getblockheader

getblockheader returns just the header of a Bitcoin block identified by its hash — the small fixed-size record that carries the version, previous and Merkle-root hashes, timestamp, difficulty bits, and nonce that Proof-of-Work commits to. With the verbose flag true (the default) you get a decoded JSON object including height, confirmations, and the neighbouring block hashes; with it false you get the serialized 80-byte header as a hex string. Because it skips every transaction in the BTC block body, it is far lighter than getblock. Call it at https://bitcoin.therpc.io/YOUR_API_KEY with the block hash as the first positional argument.

Use cases

• Read header metadata — version, bits, nonce, Merkle root — without downloading the full block body.
• Follow previousblockhash and nextblockhash to walk the chain cheaply, header by header.
• Read a block's time and confirmations to age a transaction or display block timing.

Parameters

Response

Example request

1curl https://bitcoin.therpc.io/YOUR_API_KEY \
2  -X POST \
3  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
4  -d '{
5  "jsonrpc": "1.0",
6  "id": "therpc",
7  "method": "getblockheader",
8  "params": [
9    "000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f",
10    true
11  ]
12}'

Errors & troubleshooting

Common pitfalls

• This call is much cheaper than getblock, so reach for it whenever you only need header fields and not the transaction list.
• Set verbose to false only when you genuinely want the raw 80-byte hex header for hashing or verification — otherwise leave it true and read the decoded JSON.

Supported networks

• Mainnet
• Testnet

See also

• getblock
• getblockhash
• getblockstats