© 2026 Della Group. All Rights Reserved.
Okay, so you're building on Solana and your transactions keep failing or taking forever, right? The thing is, most people stuff way too many accounts directly into their tx payload. Like, you're listing every single public - wallet, program ID, token accounts, all of it. Boom, your transaction balloons to like 1232 bytes. Network chokes. Fees spike to 0.01 SOL or more. Users rage quit.
But here's the fix. Address Lookup Tables. ALTs. They let you store up to 256 addresses off chain in a table, then reference 'em with tiny 1-byte indexes in your tx. Suddenly, your payload shrinks by 70-90%. Transactions fly through at like 47ms broadcast time. Fees? Under 0.000005 SOL. Sound familiar? That's the boost we're talking about.
In my experience, once you switch to ALTs, your dApp's TPS jumps. No more "transaction too large" errors. Let's fix that mess right now.
Look, Solana's fast - thousands of TPS. But without ALTs, you're hitting the legacy tx limit: max 32 accounts per message. Each pubkey? 32 bytes. Do the math: that's 1024 bytes just on addresses. Add instructions, signatures.. you're at the edge.
ALTs flip it. Store 256 keys in one table. Tx just says "use index 5, 12, 42". 1 byte each. Savings? Massive. Fireblocks cut broadcast from 1.5s to 47ms. 100% first try success. Median confirm? 6s. Fees under $0.01. Pretty much instant for users.
And it's not just speed. During surges - think memecoin madness - non ALT txes drop like flies. ALTs keep you landing. Why does this matter? Your dApp scales. Gaming? Finance? High volume swaps? This is your secret weapon.
| Legacy Tx | With ALT | |
|---|---|---|
| Account Slots | 32 max | 64+ (multiple tables) |
| Payload Size | bytes | bytes |
| Broadcast Time | 1.5s | 47ms |
| Fees | 0.01 SOL+ | <0.000005 SOL |
| Success Rate (surge) | 60-80% | 100% |
See? That's not hype. Real wins.
Now, the code. Don't skip this - copy paste ready.
import { Connection, Keypair, PublicKey } from '@solana/web3.js';
import { AddressLookupTableProgram } from '@solana/web3.js'; const connection = new Connection('YOURRPCURL');
const payer = Keypair.fromSecretKey(YOUR_SECRET); // your wallet
const slot = await connection.getSlot(); const [lookupTableInst, lookupTableAddress] = AddressLookupTableProgram .createLookupTable({ authority: payer.publicKey, payer: payer.publicKey, recentSlot: slot, }); console.log('Your new ALT address:', lookupTableAddress.toBase58());
Common gotcha: Wrong recentSlot. Use the latest - or it fails with "invalid slot". Fix? Always fetch fresh.
Table's empty. Useless. So extend it. Up to 256 addresses. Mix programs, PDAs, wallets - whatever your tx needs often.
I usually batch 'em. SystemProgram, TokenProgram, your serum accounts, common vaults. Reuse across txes.
const LOOKUPTABLEADDRESS = new PublicKey('paste your address here'); const extendInstruction = AddressLookupTableProgram.extendLookupTable({ payer: payer.publicKey, authority: payer.publicKey, lookupTable: LOOKUPTABLEADDRESS, addresses: [ payer.publicKey, SystemProgram.programId, new PublicKey('TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA'), // Token prog // Add 250 more. Random or real. ],
});
Send in another v0 tx. Boom. Addresses indexed 0-255. Each 1 byte in future txes.
Potential issue: Table rent exempt? Costs ~0.002 SOL per table. Deactivate later to reclaim. How? Another instruction, but hold off.
Paranoid? Fetch it. Verify.
async function checkTable() { const account = await connection.getAddressLookupTable(LOOKUPTABLEADDRESS); if (!account.value) { console.log('Table not found!'); return; } console.log('Table:', account.value.toBase58()); account.value.state.addresses.forEach((addr, i) => { console.log(Index ${i}: ${addr.toBase58()}); });
}
Run it. See your list. Clean.
If empty? Authority mismatch. Payer must match authority. Fix: Use same keypair.
Here's the magic. Build v0 tx with your table.
async function sendWithALT() { const lookupTableAccount = (await connection.getAddressLookupTable(LOOKUPTABLEADDRESS)).value; if (!lookupTableAccount) throw new Error('No table'); // Your instructions here. e.g. transfer const ix = SystemProgram.transfer({ fromPubkey: payer.publicKey, toPubkey: someOtherKey, lamports: 1000000, }); const { blockhash } = await connection.getLatestBlockhash(); const v0Message = new TransactionMessage({ payerKey: payer.publicKey, recentBlockhash: blockhash, instructions: [ix], // but use indexes internally }).compileToV0Message([lookupTableAccount]); const tx = new VersionedTransaction(v0Message); tx.sign([payer]); const sig = await connection.sendTransaction(tx); console.log('Sig:', sig);
}
Notice? Instructions use full keys, but message compresses via table. Payload tiny.
Pro tip: Multiple tables? Up to 4 per tx. 1024 slots total. Insane for complex swaps.
Been there. Tx fails silently? Table not active. Wait 200 slots post extend. Or force with freeze instruction.
In my experience, staked RPC + ALT + prio fees = 99% land rate. No BS.
Okay, single tx cool. But dApps? Batch user actions. One table for common programs. Per user tables for PDAs.
Gaming example: Global items vault, player accounts in ALT. 100 players tx parallel. No collisions.
Finance? DEX swaps. Serum, OpenBook keys in table. Payload half. TPS doubles.
What's next? Combine with CU optimization. Simulate every tx. Set exact limit. Fees drop another 20%.
Honest? Test on devnet first. Mainnet fees bite. But once dialed? Your txes scream.
Need more? Create 2-4. Different authorities ok.
const message = new TransactionMessage({..}).compileToV0Message([ table1Account, table2Account,
]);
Tx handles up to 64 resolved accounts. Game changer for big payloads.
ALTs alone? Good. With these? God tier.
Dynamic fees: Poll getRecentPrioritizationFees(). Add buffer: recommended * 1.1.
CU sim: Always. tx.message.staticComputeUnitLimit = simResult.units + 500;
Blockhash: Fresh every 60s. Precommit 'confirmed'.
Numbers: Expect 300ms latency. 10x throughput. Serialization down 48%.
Issue? Race conditions. Idempotent ixs. No shared writes.
© 2026 Della Group. All Rights Reserved.