What PHP version is required?

PHP 7.4 or later. The iexbase/tron-api package requires the GMP and bcmath extensions.

Why do I need a Node.js helper for signing?

The iexbase/tron-api PHP library does not expose tronWeb.trx.signMessageV2(), which is what the TronEnergy API requires. The Node.js helper is a small wrapper that does the signing and outputs the signature for PHP to read.

PHP Integration | TronEnergy Docs

Full PHP integration using the iexbase/tron-api library. Each step is a standalone code block you can copy into your project. Works with any PHP framework or plain PHP.

Prerequisites: PHP 7.4+, Composer, ext-gmp and ext-bcmath enabled, a funded Tron wallet.

About signing in PHP: The TronEnergy API requires a wallet signature using tronWeb.trx.signMessageV2(). The iexbase/tron-api library does not expose this exact signing primitive, so this guide uses a tiny Node.js helper for the signing step. Everything else (sending TRX, calling the API, sending USDT) stays in PHP. If you have a pure-PHP signing solution that produces a valid signMessageV2 signature, you can swap the helper out without changing any other step.

The Flow

No API key. No sign-up. Your code sends TRX on-chain to the TronEnergy payment address, signs a message proving ownership, then claims the delegation. Energy arrives in approximately 3 seconds. Then your code sends USDT using the delegated energy.

Send TRX

Send 4 or more TRX to the payment address on-chain (min 4, max 1000).

Sign

Sign tx_hash:delegate_to to prove you are the sender.

Claim

POST /delegate with the tx hash and signature. Energy arrives in ~3s.

Pricing is linear: 16,250 Energy per TRX. Minimum order 4 TRX (65,000 Energy — one standard USDT transfer), maximum 1,000 TRX (16.25M Energy). The amount you send determines exactly how much Energy is delegated back — no tiers, no packages. For a single standard transfer, use $trxAmount = 4. For a new-wallet transfer, use 8. For batch work, use more. The code below uses a $trxAmount variable so you can change it in one place.

Step by Step

1. Install

composer

composer require iexbase/tron-api

2. Setup

setup.php
require_once 'vendor/autoload.php';

use IEXBase\TronAPI\Tron;

$tron = new Tron();
$tron->setPrivateKey('YOUR_PRIVATE_KEY');
$tron->setAddress('YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS');

$api  = 'https://api.tronnrg.com';
$addr = 'TFqUiCu1JwLHHnBNeaaVKH7Csm4aA3YhZx'; // API payment address
$usdt = 'TR7NHqjeKQxGTCi8q8ZY4pL8otSzgjLj6t'; // USDT contract

Never hardcode credentials. Use environment variables or a secrets manager. The example above is for illustration only.

3. Get Payment Info (Optional)

get payment info
// Get pricing and payment address (optional, energy is always available)
$supply = json_decode(
    file_get_contents("${api}/supply"),
    true
);

echo "Pay to: " . $supply['pay_to'] . "\n";
echo "Energy per TRX: " . $supply['energy_per_trx'] . "\n";

4. Send TRX

send TRX
// Send TRX to the API payment address — pricing is linear.
// 16,250 energy per TRX. Min 4 TRX, max 1,000 TRX.
//   $trxAmount = 4    → 65,000 energy   (standard USDT transfer)
//   $trxAmount = 8    → 130,000 energy  (new wallet transfer)
//   $trxAmount = 40   → 650,000 energy  (10 standard transfers)
//   $trxAmount = 1000 → 16,250,000 energy (max)

$trxAmount = 4;

$payment = $tron->sendTrx($addr, $trxAmount);

if (!isset($payment['result']) || !$payment['result']) {
    throw new Exception('TRX transfer failed');
}

$txHash = $payment['txid'];
echo "Payment sent: ${txHash}\n";

5. Sign the Message

The API requires a signature that proves the same wallet that sent the TRX is asking for the delegation. We do this with a tiny Node.js helper. Save it as sign.js next to your PHP file:

sign.js (run with node)
// Usage: node sign.js <tx_hash> <delegate_to>
// Outputs the signature to stdout. Reads private key from TRON_PRIVATE_KEY env var.
const { TronWeb } = require('tronweb');

const [, , txHash, delegateTo] = process.argv;
const tronWeb = new TronWeb({
  fullHost: 'https://api.trongrid.io',
  privateKey: process.env.TRON_PRIVATE_KEY,
});

tronWeb.trx.signMessageV2(`${txHash}:${delegateTo}`)
  .then(sig => process.stdout.write(sig))
  .catch(e => { console.error(e.message); process.exit(1); });

Install TronWeb in the same folder: npm install tronweb. Then call it from PHP:

sign from PHP
// Both the sender (in $tron) and the signer must be the SAME wallet.
// Make sure TRON_PRIVATE_KEY in your environment matches the wallet that sent the TRX.
$delegateTo = 'TWalletThatNeedsEnergy';

$signature = trim(shell_exec(
    sprintf('node sign.js %s %s',
        escapeshellarg($txHash),
        escapeshellarg($delegateTo)
    )
));

if (!$signature) {
    throw new Exception('Signing failed. Check that node and tronweb are installed and TRON_PRIVATE_KEY is set.');
}

echo "Signed: " . substr($signature, 0, 20) . "...\n";

6. Claim the Delegation

claim delegation
// $txHash, $delegateTo, and $signature are all defined in the previous steps.
$ch = curl_init("${api}/delegate");
curl_setopt_array($ch, [
    CURLOPT_POST           => true,
    CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
    CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => ['Content-Type: application/json'],
    CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS     => json_encode([
        'tx_hash'     => $txHash,
        'delegate_to' => $delegateTo,
        'signature'   => $signature,
    ]),
]);

$response = curl_exec($ch);
$httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
curl_close($ch);

$result = json_decode($response, true);

if (isset($result['error'])) {
    throw new Exception("Delegation failed: " . $result['message']);
}

echo "Delegated: " . $result['energy'] . " energy\n";
echo "Ref: " . $result['ref'] . "\n";

7. Send USDT

send USDT
// Send USDT using the delegated energy
$usdtContract = $tron->contract($usdt);

// Amount in smallest unit (6 decimals for USDT)
// 10 USDT = 10 * 1,000,000 = 10000000
$amount    = 10 * pow(10, 6);
$recipient = 'TRecipientAddress';

$transfer = $usdtContract->transfer($recipient, $amount);

echo "USDT sent: " . $transfer . "\n";

Error Handling

Wrap the claim call in a small retry helper. The most common error is payment_verification_failed when the tx is not yet indexed on-chain — wait a few seconds and retry once.

error handling
function claimDelegation($api, $txHash, $delegateTo, $signature, $retries = 3) {
    for ($i = 0; $i < $retries; $i++) {
        $ch = curl_init("${api}/delegate");
        curl_setopt_array($ch, [
            CURLOPT_POST           => true,
            CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
            CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER     => ['Content-Type: application/json'],
            CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS     => json_encode([
                'tx_hash'     => $txHash,
                'delegate_to' => $delegateTo,
                'signature'   => $signature,
            ]),
        ]);

        $result = json_decode(curl_exec($ch), true);
        curl_close($ch);

        if (!isset($result['error'])) {
            return $result; // Success
        }

        switch ($result['error']) {
            case 'payment_verification_failed':
                // Most common: tx not yet indexed. Wait and retry.
                sleep(3);
                continue 2;

            case 'hash_already_used':
                throw new Exception('This tx hash has already been claimed');

            case 'signature_mismatch':
                throw new Exception('Signer does not match payment sender. Sign with the same wallet that sent TRX.');

            case 'delegation_failed':
                // Refund queued automatically if payment was verified
                throw new Exception('Delegation failed: ' . $result['message']);

            default:
                throw new Exception($result['message'] ?? 'Unknown error');
        }
    }

    throw new Exception('Transaction not found after retries');
}

Complete Example

delegate-energy.php
<?php
require_once 'vendor/autoload.php';

use IEXBase\TronAPI\Tron;

$tron = new Tron();
$tron->setPrivateKey(getenv('TRON_PRIVATE_KEY'));
$tron->setAddress(getenv('TRON_WALLET_ADDRESS'));

$api  = 'https://api.tronnrg.com';
$addr = 'TFqUiCu1JwLHHnBNeaaVKH7Csm4aA3YhZx';

try {
    $delegateTo = 'TRecipientWallet';
    $trxAmount = 4; // min 4, max 1000 — energy = trxAmount × 16,250

    // 1. Send TRX (linear pricing: 16,250 energy per TRX)
    $payment = $tron->sendTrx($addr, $trxAmount);
    $txHash  = $payment['txid'];
    echo "Payment: ${txHash}\n";

    // 2. Sign via Node helper (see Step 5 above)
    $signature = trim(shell_exec(
        sprintf('node sign.js %s %s',
            escapeshellarg($txHash),
            escapeshellarg($delegateTo)
        )
    ));
    if (!$signature) throw new Exception('Signing failed');

    // 3. Claim delegation (with retry)
    $result = claimDelegation($api, $txHash, $delegateTo, $signature);
    echo "Energy: " . $result['energy'] . "\n";
    echo "Ref: "    . $result['ref'] . "\n";

    // 4. Send USDT (energy is now available)
    $contract = $tron->contract('TR7NHqjeKQxGTCi8q8ZY4pL8otSzgjLj6t');
    $transfer = $contract->transfer($delegateTo, 10 * pow(10, 6));
    echo "USDT sent: ${transfer}\n";

} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
}