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Using the EVM RPC canister

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Ethereum
Tutorial

Supported RPC methods​

The following JSON-RPC methods are available as part of the canister's Candid interface:

Other RPC methods, including those specific to non-Ethereum networks, may be accessed using the canister's request method.

Supported RPC providers​

The EVM RPC canister has built-in support for the following Ethereum JSON-RPC providers:

  • Alchemy: Ethereum mainnet, Sepolia testnet, L2 chains.
  • Ankr: Ethereum mainnet, Sepolia testnet, L2 chains.
  • BlockPI: Ethereum mainnet, Sepolia testnet, L2 chains.
  • Cloudflare Web3: Ethereum mainnet.
  • Public Node: Ethereum mainnet, Sepolia testnet, L2 chains.

Many of the providers on ChainList.org can be called using the canister's request method.

Importing or deploying the EVM RPC canister​

Using dfx deps​

To use the EVM RPC canister, you can pull it into your project using dfx deps by configuring your project's dfx.json file:

{
  "canisters": {
    "evm_rpc": {
      "type": "pull",
      "id": "7hfb6-caaaa-aaaar-qadga-cai",
    }
  }
}

Then, run the commands:

# Start the local replica
dfx start --background

# Locally deploy the `evm_rpc` canister
dfx deps pull
dfx deps init evm_rpc --argument '(record { nodesInSubnet = 28 })'
dfx deps deploy

Using Candid and Wasm files​

Alternatively, you can include the EVM RPC canister by specifying the Candid and Wasm files in your dfx.json file:

{
  "canisters": {
    "evm_rpc": {
      "type": "custom",
      "candid": "https://github.com/internet-computer-protocol/evm-rpc-canister/releases/latest/download/evm_rpc.did",
      "wasm": "https://github.com/internet-computer-protocol/evm-rpc-canister/releases/latest/download/evm_rpc.wasm.gz",
      "remote": {
        "id": {
          "ic": "7hfb6-caaaa-aaaar-qadga-cai"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Then start the local replica and deploy the canister locally with a specified number of nodes (28 for the fiduciary subnet):

dfx start --clean --background
dfx deploy evm_rpc --argument '(record { nodesInSubnet = 28 })'

Fork the EVM RPC canister​

Another option is to create a fork of the EVM RPC canister:

git clone https://github.com/internet-computer-protocol/evm-rpc-canister

To deploy your own canister on the mainnet, run the dfx deploy command with the --network ic flag:

dfx deploy evm_rpc --network ic --argument '(record { nodesInSubnet = 28 })'

Note that when deploying your own canister, you may encounter API rate limits. Refer to the replacing API keys section to learn how to configure API credentials.

Get event logs​

import EvmRpc "canister:evm_rpc";

import Cycles "mo:base/ExperimentalCycles";
import Debug "mo:base/Debug";

// Configure RPC request

let services = #EthMainnet;
let config = null;

// Add cycles to next call

Cycles.add<system>(1000000000);

// Call an RPC method

let result = await EvmRpc.eth_getLogs(
    services,
    config,
    {
        addresses = ["0xB9B002e70AdF0F544Cd0F6b80BF12d4925B0695F"];
        fromBlock = ?#Number 19520540;
        toBlock = ?#Number 19520940;
        topics = ?[
            ["0x4d69d0bd4287b7f66c548f90154dc81bc98f65a1b362775df5ae171a2ccd262b"],
            [
                "0x000000000000000000000000352413d00d2963dfc58bc2d6c57caca1e714d428",
                "0x000000000000000000000000b6bc16189ec3d33041c893b44511c594b1736b8a",
            ],
        ];
    },
);

// Process results

switch result {
  // Consistent, successful results
  case (#Consistent(#Ok value)) {
    Debug.print("Success: " # debug_show value);
  };
  // Consistent error message
  case (#Consistent(#Err error)) {
    Debug.trap("Error: " # debug_show error);
  };
  // Inconsistent results between RPC providers
  case (#Inconsistent(results)) {
    Debug.trap("Inconsistent results");
  };
};

As described in the official Ethereum JSON-RPC documentation, the topics field is an order-dependent two-dimensional array which encodes the boolean logic for the relevant topics.

For example:

  • [[A], [B]] corresponds to A and B.

  • [[A, B]] corresponds to A or B.

  • [[A], [B, C]] corresponds to A and (B or C).

This example use case displays a caveat that comes with mapping the eth_getLogs spec to Candid, where a topic can either be a single value or array of topics. A single-element array is equivalent to passing a string.

Get the latest Ethereum block info​

import EvmRpc "canister:evm_rpc";

import Cycles "mo:base/ExperimentalCycles";
import Debug "mo:base/Debug";

// Configure RPC request

let services = #EthMainnet;
let config = null;

// Add cycles to next call

Cycles.add<system>(1000000000);

// Call an RPC method

let result = await EvmRpc.eth_getBlockByNumber(services, config, #Latest);

// Process results

switch result {
  // Consistent, successful results
  case (#Consistent(#Ok value)) {
    Debug.print("Success: " # debug_show value);
  };
  // Consistent error message
  case (#Consistent(#Err error)) {
    Debug.trap("Error: " # debug_show error);
  };
  // Inconsistent results between RPC providers
  case (#Inconsistent(results)) {
    Debug.trap("Inconsistent results");
  };
};

Get receipt for transaction​

import EvmRpc "canister:evm_rpc";

import Cycles "mo:base/ExperimentalCycles";
import Debug "mo:base/Debug";

// Configure RPC request

let services = #EthMainnet;
let config = null;

// Add cycles to next call

Cycles.add<system>(1000000000);

// Call an RPC method

let result = await EvmRpc.eth_getTransactionReceipt(services, config, "0xdd5d4b18923d7aae953c7996d791118102e889bea37b48a651157a4890e4746f");


// Process results

switch result {
  // Consistent, successful results
  case (#Consistent(#Ok value)) {
    Debug.print("Success: " # debug_show value);
  };
  // Consistent error message
  case (#Consistent(#Err error)) {
    Debug.trap("Error: " # debug_show error);
  };
  // Inconsistent results between RPC providers
  case (#Inconsistent(results)) {
    Debug.trap("Inconsistent results");
  };
};

Call an Ethereum smart contract​

Calling an Ethereum smart contract from Motoko isn't currently supported.

Get number of transactions for a contract​

import EvmRpc "canister:evm_rpc";

import Cycles "mo:base/ExperimentalCycles";
import Debug "mo:base/Debug";

// Configure RPC request

let services = #EthMainnet;
let config = null;

// Add cycles to next call

Cycles.add<system>(1000000000);

// Call an RPC method

let result = await EvmRpc.eth_getTransactionCount(
    services,
    config,
    {
        address = "0x1789F79e95324A47c5Fd6693071188e82E9a3558";
        block = #Latest;
    },
);


// Process results

switch result {
  // Consistent, successful results
  case (#Consistent(#Ok value)) {
    Debug.print("Success: " # debug_show value);
  };
  // Consistent error message
  case (#Consistent(#Err error)) {
    Debug.trap("Error: " # debug_show error);
  };
  // Inconsistent results between RPC providers
  case (#Inconsistent(results)) {
    Debug.trap("Inconsistent results");
  };
};

Get the fee history​

import EvmRpc "canister:evm_rpc";

import Cycles "mo:base/ExperimentalCycles";
import Debug "mo:base/Debug";

// Configure RPC request

let services = #EthMainnet;
let config = null;

// Add cycles to next call

Cycles.add<system>(1000000000);

// Call an RPC method

let result = await EvmRpc.eth_feeHistory(
    services,
    config,
    {
        blockCount = 3;
        newestBlock = #Latest;
        rewardPercentiles = null;
    },
);

// Process results

switch result {
  // Consistent, successful results
  case (#Consistent(#Ok value)) {
    Debug.print("Success: " # debug_show value);
  };
  // Consistent error message
  case (#Consistent(#Err error)) {
    Debug.trap("Error: " # debug_show error);
  };
  // Inconsistent results between RPC providers
  case (#Inconsistent(results)) {
    Debug.trap("Inconsistent results");
  };
};

Send a raw transaction​

The EVM RPC canister can also be used to send raw transactions to the Ethereum and other EVM-compatible chains. Examples for using the EVM RPC canister can be found below, or you can view the documentation for sending a raw ETH transaction.

import EvmRpc "canister:evm_rpc";

import Cycles "mo:base/ExperimentalCycles";
import Debug "mo:base/Debug";

// Configure RPC request

let services = #EthMainnet;
let config = null;

// Add cycles to next call

Cycles.add<system>(1000000000);

// Call an RPC method

let result = await canister.eth_sendRawTransaction(
    services,
    null,
    "0xf86c098504a817c800825208943535353535353535353535353535353535353535880de0b6b3a76400008025a028ef61340bd939bc2195fe537567866003e1a15d3c71ff63e1590620aa636276a067cbe9d8997f761aecb703304b3800ccf555c9f3dc64214b297fb1966a3b6d83",
);

Error "already known"​

Sending a transaction to the Ethereum network is a state changing operation. Since the EVM-RPC canister sends a transaction to some JSON-RPC providers via HTTPs outcalls, each contacted provider will receive the same transaction multiple times.

Therefore, it is possible that the contacted provider may return the following error:

"{ code: -32603, message: \"already known\" }"

Assuming the sent transaction is valid, one node of the contacted provider should accept the transaction, while the others should return some error such as the one displayed above. Note that the exact error returned is EVM-client specific, as the Ethereum JSON-RPC API itself doesn't specify errors, meaning that other errors could occur, such as an error indicating that consensus on the IC could not be reached.

Note that even if an error is returned, you should assume that your transaction is known to the Ethereum network. You can verify whether your transaction was included in a block by querying the transaction count (via eth_getTransactionCount) at the Latest block height.

Send a raw JSON-RPC request​

import EvmRpc "canister:evm_rpc";

import Cycles "mo:base/ExperimentalCycles";
import Debug "mo:base/Debug";

// Configure JSON-RPC request
let service = #EthMainnet;
let json = "{\"jsonrpc\":\"2.0\",\"method\":\"eth_gasPrice\",\"params\":[],\"id\":1}";
let maxResponseBytes = 1000;

// Optionally retrieve the exact number of cycles for an RPC request
let cyclesResult = await EvmRpc.requestCost(service, json, maxResponseBytes);
let cycles = switch cyclesResult {
    case (#Ok cycles) { cycles };
    case (#Err err) {
        Debug.trap("Error while calling `requestCost`: " # debug_show err);
    };
};

// Submit the RPC request
Cycles.add<system>(cycles);
let result = await EvmRpc.request(service, json, maxResponseBytes);

// Process response
let cycles = switch result {
    case (#Ok response) {
        Debug.print("Success:" # debug_show response);
    };
    case (#Err err) {
        Debug.trap("Error while calling `request`: " # debug_show err);
    };
};

Specifying an EVM chain​

let services = #EthMainnet;
let config = null;

Authorization (local replica)​

PRINCIPAL=$(dfx identity get-principal)
dfx canister call evm_rpc authorize "(principal \"$PRINCIPAL\", variant { RegisterProvider })"
dfx canister call evm_rpc getAuthorized '(variant { RegisterProvider })'
dfx canister call evm_rpc deauthorize "(principal \"$PRINCIPAL\", variant { RegisterProvider })"

Specifying RPC services​

RpcServices is used to specify which HTTPS outcall APIs to use in the request. There are several ways to use specific JSON-RPC services:

// Used for Candid-RPC canister methods (`eth_getLogs`, `eth_getBlockByNumber`, etc.)
type RpcServices = variant {
  EthMainnet : opt vec EthMainnetService;
  EthSepolia : opt vec EthSepoliaService;
  ArbitrumOne : opt vec L2MainnetService;
  BaseMainnet : opt vec L2MainnetService;
  OptimismMainnet : opt vec L2MainnetService;
  ...
  Custom : record {
    chainId : nat64;
    services : vec record { url : text; headers : opt vec (text, text) };
  }
};

// Used for the JSON-RPC `request` canister method
type RpcService = variant {
  EthMainnet : EthMainnetService;
  EthSepolia : EthSepoliaService;
  ArbitrumOne : L2MainnetService;
  BaseMainnet : L2MainnetService;
  OptimismMainnet : L2MainnetService;
  ...
  Chain : nat64;
  Provider : nat64;
  Custom : record { url : text; headers : opt vec (text, text) };
};

Registering your own provider​

To register your own RPC provider in your local replica, you can use the following commands:

# Authorize your dfx identity to add an RPC provider
OWNER_PRINCIPAL=$(dfx identity get-principal)
dfx canister call evm_rpc authorize "(principal \"$OWNER_PRINCIPAL\", variant { RegisterProvider })"

# Register a provider
dfx canister call evm_rpc registerProvider '(record { chainId=1; hostname="cloudflare-eth.com"; credentialPath="/v1/mainnet"; cyclesPerCall=1000; cyclesPerMessageByte=100; })'

The registerProvider command has the following input parameters:

  • chainId: The ID of the blockchain network.
  • hostname: The JSON-RPC API hostname.
  • credentialPath: The path to the RPC authentication.
  • cyclesPerCall: The amount of cycles charged per RPC call.
  • cyclesPerMessageByte: The amount of cycles charged per message byte.

Replacing API keys​

If you want to add or change the API key in your local replica or a deployed fork of the canister, the first step is to determine the relevant providerId for the API.

Run the following command to view all registered providers:

dfx canister call evm_rpc getProviders

You should see a list of values. Look for the providerId, which in this case is 0:

(
  vec {
    record {
      cyclesPerCall = 0 : nat64;
      owner = principal "k3uua-wskan-xmpt3-e5bpx-ibj67-azbop-s26l5-kaakn-64bvk-y4jlc-oqe";
      hostname = "cloudflare-eth.com";
      primary = false;
      chainId = 1 : nat64;
      cyclesPerMessageByte = 0 : nat64;
      providerId = 0 : nat64;
    };
  }
)

Update the configuration for an existing provider using the updateProvider method:

dfx canister call evm_rpc updateProvider '(record { providerId = 0; credentialPath = opt "/path/to/YOUR-API-KEY" })'

Note that credentialPath should include everything after the hostname. For example, an RPC provider with hostname rpc.example.org and credential path /path/to/secret will resolve to https://rpc.example.org/path/to/secret.

Some RPC services expect the API key in a request header instead of a URI path. In this case, use a command such as the following:

dfx canister call evm_rpc updateProvider '(record { providerId = 0; credentialHeaders = opt vec { record { name = "HEADER_NAME"; value = "HEADER_VALUE" } } })'

Error messages​

Error "TooFewCycles"​

"ProviderError(TooFewCycles { expected: 798336000, received: 307392000 })"

You may receive this error if multiple JSON-RPC providers were queried and one did not receive enough cycles for the request. You can safely attach more cycles to your query, since unused cycles will be refunded.

Important notes​

RPC result consistency​

When calling RPC methods directly through the Candid interface (rather than via the request method), the canister will compare results from several JSON-RPC APIs and return a Consistent or Inconsistent variant based on whether the APIs agree on the result.

By default, the canister uses three different RPC providers, which may change depending on availability. It's possible to specify which providers to use for this consistency check. For example:

dfx canister call evm_rpc eth_getTransactionCount '(variant {EthMainnet = opt vec {Cloudflare; PublicNode}}, record {address = "0xdAC17F958D2ee523a2206206994597C13D831ec7"; block = variant {Tag = variant {Latest}}})' --with-cycles 100000000000 --wallet=$(dfx identity get-wallet)

HTTPS outcall consensus​

Be sure to verify that RPC requests work as expected on the ICP mainnet. HTTPS outcalls performed in the request method only reach consensus if the JSON-RPC response is the same each call.

If you encounter an issue with consensus, please let us know and we will look into whether it's possible to add official support for your use case.

Response size estimates​

In some cases, it's necessary to perform multiple HTTPS outcalls with increasing maximum response sizes to complete a request. This is relatively common for the eth_getLogs method and may increase the time and cost of performing an RPC call. One solution is to specify an initial response size estimate (in bytes):

dfx canister call evm_rpc eth_getLogs "(variant {EthMainnet}, record {responseSizeEstimate = 5000}, record {addresses = vec {\"0xdAC17F958D2ee523a2206206994597C13D831ec7\"}})" --with-cycles=1000000000 --wallet=$(dfx identity get-wallet)

If the response is larger than the estimate, the canister will double the max response size and retry until either receiving a response or running out of cycles given by the --with-cycles flag.

Next steps​

Learn about costs associated with the EVM RPC canister.