If you're looking for a way to interact with a remote blockchain node, @hyperbitjs/rpc is a straightforward package that can help. This package provides a convenient way to send requests to a blockchain node and handle the responses in your application.

One of the main benefits of using @hyperbitjs/rpc is that it's compatible with any blockchain that supports the JSON-RPC API. This means that you can use the same library to interact with different blockchains without having to learn new tools or languages.

Getting Started

To get started with @hyperbitjs/rpc, you will need to have a blockchain node set up and running. Additionally, you will need to enable the JSON-RPC API in your node's configuration file. Once you have your node set up and running, you can use @hyperbitjs/rpc to send requests to it. If you are unsure how to get a blockchain node setup with the JSON-RPC API enabled, take a look at this tutorial: How to setup an RPC API for a Blockchain Node

You’ll also want to make sure you have Node.js installed on your computer with your choice of IDE. Visual Studio Code is a great choice, but you can use any terminal or IDE to get started with your project.

Installation

Let's get started by installing @hyperbitjs/rpc into your current project.

1. Open your terminal or command prompt and navigate to your project directory.

2. Type the following command to install @hyperbitjs/rpc and save it as a dependency in your project:
   

npm install @hyperbitjs/rpc

This command will download and install the latest version of @hyperbitjs/rpc and add it to your package.json file.

1. Once the installation is complete, you can import the library into your project using the following code:

// CommonJS
const { Client } = require('@hyperbitjs/rpc');

// ES6
import { Client } from '@hyperbitjs/rpc';

This will give you access to the Client object, which contains all the methods you need to interact with a blockchain node. Let's use the Client to connect to our blockchain node and send commands.

const client = new Client({
  url: '<host:port>', // http://127.0.0.1:9050
  username: '<username>',
  password: '<password>',
});

Once we have our client setup, we will be able to make requests to our blockchain node using the request method and passing in two arguments.

1. The first is our RPC command which you can find in the documentation for any given blockchain.
2. The second is an array of options a given RPC command requires to return data based on your request.

Example 1: Get Blockchain Info

client.request('getblockchaininfo', []).then(response  => {
    console.log('response', response);
});
// Expected response: { chain: ..., blocks: ..., headers: ..., etc: ...}

Example 2: Get Block Hash

The getblockhash method returns the hash of a specific block in a blockchain. We're going to use the Bitcoin blockchain in this example and show using the client with additional arguments.

client.request('getblockhash', [778174]).then(response  => {
    console.log('response', response);
});
// Expected response: 00000000000000000003b80c61f014682e4cddc5cde562f9b358b542097c636b

You will notice that the second argument is passed as an array. Most RPC requests handle the payload in this configuration, although there are some exceptions to the rule. That's okay since @hyperbitjs/rpc is flexible enough to allow you to send any type (array, object, string) through as the second parameter so long as the API you are using accepts it.

Conclusion

Overall, @hyperbitjs/rpc is a powerful and flexible tool that can help you connect with any blockchain node that supports the JSON-RPC API. Whether you're building a decentralized application, analyzing blockchain data, or developing a new blockchain protocol, @hyperbitjs/rpc can help you communicate with the blockchain nodes you need to access.

We hope that this tutorial has been informative and helpful for you. If you have any questions or feedback about this article, please feel free to leave a comment below. We always appreciate hearing from our readers and are happy to help with any issues or concerns you may have.

Thanks again for reading, and happy coding!

If you found this helpful or useful, please share a 💓, 🦄, or 🔖. Thanks!