Recover a message

Most stuck messages need one of two things: more gas on the source chain, or an execution on the destination chain. Anyone can do either, from Axelarscan or with the AxelarJS SDK. Track a message shows which one a message needs.

If a message never got verified or approved, relay it manually.

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Using an AI agent?

Copy this page with Copy Markdown at the top, and give it to your agent with the transaction hash or message ID. It can look up the message through the Axelarscan API and add gas or execute it for you. Review every transaction before it's signed, and don't paste private keys into a chat: let the agent use a wallet or keystore you control.

Add gas

Use this when Axelarscan shows Pay Gas, Insufficient Fee or Not Enough Gas. Once the gas is added, Axelar's relayers continue with the message, and the unused part is refunded.

On Axelarscan: open the message, connect a wallet on the source chain and click Add gas. Axelarscan calculates the amount.

With the SDK, on EVM source chains:

import { AxelarGMPRecoveryAPI, Environment } from '@axelar-network/axelarjs-sdk';

const sdk = new AxelarGMPRecoveryAPI({ environment: Environment.MAINNET });

const { success, transaction, error } = await sdk.addNativeGas(
  'avalanche', // source chain
  txHash, // source transaction
  200000, // gas the destination execute needs
  {
    // all optional
    amount: '10000000000000000', // in wei; calculated if omitted
    refundAddress: '0x...', // defaults to the sender
    evmWalletDetails: { privateKey: '0x...' }, // defaults to the browser wallet
  },
);

addGas(chain, txHash, gasTokenAddress, estimatedGasUsed, options) pays in an ERC-20 token instead.

Other source chains have their own functions. Except for Cosmos, each returns a transaction for you to sign and send:

Source chain	Function
Solana	`addGasToSolanaChain({ messageId, gasFeeAmount, sender, refundAddress })`
Sui	`addGasToSuiChain({ messageId, gasParams, refundAddress, amount })`
Stellar	`addGasToStellarChain({ messageId, senderAddress, spender, amount })`
XRPL	`addGasToXrplChain({ messageId, senderAddress, amount })`
Cosmos	`addGasToCosmosChain({ txHash, chain, token, gasLimit, sendOptions })`; sends the gas over IBC, and signs with `sendOptions.offlineSigner`

To add gas without the SDK, call the gas service directly. See Add gas and refunds.

Execute

Use this when a message is approved but not executed: execution failed with Error, or there wasn't enough gas for it, or you relayed an unpaid message yourself. You send the destination transaction yourself and pay its gas.

If execution failed because the destination contract reverts, executing again fails the same way. Debug it first.

On Axelarscan: open the message, connect a wallet on the destination chain and click Execute.

With the SDK, on EVM destination chains:

const { success, transaction, error } = await sdk.execute(
  txHash, // source transaction
  undefined, // log index, if the transaction sent several messages
  { privateKey: '0x...', gasLimitBuffer: 50000 }, // optional; defaults to the browser wallet
);

From the command line, call execute on the destination contract with the values from the message:

cast send <destination contract> "execute(bytes32,string,string,bytes)" \
  <commandId> <sourceChain> <sourceAddress> <payload> \
  --rpc-url <destination RPC> --private-key <key>

commandId is in the Approved step on Axelarscan (approved.returnValues.commandId in the API); the payload is in Sent (call.returnValues.payload).

Add gas

Execute

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