getBlockTime - Solana

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

This method returns the estimated production time of a block as a Unix timestamp. The estimate is derived from stake-weighted validator timestamp oracles.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
slot	number	Yes	Slot number of the block to query

Request

cURL

curl --location --request POST 'https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "getBlockTime",
    "params": [397234561],
    "id": "getblock.io"
}'

@solana/web3.js

example.js

const { Connection } = require('@solana/web3.js');

const connection = new Connection('https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/', 'confirmed');

const blockTime = await connection.getBlockTime(397234561);

console.log(new Date(blockTime * 1000).toISOString());

Request

example.py

import requests

response = requests.post(
    'https://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/',
    headers={'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
    json={
        'jsonrpc': '2.0',
        'method': 'getBlockTime',
        'params': [397234561],
        'id': 'getblock.io'
    }
)

print(response.json()['result'])

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://go.getblock.io/<ACCESS-TOKEN>/")
        .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
        .json(&json!({
            "jsonrpc": "2.0",
            "method": "getBlockTime",
            "params": [397234561],
            "id": "getblock.io"
        }))
        .send()
        .await?
        .json::<Value>()
        .await?;

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

Response

{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": "getblock.io",
    "result": 1774267845
}

Response Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
jsonrpc	string	JSON-RPC protocol version ("2.0")
id	string	Request identifier matching the request
result	number	null

Use Cases

• Timestamped History: Label transaction history entries with wall clock time

• Interval Analysis: Measure real time between two slots for latency reporting

• Tax Reporting: Attach dates to on-chain transfers for accounting exports

• Cache Keys: Bucket indexed data by day using block timestamps

Error Handling

Error Code	Message	Description
-32007	Slot was skipped, or missing due to ledger jump to recent snapshot	The slot was skipped by the leader or predates the node's snapshot
-32009	Slot was skipped, or missing in long-term storage	The slot is absent from the node's long-term ledger storage
-32602	Invalid params	Slot is negative or not an integer
-32004	Block not available for slot	The node has not yet produced or received the block