Bot Architecture Patterns

Production market making bots need more than just order placement logic. This page covers the infrastructure patterns used across Drift’s keeper-bots-v2 , applicable to market making, filling, and triggering bots.

Subscription loop + resubscribe

WebSocket connections drop. RPC nodes restart. Your bot must handle reconnections automatically. The OrderSubscriber supports automatic resubscription and periodic resync to catch any missed updates.


import { OrderSubscriber } from "@drift-labs/sdk";
 
const orderSubscriber = new OrderSubscriber({
  driftClient,
  subscriptionConfig: {
    type: "websocket",
    resubTimeoutMs: 30_000,    // resubscribe if no update in 30s
    resyncIntervalMs: 300_000, // full resync every 5 minutes
  },
});
await orderSubscriber.subscribe();

Why resyncIntervalMs? WebSocket subscriptions can silently miss updates (dropped messages, RPC hiccups). Periodic resync ensures your local state doesn’t drift from onchain reality.

Periodic tasks + mutex guard

Many bot operations (refreshing quotes, running risk checks, rebalancing) should run on a timer but must not overlap. Use a mutex to prevent concurrent execution:


import { Mutex } from "async-mutex";
 
const periodicTaskMutex = new Mutex();
let lastWatchdogTs = Date.now();
 
setInterval(async () => {
  if (periodicTaskMutex.isLocked()) {
    console.log("Previous cycle still running, skipping");
    return;
  }
 
  const release = await periodicTaskMutex.acquire();
  try {
    await refreshQuotes();
    await runRiskChecks();
    lastWatchdogTs = Date.now();
  } catch (err) {
    console.error("Periodic task error:", err);
  } finally {
    release();
  }
}, 10_000);

Throttling / backoff

When filling auctions or reacting to events, avoid hammering the same order repeatedly. Track recent attempts and enforce a cooldown:


const throttledNodes = new Map<string, number>();
 
function shouldAttemptFill(nodeKey: string, cooldownMs = 1000): boolean {
  const lastAttempt = throttledNodes.get(nodeKey) ?? 0;
  if (lastAttempt + cooldownMs > Date.now()) return false;
  throttledNodes.set(nodeKey, Date.now());
  return true;
}

Priority fees and compute budget

Solana transactions compete for block space via priority fees. During congestion, your transactions will be dropped without adequate fees. The SDK provides a PriorityFeeSubscriber that tracks recent fee levels.


import { ComputeBudgetProgram } from "@solana/web3.js";
import { PriorityFeeSubscriber } from "@drift-labs/sdk";
 
// Subscribe to priority fee data
const priorityFeeSubscriber = new PriorityFeeSubscriber({
  connection,
  frequencyMs: 5000,
});
await priorityFeeSubscriber.subscribe();
 
// When building transactions, set compute budget
const priorityFee = priorityFeeSubscriber.getCustomStrategyResult();
const computeBudgetIx = ComputeBudgetProgram.setComputeUnitPrice({
  microLamports: Math.floor(
    priorityFee * driftClient.txSender.getSuggestedPriorityFeeMultiplier()
  ),
});
 
// Also set compute unit limit to avoid overpaying
const computeLimitIx = ComputeBudgetProgram.setComputeUnitLimit({
  units: 400_000, // typical for place-and-make
});

Tip: Place-and-make transactions typically use 200-400k compute units. Set the limit explicitly rather than defaulting to 200k (which may fail) or 1.4M (which overpays).

Address Lookup Tables (ALTs) and blockhash

Drift transactions reference many accounts. Use Address Lookup Tables to compress transaction size and stay under Solana’s 1232-byte limit:


// Fetch ALTs once at startup (or periodically refresh)
const lookupTableAccounts = await driftClient.fetchAllLookupTableAccounts();
 
// Get fresh blockhash for each transaction
const { blockhash } = await driftClient.connection.getLatestBlockhash({
  commitment: "confirmed",
});

Health monitoring

Your bot should continuously monitor its own account health and cancel orders before liquidation:


import { QUOTE_PRECISION, convertToNumber } from "@drift-labs/sdk";
 
async function checkHealth() {
  const user = driftClient.getUser();
 
  // Check free collateral
  const freeCollateral = convertToNumber(
    user.getFreeCollateral(),
    QUOTE_PRECISION
  );
 
  // Check leverage
  const leverage = convertToNumber(user.getLeverage(), new BN(10_000)); // 4 decimals
 
  // Check margin ratio
  const marginRatio = user.getMarginRatio();
 
  console.log(`Free collateral: $${freeCollateral.toFixed(2)}, Leverage: ${leverage.toFixed(2)}x`);
 
  // Emergency cancel if health is deteriorating
  if (freeCollateral < MIN_FREE_COLLATERAL || leverage > MAX_LEVERAGE) {
    console.warn("⚠️ Health threshold breached, cancelling all orders");
    await driftClient.cancelOrders(); // cancel ALL orders across all markets
    return false;
  }
 
  return true;
}
 
// Run health check every cycle
setInterval(checkHealth, 5_000);

Graceful shutdown

When your bot stops (deploy, crash, SIGINT), it should cancel all resting orders to avoid being picked off while offline:


let isShuttingDown = false;
 
async function gracefulShutdown(signal: string) {
  if (isShuttingDown) return;
  isShuttingDown = true;
 
  console.log(`Received ${signal}, shutting down gracefully...`);
 
  try {
    // Cancel all orders across all markets
    console.log("Cancelling all orders...");
    await driftClient.cancelOrders();
    console.log("All orders cancelled");
 
    // Unsubscribe from feeds
    await orderSubscriber.unsubscribe();
    await driftClient.unsubscribe();
 
    console.log("Shutdown complete");
  } catch (err) {
    console.error("Error during shutdown:", err);
  } finally {
    process.exit(0);
  }
}
 
process.on("SIGINT", () => gracefulShutdown("SIGINT"));
process.on("SIGTERM", () => gracefulShutdown("SIGTERM"));
 
// Also handle uncaught errors
process.on("uncaughtException", async (err) => {
  console.error("Uncaught exception:", err);
  await gracefulShutdown("uncaughtException");
});

Why this matters: If your bot crashes with orders still on the book, those orders may fill at stale prices while you’re not running, causing classic adverse selection.

Error handling patterns

Solana transactions fail for many reasons. Your bot should handle these gracefully:


async function sendWithRetry(
  fn: () => Promise<string>,
  maxRetries = 3,
  baseDelayMs = 500
): Promise<string | null> {
  for (let attempt = 0; attempt < maxRetries; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await fn();
    } catch (err: any) {
      const errMsg = err?.message || String(err);
 
      // Transaction expired, blockhash is stale, just retry
      if (errMsg.includes("BlockhashNotFound") || errMsg.includes("block height exceeded")) {
        console.log(`Blockhash expired (attempt ${attempt + 1}), retrying...`);
        continue;
      }
 
      // Compute budget exceeded, increase CU limit
      if (errMsg.includes("exceeded CUs meter")) {
        console.warn("Compute budget exceeded, consider raising CU limit");
        continue;
      }
 
      // Insufficient funds for priority fee
      if (errMsg.includes("insufficient lamports")) {
        console.error("Insufficient SOL for transaction fees");
        return null; // don't retry, need to top up
      }
 
      // Order would cross (post-only rejection), price moved, skip
      if (errMsg.includes("PostOnlyOrderWouldBeFilled")) {
        console.log("Post-only order would cross, skipping");
        return null;
      }
 
      // Unknown error, log and retry with backoff
      console.error(`Tx error (attempt ${attempt + 1}):`, errMsg);
      await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, baseDelayMs * Math.pow(2, attempt)));
    }
  }
 
  console.error("Max retries exceeded");
  return null;
}

Risk and filtering

For JIT and SWIFT flows, apply these filters before filling to avoid adverse selection and stay within risk limits.

Oracle validation: Reject if oracle is stale or confidence is too wide:


const oracle = driftClient.getMMOracleDataForPerpMarket(marketIndex);
if (!oracle.isValid) return;
if (oracle.confidence > maxConfidence) return;

Position limits: Don’t fill if it would exceed your max position or leverage:


const currentPosition = userAccount.perpPositions[marketIndex];
const newPosition = currentPosition.baseAssetAmount + fillSize;
if (Math.abs(newPosition) > maxPositionSize) return;

Toxic flow: Skip orders that increase risk (e.g. direction that worsens your inventory) and skip when oracle/index divergence is high:


if (isRiskIncreasing(order, currentPosition)) return;
if (Math.abs(oraclePrice - indexPrice) > maxDivergence) return;

When subscribed to both SWIFT and onchain feeds, use isSignedMsgOrder(order) to avoid double-handling the same order. See SWIFT API for details.

Putting it all together

A production bot typically follows this structure:

Start your client and subscribe to required accounts/feeds.

Start OrderSubscriber (websocket + resync)

Bring up real-time order subscriptions with automatic resync.

Start PriorityFeeSubscriber

Track current priority fee levels for transaction construction.

Register SIGINT/SIGTERM handlers

Ensure graceful shutdown and emergency cleanup paths are active.

Main loop

Check health (and emergency cancel if needed), refresh oracle prices, update quotes, process JIT auctions (if participating), and log metrics (position, PnL, fill rate).

Sleep until next cycle

Pause until the next scheduled run tick.

Subaccount isolation

For multi-market strategies, use separate subaccounts per market to avoid order conflicts and simplify position tracking:


// Initialize with multiple subaccounts
const driftClient = new DriftClient({
  connection,
  wallet,
  env: "mainnet-beta",
  activeSubAccountId: 0,
  subAccountIds: [0, 1, 2], // one per market
});
 
// Switch subaccount context for market-specific operations
driftClient.switchActiveUser(subAccountId);

The JitMaker enforces a 1:1 subaccount-to-market ratio and throws if the mapping isn’t configured correctly.

Gotchas

WebSocket silent failures: Solana WebSocket connections can stop delivering updates without disconnecting. The resyncIntervalMs on OrderSubscriber catches this, but also monitor your last-update timestamp and force-reconnect if stale for >60s.
Priority fee spikes: during congestion, priority fees can spike 100x. Set a hard cap (maxPriorityFee) to avoid draining your SOL balance on fees. The PriorityFeeSubscriber gives you the data, but you must enforce the cap.
Transaction size limits: Drift transactions reference many accounts. Without Address Lookup Tables (ALTs), you’ll hit the 1232-byte transaction limit. Always fetch and use ALTs (see the ALT section above).
Blockhash expiry: Solana blockhashes expire after ~60 seconds. If your transaction is stuck in a queue, it will silently fail. Use getLatestBlockhash with commitment: "confirmed" and set lastValidBlockHeight for reliable expiry detection.
Rate limits: even paid RPC providers have limits. Batch reads where possible (e.g., getMultipleAccounts) and avoid redundant subscriptions.

See keeper-bots-v2 for the reference implementation of these patterns. Key files:

floatingMaker.ts: mutex guards, slot-based cooldowns, watchdog timer
jitMaker.ts: subaccount isolation, DLOB integration, volatility checks
utils.ts: throttling, market type conversion, volatility detection helpers