eth_getCode — Polygon JSON-RPC

Status: Available

Returns the compiled bytecode deployed at a Polygon address, or 0x if the address is an externally-owned account (EOA) or holds no code.

POSThttps://triport.io/polygon

Network: Polygon
Scope: polygon_read_rpc
Auth: x-token: $TRIPORT_API_KEY (or Authorization: Bearer)
Rate limit: free — 15 rps · basic — 20 rps · pro — 100 rps · business — 250 rps (with burst)

Endpoint and plans: Polygon RPC endpoint.

Request

cURLJavaScriptPython

curl https://triport.io/polygon \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TRIPORT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "eth_getCode",
    "params": [
      "0x3c499c542cEF5E3811e1192ce70d8cC03d5c3359",
      "latest"
    ]
  }'

const res = await fetch("https://triport.io/polygon", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.TRIPORT_API_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "id": 1,
    "method": "eth_getCode",
    "params": [
      "0x3c499c542cEF5E3811e1192ce70d8cC03d5c3359",
      "latest"
    ]
  }),
});
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

import os


import requests


resp = requests.post(
    "https://triport.io/polygon",
    headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['TRIPORT_API_KEY']}",
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    json={
        "jsonrpc": "2.0",
        "id": 1,
        "method": "eth_getCode",
        "params": [
            "0x3c499c542cEF5E3811e1192ce70d8cC03d5c3359",
            "latest",
        ],
    },
)
data = resp.json()
print(data)

Response

JSON

Example

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "result": "0x363d3d373d3d3d363d73abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef01235af43d82803e903d91602b57fd5bf3"
}

eth_getCode returns the bytecode stored at a given address as of a given block. For a contract account it returns the runtime (deployed) bytecode; for an externally-owned account, a non-existent address, or a contract that has self-destructed at the queried block, it returns 0x.

Use it to tell whether an address is a contract or an EOA, to fingerprint a deployment, or to confirm that a contract was already deployed at a historical block. The result is the runtime bytecode, not the constructor/creation bytecode, so it will not match the data field of the deployment transaction.

Polygon hosts a large number of proxy contracts — bridged USDC.e and many other tokens are upgradeable proxies. For those, eth_getCode returns the small proxy shim, not the logic contract. To resolve the implementation behind an EIP-1967 proxy, pair this call with eth_getStorageAt reading the implementation slot 0x360894a13ba1a3210667c828492db98dca3e2076cc3735a920a3ca505d382bbc, then call eth_getCode again on the address stored there.

This method is available on the Free trial under the polygon_read_rpc category, so any valid key can call it.

Parameters

Positional params array of exactly two elements.

addressstring (20-byte hex, 0x-prefixed)required

The address whose bytecode you want.

blockTagstringrequired

Block to read state at: a hex block number (e.g. 0x2A4B1C0), or one of the tags latest, earliest, pending, safe, finalized.

Response

For an EOA, a never-deployed address, or a contract self-destructed by the queried block, the result is empty bytecode:

JSON

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

resultstring

0x-prefixed hex of the runtime bytecode at the address, or 0x when there is no code.

Errors

JSON-RPC requests return errors in the standard error object with a numeric code, a message, and a data payload carrying tier/rate-limit context.

Code	HTTP equiv.	Meaning	When it happens
`401`	401	`trial_expired`	The key's trial period has ended.
`403`	403	`tier_insufficient`	The key's tier is below what the method requires. (`eth_getCode` itself only needs the Free trial.)
`429`	429	`rate_limited`	You exceeded your tier's RPS + burst budget. See `data.retry_after_sec`.
`401`	401	`subscription_expired`	The key's paid subscription has lapsed.
`401`	401	`unauthorized`	Missing, malformed, or invalid API key.
`-32601`	403	`method_unknown`	The method is not enabled for this key/chain.

Example rate-limit response — HTTP 429 with a plain body, not a JSON-RPC envelope:

JSON

{
  "error": "rate_limited",
  "message": "rate limit exceeded",
  "category": "polygon_read_rpc",
  "current_tier": "free",
  "limit_rps": 15,
  "retry_after_sec": 1,
  "method": "eth_getCode",
  "chain": "polygon"
}

See the shared errors reference for the full envelope and the HTTP ↔ JSON-RPC wire-code mapping.

Examples

JavaScript (fetch)

JavaScript

const res = await fetch("https://triport.io/polygon", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    "Authorization": `Bearer ${process.env.TRIPORT_API_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    jsonrpc: "2.0",
    id: 1,
    method: "eth_getCode",
    params: ["0x3c499c542cEF5E3811e1192ce70d8cC03d5c3359", "latest"],
  }),
});


const { result } = await res.json();
const isContract = result !== "0x";
console.log(isContract ? "contract" : "EOA");

Notes

EOA vs. contract: treat any non-0x result as a contract. Do not assume a fixed length — proxy shims are tens of bytes while large contracts (e.g. Aave V3 pools) approach the ~24 KB EIP-170 runtime limit.
Proxy detection: eth_getCode alone cannot see through a proxy. Read the EIP-1967 implementation slot with eth_getStorageAt, then re-query the resolved address.
Payload size: the response scales with bytecode size. For large contracts the body can be several tens of KB — budget for that when polling many addresses.
Historical reads: pass a hex block number as blockTag to inspect code at a past block (useful for confirming a deployment block). Archive depth varies by tier.
Related methods: eth_getStorageAt, eth_call, eth_getBalance.