Slot
Last updated:
Applies to: Solana
In more detail
Solana schedules leaders per slot, so the slot number advances with time whether or not a block lands in it. Because some slots are skipped, the slot number is always higher than the block height, and the gap grows over time.
Most Solana RPC reads are evaluated at a slot: responses wrapped in an RpcResponse report it as context.slot, and getSlot returns the slot the node has reached at the requested commitment level. Block reads by slot (getBlock) can fail for a skipped slot, which is a normal protocol outcome rather than missing data.