Feed Parameter Units

Units and fixed-point scaling for Switchboard feed configuration parameters.

Feed definitions combine validation parameters, quorum parameters, freshness limits, and returned feed values. These fields do not all use the same unit or fixed-point scale.

The most common mistake is treating raw v2 OracleFeed.maxJobRangePct / max_job_range_pct as a human percent. It is a fixed-point percent scaled by 1e9:

• 1_000_000_000 means 1%

• 5_000_000_000 means 5%

• 5 does not mean 5%; it is effectively zero tolerance

Field or surface	Unit	Example	Notes
Raw v2 OracleFeed.maxJobRangePct / max_job_range_pct	Percent scaled by 1e9	1_000_000_000 = 1%; 5_000_000_000 = 5%	Used in raw protobuf/JSON feed definitions. This is the feed-level job-spread tolerance oracles enforce before signing an update.
SDK helper maxVariance inputs that scale internally	Human percent	1 or 1.0 = 1%	Some SDK helper methods accept the human percentage and multiply by 1e9 before sending a gateway or on-chain request. Check the method docs before passing raw integers.
Direct gateway/raw API max_variance fields	Percent scaled by 1e9	50_000_000 = 0.05%; 1_000_000_000 = 1%	Use this for raw gateway payloads and chain parameters that already expect fixed-point validation values. Some JSON routes expose this as camelCase maxVariance while still expecting the scaled integer.
MedianTask.max_range_percent	Human percent string	"2.5" = 2.5%	This is a task-level setting inside MedianTask. It is not scaled like feed-level maxJobRangePct.
minJobResponses / min_job_responses	Unscaled job/source quorum	2 requires at least two successful job results	This counts successful jobs inside one oracle's feed execution. It does not change percent scaling.
minOracleSamples / min_oracle_samples	Unscaled oracle/signature quorum	3 requires three oracle samples	This counts oracle responses/signatures. It is separate from job/source quorum.
Feed result values	Feed-specific numeric convention, often i128 scaled by 1e18	1_000_000_000_000_000_000 may represent 1.0	Result-value scaling is independent from validation parameter scaling. Always document the feed's value decimals separately.
Staleness fields	Slots, seconds, or milliseconds depending on the surface	maxStaleness: 150 slots; maxAgeSeconds: 60; maxAgeMs: 60000	Solana/SVM verifier settings often use slots. EVM and Move-chain examples commonly use seconds. Sui examples may use milliseconds.

Practical Rules

When you create a raw v2 OracleFeed, use scaled integers for feed-level range validation:

const feed = {
  minJobResponses: 2,
  minOracleSamples: 3,
  maxJobRangePct: 1_000_000_000, // 1%, scaled by 1e9
  jobs,
};

Use maxJobRangePct: 0 only when the flow intentionally expects a single successful job/source or identical outputs. For normal multi-source feeds, set a positive scaled tolerance.

Simulation can succeed even when signed updates fail. Simulation proves the jobs can resolve off-chain; signed updates also require oracle-side feed validation to pass. If update fetching returns ORACLE_UNAVAILABLE after successful simulation, inspect oracle errors for validation failures such as RangeExceeded, then check whether maxJobRangePct was scaled correctly.

This feed-validation failure is separate from using the wrong Solana/SVM update path. If PullFeed.fetchUpdateIx(...) or pullFeedSubmitResponseConsensus returns ORACLE_UNAVAILABLE while queue.fetchManagedUpdateIxs(...) returns Ed25519 quote-program instructions, move the integration to canonical quote-program accounts; see Quote Program Accounts.