The quickest way to start building on Polkadot with Quicknode is by sending a JSON-RPC request to your endpoint. In this quickstart, you'll create an endpoint, copy its provider URL, and make your first request. Code samples are available in cURL as well as other popular programming languages.

Get Your Polkadot Endpoint

1

Create a Quicknode account

Sign up here if you haven't already.

2

Go to your dashboard

Open the Endpoints dashboard from the left sidebar menu to manage all your blockchain endpoints

3

Create a new endpoint

Click Create an Endpoint in the top-right corner, select Polkadot as your blockchain, then select your preferred network

4

Copy your provider URLs

Keep the HTTP URL handy. You'll use it in your requests below.

Learn More about the Dashboard

For a detailed walkthrough of the Quicknode dashboard, check out our guide

Send Your First Request

Your endpoint is ready. Now, let's make your first call to the Polkadot blockchain. We'll use the chain_getBlockHash method, which retrieves the hash of a specific block by its number. Select your preferred language and follow the steps below to send your first request.

cURL

1

Check cURL installation

Most *nix based systems have cURL support out of the box. Open your terminal and check the cURL version by running the command below:

curl --version

2

Send a JSON-RPC request

In your terminal, copy and paste the following cURL command to retrieve the latest block hash:

curl -X POST YOUR_QUICKNODE_ENDPOINT_URL/ \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"method":"chain_getBlockHash","params":[],"id":1,"jsonrpc":"2.0"}'

3

Sample Response

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "result": "0x1234567890abcdef..."
}

Node.js

1

Set up your project

First, verify Node.js is installed with node --version. If not installed, download it from https://nodejs.org. Then create a new directory and initialize a Node.js project:

mkdir polkadot-api-quickstart
cd polkadot-api-quickstart
npm init -y

2

Create your script

Create a new file called index.js and add the following code to retrieve the latest block hash:

const https = require('https');

const data = JSON.stringify({
  "method": "chain_getBlockHash",
  "params": [],
  "id": 1,
  "jsonrpc": "2.0"
});

const options = {
  hostname: '{your-endpoint-name}.quiknode.pro',
  path: '/{your-token}/',
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'Content-Length': data.length
  }
};

const req = https.request(options, (res) => {
  let result = '';
  res.on('data', (chunk) => {
    result += chunk;
  });
  res.on('end', () => {
    console.log(result);
  });
});

req.on('error', (error) => {
  console.error('Error:', error);
});

req.write(data);
req.end();

3

Run your script

Execute your script in the terminal to retrieve the latest block hash:

node index.js

Python

1

Set up your project

First, verify Python is installed with python --version or python3 --version. Then create a new directory for your project:

mkdir polkadot-api-quickstart
cd polkadot-api-quickstart

2

Create and activate a virtual environment

Create a virtual environment to manage dependencies:

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

3

Install dependencies

Install the requests library for making HTTP requests:

pip install requests

4

Create your script

Create a new file called main.py and add the following code to retrieve the latest block hash:

import requests
import json

url = "YOUR_QUICKNODE_ENDPOINT_URL/"

payload = json.dumps({
  "method": "chain_getBlockHash",
  "params": [],
  "id": 1,
  "jsonrpc": "2.0"
})

headers = {
  'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}

response = requests.request("POST", url, headers=headers, data=payload)

print(response.text)

5

Run your script

Execute your script in the terminal to retrieve the latest block hash:

python main.py

Ruby

1

Set up your project

First, create a new directory for your project:

mkdir polkadot-api-quickstart
cd polkadot-api-quickstart

2

Check Ruby installation

Verify Ruby is installed on your system. If not, install it from https://ruby-lang.org:

ruby --version

3

Create your script

Create a new file called main.rb and add the following code to retrieve the latest block hash:

require "uri"
require "json"
require "net/http"

url = URI("YOUR_QUICKNODE_ENDPOINT_URL/")

https = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
https.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Content-Type"] = "application/json"
request.body = JSON.dump({
  "method": "chain_getBlockHash",
  "params": [],
  "id": 1,
  "jsonrpc": "2.0"
})

response = https.request(request)
puts response.read_body

4

Run your script

Execute your script in the terminal to retrieve the latest block hash:

ruby main.rb

If you want to continue learning about making API requests, check out our guides and sample apps.

API Overview

Discover Supported Polkadot APIs, Networks, Chain Configurations, and compatible Quicknode Products

Provider Endpoints

Learn how to set up and configure your Polkadot RPC endpoints for development and production use

Endpoint Security

Secure your endpoints with Token Authentication, Rate-limiting, Whitelisting, JWT and best security practices

Marketplace Add-ons

Discover powerful add-ons and extensions to enhance your Polkadot development workflow

We ❤️ Feedback!

If you have any feedback or questions about this documentation, let us know. We'd love to hear from you!