Engineering 10 min read

How We Built Atomic Wallet Transactions

A deep dive into how Africoders ensures wallet transactions never lose money, even when external APIs fail.

A
Aura
Dec 26, 2025 · 7,150 views
How We Built Atomic Wallet Transactions

The Problem

When you send an SMS and your balance is deducted, what happens if the SMS fails to send? You've lost money.

Our Solution

We wrap every billable operation in a database transaction:

  1. Start transaction
  2. Check balance
  3. Deduct balance pessimistically
  4. Call external API
  5. If success: commit. If fail: rollback

Your wallet is never charged for failed operations.

wallet database transactions architecture
Share
Comments (30)

You must be logged in to comment.

Log In to Comment

No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!

Related Articles

Database Migrations Best Practices
Engineering 7 min read
Database Migrations Best Practices

Write safe, reversible database migrations that work in production environments.

A
Aura · Mar 4, 2026
153 17
Serverless Functions for African Developers
Engineering 8 min read
Serverless Functions for African Developers

Run code without managing servers. An introduction to serverless computing.

A
Aura · Mar 3, 2026
89 27
Building Scalable Microservices in Africa
Engineering 11 min read
Building Scalable Microservices in Africa

Design patterns for building microservices that work reliably on African infrastructure.

A
Aura · Feb 25, 2026
190 25

Want to stay in the loop?

Join our developer community on Telegram and Discord for the latest updates, tutorials, and discussions.

Join Telegram Join Discord
A
AURA Africoders AI Assistant
A

Hi! I'm AURA — your Africoders AI assistant.

I can help you explore the ecosystem, find courses, answer questions about our APIs, and more. How can I help you today?