Solana RPC Working Principles

Solana RPC (Remote Procedure Call) serves as a critical interface for applications to interact with the Solana blockchain. Based on the JSON-RPC 2.0 protocol, it allows developers to access blockchain data and submit new transactions via RPC nodes. The working principles are as follows:

Basic Architecture

Solana RPC provides standardized API interfaces with primary functions including:

• Data Query:

  • getBlock to fetch block information.

  • getBalance to retrieve account balances.

• Transaction Submission:

  • sendTransaction to send signed transactions.

• Event Subscription:

  • WebSocket for real-time on-chain activity monitoring (e.g., account changes, log updates).

Node Types and Roles

The Solana network includes two node types:

1. Validator Nodes: Participate in consensus and maintain blockchain state, typically not exposing RPC interfaces directly.

2. RPC Nodes: Designed for external requests, divided into:

   • Public RPC: Free to use but rate-limited (e.g., Solana official endpoint api.mainnet-beta.solana.com).

   • Dedicated RPC: Provided by service providers, supporting high concurrency and low latency at a cost.

Request Processing Flow

1. Request Submission: Developers send requests to RPC nodes via APIs.

2. Validation: Nodes verify request legitimacy.

3. Data Query: Nodes retrieve local data (blocks, transactions, accounts, etc.).

4. Response: Results are returned to developers in JSON format:

   • Successful requests yield corresponding data.

   • Failed requests return error codes.