Overview

Quicknode exposes its full product suite through standard HTTP, JSON-RPC, REST, gRPC, and WebSocket endpoints. These are the same APIs that power production dApps and infrastructure. Because they use standard protocols, any application, AI agent, or LLM-powered tool can call them directly without special SDKs or wrappers.

TL;DR

• Core API, Streams, Webhooks, Key-Value Store, and Admin API are all standard HTTP/JSON-RPC/REST/gRPC/WebSocket endpoints, no special SDK needed
• API keys authenticate account-based access. Get one via the Quicknode dashboard or programmatically through Agent Subscriptions
• For accountless access, wallet-based per-request access with no signup is available for Core API endpoints, use x402 or MPP payments

Authentication

Quicknode APIs authenticate with an API key tied to your account. You can generate and manage API keys from the Quicknode dashboard or programmatically through Agent Subscriptions.

All requests include the API key either as part of the endpoint URL or as a header, depending on the API:

# JSON-RPC — API key is part of the endpoint URL
curl https://your-endpoint-name.network-name.quiknode.pro/your-api-key/ \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[],"id":1,"jsonrpc":"2.0"}'

# REST API — API key as a header
curl https://api.quicknode.com/streams \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

tip

If you prefer wallet-authenticated, pay-per-request access with no account required, see x402 Payments or MPP Payments.

Supported Protocols

Quicknode endpoints support multiple protocols depending on the chain and product:

• JSON-RPC — Standard RPC calls over HTTP for all supported chains
• REST — RESTful endpoints for Streams, Webhooks, Key-Value Store, and Admin APIs
• gRPC — High-throughput streaming for Solana (Yellowstone gRPC) and Hyperliquid (Hypercore)
• WebSocket — Real-time subscriptions for event-driven workflows

Available APIs

API	Description	Docs
Core API	Interact with RPC, REST, and gRPC endpoints across all supported blockchains	View
Streams API	Create and manage real-time blockchain data pipelines	View
Webhooks API	Configure event-driven notifications for onchain activity	View
SQL Explorer API	Run SQL queries against indexed onchain data via REST	View
Key-Value Store API	Read and write to serverless key-value storage	View
Admin API	Programmatically manage endpoints, usage, security, and billing	View
IPFS API	Pin and retrieve files on IPFS through the Quicknode gateway	View

Each API has full documentation with method references, parameters, and ready-to-run examples. Point your agent at the docs index or install Blockchain Skills to give it accurate knowledge of these APIs out of the box.

API Specifications (OpenRPC, OpenAPI)

Quicknode publishes machine-readable OpenAPI and OpenRPC specs for its APIs. Agents can load them to auto-generate request shapes, validate parameters, and discover available operations without scraping the docs.

API	Spec URL
Streams API	api.quicknode.com/streams/rest/openapi.json
Webhooks API	api.quicknode.com/webhooks/rest/openapi.json
Key-Value Store API	api.quicknode.com/kv/rest/openapi.json
IPFS API	quicknode.com/docs/openapi/ipfs.openapi.json
Admin API	quicknode.com/docs/openapi/admin-api.openapi.json

For the Core API, Quicknode publishes per-chain OpenRPC/OpenAPI specs covering RPC methods. Coverage is rolling out across major chains; see the Ethereum API Overview for a representative example, and the linked spec is available alongside each chain's API overview page.

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