Skip to content

Reading the Animica block explorer

A walkthrough of explorer.animica.org and its REST API: head, blocks, transactions, addresses, supply and mining endpoints, with live 2026-08-23 examples and node cross-checks.

beginner · 10 min read · Published · Updated

  • explorer
  • rest-api
  • blocks
  • transactions
  • addresses
  • confirmations

The explorer at explorer.animica.org is a web UI on top of a small REST API that talks JSON-RPC to a full node. Because the API is free, unauthenticated and returns plain JSON, it is also the quickest way to script a balance check, confirm a payment, or watch difficulty. This guide walks through the real routes in explorer2/api/src/server.ts, reads a block, a transaction and an address with responses captured on 2026-08-23, explains the fields that confuse newcomers (hex balances, zeroed roots, partial address history), and shows how to verify anything the explorer says against a node.

How the explorer is built

explorer2/ is a pnpm workspace with three packages: shared (types), api (an Express server, port 8081 by default) and web (a Vite UI, port 3001 in development). The API runs in one of two modes. In RPC mode it connects to a node’s JSON-RPC (EXPLORER2_RPC_URL, default http://127.0.0.1:8545/rpc) and has every feature: live head, mempool, peers, transaction status. If the RPC is unreachable it falls back to local DB mode, reading ~/.animica/chain-1/animica.db directly, with no mempool or peer data. GET /api/meta tells you which mode a deployment is in; the public instance answered "mode": "RPC" against http://127.0.0.1:8545/rpc on 2026-08-23, meaning it sits on the same host as the node it reads.

The UI routes are /block/{height-or-hash}, /tx/{hash} and /address/{anim1...}, plus a unified search box. Everything the UI shows comes from the API routes below, so the rest of this article uses curl.

The routes

From server.ts, the endpoints most people use:

RouteReturns
GET /api/headhead height and hash, thetaMicro, peer and mempool stats, recent theta history
GET /api/blocks?limit=&cursor=newest-first block list with nextCursor
GET /api/block/:hashOrHeightone block with its transactions
GET /api/tx/:hashone transaction with status, confirmations and classification
GET /api/address/:bech32?limit=&cursor=balance, account type and recent transactions
GET /api/search?q=detects height, hash or address and returns the matching object
GET /api/mempool?limit=&cursor=pending transactions and mempool stats
GET /api/richlist?limit=&offset= and /api/richlist/summarybalances ranked, concentration metrics
GET /api/circulating-supplya bare JSON number in whole ANM, in the shape aggregators expect
GET /api/mining/infowhether the node considers mining healthy, current template if any
GET /api/network/statusper-service health (chain, mempool, peers)
GET /api/rpc/discoverthe node’s OpenRPC document, proxied
GET /api/contracts/..., /api/tokens/...deployments, code, verification jobs, token views
GET /api/l2/..., /api/aicf/..., /api/da/..., /api/ena/..., /api/quantum/infothe L2 rollup, AI-compute, data-availability, training and quantum subsystems
GET /api/health, /api/meta, /api/diagnosticsliveness, mode, connection details

CORS is open (EXPLORER2_CORS_ORIGIN defaults to *), so browser code can call these directly. The README also documents EXPLORER2_RPC_TIMEOUT_MS (30 s) and EXPLORER2_RPC_MAX_RETRIES (3), which explain why a slow node shows up as a slow explorer rather than an error.

Reading the head

curl -s https://explorer.animica.org/api/head

Captured 2026-08-23 12:48 UTC (theta history trimmed):

{
  "head": {
    "height": 81213,
    "canonicalHeight": 81212,
    "hash": "0x000000000285fce2e883bc00cba4e00fc38d390e7a3b8133cfc522bcf09ba3f9",
    "chainId": 1,
    "thetaMicro": 26392958
  },
  "stats": {
    "peerCount": 3, "inboundPeers": 2, "outboundPeers": 1,
    "mempoolSize": 0, "tps": 0.0097, "avgBlockTime": 66.84
  },
  "thetaHistory": [ { "height": 81212, "time": 1787489273, "thetaMicro": 26524140 }, "..." ]
}

What to read from it:

  • height is the node’s current tip; canonicalHeight is one lower because the newest block has not yet been built upon. A payment in block h has head.height - h + 1 confirmations.
  • thetaMicro is the PoIES difficulty in micro-nats, about 26.4 nats here. It moves every block; the history array is what the UI’s difficulty chart plots. The leading zeros on the hash are the visible consequence of a high threshold. See Difficulty adjustment and theta.
  • avgBlockTime is measured over recent blocks (66.8 s against the 60 s target) and tps is tiny because the chain carried few transactions in that window. peerCount is the explorer’s node’s own peer count, not a network census.

Reading a block

curl -s https://explorer.animica.org/api/block/81213

The response has a summary layer and a raw layer. The summary, trimmed:

{
  "height": 81213,
  "hash": "0x000000000285fce2e883bc00cba4e00fc38d390e7a3b8133cfc522bcf09ba3f9",
  "parentHash": "0x00000000020577dd7ab8ad48f75b4750764aaa98678a34d1410cb722bd23b6ae",
  "time": 1787489353,
  "chainId": 1,
  "difficulty": 26392958,
  "nonce": 260923656941849,
  "txs": [
    { "hash": "0x72637302...", "from": "anim1zqp6zht...", "to": "anim1zqpe6a5...", "value": "198000" },
    { "hash": "0xcb3bdc0a...", "from": "anim1zqp6zht...", "to": "anim1zqpe6a5...", "value": "2000" },
    { "hash": "0xe949e8e1...", "from": "anim1zqp6zht...", "to": "anim1zqpe6a5...", "value": "2000" }
  ]
}

difficulty is the same number as thetaMicro. time is a Unix timestamp; nonce is the 64-bit value the miner found. value strings are integer nANM, so these three transfers are 0.000198, 0.000002 and 0.000002 ANM.

The raw layer is the node’s own block object, and its transaction entries show the v2 transaction shape:

{
  "hash": "0x72637302b66d380c02db8212441c11a03f695f277d2cd461b3f1043e99d88df9",
  "from": "0xa15d7283...", "to": "0x9d769767...",
  "gas": 21000, "tip": 1,
  "validAfter": 81211, "validUntil": 81331,
  "salt": "0x4510de45a1676acab2d6762fa3bead8a",
  "value": 198000, "kind": 0, "data": "0x"
}

Three things stand out. The raw from and to are 32-byte account keys (the SHA3-256 digest part of the address), not bech32m strings; the summary layer converts them. validAfter/validUntil is the 120-block validity window that replaces a nonce in v2 transactions, and salt makes the transaction id unique; see Transactions and fees. And gas: 21000 with tip: 1 is the standard transfer, so the fee was 21,000 nANM.

The raw header also carries roots: txsRoot is populated, while stateRoot, receiptsRoot, proofsRoot and daRoot are all zeros. That is accurate, not a display bug. State commitment is armed but the roots are not yet sealed in headers, and proofsRoot is zero because no miner attaches useful-work proofs on mainnet; the explorer shows the header as it is.

Reading a transaction

curl -s https://explorer.animica.org/api/tx/0x1f28c7253ce50b458c44c5c49561451e8bbec4470b8b59fc910561a87fd7d8a9

Trimmed response, captured at head 81,215:

{
  "hash": "0x1f28c725...",
  "status": "confirmed",
  "blockHeight": 81202,
  "blockHash": "0x000000000526368a...",
  "from": "anim1zqpkpp780dsm3rp2mfxk64grvcdzmfyat90uppa78daqs2cs63kzmusws44wt",
  "to": "anim1zqpukdqr97wlyv4kyj2r64tllzq5jcygvmul4l5xywnrawpuryqnzjg99pukt",
  "value": "1435861937685",
  "confirmations": 14,
  "timestamp": 1787488742,
  "explorer_head_height": 81215,
  "classification": {
    "type": "native_transfer", "failed": false, "isReverted": false,
    "targetIsContract": false, "createdContractAddress": null,
    "methodSelector": null, "decodedCall": null, "decodedEvents": []
  },
  "raw": { "gasLimit": 23100, "gasPrice": 3585891, "maxFee": 3585891, "chainId": 1, "transactionIndex": 2 }
}
  • value is 1435861937685 nANM, which is 1,435.861937685 ANM (divide by 10^9). This particular transfer is a pool payout to a miner’s address.
  • status moves through pending, confirmed and, if a reorg removes the block, reorged_out. confirmations is explorer_head_height - blockHeight + 1; 14 here. The security article has a table for choosing how many to wait for.
  • classification is the explorer’s decoding: native_transfer for a plain send; for contract calls it fills methodSelector, decodedCall and decodedEvents when the contract’s ABI is known, and createdContractAddress for deployments. failed and isReverted distinguish an execution failure from a successful inclusion.
  • raw.gasPrice and raw.gasLimit bound the fee; the fee actually charged is gasUsed × gasPrice, which the receipt reports. This response had receipt: null, which the explorer returns when the node did not supply one; use the RPC (below) if you need gasUsed.

Reading an address

curl -s "https://explorer.animica.org/api/address/anim1zqpukdqr97wlyv4kyj2r64tllzq5jcygvmul4l5xywnrawpuryqnzjg99pukt"

{
  "address": "anim1zqpukdqr97wlyv4kyj2r64tllzq5jcygvmul4l5xywnrawpuryqnzjg99pukt",
  "accountType": "eoa",
  "confirmedBalance": "0x7662581a73d",
  "pendingBalance": "0x7662581a73d",
  "txs": [ { "hash": "0x1f28c725...", "value": "1435861937685", "status": "confirmed", "blockNumber": 81202, "gasPrice": 3585891, "gasLimit": 23100 }, "..." ],
  "contract": null,
  "nextCursor": "81178",
  "scannedBlocks": 35,
  "partial": true
}

Balances are hex strings of nANM. 0x7662581a73d is 8,135,297,312,573 nANM, or about 8,135.297 ANM. A one-liner:

int("0x7662581a73d", 16) / 1e9      # -> 8135.297312573

pendingBalance differs from confirmedBalance only when the mempool holds transactions from or to this address. accountType is eoa for a key-controlled account and contract for a deployed contract, in which case contract carries code and verification details.

History is a bounded live scan. The explorer builds an address’s transaction list by scanning recent blocks from the node, under a wall-clock budget (EXPLORER_ADDRESS_SCAN_MS, 3,500 ms by default, introduced after address pages used to hang for 37 seconds on sparse addresses). The response tells you exactly what it did: scannedBlocks: 35 and partial: true mean it covered 35 blocks and stopped; pass ?cursor=81178 to continue from there. For a full history of an old or busy address, page until partial is false or nextCursor is null, or query a node directly. The balance itself is never partial; it is a single state.getBalance call.

Supply and the rich list

curl -s https://explorer.animica.org/api/circulating-supply
# 110791581.88065287
curl -s https://explorer.animica.org/api/richlist/summary
# {"height":81215,"totalSupply":"0x1899ce704e30445","addressCount":155,"top10Pct":86.01,"top100Pct":99.99}

Circulating supply is returned as a bare number in whole ANM because that is the body format CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko expect. On 2026-08-23 it was about 110.79 million ANM across 155 non-zero accounts, with the top ten holding 86% of supply; the chain-facts document explains that the largest balances are the genesis premine allocations and accrued foundation shares, which is why the concentration figure is high on a young chain. The /api/richlist entries identify accounts by their 32-byte keys rather than bech32m strings.

Mining and network

GET /api/mining/info reports the node’s mining view; on 2026-08-23 it returned sync_phase: "IDLE", ok: true, head 81,213, an empty mempool and has_state_root: false. GET /api/network/status lists each service with its status and the node-reported head, and is the closest thing to a public health page. GET /api/mempool was empty at capture time, which is typical outside bursts of pool payouts.

Cross-checking with a node

Every explorer field maps to an RPC call, so you can verify against https://rpc.animica.org/rpc or your own node:

RPC=https://rpc.animica.org/rpc
# the same block, with transaction hashes only
curl -s -X POST $RPC -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"chain.getBlockByHeight","params":[81213,false]}'
# status and confirmations of the payout
curl -s -X POST $RPC -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tx.getStatus","params":["0x1f28c7253ce50b458c44c5c49561451e8bbec4470b8b59fc910561a87fd7d8a9"]}'
# the balance the explorer showed
curl -s -X POST $RPC -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"state.getBalance","params":["anim1zqpukdqr97wlyv4kyj2r64tllzq5jcygvmul4l5xywnrawpuryqnzjg99pukt"]}'

On 2026-08-23 chain.getBlockByHeight returned the identical hash, parent and three transaction ids, and tx.getStatus returned included_height: 81202, confirmations: 14, reorged_out: false, with status: "finalized" and finalized_in_pow: true. That last pair is worth a sentence: finalized_in_pow is set for any transaction included in a proof-of-work block, and status/finalized switch to finalized once the transaction has 12 confirmations (the node’s ANIMICA_TX_FINALITY_CONFIRMATIONS default). Neither is a consensus finality vote, so the number you act on is confirmations, exactly as the explorer displays it. The RPC namespaces and error codes are covered in the JSON-RPC API guide.

Running your own explorer

If you operate a node, the explorer is a two-command addition:

pnpm install
EXPLORER2_RPC_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8545/rpc pnpm -C explorer2 dev    # API :8081, UI :3001

or with Docker:

EXPLORER2_RPC_URL=http://your-node:8545/rpc \
  docker compose -f explorer2/docker/docker-compose.explorer2.yml up --build

The /diagnostics page in the UI shows the mode, the RPC URL and which optional methods the node exposes; DA, quantum and AICF panels show “Disabled on this node” until the corresponding node features are configured. node scripts/verify_richlist.js --sample 10 in explorer2/api cross-checks rich-list balances against direct RPC queries.

Key takeaways

  • The explorer is a thin REST layer over a node’s JSON-RPC; /api/meta shows the mode, and every field can be reproduced with an RPC call.
  • Balances and supply come back as hex nANM or integer nANM strings; divide by 10^9 for ANM.
  • Block headers show zeroed state, receipt, proof and DA roots today; that is the chain’s current state, not a display error.
  • Address history is a time-budgeted scan: respect partial and nextCursor.
  • Act on confirmations, not on the word “finalized” in tx.getStatus.

Sources

  • explorer2/README.md
  • explorer2/api/src/server.ts (route definitions)
  • docs/TX_WORKFLOW.md
  • docs/CHANGELOG.md (5.3.1 explorer entry)
  • docs/exposure/recon/chain-facts.md
  • AGENTS.md (live endpoints table)
  • Live: /api/head, /api/blocks, /api/block/81213, /api/tx/0x1f28c725..., /api/address/anim1zqpukdqr..., /api/search, /api/richlist/summary, /api/circulating-supply, /api/mining/info, /api/network/status, /api/meta, /api/mempool on https://explorer.animica.org and chain.getBlockByHeight, tx.getStatus on https://rpc.animica.org/rpc, captured 2026-08-23

Written from

This article was written from the following files in the animicaorg/all repository. If the repository and this page ever disagree, the repository is authoritative.