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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.helius.dev/docs/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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What is Helius Shred Delivery?

Shred Delivery is Helius’s pre-execution data product, designed to give you the earliest possible access to Solana’s transaction data. It ships in two flavors:
  • Raw shreds (UDP) — unprocessed shred packets, delivered as they’re produced. The fastest signal possible; you implement the deshredding.
  • Preprocessed transactions (gRPC, Public Beta) — decoded shreds. Skips the deshredding step and delivers transactions ~8 ms ahead of the processed commitment level on average.
Either mode offers a competitive edge for high-frequency trading (HFT), arbitrage strategies, and other latency-sensitive apps.
Shreds carry transactions, not account state. Both raw shreds and preprocessed transactions deliver transactions before they execute. Account and program updates (token balances, bonding-curve state, etc.) don’t exist yet at the shred stage — the runtime produces them during execution. If you need real-time account state changes, use LaserStream gRPC at processed commitment instead.

Raw shreds (UDP)

Earliest possible signal. White-glove provisioning. Requires deshredding logic on your side.

Preprocessed transactions (gRPC)

Decoded shreds delivered as transactions — ~8 ms ahead of processed, no execution metadata. Professional plan, 20 credits per 1 MB.

Earliest Access

Receive raw Solana shreds as they are produced, providing the fastest insight into network activity.

Unprocessed Data

Access data in its raw form, allowing for customized processing tailored to your specific trading strategies.

Validator Advantage

Helius is the top validator by stake and receives shreds faster than validators with less stake and non-staked RPC nodes.

White Glove Provisioning

Carefully provisioned access ensures optimal performance and dedicated support from the Helius team.

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What are shreds?

In Solana, transactions are broken down into smaller data packets called “shreds” to facilitate efficient and rapid propagation across the network. Each shred is a fragment of transaction data, optimized to fit within standard network packets, ensuring swift distribution and reconstruction into complete blocks by validators. This architecture is pivotal for maintaining Solana’s high throughput and low latency, and Shred Delivery taps directly into this raw data stream before any processing occurs.

Deep Dive: Understanding Solana Shreds

Read our comprehensive blog post explaining how Solana’s shred mechanism works and why it matters for trading

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Raw shreds vs. preprocessed transactions

Both modes are part of Shred Delivery and both ship pre-execution data — the difference is how much processing Helius does before handing it to you.

Raw shreds (UDP)

Earliest possible signal
  • Unprocessed shred packets delivered as they’re produced
  • Lowest possible latency
  • Requires deshredding logic on your side
  • White-glove provisioning
  • HFT, arbitrage, MEV searchers

Preprocessed transactions (gRPC)

Decoded shreds
  • Decoded transactions, ~8 ms ahead of processed
  • No execution metadata (no balance changes, logs, or errors)
  • Standard LaserStream gRPC delivery — no custom deshredding
  • Professional plan, 20 credits per 1 MB

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When to choose which

Pick raw shreds when every microsecond matters and you have the infrastructure to deshred at line rate. Pick preprocessed transactions when you want the ~8 ms head-start over processed without having to write deshredding logic — and you don’t need execution metadata. See Preprocessed Transactions for the full data shape, tradeoffs, and SDK examples.

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Shred Delivery vs. LaserStream gRPC

LaserStream gRPC and Shred Delivery sit at different points in the transaction lifecycle:
FeatureRaw shreds (UDP)Preprocessed transactions (gRPC)LaserStream gRPC
When in the lifecyclePre-execution — raw shred packetsPre-execution — decoded shreds, ~8 ms ahead of processedPost-execution — processed/confirmed/finalized
Data TypeRaw shred packetsDecoded transactions, no execution metadataFull transactions with execution metadata
LatencyEarliest possible — before shred decoding~8 ms ahead of processedUltra-low latency processed data
Processing on your sideDeshredding logicNoneNone — turnkey
Replay❌❌✅ 24 hours
Best ForHFT, arbitrage, MEV (milliseconds determine profitability)HFT/MEV that wants decoded data without custom deshreddingProduction apps, analytics, backend services
SetupWhite-glove provisioningDeveloper-friendly SDKs (Professional plan, 20 credits per 1 MB)Developer-friendly SDKs
Many teams use both: Shred Delivery for the pre-execution signal that drives a trading decision, and LaserStream gRPC for the post-execution confirmation that updates dashboards and persists state.

Learn About LaserStream gRPC

Production-grade gRPC streaming with replay, multi-region failover, and developer-friendly SDKs.

LaserStream gRPC Trial

Apply for a 2-day trial to compare LaserStream gRPC against alternative solutions before you subscribe.

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The Helius Validator Advantage

Helius is the top validator by stake weight and receives shreds faster than validators with less stake and non-staked RPC nodes. In Turbine, validators with higher stake weights receive priority in the data propagation tree, meaning block leaders send shreds to high-stake validators like Helius first. This stake-weighted propagation ensures we receive shreds at the earliest possible moment in the network’s data flow. While other providers must wait for secondary propagation or rely on unstaked infrastructure, our validator position grants direct, prioritized access to the raw transaction data as it flows through the network.

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Technical Requirements

To effectively utilize Shred Delivery, your system should have:

Deshredding Capability

Custom logic to reconstruct complete transactions from raw shreds

Low-Latency Infrastructure

High-performance systems optimized for microsecond-level processing

Trading Logic Integration

Ability to act on unprocessed data with appropriate risk management

Network Optimization

Optimized network configuration for minimal processing delays
Technical Expertise Required: Shred Delivery provides raw, unprocessed shreds via UDP. Your team must have the technical capability to properly handle deshredding and implement appropriate processing logic.