eth_syncing — Ethereum JSON-RPC

Status: Available

Reports whether the Ethereum node is currently syncing, returning false when fully synced or a sync-progress object while catching up.

POSThttps://triport.io/eth

Network: Ethereum
Scope: eth_read_rpc
Auth: x-token: $TRIPORT_API_KEY (or Authorization: Bearer)
Rate limit: free — 10 / 20 / 100 / 250 RPS sustained · short burst 20 / 40 / 200 / 500 (free / basic / pro / business); Burst capacity

Endpoint and plans: Ethereum RPC endpoint.

Request

cURLJavaScriptPython

curl https://triport.io/eth \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRIPORT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "eth_syncing",
    "params": []
  }'

const res = await fetch("https://triport.io/eth", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.TRIPORT_API_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "eth_syncing",
    "params": []
  }),
});
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

import os


import requests


resp = requests.post(
    "https://triport.io/eth",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['TRIPORT_API_KEY']}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    json={
        "jsonrpc": "2.0",
        "id": 1,
        "method": "eth_syncing",
        "params": [],
    },
)
data = resp.json()
print(data)

Response

JSON

Example

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "result": false
}

eth_syncing tells you whether the node serving your request is fully synchronized with the head of the Ethereum chain. When the node is caught up, it returns the boolean false. While the node is still importing blocks, it returns an object describing how far the sync has progressed.

Use this as a lightweight health probe before depending on the freshness of data from other reads such as eth_blockNumber or eth_getBlockByNumber. On the Triport platform requests are routed to synced nodes, so in normal operation you should expect false; a sync object is the signal that the node you reached is still backfilling and its latest-block data may lag the true chain head.

Note that the numeric fields are returned as hex-encoded quantity strings (e.g. "0x9e64d"), not decimal numbers — decode them before doing arithmetic.

Parameters

This method takes no parameters. Pass an empty array for params.

——optional

This method accepts no parameters.

Response

When the node is fully synced:

When the node is still syncing:

JSON

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "result": {
    "startingBlock": "0x9e640",
    "currentBlock": "0x9e64d",
    "highestBlock": "0x9f2a1"
  }
}

resultboolean | object

false when fully synced; otherwise a sync-status object (fields below).

result.startingBlockstring (hex quantity)

Block number at which the current sync import started.

result.currentBlockstring (hex quantity)

Block number the node has imported up to so far.

result.highestBlockstring (hex quantity)

Estimated highest block number on the network (the sync target).

Errors

Code	Meaning	When it happens
`401`	`trial_expired`	The API key's trial period has ended; upgrade to a paid tier to continue.
`429`	`rate_limited`	You exceeded the requests-per-second limit for your tier. Back off and retry.

Both are plain HTTP responses: they are decided before the request reaches the RPC layer, so there is no JSON-RPC error object. Upstream node errors do use the JSON-RPC envelope. See the shared errors reference for both shapes and retry guidance.

Example rate-limited response (HTTP 429):

JSON

{
  "error": "rate_limited",
  "message": "Rate limit reached: your free plan allows 10 requests/s for eth_read_rpc. Retry in 1s (see the Retry-After header) or upgrade for a higher limit at https://triport.io/app/pricing",
  "current_tier": "free",
  "category": "eth_read_rpc",
  "limit_rps": 10,
  "burst_capacity": 20,
  "retry_after_sec": 1,
  "upgrade_url": "https://triport.io/app/pricing",
  "docs_url": "https://triport.io/errors/http-429-rate-limit"
}

Examples

JavaScript (fetch)

JavaScript

const res = await fetch("https://triport.io/eth", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.TRIPORT_API_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    jsonrpc: "2.0",
    id: 1,
    method: "eth_syncing",
    params: [],
  }),
});


const { result } = await res.json();
if (result === false) {
  console.log("Node is fully synced");
} else {
  console.log(`Syncing: ${parseInt(result.currentBlock, 16)} / ${parseInt(result.highestBlock, 16)}`);
}

Notes

A false result is the common case on Triport, since requests are routed to synced nodes. Treat a returned object as a transient condition.
All block numbers are hex-encoded quantity strings; convert with parseInt(value, 16) (JS/TS) or int(value, 16) (Python).
For the absolute current head once synced, use eth_blockNumber.
This method takes no parameters and is safe to poll, subject to your tier's RPS limit. See rate limits for burst behavior.