getblockchaininfo

getblockchaininfo returns a single snapshot of how the Bitcoin node sees the chain that carries BTC value: which network it is on, the current block height, the best (tip) block hash, the active Proof-of-Work difficulty, the median and tip timestamps, and the verificationprogress figure that runs from 0 toward 1 as the node catches up. It is the most efficient first call to make against https://bitcoin.therpc.io/YOUR_API_KEY, because one round trip tells you whether the node is synced and ready before you spend further calls reading individual blocks or outputs.

Use cases

• Probe the node's sync state and current blocks height before you start reading block or UTXO data.
• Check initialblockdownload to learn whether the node is still downloading history and not yet trustworthy for tip data.
• Read the chain field to confirm which network the endpoint serves — main, test, signet, or regtest.
• Drive a liveness check by polling blocks and verificationprogress and alerting if they stall.

Parameters

This method takes no parameters. Pass an empty array [].

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": "getblockchaininfo",
8  "params": []
9}'

Errors & troubleshooting

Common pitfalls

• verificationprogress creeps toward 1 but almost never reads exactly 1.0, so gate your "synced" decision on the boolean initialblockdownload being false rather than on the float.
• The softforks field has changed shape across Bitcoin Core versions, so do not hard-code a fixed layout — read it defensively or ignore deployments you do not need.

Supported networks

• Mainnet
• Testnet

See also

• getblockcount
• getbestblockhash
• getdifficulty