Operation Overview

Bridging Steps

To perform a cross-chain token transfer using Airlift, you'll need to provide the following information:

• Token address on the source chain

• Source Chain ID

• Destination Chain ID

• Amount to transfer

Once you have this information, follow these steps:

1. Check supported routes

Send a request to the /routes API endpoint to determine if the desired route is supported. The response includes route metadata such as estimated duration and gas costs, powered by the indexer.

2. Get a quote

Use the /quote API endpoint to retrieve the fees required to execute the transfer.

3. Initiate the transfer

Call the send function on the Airlift smart contract using the data returned by the quote. This triggers the cross-chain transfer through the appropriate token implementation and returns a transaction hash on the source chain.

4. Track the transfer

Periodically query the /transaction API endpoint to monitor the status of the cross-chain operation with the TX hash returned in the send operation.

5. Receive funds on the destination chain

Once the operation status is marked as DONE, the tokens will be available on the destination chain.

Troubleshooting Airlift

Occasionally there can be problems sending tokens. The most common issue is when a bridging operation occurs on the origin chain, but the destination chain never has tokens minted. This can occur due to a stalled bridge or an improper origin fee estimation.

Recovery Steps

1. First check to ensure that the tokens have been burnt from your wallet. If they have not been burnt, then there is no problem, and you can retry the transaction later.

2. If tokens have been burnt and your transaction is taking longer than expected, please wait for at least an hour. Occasionally the relayers of bridges stall and/or miss a transaction, which will be picked up at a later time, potentially when gas prices are lower.

3. If tokens have been burnt and the transaction has been pending for greater than an hour, go through the recovery flow below.

Stalled & Failing Destination Transactions

If you have burnt a token, and the token never gets minted on the destination chain, please go through one of the support rails specific to the bridge that you have used.

You can tell which bridge that you have used based on its transaction status results.

First check the scan link to see if there are recovery options available. If not, go through the support link to check in with their respective teams to find recovery options.

Bridge	Scan Link	Support Link
Wormhole	Wormhole Scan	Wormhole Discord
LayerZero	LayerZero Scan	LayerZero Support Docs
Chainlink	Chainlink CCIP Explorer	Chainlink Discord

If all else fails, or if the issue is not related to a bridge stall or an improper origin fee estimation, then please reach out to us in our official telegram channel. Issues with the UI, repeated improper estimations, and failing smart contract calls ought to be reported.