What is a Solana shred stream
RPC nodes and WebSocket subscriptions show you a block only after validators have replayed it. A shred stream shows the same transactions while the leader is still producing the block. This guide explains the difference and when it matters.
How a block travels
- The leader executes transactions and records them into entries.
- It splits the entries into shreds, fragments small enough to fit into a single network packet, and sends them out through the Turbine protocol while the slot is still in progress.
- Validators collect the shreds, reassemble the block and replay it.
- Only then do RPC nodes report the transactions through
getBlock,getTransactionand WebSocket subscriptions.
A shred stream taps in at step 2.
Shreds vs RPC
| Source | What you see | When |
|---|---|---|
| RPC and WebSocket subscriptions | Executed transactions with their results: logs and balance changes | After replay |
| Shred stream | Transactions in the order the leader recorded them, without results | During block production, before replay |
| Private Orderflow | Pending transactions arriving at the TPU | Before execution |
What a shred stream is good for
- Price moves. See a large swap as soon as the leader has recorded it, and act on the new prices before most of the market sees the block.
- New pools and tokens. Spot pool creations and launches the moment they are in the block.
- Your own transactions. Learn that your transaction made it into the block before RPC reports it.
What to keep in mind
- Transactions, not results. Shreds carry the transactions themselves. Logs and balance changes come only after replay, so derive the effect of a transaction from the state you track or by simulating it.
- Not final yet. A slot can still be skipped. Confirm outcomes through your RPC at the commitment level your strategy needs.
- Location matters. Host your server in the same region as your endpoint. See Regions & endpoints.
Shreds from MEV Alpha Store
Shreds (Early Data) delivers shreds directly from validator infrastructure in all 7 regions, over gRPC or WebSocket. We reconstruct the entries for you, including recovery of missing data shreds from coding shreds, so you receive the transactions of the block in the order the leader recorded them. Raw shreds are available on request.
See Shreds (Early Data) for the message formats and the Rust and TypeScript consumers, and Latency & benchmarking for how to measure the advantage over your current data source.
Next steps
- Shreds (Early Data)
- How to see pending transactions on Solana
- Glossary: entries, data and coding shreds, FEC sets and Turbine
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