UserOperation
All components of ERC-4337 revolve around a pseudo-transaction object called a UserOperation which is used to execute actions through a smart contract account. This isn't to be mistaken for a regular transaction type.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
sender | address | The address of the smart contract account |
nonce | uint256 | Anti-replay protection; also used as the salt for first-time account creation |
initCode | bytes | Code used to deploy the account if not yet on-chain |
callData | bytes | Data that's passed to the sender for execution |
callGasLimit | uint256 | Gas limit for execution phase |
verificationGasLimit | uint256 | Gas limit for verification phase |
preVerificationGas | uint256 | Gas to compensate the bundler |
maxFeePerGas | uint256 | Maximum fee per gas (similar to EIP-1559 (opens in a new tab) max_fee_per_gas) |
maxPriorityFeePerGas | uint256 | Maximum priority fee per gas (similar to EIP-1559 max_priority_fee_per_gas) |
paymasterAndData | bytes | Paymaster Contract address and any extra data required for verification and execution (empty for self-sponsored transaction) |
signature | bytes | Used to validate a UserOperation along with the nonce during verification |
UserOperation mempool
Instead of going to the traditional public mempool that hosts pending transactions for EOAs, UserOperations will instead be sent to the UserOperation mempool: a dedicated, higher-level mempool specifically for UserOperations.
Bundlers listen to the UserOperation mempool and bundle multiple UserOperations together into a "classic" transaction. They first verify the validity of the UserOperations using the relevant EntryPoint methods. The bundler then includes that multi-UserOperation transaction in the next block they propose to the network. To clarify, that transaction isn't sent to the regular mempool. Bundlers are either block builders themselves, or work together with block builders.
