Now let's dive into the actual API endpoints you'll use to stake your SOL. What’s Staking on Solana?

Step 1: Start Staking Your SOL

You have two options depending on your starting point:

Option A: Create New Stake Account

POST /delegations/delegate

Creates a new stake account and delegates SOL to Stakefish
Returns a transaction that must be signed and broadcast by your client
Use this when starting fresh with unstaked SOL

Request Body:

{
  "stakeAuthorityPubkey": "YourWalletPublicKey",
  "amountToStake": "1000000000"  // Amount in lamports (1 SOL = 1,000,000,000 lamports)
}

Important Notes:

amountToStake must be in lamports, not SOL
Value must match pattern ^[1-9]\d*$ (positive integer, no decimals, no leading zeros)
Conversion: multiply SOL amount by 1,000,000,000

Response:

{
  "serializedTransaction": "base64_encoded_transaction",
  "stakeAccountPubkey": "NewStakeAccountAddress",
  "voteAccountPubkey": "ValidatorVoteAddress"
}

Option B: Activate Existing Stake Account

POST /delegations/activate

Activates an already initialized stake account
Delegates the staked SOL to Stakefish validator
Returns a transaction for client-side signing and broadcasting
Use this when you have an existing inactive stake account

Sign & Broadcast Transaction

Once the transaction is prepared by our API, the final step is to sign and broadcast the transaction in order to initialize your delegation.

Sign The Transaction

Rehydrate the serialized transaction from the Base64 encoded wire transaction.

Use the same account which corresponds to the fromPubkey(which defaults to the stakeAuthorityPubkey ) as provided when creating the transaction.

Send The Transaction

Broadcast the transaction to a Solana node. The operation is completely atomic which means that once the transaction succeeds your delegation process is complete.

Activation Delay

After your transaction is confirmed, your delegation remains pending until the next epoch begins (epochs last ~48 hours). Once the new epoch starts, your delegation automatically activates and begins earning rewards.

Step 2: Check Your Active Stakes

GET /delegations/stakeAuthorityPubkey

Query all stake accounts associated with your stake authority
Returns a list of delegations (stake accounts) for monitoring
Replace stakeAuthorityPubkey with your actual public key

Step 3: Unstaking Your SOL

When you're ready to access your SOL again, you'll need to go through a two-step process:

Step 3a: Deactivate Your Stake

POST /delegations/undelegate

Initiates deactivation of your stake account
Required before withdrawing SOL from the stake account
Returns a transaction for signing and broadcasting
Note: Deactivation takes effect at the next epoch boundary

Step 3b: Withdraw Your SOL

POST /delegations/withdraw

Withdraws SOL from a deactivated stake account
Defaults to withdrawing to the stake authority account
Can specify a custom destination address
Only works after stake account is fully deactivated

Step 4: Advanced Operations

Merging Stake Accounts

POST /delegations/merge

Combines multiple source stake accounts into one target account
Useful for consolidating your staking positions
Immediate execution upon transaction confirmation
All accounts must have the same stake authority

Splitting Stake Accounts

POST /delegations/split

Divides one stake account into two separate accounts
Useful for partial withdrawals or redistribution
Immediate execution upon transaction confirmation
Specify the amount to split off from the source account