The getEpochInfo RPC method returns information about the current epoch. This can be useful for understanding the current state of the network, how far into the current epoch the network has progressed, and when the next epoch might begin. To better understand how epochs, slots, and blocks work together on Solana, refer to our detailed article.

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Common Use Cases

  • Monitoring Epoch Progress: Track the current slot index within the epoch and the total slots in the epoch to estimate the time remaining.
  • Network State Analysis: Get the current epoch number, the block height, and the number of transactions processed in the current epoch.
  • Synchronization Checks: Verify if a node is reasonably synchronized with the network by comparing its epoch information.

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Request Parameters

The getEpochInfo method can optionally take a configuration object with the following parameters:

  • commitment (string, optional): Specifies the commitment level to use when querying the ledger.
    • finalized: The node will query the most recent block confirmed by the supermajority of the cluster as having reached maximum lockout.
    • confirmed: The node will query the most recent block that has been voted on by a supermajority of the cluster.
    • processed: The node will query its most recent block. Note that the block may not be complete.
    • If not provided, the default commitment is finalized.
  • minContextSlot (number, optional): The minimum slot at which the request can be evaluated. This can be used to ensure the response is from a recent enough state.

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Response Structure

The result field of the JSON-RPC response will be an object containing the following fields:

  • absoluteSlot (u64): The current absolute slot number.
  • blockHeight (u64): The current block height.
  • epoch (u64): The current epoch number.
  • slotIndex (u64): The current slot relative to the start of the current epoch.
  • slotsInEpoch (u64): The total number of slots in the current epoch.
  • transactionCount (u64 | null): The total number of transactions processed in the current epoch. Can be null if the data is not available.

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Examples

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1. Get Current Epoch Information (No Parameters)

This example fetches information about the current epoch using default commitment.

curl https://mainnet.helius-rpc.com/?api-key=<api-key> -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d \
  '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "getEpochInfo"
  }'

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2. Get Current Epoch Information with ‘confirmed’ Commitment

This example fetches epoch information using confirmed commitment.

curl https://mainnet.helius-rpc.com/?api-key=<api-key> -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d \
  '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "getEpochInfo",
    "params": [
      {
        "commitment": "confirmed"
      }
    ]
  }'

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Developer Tips

  • Commitment Levels: The choice of commitment can affect the timeliness and finality of the data. processed is the fastest but least safe, while finalized is the safest but may lag slightly. Learn more about commitment levels for detailed information.
  • transactionCount Availability: The transactionCount field might be null if the node doesn’t have this information readily available or if it’s not tracked for the specific commitment level.
  • Epoch Length: The number of slotsInEpoch can vary. You can use getEpochSchedule to get more details about the epoch schedule.

This guide provides the necessary information to use the getEpochInfo RPC method for retrieving details about the current epoch on the Solana network.