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SEP-0015Source ↗

Attachment Convention

3 min · 560 words

#Simple Summary

Sometimes there is a need to send more information about a transaction than fits in the provided memo field, for example: KYC info, an invoice, a short note. Such data shouldn't be placed in the ledger because of it's size or private nature. Instead, you should create what we call an attachment. A Stellar attachment is simply a JSON document. The sha-256 hash of this attachment is included as a memo_hash in the transaction. The actual attachment document can be sent to the receiver through some other channel, most likely through the receiver's Auth server.

#Specification

The attachment has a following structure:

{
  "nonce": "<nonce>",
  "transaction": {
    "sender_info": {
      "first_name": "<first_name>",
      "middle_name": "<middle_name>",
      "last_name": "<last_name>",
      "address": "<address>",
      "city": "<city>",
      "province": "<province>",
      "country": "<country in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 format>",
      "date_of_birth": "<date of birth in YYYY-MM-DD format>",
      "company_name": "<company_name>"
    },
    "route": "<route>",
    "note": "<note>"
  },
  "operations": [
    {
      "sender_info": <sender_info>,
      "route": "<route>",
      "note": "<note>"
    },
    // ...
  ]
}

Attachments can be extended with extra information however, the should contain the following fields:

NameData TypeDescription
noncestringNonce is a unique value. Every transaction you send should have a different value. A nonce is needed to distinguish attachments of two transactions sent with otherwise identical details. For example if you send $10 to Bob two days in a row.
transaction.sender_infoJSONJSON containing KYC info of the sender. This JSON object can be extended with more fields if needed.
transaction.routestringThe route information returned by the receiving federation server (memo value). Tells the receiver how to get the transaction to the ultimate recipient.
transaction.notestringA note attached to transaction.
operations[i]ith operation data. Can be omitted if transaction has only one operation.
operations[i].sender_infoJSONsender_info for ith operation in the transaction. If empty, will inherit value from transaction.
operations[i].routestringroute for ith operation in the transaction. If empty, will inherit value from transaction.
operations[i].notestringnote for ith operation in the transaction. If empty, will inherit value from transaction.

#Sending Attachments

An attachment and its hash (in a transaction) can be sent to Auth server of a receiving organization using Compliance protocol.

#Calculating Attachment hash

To calculate the Attachment hash you need to stringify the JSON object and calculate sha-256 hash. In Node.js:

const crypto = require("crypto");
const hash = crypto.createHash("sha256");

hash.update(JSON.stringify(attachment));
var memoHashHex = hash.digest("hex");

To add the hash to your transaction use the TransactionBuilder.addMemo method.

#Example

var crypto = require("crypto");

var nonce = crypto.randomBytes(16);
var attachment = {
  nonce: nonce.toString("hex"),
  transaction: {
    sender_info: {
      name: "Sherlock Holmes",
      address: "221B Baker Street",
      city: "London NW1 6XE",
      country: "UK",
      date_of_birth: "1854-01-06",
    },
  },
  operations: [
    // Operation #1: Payment for Dr. Watson
    {
      route: "watson",
      note: "Payment for helping to solve murder case",
    },
    // Operation #2: Payment for Mrs. Hudson
    {
      route: "hudson",
      note: "Rent",
    },
  ],
};

var hash = crypto.createHash("sha256");
hash.update(JSON.stringify(attachment));
var memoHashHex = hash.digest("hex");
console.log(memoHashHex);

#Test Cases

Use GoStellar application to check if Compliance protocol and attachments were implemented correctly.

#Reference implementations