getchaintips - Bitcoin

Example code for the getchaintips JSON-RPC method. Complete guide on how to use getchaintips JSON-RPC in GetBlock Web3 documentation.

This method returns information about all known tips in the block tree, including the main chain and any orphaned branches.

Parameters

This method does not accept any parameters.

Request

cURL

curl --location --request POST 'https://shared.eu-central-1.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "getchaintips",
    "params": [],
    "id": "getblock.io"
}'

bitcoinjs-lib

example.js

const axios = require('axios');

const response = await axios.post('https://shared.eu-central-1.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/', {
    jsonrpc: '2.0',
    method: 'getchaintips',
    params: [],
    id: 'getblock.io'
}, {
    headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }
});

console.log(response.data.result);

Request

example.py

import requests

response = requests.post(
    'https://shared.eu-central-1.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/',
    headers={'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
    json={
        'jsonrpc': '2.0',
        'method': 'getchaintips',
        'params': [],
        'id': 'getblock.io'
    }
)

print(response.json())

Rust

example.rs

use reqwest::Client;
use serde_json::{json, Value};

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
    let client = Client::new();

    let response = client
        .post("https://shared.eu-central-1.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/")
        .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
        .json(&json!({
            "jsonrpc": "2.0",
            "method": "getchaintips",
            "params": [],
            "id": "getblock.io"
        }))
        .send()
        .await?
        .json::<Value>()
        .await?;

    println!("Result: {}", response["result"]);
    Ok(())
}

Response

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": "getblock.io",
    "result": [
        {
            "height": 830000,
            "hash": "000000000000000000046b9302e08c16ea186950f42a5498320ddd1bd7ab3428",
            "branchlen": 0,
            "status": "active"
        },
        {
            "height": 829995,
            "hash": "00000000000000000000f5f1c8b0d2e3a4b5c6d7e8f90112233445566778899a",
            "branchlen": 1,
            "status": "valid-fork"
        }
    ]
}

Response Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
jsonrpc	string	JSON-RPC protocol version ("2.0")
id	string	Request identifier matching the request
result	array	Array of chain tip objects

Array Item

Field	Type	Description
height	number	Height of the chain tip
hash	string	Block hash of the tip
branchlen	number	Length of the branch connecting to the main chain (0 for main)
status	string	Tip status (active, valid-fork, valid-headers, headers-only, invalid)

Use Cases

• Reorg Detection: Detect forks and orphaned branches

• Chain Health: Monitor competing tips

• Diagnostics: Investigate stale or invalid branches

• Analytics: Study fork frequency

Error Handling

Error Code	Message	Description
403	Forbidden	Missing or invalid ACCESS-TOKEN
-8	Invalid parameter	A parameter is out of range or malformed
-32601	Method not found	The method is not available on this endpoint
-32602	Invalid params	A parameter is missing or has the wrong type