatures` in the message header | `transaction signature count does not match required signatures`, with `"data":{"expected":n,"actual":n}` | Falcon checks the signature **count**, not the signatures themselves. A partially signed transaction serialized with placeholder slots for the missing signers still carries the expected count, so Falcon forwards it and it fails on chain instead. Only a signature array that doesn't match `num_required_signatures` (or holds 0, or more than 127) is rejected here. Signatures are verified cryptographically in exactly one place: preflight simulation, which runs when you set `skipPreflight: false`. ## Add the tip in TypeScript ```typescript import { PublicKey, SystemProgram, Transaction } from '@solana/web3.js'; const tipAccount = process.env.FALCON_TIP_ACCOUNT; const tipLamports = Number(process.env.FALCON_MIN_TIP_LAMPORTS); if (!tipAccount) { throw new Error('Set FALCON_TIP_ACCOUNT'); } if (!Number.isSafeInteger(tipLamports) || tipLamports < 1_000_000) { throw new Error('FALCON_MIN_TIP_LAMPORTS must be at least 1000000'); } const transaction = new Transaction(); // 1. Your application instructions. // 2. The tip: a top-level System Program transfer. transaction.add( SystemProgram.transfer({ fromPubkey: payer.publicKey, toPubkey: new PublicKey(tipAccount), lamports: tipLamports, }), ); // 3. Fee payer + fresh blockhash, then sign, then serialize. ``` The tip is an ordinary instruction, so the lamports only move if the transaction executes on chain. ## Symptom → cause → fix | Symptom | Cause | Fix | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | `transaction does not include required tip` (or `SubmitError::MissingTip`) with a tip you believe is there | The transfer is below `minimumLamports`, the recipient is not one of the tip accounts, or the recipient came from an ALT | Use `data.minimumLamports`, an account from the list, and put the recipient in the static account keys | | Tip rejected only on some transactions | The tip was split across instructions, so no single transfer reaches the minimum | Pay the whole tip in one transfer | | `transaction signature count does not match required signatures` | A required signer is missing, or the message was edited after signing | Rebuild, sign with all signers, serialize once | | `could not deserialize transaction: verify encoding and format` | Wrong `encoding`, base64 sent as base58, or extra bytes appended | Match `encoding` to the string you send; submit the exact serialized bytes | | `transaction exceeds maximum size of 1232 bytes` after adding the tip | The tip pushed you over the cap | Drop an instruction, use an ALT for application accounts (not the tip), or split the work | | Nothing happens at all on UDP | Any of the above | Reproduce the same transaction over JSON-RPC to see the real reason | Per-transport response shapes are on [Falcon errors & retries](/falcon/errors).