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Fee handling

Like we learnt in the weight and fees chapter, the XCM operations our messages perform need to be paid for. To accomplish this, we'll make use of different instructions in this chapter.

BuyExecution​

BuyExecution { fees: MultiAsset, weight_limit: WeightLimit }

This instruction is used to buy weight using fees. While in some cases there's no need to pay for execution (if you control both systems for example), in most cases you'll need to add this instruction. There's a predefined barrier, AllowTopLevelPaidExecutionFrom<T>, that explicitly drops messages that do not include this instruction.

Let's grab the teleport message from the transfers chapter and add fee payment.

let message = Xcm(vec![
  WithdrawAsset((Here, withdraw_amount + fee_estimation).into()),
  BuyExecution { // <-- Added here
    fees: (Here, fee_estimation).into(),
    weight_limit: WeightLimit::Limited(weight_estimation),
  },
  InitiateTeleport {
    assets: All.into(),
    dest: Parachain(1).into(),
    xcm: Xcm(vec![DepositAsset {
      assets: All.into(),
      beneficiary: Junction::AccountId32 {
        network: None,
        id: ALICE.into(),
      },
    }]),
  },
]);

fee_estimation and weight_estimation are values that can be calculated from the configuration of the receiving chain. As mentioned in the weight and fees chapter of the fundamentals, XCMs instructions are usually assigned weights separately, so, in order to estimate the weight, you need to estimate the weight of every instruction and add them together. By using WeightLimit::Limited(), you guarantee the message will error if it tries to use more weight than you expect. If you don't mind this, you can use WeightLimit::Unlimited. The fee_estimation value is the maximum assets you want to use, if it doesn't cover all fees, message execution will fail. You can add a higher value (all of withdraw_amount for example) to make sure you have enough assets for fee payment. If you plan to use the entirety of withdraw_amount, however, it's recommended to add a little extra for fee payment.

In our examples, we use a very simple method, where all instructions weigh a constant value. This is very useful for testing purposes, but it's recommended to actually benchmark every instruction as they differ in resource usage. Given our setup, we estimate the weight and fee using only the number of instructions in each message.

SetFeesMode​

SetFeesMode { jit_withdraw: bool }

This instruction changes the fee mode of the XCVM. If jit_withdraw is set to true, then fee assets are taken directly from the origin's on-chain account, instead of the holding register. This means the fees are taken directly from the account, no need for a BuyExecution instruction. That means you make sure the message will get executed, as long as there are enough assets in the account. It's useful when paying sending fees, which are difficult to estimate, as they usually depend on network congestion.

UnpaidExecution​

UnpaidExecution { weight_limit: WeightLimit, check_origin: Option<MultiLocation> }

This instruction is used for explicitly stating this message shouldn't be paid for. It can be used as a way of identifying certain priviledged messages that don't pay fees, coming from a particular system. This instruction can be searched for in barriers to allow this. Make sure you trust the origin system because it won't be paying fees. There's already a predefined barrier in xcm-builder, AllowExplicitUnpaidExecutionFrom<T>, that makes sure this is the first instruction in the message. As always, you can build your own for your own use-cases.

This is safer than allowing all messages from a particular system to not pay fees, as it's an exception to the rule and not the default. Extra measures can be taken to limit who can use this instruction.

RefundSurplus​

RefundSurplus

Refunds any surplus weight previously bought with BuyExecution. This is useful in many cases:

  • When you pay for execution of your whole message, but there's an error and not all instructions get executed
  • When you set an error handler, buy weight for it, but in the end there's no error so it doesn't get called
  • When you use the Transact instruction and the call takes less weight than expected

Example​

let message = Xcm(vec![
  WithdrawAsset((Parent, message_fee).into()),
  BuyExecution {
    fees: (Parent, message_fee).into(),
    weight_limit: WeightLimit::Unlimited,
  },
  SetErrorHandler(Xcm(vec![
    RefundSurplus,
    DepositAsset {
      assets: All.into(),
      beneficiary: AccountId32 {
        network: Some(ByGenesis([0; 32])),
        id: relay_sovereign_account_id().into(),
      }
      .into(),
    },
  ])),
  Trap(1),
  ClearOrigin,
  ClearOrigin,
  ClearOrigin,
]);

In this example, we pay upfront for all the instructions in the XCM. When the Trap instruction throws an error, the error handler will be called and the weight for all the instructions that weren't executed is refunded. For the full example, check our repo.