Management APIs

Beside the official DApp APIs interface go-ethereum has support for additional management APIs. Similar to the DApp APIs, these are also provided using JSON-RPC and follow exactly the same conventions. Geth comes with a console client which has support for all additional APIs described here.

Enabling the management APIs

To offer these APIs over the Geth RPC endpoints, please specify them with the --${interface}api command line argument (where ${interface} can be rpc for the HTTP endpoint, ws for the WebSocket endpoint and ipc for the unix socket (Unix) or named pipe (Windows) endpoint).

For example: geth --ipcapi admin,eth,miner --rpcapi eth,web3 --rpc

  • Enables the admin, official DApp and miner API over the IPC interface
  • Enables the official DApp and web3 API over the HTTP interface

The HTTP RPC interface must be explicitly enabled using the --rpc flag.

Please note, offering an API over the HTTP (rpc) or WebSocket (ws) interfaces will give everyone access to the APIs who can access this interface (DApps, browser tabs, etc). Be careful which APIs you enable. By default Geth enables all APIs over the IPC (ipc) interface and only the db, eth, net and web3 APIs over the HTTP and WebSocket interfaces.

To determine which APIs an interface provides, the modules JSON-RPC method can be invoked. For example over an ipc interface on unix systems:

echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"rpc_modules","params":[],"id":1}' | nc -U $datadir/geth.ipc

will give all enabled modules including the version number:

{  
   "id":1,
   "jsonrpc":"2.0",
   "result":{  
      "admin":"1.0",
      "db":"1.0",
      "debug":"1.0",
      "eth":"1.0",
      "miner":"1.0",
      "net":"1.0",
      "personal":"1.0",
      "shh":"1.0",
      "txpool":"1.0",
      "web3":"1.0"
   }
}

Consuming the management APIs

These additional APIs follow the same conventions as the official DApp APIs. Web3 can be extended and used to consume these additional APIs.

The different functions are split into multiple smaller logically grouped APIs. Examples are given for the JavaScript console but can easily be converted to an RPC request.

2 examples:

  • Console: miner.start()

  • IPC: echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"miner_start","params":[],"id":1}' | nc -U $datadir/geth.ipc

  • HTTP: curl -X POST --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"miner_start","params":[],"id":74}' localhost:8545

With the number of THREADS as an arguments:

  • Console: miner.start(4)

  • IPC: echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"miner_start","params":[4],"id":1}' | nc -U $datadir/geth.ipc

  • HTTP: curl -X POST --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"miner_start","params":[4],"id":74}' localhost:8545

List of management APIs

Beside the officially exposed DApp API namespaces (eth, shh, web3), Geth provides the following extra management API namespaces:

  • admin: Geth node management
  • debug: Geth node debugging
  • miner: Miner and DAG management
  • personal: Account management
  • txpool: Transaction pool inspection
admin debug miner personal txpool
addPeer backtraceAt setExtra ecRecover content
datadir blockProfile setGasPrice importRawKey inspect
nodeInfo cpuProfile start listAccounts status
peers dumpBlock stop lockAccount  
setSolc gcStats getHashrate newAccount  
startRPC getBlockRlp setEtherbase unlockAccount  
startWS goTrace   sendTransaction  
stopRPC memStats   sign  
stopWS seedHashsign      
  setBlockProfileRate      
  setHead      
  stacks      
  startCPUProfile      
  startGoTrace      
  stopCPUProfile      
  stopGoTrace      
  traceBlock      
  traceBlockByNumber      
  traceBlockByHash      
  traceBlockFromFile      
  traceTransaction      
  verbosity      
  vmodule      
  writeBlockProfile      
  writeMemProfile      

Admin

The admin API gives you access to several non-standard RPC methods, which will allow you to have a fine grained control over your Geth instance, including but not limited to network peer and RPC endpoint management.

admin_addPeer

The addPeer administrative method requests adding a new remote node to the list of tracked static nodes. The node will try to maintain connectivity to these nodes at all times, reconnecting every once in a while if the remote connection goes down.

The method accepts a single argument, the enode URL of the remote peer to start tracking and returns a BOOL indicating whether the peer was accepted for tracking or some error occurred.

Client Method invocation
Go admin.AddPeer(url string) (bool, error)
Console admin.addPeer(url)
RPC {"method": "admin_addPeer", "params": [url]}

Example

> admin.addPeer("enode://a979fb575495b8d6db44f750317d0f4622bf4c2aa3365d6af7c284339968eef29b69ad0dce72a4d8db5ebb4968de0e3bec910127f134779fbcb0cb6d3331163c@52.16.188.185:30303")
true

admin_datadir

The datadir administrative property can be queried for the absolute path the running Geth node currently uses to store all its databases.

Client Method invocation
Go admin.Datadir() (string, error)
Console admin.datadir
RPC {"method": "admin_datadir"}

Example

> admin.datadir
"/home/karalabe/.ethereum"

admin_nodeInfo

The nodeInfo administrative property can be queried for all the information known about the running Geth node at the networking granularity. These include general information about the node itself as a participant of the ÐΞVp2p P2P overlay protocol, as well as specialized information added by each of the running application protocols (e.g. eth, les, shh, bzz).

Client Method invocation
Go admin.NodeInfo() (*p2p.NodeInfo, error)
Console admin.nodeInfo
RPC {"method": "admin_nodeInfo"}

Example

> admin.nodeInfo
{
  enode: "enode://44826a5d6a55f88a18298bca4773fca5749cdc3a5c9f308aa7d810e9b31123f3e7c5fba0b1d70aac5308426f47df2a128a6747040a3815cc7dd7167d03be320d@[::]:30303",
  id: "44826a5d6a55f88a18298bca4773fca5749cdc3a5c9f308aa7d810e9b31123f3e7c5fba0b1d70aac5308426f47df2a128a6747040a3815cc7dd7167d03be320d",
  ip: "::",
  listenAddr: "[::]:30303",
  name: "Geth/v1.5.0-unstable/linux/go1.6",
  ports: {
    discovery: 30303,
    listener: 30303
  },
  protocols: {
    eth: {
      difficulty: 17334254859343145000,
      genesis: "0xd4e56740f876aef8c010b86a40d5f56745a118d0906a34e69aec8c0db1cb8fa3",
      head: "0xb83f73fbe6220c111136aefd27b160bf4a34085c65ba89f24246b3162257c36a",
      network: 1
    }
  }
}

admin_peers

The peers administrative property can be queried for all the information known about the connected remote nodes at the networking granularity. These include general information about the nodes themselves as participants of the ÐΞVp2p P2P overlay protocol, as well as specialized information added by each of the running application protocols (e.g. eth, les, shh, bzz).

Client Method invocation
Go admin.Peers() ([]*p2p.PeerInfo, error)
Console admin.peers
RPC {"method": "admin_peers"}

Example

> admin.peers
[{
    caps: ["eth/61", "eth/62", "eth/63"],
    id: "08a6b39263470c78d3e4f58e3c997cd2e7af623afce64656cfc56480babcea7a9138f3d09d7b9879344c2d2e457679e3655d4b56eaff5fd4fd7f147bdb045124",
    name: "Geth/v1.5.0-unstable/linux/go1.5.1",
    network: {
      localAddress: "192.168.0.104:51068",
      remoteAddress: "71.62.31.72:30303"
    },
    protocols: {
      eth: {
        difficulty: 17334052235346465000,
        head: "5794b768dae6c6ee5366e6ca7662bdff2882576e09609bf778633e470e0e7852",
        version: 63
      }
    }
}, /* ... */ {
    caps: ["eth/61", "eth/62", "eth/63"],
    id: "fcad9f6d3faf89a0908a11ddae9d4be3a1039108263b06c96171eb3b0f3ba85a7095a03bb65198c35a04829032d198759edfca9b63a8b69dc47a205d94fce7cc",
    name: "Geth/v1.3.5-506c9277/linux/go1.4.2",
    network: {
      localAddress: "192.168.0.104:55968",
      remoteAddress: "121.196.232.205:30303"
    },
    protocols: {
      eth: {
        difficulty: 17335165914080772000,
        head: "5794b768dae6c6ee5366e6ca7662bdff2882576e09609bf778633e470e0e7852",
        version: 63
      }
    }
}]

admin_setSolc

The setSolc administrative method sets the Solidity compiler path to be used by the node when invoking the eth_compileSolidity RPC method. The Solidity compiler path defaults to /usr/bin/solc if not set, so you only need to change it for using a non-standard compiler location.

The method accepts an absolute path to the Solidity compiler to use (specifying a relative path would depend on the current – to the user unknown – working directory of Geth), and returns the version string reported by solc --version.

Client Method invocation
Go admin.SetSolc(path string) (string, error)
Console admin.setSolc(path)
RPC {"method": "admin_setSolc", "params": [path]}

Example

> admin.setSolc("/usr/bin/solc")
"solc, the solidity compiler commandline interface\nVersion: 0.3.2-0/Release-Linux/g++/Interpreter\n\npath: /usr/bin/solc"

admin_startRPC

The startRPC administrative method starts an HTTP based JSON RPC API webserver to handle client requests. All the parameters are optional:

  • host: network interface to open the listener socket on (defaults to "localhost")
  • port: network port to open the listener socket on (defaults to 8545)
  • cors: cross-origin resource sharing header to use (defaults to "")
  • apis: API modules to offer over this interface (defaults to "eth,net,web3")

The method returns a boolean flag specifying whether the HTTP RPC listener was opened or not. Please note, only one HTTP endpoint is allowed to be active at any time.

Client Method invocation
Go admin.StartRPC(host *string, port *rpc.HexNumber, cors *string, apis *string) (bool, error)
Console admin.startRPC(host, port, cors, apis)
RPC {"method": "admin_startRPC", "params": [host, port, cors, apis]}

Example

> admin.startRPC("127.0.0.1", 8545)
true

admin_startWS

The startWS administrative method starts an WebSocket based JSON RPC API webserver to handle client requests. All the parameters are optional:

  • host: network interface to open the listener socket on (defaults to "localhost")
  • port: network port to open the listener socket on (defaults to 8546)
  • cors: cross-origin resource sharing header to use (defaults to "")
  • apis: API modules to offer over this interface (defaults to "eth,net,web3")

The method returns a boolean flag specifying whether the WebSocket RPC listener was opened or not. Please note, only one WebSocket endpoint is allowed to be active at any time.

Client Method invocation
Go admin.StartWS(host *string, port *rpc.HexNumber, cors *string, apis *string) (bool, error)
Console admin.startWS(host, port, cors, apis)
RPC {"method": "admin_startWS", "params": [host, port, cors, apis]}

Example

> admin.startWS("127.0.0.1", 8546)
true

admin_stopRPC

The stopRPC administrative method closes the currently open HTTP RPC endpoint. As the node can only have a single HTTP endpoint running, this method takes no parameters, returning a boolean whether the endpoint was closed or not.

Client Method invocation
Go admin.StopRPC() (bool, error)
Console admin.stopRPC()
RPC {"method": "admin_stopRPC"

Example

> admin.stopRPC()
true

admin_stopWS

The stopWS administrative method closes the currently open WebSocket RPC endpoint. As the node can only have a single WebSocket endpoint running, this method takes no parameters, returning a boolean whether the endpoint was closed or not.

Client Method invocation
Go admin.StopWS() (bool, error)
Console admin.stopWS()
RPC {"method": "admin_stopWS"

Example

> admin.stopWS()
true

Debug

The debug API gives you access to several non-standard RPC methods, which will allow you to inspect, debug and set certain debugging flags during runtime.

debug_backtraceAt

Sets the logging backtrace location. When a backtrace location is set and a log message is emitted at that location, the stack of the goroutine executing the log statement will be printed to stderr.

The location is specified as <filename>:<line>.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.backtraceAt(string)
RPC {"method": "debug_backtraceAt", "params": [string]}

Example:

> debug.backtraceAt("server.go:443")

debug_blockProfile

Turns on block profiling for the given duration and writes profile data to disk. It uses a profile rate of 1 for most accurate information. If a different rate is desired, set the rate and write the profile manually using debug_writeBlockProfile.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.blockProfile(file, seconds)
RPC {"method": "debug_blockProfile", "params": [string, number]}

debug_cpuProfile

Turns on CPU profiling for the given duration and writes profile data to disk.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.cpuProfile(file, seconds)
RPC {"method": "debug_cpuProfile", "params": [string, number]}

debug_dumpBlock

Retrieves the state that corresponds to the block number and returns a list of accounts (including storage and code).

Client Method invocation
Go debug.DumpBlock(number uint64) (state.World, error)
Console debug.traceBlockByHash(number, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_dumpBlock", "params": [number]}

Example

> debug.dumpBlock(10)
{
    fff7ac99c8e4feb60c9750054bdc14ce1857f181: {
      balance: "49358640978154672",
      code: "",
      codeHash: "c5d2460186f7233c927e7db2dcc703c0e500b653ca82273b7bfad8045d85a470",
      nonce: 2,
      root: "56e81f171bcc55a6ff8345e692c0f86e5b48e01b996cadc001622fb5e363b421",
      storage: {}
    },
    fffbca3a38c3c5fcb3adbb8e63c04c3e629aafce: {
      balance: "3460945928",
      code: "",
      codeHash: "c5d2460186f7233c927e7db2dcc703c0e500b653ca82273b7bfad8045d85a470",
      nonce: 657,
      root: "56e81f171bcc55a6ff8345e692c0f86e5b48e01b996cadc001622fb5e363b421",
      storage: {}
    }
  },
  root: "19f4ed94e188dd9c7eb04226bd240fa6b449401a6c656d6d2816a87ccaf206f1"
}

debug_gcStats

Returns GC statistics.

See https://golang.org/pkg/runtime/debug/#GCStats for information about the fields of the returned object.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.gcStats()
RPC {"method": "debug_gcStats", "params": []}

debug_getBlockRlp

Retrieves and returns the RLP encoded block by number.

Client Method invocation
Go debug.GetBlockRlp(number uint64) (string, error)
Console debug.getBlockRlp(number, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_getBlockRlp", "params": [number]}

References: RLP

debug_goTrace

Turns on Go runtime tracing for the given duration and writes trace data to disk.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.goTrace(file, seconds)
RPC {"method": "debug_goTrace", "params": [string, number]}

debug_memStats

Returns detailed runtime memory statistics.

See https://golang.org/pkg/runtime/#MemStats for information about the fields of the returned object.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.memStats()
RPC {"method": "debug_memStats", "params": []}

debug_seedHash

Fetches and retrieves the seed hash of the block by number

Client Method invocation
Go debug.SeedHash(number uint64) (string, error)
Console debug.seedHash(number, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_seedHash", "params": [number]}

debug_setHead

Sets the current head of the local chain by block number. Note, this is a destructive action and may severely damage your chain. Use with extreme caution.

Client Method invocation
Go debug.SetHead(number uint64)
Console debug.setHead(number)
RPC {"method": "debug_setHead", "params": [number]}

References: Ethash

debug_setBlockProfileRate

Sets the rate (in samples/sec) of goroutine block profile data collection. A non-zero rate enables block profiling, setting it to zero stops the profile. Collected profile data can be written using debug_writeBlockProfile.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.setBlockProfileRate(rate)
RPC {"method": "debug_setBlockProfileRate", "params": [number]}

debug_stacks

Returns a printed representation of the stacks of all goroutines. Note that the web3 wrapper for this method takes care of the printing and does not return the string.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.stacks()
RPC {"method": "debug_stacks", "params": []}

debug_startCPUProfile

Turns on CPU profiling indefinitely, writing to the given file.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.startCPUProfile(file)
RPC {"method": "debug_startCPUProfile", "params": [string]}

debug_startGoTrace

Starts writing a Go runtime trace to the given file.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.startGoTrace(file)
RPC {"method": "debug_startGoTrace", "params": [string]}

debug_stopCPUProfile

Stops an ongoing CPU profile.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.stopCPUProfile()
RPC {"method": "debug_stopCPUProfile", "params": []}

debug_stopGoTrace

Stops writing the Go runtime trace.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.startGoTrace(file)
RPC {"method": "debug_stopGoTrace", "params": []}

debug_traceBlock

The traceBlock method will return a full stack trace of all invoked opcodes of all transaction that were included included in this block. Note, the parent of this block must be present or it will fail.

Client Method invocation
Go debug.TraceBlock(blockRlp []byte, config. *vm.Config) BlockTraceResult
Console debug.traceBlock(tblockRlp, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_traceBlock", "params": [blockRlp, {}]}

References: RLP

Example

> debug.traceBlock("0xblock_rlp")
{
  gas: 85301,
  returnValue: "",
  structLogs: [{
      depth: 1,
      error: "",
      gas: 162106,
      gasCost: 3,
      memory: null,
      op: "PUSH1",
      pc: 0,
      stack: [],
      storage: {}
  },
    /* snip */
  {
      depth: 1,
      error: "",
      gas: 100000,
      gasCost: 0,
      memory: ["0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000006", "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000", "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000060"],
      op: "STOP",
      pc: 120,
      stack: ["00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000d67cbec9"],
      storage: {
        0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000004: "8241fa522772837f0d05511f20caa6da1d5a3209000000000000000400000001",
        0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000006: "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001",
        f652222313e28459528d920b65115c16c04f3efc82aaedc97be59f3f377c0d3f: "00000000000000000000000002e816afc1b5c0f39852131959d946eb3b07b5ad"
      }
  }]

debug_traceBlockByNumber

Similar to debug_traceBlock, traceBlockByNumber accepts a block number and will replay the block that is already present in the database.

Client Method invocation
Go debug.TraceBlockByNumber(number uint64, config. *vm.Config) BlockTraceResult
Console debug.traceBlockByNumber(number, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_traceBlockByNumber", "params": [number, {}]}

References: RLP

debug_traceBlockByHash

Similar to debug_traceBlock, traceBlockByHash accepts a block hash and will replay the block that is already present in the database.

Client Method invocation
Go debug.TraceBlockByHash(hash common.Hash, config. *vm.Config) BlockTraceResult
Console debug.traceBlockByHash(hash, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_traceBlockByHash", "params": [hash {}]}

References: RLP

debug_traceBlockFromFile

Similar to debug_traceBlock, traceBlockFromFile accepts a file containing the RLP of the block.

Client Method invocation
Go debug.TraceBlockFromFile(fileName string, config. *vm.Config) BlockTraceResult
Console debug.traceBlockFromFile(fileName, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_traceBlockFromFile", "params": [fileName, {}]}

References: RLP

debug_traceTransaction

The traceTransaction debugging method will attempt to run the transaction in the exact same manner as it was executed on the network. It will replay any transaction that may have been executed prior to this one before it will finally attempt to execute the transaction that corresponds to the given hash.

In addition to the hash of the transaction you may give it a secondary optional argument, which specifies the options for this specific call. The possible options are:

  • disableStorage: BOOL. Setting this to true will disable storage capture (default = false).
  • disableMemory: BOOL. Setting this to true will disable memory capture (default = false).
  • disableStack: BOOL. Setting this to true will disable stack capture (default = false).
  • tracer: STRING. Setting this will enable JavaScript-based transaction tracing, described below. If set, the previous four arguments will be ignored.
  • timeout: STRING. Overrides the default timeout of 5 seconds for JavaScript-based tracing calls. Valid values are described here.
Client Method invocation
Go debug.TraceTransaction(txHash common.Hash, logger *vm.LogConfig) (*ExecutionResurt, error)
Console debug.traceTransaction(txHash, [options])
RPC {"method": "debug_traceTransaction", "params": [txHash, {}]}

Example

> debug.traceTransaction("0x2059dd53ecac9827faad14d364f9e04b1d5fe5b506e3acc886eff7a6f88a696a")
{
  gas: 85301,
  returnValue: "",
  structLogs: [{
      depth: 1,
      error: "",
      gas: 162106,
      gasCost: 3,
      memory: null,
      op: "PUSH1",
      pc: 0,
      stack: [],
      storage: {}
  },
    /* snip */
  {
      depth: 1,
      error: "",
      gas: 100000,
      gasCost: 0,
      memory: ["0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000006", "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000", "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000060"],
      op: "STOP",
      pc: 120,
      stack: ["00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000d67cbec9"],
      storage: {
        0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000004: "8241fa522772837f0d05511f20caa6da1d5a3209000000000000000400000001",
        0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000006: "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001",
        f652222313e28459528d920b65115c16c04f3efc82aaedc97be59f3f377c0d3f: "00000000000000000000000002e816afc1b5c0f39852131959d946eb3b07b5ad"
      }
  }]

JavaScript-based tracing

Specifying the tracer option in the second argument enables JavaScript-based tracing. In this mode, tracer is interpreted as a JavaScript expression that is expected to evaluate to an object with (at least) two methods, named step and result.

stepis a function that takes two arguments, log and db, and is called for each step of the EVM, or when an error occurs, as the specified transaction is traced.

log has the following fields:

  • pc: Number, the current program counter
  • op: Object, an OpCode object representing the current opcode
  • gas: Number, the amount of gas remaining
  • gasPrice: Number, the cost in wei of each unit of gas
  • memory: Object, a structure representing the contract’s memory space
  • stack: array[big.Int], the EVM execution stack
  • depth: The execution depth
  • account: The address of the account executing the current operation
  • err: If an error occured, information about the error

If err is non-null, all other fields should be ignored.

For efficiency, the same log object is reused on each execution step, updated with current values; make sure to copy values you want to preserve beyond the current call. For instance, this step function will not work:

function(log) {
  this.logs.append(log);
}

But this step function will:

function(log) {
  this.logs.append({gas: log.gas, pc: log.pc, ...});
}

log.op has the following methods:

  • isPush() - returns true iff the opcode is a PUSHn
  • toString() - returns the string representation of the opcode
  • toNumber() - returns the opcode’s number

log.memory has the following methods:

  • slice(start, stop) - returns the specified segment of memory as a byte slice
  • length() - returns the length of the memory

log.stack has the following methods:

  • peek(idx) - returns the idx-th element from the top of the stack (0 is the topmost element) as a big.Int
  • length() - returns the number of elements in the stack

db has the following methods:

  • getBalance(address) - returns a big.Int with the specified account’s balance
  • getNonce(address) - returns a Number with the specified account’s nonce
  • getCode(address) - returns a byte slice with the code for the specified account
  • getState(address, hash) - returns the state value for the specified account and the specified hash
  • exists(address) - returns true if the specified address exists

The second function, ‘result’, takes no arguments, and is expected to return a JSON-serializable value to return to the RPC caller.

If the step function throws an exception or executes an illegal operation at any point, it will not be called on any further VM steps, and the error will be returned to the caller.

Note that several values are Golang big.Int objects, not JavaScript numbers or JS bigints. As such, they have the same interface as described in the godocs. Their default serialization to JSON is as a Javascript number; to serialize large numbers accurately call .String() on them. For convenience, big.NewInt(x) is provided, and will convert a uint to a Go BigInt.

Usage example, returns the top element of the stack at each CALL opcode only:

debug.traceTransaction(txhash, {tracer: '{data: [], fault: function(log) {}, step: function(log) { if(log.op.toString() == "CALL") this.data.push(log.stack.peek(0)); }, result: function() { return this.data; }}'});

debug_verbosity

Sets the logging verbosity ceiling. Log messages with level up to and including the given level will be printed.

The verbosity of individual packages and source files can be raised using debug_vmodule.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.verbosity(level)
RPC {"method": "debug_vmodule", "params": [number]}

debug_vmodule

Sets the logging verbosity pattern.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.vmodule(string)
RPC {"method": "debug_vmodule", "params": [string]}

Examples

If you want to see messages from a particular Go package (directory) and all subdirectories, use:

> debug.vmodule("eth/*=6")

If you want to restrict messages to a particular package (e.g. p2p) but exclude subdirectories, use:

> debug.vmodule("p2p=6")

If you want to see log messages from a particular source file, use

> debug.vmodule("server.go=6")

You can compose these basic patterns. If you want to see all output from peer.go in a package below eth (eth/peer.go, eth/downloader/peer.go) as well as output from package p2p at level <= 5, use:

debug.vmodule("eth/*/peer.go=6,p2p=5")

debug_writeBlockProfile

Writes a goroutine blocking profile to the given file.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.writeBlockProfile(file)
RPC {"method": "debug_writeBlockProfile", "params": [string]}

debug_writeMemProfile

Writes an allocation profile to the given file. Note that the profiling rate cannot be set through the API, it must be set on the command line using the --memprofilerate flag.

Client Method invocation
Console debug.writeMemProfile(file string)
RPC {"method": "debug_writeBlockProfile", "params": [string]}

Miner

The miner API allows you to remote control the node’s mining operation and set various mining specific settings.

miner_setExtra

Sets the extra data a miner can include when miner blocks. This is capped at 32 bytes.

Client Method invocation
Go miner.setExtra(extra string) (bool, error)
Console miner.setExtra(string)
RPC {"method": "miner_setExtra", "params": [string]}

miner_setGasPrice

Sets the minimal accepted gas price when mining transactions. Any transactions that are below this limit are excluded from the mining process.

Client Method invocation
Go miner.setGasPrice(number *rpc.HexNumber) bool
Console miner.setGasPrice(number)
RPC {"method": "miner_setGasPrice", "params": [number]}

miner_start

Start the CPU mining process with the given number of threads and generate a new DAG if need be.

Client Method invocation
Go miner.Start(threads *rpc.HexNumber) (bool, error)
Console miner.start(number)
RPC {"method": "miner_start", "params": [number]}

miner_stop

Stop the CPU mining operation.

Client Method invocation
Go miner.Stop() bool
Console miner.stop()
RPC {"method": "miner_stop", "params": []}

miner_setEtherBase

Sets the etherbase, where mining rewards will go.

Client Method invocation
Go miner.SetEtherbase(common.Address) bool
Console miner.setEtherbase(address)
RPC {"method": "miner_setEtherbase", "params": [address]}

Personal

The personal API manages private keys in the key store.

personal_importRawKey

Imports the given unencrypted private key (hex string) into the key store, encrypting it with the passphrase.

Returns the address of the new account.

Client Method invocation
Console personal.importRawKey(keydata, passphrase)
RPC {"method": "personal_importRawKey", "params": [string, string]}

personal_listAccounts

Returns all the Ethereum account addresses of all keys in the key store.

Client Method invocation
Console personal.listAccounts
RPC {"method": "personal_listAccounts", "params": []}

Example

> personal.listAccounts
["0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120", "0x3d80b31a78c30fc628f20b2c89d7ddbf6e53cedc"]

personal_lockAccount

Removes the private key with given address from memory. The account can no longer be used to send transactions.

Client Method invocation
Console personal.lockAccount(address)
RPC {"method": "personal_lockAccount", "params": [string]}

personal_newAccount

Generates a new private key and stores it in the key store directory. The key file is encrypted with the given passphrase. Returns the address of the new account.

At the geth console, newAccount will prompt for a passphrase when it is not supplied as the argument.

Client Method invocation
Console personal.newAccount()
RPC {"method": "personal_newAccount", "params": [string]}

Example

> personal.newAccount()
Passphrase: 
Repeat passphrase: 
"0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120"

The passphrase can also be supplied as a string.

> personal.newAccount("h4ck3r")
"0x3d80b31a78c30fc628f20b2c89d7ddbf6e53cedc"

personal_unlockAccount

Decrypts the key with the given address from the key store.

Both passphrase and unlock duration are optional when using the JavaScript console. If the passphrase is not supplied as an argument, the console will prompt for the passphrase interactively.

The unencrypted key will be held in memory until the unlock duration expires. If the unlock duration defaults to 300 seconds. An explicit duration of zero seconds unlocks the key until geth exits.

The account can be used with eth_sign and eth_sendTransaction while it is unlocked.

Client Method invocation
Console personal.unlockAccount(address, passphrase, duration)
RPC {"method": "personal_unlockAccount", "params": [string, string, number]}

Examples

> personal.unlockAccount("0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120")
Unlock account 0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120
Passphrase: 
true

Supplying the passphrase and unlock duration as arguments:

> personal.unlockAccount("0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120", "foo", 30)
true

If you want to type in the passphrase and stil override the default unlock duration, pass null as the passphrase.

> personal.unlockAccount("0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120", null, 30)
Unlock account 0x5e97870f263700f46aa00d967821199b9bc5a120
Passphrase: 
true

personal_sendTransaction

Validate the given passphrase and submit transaction.

The transaction is the same argument as for eth_sendTransaction and contains the from address. If the passphrase can be used to decrypt the private key belogging to tx.from the transaction is verified, signed and send onto the network. The account is not unlocked globally in the node and cannot be used in other RPC calls.

Client Method invocation
Console personal.sendTransaction(tx, passphrase)
RPC {"method": "personal_sendTransaction", "params": [tx, string]}

Note, prior to Geth 1.5, please use personal_signAndSendTransaction as that was the original introductory name and only later renamed to the current final version.

Examples

> var tx = {from: "0x391694e7e0b0cce554cb130d723a9d27458f9298", to: "0xafa3f8684e54059998bc3a7b0d2b0da075154d66", value: web3.toWei(1.23, "ether")}
undefined
> personal.sendTransaction(tx, "passphrase")
0x8474441674cdd47b35b875fd1a530b800b51a5264b9975fb21129eeb8c18582f

personal_sign

The sign method calculates an Ethereum specific signature with: sign(keccack256("\x19Ethereum Signed Message:\n" + len(message) + message))).

By adding a prefix to the message makes the calculated signature recognisable as an Ethereum specific signature. This prevents misuse where a malicious DApp can sign arbitrary data (e.g. transaction) and use the signature to impersonate the victim.

See ecRecover to verify the signature.

Client Method invocation
Console personal.sign(message, account, [password])
RPC {"method": "personal_sign", "params": [message, account, password]}

Examples

> personal.sign("0xdeadbeaf", "0x9b2055d370f73ec7d8a03e965129118dc8f5bf83", "")
"0xa3f20717a250c2b0b729b7e5becbff67fdaef7e0699da4de7ca5895b02a170a12d887fd3b17bfdce3481f10bea41f45ba9f709d39ce8325427b57afcfc994cee1b"

personal_ecRecover

ecRecover returns the address associated with the private key that was used to calculate the signature in personal_sign.

Client Method invocation
Console personal.ecRecover(message, signature)
RPC {"method": "personal_ecRecover", "params": [message, signature]}

Examples

> personal.sign("0xdeadbeaf", "0x9b2055d370f73ec7d8a03e965129118dc8f5bf83", "")
"0xa3f20717a250c2b0b729b7e5becbff67fdaef7e0699da4de7ca5895b02a170a12d887fd3b17bfdce3481f10bea41f45ba9f709d39ce8325427b57afcfc994cee1b"
> personal.ecRecover("0xdeadbeaf", "0xa3f20717a250c2b0b729b7e5becbff67fdaef7e0699da4de7ca5895b02a170a12d887fd3b17bfdce3481f10bea41f45ba9f709d39ce8325427b57afcfc994cee1b")
"0x9b2055d370f73ec7d8a03e965129118dc8f5bf83"

Txpool

The txpool API gives you access to several non-standard RPC methods to inspect the contents of the transaction pool containing all the currently pending transactions as well as the ones queued for future processing.

txpool_content

The content inspection property can be queried to list the exact details of all the transactions currently pending for inclusion in the next block(s), as well as the ones that are being scheduled for future execution only.

The result is an object with two fields pending and queued. Each of these fields are associative arrays, in which each entry maps an origin-address to a batch of scheduled transactions. These batches themselves are maps associating nonces with actual transactions.

Please note, there may be multiple transactions associated with the same account and nonce. This can happen if the user broadcast mutliple ones with varying gas allowances (or even complerely different transactions).

Client Method invocation
Go txpool.Content() (map[string]map[string]map[string][]*RPCTransaction)
Console txpool.content
RPC {"method": "txpool_content"}

Example

> txpool.content
{
  pending: {
    0x0216d5032f356960cd3749c31ab34eeff21b3395: {
      806: [{
        blockHash: "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
        blockNumber: null,
        from: "0x0216d5032f356960cd3749c31ab34eeff21b3395",
        gas: "0x5208",
        gasPrice: "0xba43b7400",
        hash: "0xaf953a2d01f55cfe080c0c94150a60105e8ac3d51153058a1f03dd239dd08586",
        input: "0x",
        nonce: "0x326",
        to: "0x7f69a91a3cf4be60020fb58b893b7cbb65376db8",
        transactionIndex: null,
        value: "0x19a99f0cf456000"
      }]
    },
    0x24d407e5a0b506e1cb2fae163100b5de01f5193c: {
      34: [{
        blockHash: "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
        blockNumber: null,
        from: "0x24d407e5a0b506e1cb2fae163100b5de01f5193c",
        gas: "0x44c72",
        gasPrice: "0x4a817c800",
        hash: "0xb5b8b853af32226755a65ba0602f7ed0e8be2211516153b75e9ed640a7d359fe",
        input: "0xb61d27f600000000000000000000000024d407e5a0b506e1cb2fae163100b5de01f5193c00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000053444835ec580000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000006000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
        nonce: "0x22",
        to: "0x7320785200f74861b69c49e4ab32399a71b34f1a",
        transactionIndex: null,
        value: "0x0"
      }]
    }
  },
  queued: {
    0x976a3fc5d6f7d259ebfb4cc2ae75115475e9867c: {
      3: [{
        blockHash: "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
        blockNumber: null,
        from: "0x976a3fc5d6f7d259ebfb4cc2ae75115475e9867c",
        gas: "0x15f90",
        gasPrice: "0x4a817c800",
        hash: "0x57b30c59fc39a50e1cba90e3099286dfa5aaf60294a629240b5bbec6e2e66576",
        input: "0x",
        nonce: "0x3",
        to: "0x346fb27de7e7370008f5da379f74dd49f5f2f80f",
        transactionIndex: null,
        value: "0x1f161421c8e0000"
      }]
    },
    0x9b11bf0459b0c4b2f87f8cebca4cfc26f294b63a: {
      2: [{
        blockHash: "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
        blockNumber: null,
        from: "0x9b11bf0459b0c4b2f87f8cebca4cfc26f294b63a",
        gas: "0x15f90",
        gasPrice: "0xba43b7400",
        hash: "0x3a3c0698552eec2455ed3190eac3996feccc806970a4a056106deaf6ceb1e5e3",
        input: "0x",
        nonce: "0x2",
        to: "0x24a461f25ee6a318bdef7f33de634a67bb67ac9d",
        transactionIndex: null,
        value: "0xebec21ee1da40000"
      }],
      6: [{
        blockHash: "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
        blockNumber: null,
        from: "0x9b11bf0459b0c4b2f87f8cebca4cfc26f294b63a",
        gas: "0x15f90",
        gasPrice: "0x4a817c800",
        hash: "0xbbcd1e45eae3b859203a04be7d6e1d7b03b222ec1d66dfcc8011dd39794b147e",
        input: "0x",
        nonce: "0x6",
        to: "0x6368f3f8c2b42435d6c136757382e4a59436a681",
        transactionIndex: null,
        value: "0xf9a951af55470000"
      }, {
        blockHash: "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
        blockNumber: null,
        from: "0x9b11bf0459b0c4b2f87f8cebca4cfc26f294b63a",
        gas: "0x15f90",
        gasPrice: "0x4a817c800",
        hash: "0x60803251d43f072904dc3a2d6a084701cd35b4985790baaf8a8f76696041b272",
        input: "0x",
        nonce: "0x6",
        to: "0x8db7b4e0ecb095fbd01dffa62010801296a9ac78",
        transactionIndex: null,
        value: "0xebe866f5f0a06000"
      }],
    }
  }
}

txpool_inspect

The inspect inspection property can be queried to list a textual summary of all the transactions currently pending for inclusion in the next block(s), as well as the ones that are being scheduled for future execution only. This is a method specifically tailored to developers to quickly see the transactions in the pool and find any potential issues.

The result is an object with two fields pending and queued. Each of these fields are associative arrays, in which each entry maps an origin-address to a batch of scheduled transactions. These batches themselves are maps associating nonces with transactions summary strings.

Please note, there may be multiple transactions associated with the same account and nonce. This can happen if the user broadcast mutliple ones with varying gas allowances (or even complerely different transactions).

Client Method invocation
Go txpool.Inspect() (map[string]map[string]map[string][]string)
Console txpool.inspect
RPC {"method": "txpool_inspect"}

Example

> txpool.inspect
{
  pending: {
    0x26588a9301b0428d95e6fc3a5024fce8bec12d51: {
      31813: ["0x3375ee30428b2a71c428afa5e89e427905f95f7e: 0 wei + 500000 × 20000000000 gas"]
    },
    0x2a65aca4d5fc5b5c859090a6c34d164135398226: {
      563662: ["0x958c1fa64b34db746925c6f8a3dd81128e40355e: 1051546810000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"],
      563663: ["0x77517b1491a0299a44d668473411676f94e97e34: 1051190740000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"],
      563664: ["0x3e2a7fe169c8f8eee251bb00d9fb6d304ce07d3a: 1050828950000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"],
      563665: ["0xaf6c4695da477f8c663ea2d8b768ad82cb6a8522: 1050544770000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"],
      563666: ["0x139b148094c50f4d20b01caf21b85edb711574db: 1048598530000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"],
      563667: ["0x48b3bd66770b0d1eecefce090dafee36257538ae: 1048367260000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"],
      563668: ["0x468569500925d53e06dd0993014ad166fd7dd381: 1048126690000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"],
      563669: ["0x3dcb4c90477a4b8ff7190b79b524773cbe3be661: 1047965690000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"],
      563670: ["0x6dfef5bc94b031407ffe71ae8076ca0fbf190963: 1047859050000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"]
    },
    0x9174e688d7de157c5c0583df424eaab2676ac162: {
      3: ["0xbb9bc244d798123fde783fcc1c72d3bb8c189413: 30000000000000000000 wei + 85000 × 21000000000 gas"]
    },
    0xb18f9d01323e150096650ab989cfecd39d757aec: {
      777: ["0xcd79c72690750f079ae6ab6ccd7e7aedc03c7720: 0 wei + 1000000 × 20000000000 gas"]
    },
    0xb2916c870cf66967b6510b76c07e9d13a5d23514: {
      2: ["0x576f25199d60982a8f31a8dff4da8acb982e6aba: 26000000000000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"]
    },
    0xbc0ca4f217e052753614d6b019948824d0d8688b: {
      0: ["0x2910543af39aba0cd09dbb2d50200b3e800a63d2: 1000000000000000000 wei + 50000 × 1171602790622 gas"]
    },
    0xea674fdde714fd979de3edf0f56aa9716b898ec8: {
      70148: ["0xe39c55ead9f997f7fa20ebe40fb4649943d7db66: 1000767667434026200 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"]
    }
  },
  queued: {
    0x0f6000de1578619320aba5e392706b131fb1de6f: {
      6: ["0x8383534d0bcd0186d326c993031311c0ac0d9b2d: 9000000000000000000 wei + 21000 × 20000000000 gas"]
    },
    0x5b30608c678e1ac464a8994c3b33e5cdf3497112: {
      6: ["0x9773547e27f8303c87089dc42d9288aa2b9d8f06: 50000000000000000000 wei + 90000 × 50000000000 gas"]
    },
    0x976a3fc5d6f7d259ebfb4cc2ae75115475e9867c: {
      3: ["0x346fb27de7e7370008f5da379f74dd49f5f2f80f: 140000000000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"]
    },
    0x9b11bf0459b0c4b2f87f8cebca4cfc26f294b63a: {
      2: ["0x24a461f25ee6a318bdef7f33de634a67bb67ac9d: 17000000000000000000 wei + 90000 × 50000000000 gas"],
      6: ["0x6368f3f8c2b42435d6c136757382e4a59436a681: 17990000000000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas", "0x8db7b4e0ecb095fbd01dffa62010801296a9ac78: 16998950000000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"],
      7: ["0x6368f3f8c2b42435d6c136757382e4a59436a681: 17900000000000000000 wei + 90000 × 20000000000 gas"]
    }
  }
}

txpool_status

The status inspection property can be queried for the number of transactions currently pending for inclusion in the next block(s), as well as the ones that are being scheduled for future execution only.

The result is an object with two fields pending and queued, each of which is a counter representing the number of transactions in that particular state.

Client Method invocation
Go txpool.Status() (map[string]*rpc.HexNumber)
Console txpool.status
RPC {"method": "txpool_status"}

Example

> txpool.status
{
  pending: 10,
  queued: 7
}