Use Authority Record

What it is

A Use Authority Record delegates the ability to consume “uses” on a usable NFT to an address other than the owner, capped by its own allowed_uses quota. It’s the permission slip behind redeemable NFTs — concert tickets, in-game consumables, coupon-style assets that get “used up.”

Why it exists

The Metaplex Uses feature lets an NFT carry a finite number of uses (a 5-use pass, a single-redemption ticket). Often a third party — a venue scanner, a game server — needs to consume a use without being the NFT’s owner. This record delegates that power with its own per-delegate limit, so the owner can authorize a scanner to burn at most N uses.

Byte layout

UseAuthorityRecord is Borsh-encoded. It’s a PDA seeded with the NFT mint and the delegated authority.

Total: 10 bytes.

The Uses field it draws against

The NFT’s own metadata carries an optional Uses { use_method, remaining, total } struct — the global counter. A Use Authority Record is a delegate-scoped allowance that draws against that global remaining. Consuming a use decrements both the delegate’s allowed_uses and the NFT’s remaining.

Where you see it

Redeemable NFT systems: event ticketing, loyalty redemptions, game item consumption. The record exists whenever an NFT owner has delegated use-consumption to a service.

Common gotchas

• Two counters, both decrement. The delegate’s allowed_uses and the NFT’s global Uses.remaining are separate; a use consumes from both. A delegate can’t exceed its allowed_uses even if the NFT has uses left.
• Smallest Metaplex record at 10 bytes. No Option fields — just key, a u64, and a bump. Quick to decode.
• use_method matters for semantics. The NFT’s Uses.use_method (Burn, Multiple, Single) determines what happens at zero remaining — Burn destroys the NFT. The record itself only tracks the allowance.
• Revocable by the owner. Closing the record revokes the delegate’s remaining allowance immediately.