Start with the transaction, then identify what moved
A Tempo transaction record can establish that a particular operation was observed on a blockchain. Understanding its economic meaning requires more work: identify the currency contract, separate transfer legs from fees, check execution, and inspect the available evidence. A transaction hash alone does not identify a customer, an AI agent or a completed service purchase.
This guide provides a repeatable reading order for analysts using the InferenceView Tempo dataset. It is useful whether your next step is a spreadsheet, an API integration or a written research finding.
1. Fix the identity and time window
Record the network, transaction hash, block height and source-reported timestamp before examining amounts. A hash identifies a transaction on its network; wallet addresses identify accounts. Neither field establishes the identity of the person or software controlling an account.
For a daily report, define the interval explicitly: start inclusive, end exclusive, in UTC. Save the retrieval time as well. A result collected later may include records that arrived after your first query. InferenceView's API accepts since and until as UTC Unix seconds.
Check collection coverage first. A missing interval means the collector lacks observations for that period. It cannot be converted into zero transactions simply because a query returns no rows.
2. Read the currency contract and transfer legs
Use the asset contract as the currency identifier and the symbol as a readable label. Keep exact quantities as decimal strings or use decimal arithmetic. Treat an unknown amount as unknown; replacing it with zero silently changes both totals and averages.
One transaction can contain multiple payments. Tempo's official payment guide documents batching several transfers in one transaction and emitting transfer events. Therefore, transaction count, transfer-event count and payment count answer different questions. Inspect the retained legs before choosing a counting rule.
Avoid summing every leg into an economic total. A path that sends funds through an intermediary can show the same value more than once. Record which legs you include, which you exclude and why.
3. Separate payment value, fees and sponsorship
Tempo's fee specification describes a separate fee payer, fee token and fee transfer. This matters when reading account flows: the initiating account and the account paying network fees can differ. A fee transfer is a cost of execution, not evidence that an extra service was purchased.
Consider this illustrative example, unrelated to measured InferenceView activity:
| Observed item | Quantity | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer from account A to account B | 12.500000 of token X | Observed transfer value |
| Fee paid by sponsor C | 0.002000 of token X | Separate execution cost |
| Transaction execution | Success | Chain operation completed |
| Seller invoice or service output | Unavailable | Purchase purpose remains unknown |
The defensible statement is that the record contains a 12.5-token transfer and a separate 0.002-token fee. Reporting 12.502 tokens as seller revenue would combine different flows. Calling account A an agent customer would add an identity claim that these fields do not support.
If token X is assigned a nominal one-dollar value in an analysis, label the resulting number as nominal USD. That convention is not a measured market price, a bank settlement or proof of revenue.
4. Distinguish execution from evidence consistency
Execution tells you whether the transaction succeeded on chain. Evidence checks tell you whether retained records can be found and reconciled. A failed transaction may still have internally consistent records.
InferenceView currently implements two evidence checks: finding a retained transaction or receipt matching the identifier, and reconciling supported stored records. The methodology explains the limits, including reliance on one RPC source. These checks do not establish authorization, delivery or output quality.
A memo can help connect a transfer to an invoice. Tempo documents this use in its transfer memo guide. But a reference becomes useful evidence only when the corresponding off-chain record is available and the linkage can be checked. A memo's presence is not itself proof that an invoice was fulfilled.
5. Preserve a reproducible result
Start with the free API documentation, then retrieve status, coverage and a small transaction sample. When paginating, hold until fixed, deduplicate network-and-hash pairs and reconcile late arrivals. Separate requests are not a frozen database snapshot.
Keep the query, retrieval time, covered intervals, unknown-value count and counting rule beside your chart. Link representative records so a reader can inspect how you reached the conclusion. For a downloadable research extract, configure a CSV report and review its scope and coverage before ordering.