unionlabs/union · error · Error

Transaction failed: ${transaction?.vm_status} - ${JSON.strin

Error message

Transaction failed: ${transaction?.vm_status} - ${JSON.stringify(transaction, undefined, 2)}

What it means

Thrown in transferAssetFromAptos on the wallet path after signAndSubmitTransaction: the returned transaction object either failed on-chain or lacks a truthy success field, and the error embeds vm_status plus a pretty-printed JSON dump of the whole transaction so nothing is lost. Note that a pending submission response often has no success field, in which case the JSON dump is the only diagnostic.

Source

Thrown at typescript-sdk/src/aptos/transfer.ts:146

            function: payload.function,
            type_arguments: payload.typeArguments,
            arguments: [
              parameters.sourceChannel,
              isValidBech32Address(parameters.receiver)
                ? bech32AddressToHex({ address: parameters.receiver })
                : parameters.receiver,
              [parameters.denomAddress],
              [parameters.amount.toString()],
              parameters.memo ?? "",
              BigInt(9n).toString(),
              BigInt(999_999_999).toString(),
              BigInt(0n).toString(),
            ],
          },
        })

        if (!transaction?.success) {
          throw new Error(
            `Transaction failed: ${transaction?.vm_status} - ${
              JSON.stringify(transaction, undefined, 2)
            }`,
          )
        }
        return transaction.hash
      }

      const signer = parameters.signer as AptosAccount

      const transaction = await buildSimpleTransaction({
        data: payload,
        aptos: parameters.aptos,
        accountAddress: signer.accountAddress,
      })

      if (!transaction.isOk()) {
        throw transaction.error

View on GitHub (pinned to 031785bb6d)

Solutions

Read the vm_status and JSON dump in the message to determine whether it is a real on-chain failure or a response-shape issue
If it is a response-shape issue (no success field on a pending tx), poll waitForTransaction with the returned hash instead of relying on the submit response
Verify the ibc::send arguments (denom address, receiver, amount string, timeout heights) and account gas balance
Update the wallet adapter / SDK versions so signAndSubmitTransaction returns the documented shape

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Try / catch

try {
  hash = await transferAssetFromAptos(params).toPromise()
} catch (error) {
  const msg = (error as Error).message
  if (msg.startsWith("Transfer failed: Transaction failed:")) {
    const dumped = msg.slice(msg.indexOf("{")) // JSON dump starts at the opening brace
    // parse the dump: real VM abort vs response without success field
  }
  throw error
}

Prevention

After any wallet submit, confirm final state with waitForTransaction(hash) rather than trusting the submit response alone
Log the full JSON dump when triaging — it contains gas usage, status, and events
Keep wallet adapter versions current so response shapes match SDK expectations

When it happens

Trigger: A wallet-signed cross-chain (ibc::send) Aptos transaction whose result is not marked successful: Move abort inside the relay entrypoint, gas exhaustion, malformed arguments, or a wallet SDK response shape without success that the strict check treats as failure.

Common situations: Browser wallet (Petra/Pontem) submissions of IBC transfers; user's account out of gas; memo/timeout arguments built incorrectly; wallet adapter returning a pending-transaction object rather than the full transaction view.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of unionlabs/union@031785bb6d (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/55567aa2abd6c80b. Report an issue: GitHub.