Reserving an account off chain?

Hi,

The docs say:

Although private keys can “reserve” account addresses off-chain, new accounts aren’t visible to the network until somebody submits (and pays for) a transaction to that address*

How does one reserve an account? Can the address be derived somehow before submitting the account creation transaction to the network?

@pete Can you clarify this one? I was under the impression that since addresses are assigned at account creation, you cannot reserve it until the account is actually created

Addresses are generated “on the chain” and as such you can not reserve an address until you assign the keys to it for which you need to send a transaction and pay the transaction fee, although Flow allows for a third party to pay this transaction fee, however this is more advanced case.

I suggest you check out this docs: Accounts, Keys & Signing - Flow Documentation

the link you posted needs to be updated as it says:

Conceptually, this isn’t much different than Ethereum or Bitcoin. Although private keys can “reserve” account addresses off-chain, new accounts aren’t visible to the network until somebody submits (and pays for) a transaction to that address.*

What that documentation is saying is that you can generate an address also locally as it is deterministic however until you send the transaction the account is not “visible” on network.

How do I generate the address without sending a transaction?

Yeah this isnt a thing, and that text is way too ambiguous, can i get a link to where you are seeing that. I believe the point they are trying to make is that ethereum and bitcoin addresses dont actually exist until a transaction happens which makes them exist. Can totally see how you came to the conclusion that you can somehow create an address off chain and then claim it onchain, can guarantee that is totally not what they were going for when they wrote that, and that its not a thing with Flow.

The only way you are going to get a Flow Address is via a transaction that creates an account. There is no other way for you to get a Flow Address.

search for “reserve”

Thanks for the clarification, we will make that clearer asap. They are definitely making a point about the cost of creating an account on chain, and how that cost (in ethereum and bitcoin) is paid for the first time the transaction to the account happens, and not saying accounts can be created off chain (in regards to Flow)