> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.kirafin.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Transfer

> One movement of money, and the record of what happened to it.

A **transfer** is one movement of money, in either direction — money arriving into a sub-client's account, or money leaving it for a counterparty. It is the thing everything else in the model exists to make possible.

It is also a record. Once made, a transfer keeps the history of what happened to it — every stage it reached, when, and why it stopped if it did.

## What it needs

A movement **out** needs four things, each of which is a page in this section:

* A **sub-client** whose money it is.
* Money available, either arriving now or held in a [virtual account](/overview/model/virtual-account).
* A **counterparty** to receive it.
* A **rail** to travel on, which follows from that counterparty.

Optionally a **quotation**, when you want the price fixed before you commit.

A movement **in** needs none of that from you. It needs an open virtual account, and it starts when a payer sends money to it.

## It is not instant, and it says so

A transfer moves through stages: accepted, on its way, delivered. How long the last one takes belongs to the rail, not to Kira, and it is the rail that should be asked — see [Rail](/overview/model/rail).

Kira reports each stage as it happens rather than making you ask. If it fails, the reason is on the record.

<Warning>
  A transfer that reports as failed has not moved money. A transfer that reports as delivered has. Anything in between is still in flight, and the honest answer to "where is my money" is the stage it is in — not a guess in either direction.
</Warning>

## What it is called elsewhere

The API reference splits the two directions by name. A movement out is a **payout** — see [The payout object](/reference/payouts/the-payout-object) — and is read by its own identifier. A movement in is a **deposit**, and it is read from the account it landed in: there is no call that fetches one on its own. Two directions, two records, one idea.