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Getting started

1. Sign up to Infura​

Sign up for an account on the Infura website, enter your details, and select CREATE A FREE ACCOUNT.

To activate your account, verify your email address by clicking the link sent to your inbox.

2. Create an API key​

Once verified, you’ll be taken to the Infura dashboard where you can create your API key, view analytics, select add-ons, or raise support requests.

You can create API keys for the following networks:

NetworkDescription
Web3 APIAccess Ethereum, Layer 2, and non-EVM Layer 1 APIs.
IPFSAccess distributed, peer-to-peer storage APIs.

You must create an API key to authenticate your network requests. Click CREATE NEW API KEY.

Create new API key

From the pop-up, select the network and provide a name, then click CREATE.

Your new API key page has all the information you need to connect to your endpoints which you can use to send API requests.

3. Send requests​

Use the API key when sending requests. The following examples interact with the Ethereum network by sending requests using HTTP.

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  • All requests are POST requests.
  • ReplaceYOUR-API-KEY with your own unique API key.

Use a tool such as the Client Uniform Resource Locator (curl) or Postman to make requests. We recommend using Postman if you're a Windows user.

3.1 Get the current block number​

Retrieve the current block number.

curl https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/YOUR-API-KEY \
    -X POST \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    --data '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "eth_blockNumber", "params": []}'

You'll receive a response similar to:

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"result":"0xde5fba"}

The data returned is in hexadecimal, prefixed with 0x. If you convert de5fba to decimal, the resulting number is 14573498, representing the current block number at the time the query was made.

3.2 View the Ether balance of a specified contract​

heck the balance of an Ethereum smart contract.

The example code checks the latest balance of the Ethereum Proof of Stake (PoS) contract.

curl https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/API-KEY \
    -X POST \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_getBalance","params": ["0x00000000219ab540356cBB839Cbe05303d7705Fa", "latest"],"id":1}'

You'll receive a result similar to:

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"result":"0x96c8e932f1e499c855045"}

This result is the hexadecimal value of the contract in Wei (the smallest denomination of Ether).

The decimal conversion of the result is 11392978000069000000000069 Wei, which equals 11392978.000069000000000069 Ether.

4. Secure your API key​

Configure security settings in the SECURITY tab. This is optional.

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The SECURITY tab is only available for Web3 and IPFS projects.

Force API requests to include the API key secret and/or JSON Web Tokens (JWTs).

Use an allowlist to restrict API key access. Refer to the allowlist documentation for configuration instructions and best practices.

5. Use the Infura dashboard​

The Infura dashboard shows performance and API usage data such as methods called, bandwidth usage, and most active usage times.

Optimize your app and better understand your users by reviewing the dashboard regularly.

6. Manage your account​

You can find additional settings in Settings to manage your account. You can set notifications for daily limits from the Accounts option. You can update your usage limits and network add-ons in the Manage Plan option. You can manage shared API keys in the API Key Sharing tab.

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