Transaction Structure

A Cosmos transaction is a Protobuf-encoded envelope containing three parts:

+--------------------------------------------------+
|                      TxRaw                        |
+-----------------+------------------+--------------+
|  bodyBytes      |  authInfoBytes   |  signatures  |
|  (TxBody)       |  (AuthInfo)      |  (bytes[])   |
+--------+--------+---------+--------+--------------+
         |                  |
         v                  v
+----------------+  +-------------------------------+
|    TxBody      |  |           AuthInfo             |
+----------------+  +-------------------------------+
|  messages[]    |  |  signerInfos[]                 |
|  memo          |  |    - publicKey (Any)           |
|  timeoutHeight |  |    - modeInfo (SignMode)       |
|                |  |    - sequence                  |
|                |  |  fee                           |
|                |  |    - amount (Coin[])           |
|                |  |    - gasLimit                  |
|                |  |    - payer                     |
|                |  |    - granter                   |
+----------------+  +-------------------------------+

Each message inside TxBody.messages is wrapped in a google.protobuf.Any — a two-field wrapper that pairs a type URL string with raw Protobuf bytes. This is how the chain knows which message handler to route to.

Message Type URLs

Every Cosmos SDK message has a unique identifier called a type URL. It follows the Protobuf Any convention: a leading / followed by the fully qualified Protobuf type name.

/cosmos.bank.v1beta1.MsgSend
 ^                    ^
 |                    +-- message name
 +-- package path (module.version)

Type URLs serve as the bridge between your JavaScript code and the on-chain message router. When a validator receives a transaction, it reads the type URL from each Any-wrapped message to determine which module should handle it.

Common Type URLs

Module	Type URL	Description
Bank	`/cosmos.bank.v1beta1.MsgSend`	Transfer tokens
	`/cosmos.bank.v1beta1.MsgMultiSend`	Transfer to multiple recipients
Staking	`/cosmos.staking.v1beta1.MsgDelegate`	Delegate to a validator
	`/cosmos.staking.v1beta1.MsgUndelegate`	Begin unbonding
	`/cosmos.staking.v1beta1.MsgBeginRedelegate`	Move delegation between validators
	`/cosmos.staking.v1beta1.MsgCreateValidator`	Register a new validator
	`/cosmos.staking.v1beta1.MsgEditValidator`	Edit validator details
	`/cosmos.staking.v1beta1.MsgCancelUnbondingDelegation`	Cancel pending unbonding
Distribution	`/cosmos.distribution.v1beta1.MsgWithdrawDelegatorReward`	Claim staking rewards
	`/cosmos.distribution.v1beta1.MsgSetWithdrawAddress`	Set reward withdrawal address
	`/cosmos.distribution.v1beta1.MsgFundCommunityPool`	Fund the community pool
	`/cosmos.distribution.v1beta1.MsgWithdrawValidatorCommission`	Withdraw validator commission
Governance	`/cosmos.gov.v1.MsgSubmitProposal`	Submit a governance proposal (v1)
	`/cosmos.gov.v1.MsgVote`	Vote on a proposal (v1)
	`/cosmos.gov.v1.MsgDeposit`	Deposit on a proposal (v1)
	`/cosmos.gov.v1beta1.MsgSubmitProposal`	Submit a proposal (legacy)
	`/cosmos.gov.v1beta1.MsgVote`	Vote on a proposal (legacy)
Authz	`/cosmos.authz.v1beta1.MsgGrant`	Grant authorization
	`/cosmos.authz.v1beta1.MsgExec`	Execute on behalf of granter
	`/cosmos.authz.v1beta1.MsgRevoke`	Revoke authorization
Fee Grant	`/cosmos.feegrant.v1beta1.MsgGrantAllowance`	Grant fee allowance
	`/cosmos.feegrant.v1beta1.MsgRevokeAllowance`	Revoke fee allowance
Vesting	`/cosmos.vesting.v1beta1.MsgCreateVestingAccount`	Create a vesting account
IBC	`/ibc.applications.transfer.v1.MsgTransfer`	Cross-chain token transfer
CosmWasm	`/cosmwasm.wasm.v1.MsgStoreCode`	Upload contract code
	`/cosmwasm.wasm.v1.MsgInstantiateContract`	Create a contract instance
	`/cosmwasm.wasm.v1.MsgExecuteContract`	Call a contract
	`/cosmwasm.wasm.v1.MsgMigrateContract`	Migrate a contract to new code

CosmJS

Concepts

Guides

API Reference

Transaction Structure

Message Type URLs

Common Type URLs

​Message Type URLs

​Common Type URLs

Message Type URLs

Common Type URLs