eth_estimateGas

Estimate a transaction's energy consumption (Tron's counterpart of Ethereum gas).

• Source: framework/src/main/java/org/tron/core/services/jsonrpc/TronJsonRpcImpl.java#estimateGas
• Ports: FullNode 8545 / Solidity 8555

Request parameters

Position	Type	Required	Description
params[0]	object	yes	CallArguments (same as eth_call); from / to / value / data are used to infer the contract type

CallArguments.getContractType inference rules:

• to is empty and data is non-empty → CreateSmartContract
• to is a contract address → TriggerSmartContract
• to is a regular account and value is non-empty → TransferContract (returns 0x0 directly without entering EVM estimation)
• Otherwise → throws -32600 invalid json request[: invalid value]

# Example: estimate energy consumption of a TRX transfer on Nile testnet
curl -X POST https://nile.trongrid.io/jsonrpc \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"eth_estimateGas",
    "params":[{
      "from":"0xdd791d6b49e190062d650e6a23c575510d35f2f9",
      "to":"0xb06b4139895c9f51c967c9f3d9089ca721e8e34c",
      "value":"0xf4240"
    }]
  }'

Response

Hex-encoded energy usage:

• Plain TRX transfer (TransferContract) → 0x0
• Contract call / deployment → depends on node config:
  • node.supportEstimateEnergy = true returns EstimateEnergyMessage.energyRequired
  • Default (false) → returns TransactionExtention.energyUsed (the actual usage of one constant-call)

The example below is the real response captured from the Nile testnet curl above (the TRX transfer takes the TransferContract path and returns 0x0 directly without entering the EVM):

{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "result": "0x0" }

Error responses

Trigger	Code	message
from is missing / not valid hex / wrong length	-32602	passes through addressCompatibleToByteArray message
to is not valid hex / wrong length	-32602	passes through addressCompatibleToByteArray message
from is valid but both to and data are missing	-32600	invalid json request
to is not a contract and value is missing	-32600	invalid json request: invalid value
Contract validation fails (ContractValidateException)	-32600	passes through message (fallback invalid contract)
EVM execution REVERT	-32000	message + the parsed revert string; error.data carries the original revert hex
data / value hex invalid or other internal exceptions	-32000	passes through message (double quotes are replaced with single quotes)

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