> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.beaconcha.in/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # 👀 Explorer State > Returns the explorer's current view of the Ethereum chain, including network health, validator counts, balances, and finality status. Unlike most API endpoints where processing lag is invisible, this endpoint explicitly exposes how far behind the explorer is relative to the actual chain head (see `data_freshness`). Use it to determine whether the data you're querying from other endpoints is sufficiently up-to-date for your use case. ## OpenAPI ````yaml /v3/bundled.yaml post /api/v2/ethereum/state openapi: 3.0.4 info: title: External Service API version: 1.0.3 servers: - url: https://beaconcha.in description: Production API security: - ApiKeyAuth: [] paths: /api/v2/ethereum/state: post: tags: - Network summary: 👀 Explorer State description: > Returns the explorer's current view of the Ethereum chain, including network health, validator counts, balances, and finality status. Unlike most API endpoints where processing lag is invisible, this endpoint explicitly exposes how far behind the explorer is relative to the actual chain head (see `data_freshness`). Use it to determine whether the data you're querying from other endpoints is sufficiently up-to-date for your use case. operationId: GetExplorerState requestBody: $ref: '#/components/requestBodies/JustChain' responses: '200': $ref: '#/components/responses/EthereumState' '400': $ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest' '401': $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized' '403': $ref: '#/components/responses/Forbidden' '404': $ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound' '405': $ref: '#/components/responses/MethodNotAllowed' '429': $ref: '#/components/responses/RateLimitExceeded' '500': $ref: '#/components/responses/InternalServerError' default: $ref: '#/components/responses/DefaultError' components: requestBodies: JustChain: content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/NamedChain' responses: EthereumState: description: Successful response. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/EthereumState.Container' BadRequest: description: Bad Request content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: error: Bad request. Please check your input and try again. Unauthorized: description: Unauthorized content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: error: Unauthorized. Please provide a valid API key. Forbidden: description: Forbidden content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: error: >- endpoint not allowed for your subscription tier. upgrade your subscription at https://beaconcha.in/pricing. NotFound: description: Not Found content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: error: The requested resource was not found. MethodNotAllowed: description: Method Not Allowed content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: error: 'method not allowed: GET. all public API endpoints use POST.' RateLimitExceeded: description: Rate Limit Exceeded content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: error: Rate limit exceeded. Please try again later. InternalServerError: description: Internal Server Error content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: error: internal server error. please try again later. DefaultError: description: An unexpected error response. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' example: error: An unexpected error occurred. schemas: NamedChain: type: object properties: chain: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Chain' EthereumState.Container: type: object properties: data: $ref: '#/components/schemas/EthereumState.Data' description: Response containing the current state of the chain. required: - data Error: type: object properties: error: type: string Chain: type: string enum: - mainnet - hoodi default: mainnet description: The Ethereum chain to query. EthereumState.Data: type: object description: > The explorer's current view of the Ethereum chain, including network health, finality status, and chain progression. This is the explorer's processed view, which may lag slightly behind the actual chain head. See `data_freshness` to determine how up-to-date this information is relative to the real chain state. properties: chain_health: $ref: '#/components/schemas/StateChainHealth' chain_view: $ref: '#/components/schemas/StateChainView' data_freshness: $ref: '#/components/schemas/StateFreshness' required: - chain_health - chain_view - data_freshness StateChainHealth: type: object description: > Overall health status of the beacon chain network, based on finality and sync status. properties: is_finalizing: type: boolean description: > Indicates whether the beacon chain is currently finalizing, based on the age of the last finalized epoch. If false, the chain is considered non-finalizing because the last finalized epoch is more than 3 epochs behind the head epoch (normal finality takes ~2 epochs, with 1 extra epoch of tolerance for indexing/processing delays). This may indicate issues with validator participation or other network problems. Users should exercise caution in such cases, as recent unfinalized blocks and state changes may be subject to reorganization. Already-finalized data remains reliable. required: - is_finalizing StateChainView: type: object description: > The beacon chain's current progression, given as three reference points — the `head`, `justified`, and `finalized` checkpoints — together with the active sync committee period. Each reference point carries a `consensus_reference` (its consensus-layer `slot` and `block_root`) and an `execution_reference` (the execution-layer block number and hash). A slot may be missed (no block proposed) while the chain still advances in time. When the referenced slot was missed, its `block_root` is `null`, but `slot` still identifies that point in the chain's timeline. properties: head: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ChainState' description: | The current head of the beacon chain. justified: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ChainState' description: > The current justified state of the beacon chain. In Ethereum Proof-of-Stake, a "justified" slot is the most recent slot that has received enough attestations from validators to be considered safe, but not yet finalized. Justification is an intermediate step before finality, providing a strong indication that the chain is progressing securely, but allowing for possible reorganization until finalization occurs. finalized: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ChainState' description: > The current finalized checkpoint of the beacon chain. In Ethereum Proof-of-Stake, finalization applies to a checkpoint: once finalized, it cannot be changed or reorganized without slashing at least one-third of all validators, providing strong economic security guarantees. `block_root`/`slot` reference the checkpoint block that provides this finality guarantee (the block at the first slot of the checkpoint epoch, or the most recent block before it if that slot was missed). sync_committee_period: $ref: '#/components/schemas/StateChainViewSyncPeriod' required: - head - justified - finalized - sync_committee_period StateFreshness: type: object description: > Provides transparency into how closely our exported view of the beacon chain tracks the actual "wall-clock" chain head on the consensus layer. This metric reflects the number of slots by which our processed and queryable data may lag behind the absolute latest state of the chain, due to necessary processing and indexing delays. For most customers, this slight delay is acceptable and does not impact typical use cases. However, we offer this information openly so that applications with critical requirements for real-time data can assess the freshness of our responses. By exposing data freshness, we aim to be transparent about any processing delays and empower users to make informed decisions about data reliability and timeliness. properties: slot_lag: type: integer description: >- Number of slots our exported beacon chain view is behind the actual chain head. Lag is measured in slot increments (each slot is 12 seconds), with a small 2-second margin allowed for network and processing overhead. finality_slot_lag: type: integer description: >- Number of slots our exported beacon chain view is behind the actual finalized state of the chain. This reflects the lag in processing and indexing finalized data, which may be slightly higher than the head lag due to additional finality processing requirements. slot: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Slot' description: >- The current slot number of the actual chain head.`slot_lag` is relative to this slot, so the latest slot included in our view would be `slot - slot_lag`. finality_slot: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Slot' description: >- The current slot number of the actual finalized state of the chain. `finality_slot_lag` is relative to this slot, so the latest finalized slot included in our view would be `finality_slot - finality_slot_lag`. required: - slot_lag ChainState: type: object properties: consensus_reference: $ref: '#/components/schemas/StateConsensusReference' execution_reference: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ExecutionLayerReference' required: - consensus_reference - execution_reference StateChainViewSyncPeriod: type: object description: > Provides information about the current sync committee period on the beacon chain. This object allows clients to determine the current sync committee period and the exact time, slot, and epoch boundaries for that period. properties: period: $ref: '#/components/schemas/SyncCommitteePeriod' description: >- The current sync committee period number. Each period spans 256 epochs (approximately 27.3 hours). range: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ResultRange' description: >- The epoch, slot, and timestamp range covered by this sync committee period. required: - period - range Slot: type: integer minimum: 0 description: Slot by number. StateConsensusReference: type: object description: > Reference to a consensus layer checkpoint (head, justified, or finalized). nullable: true properties: slot: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Slot' block_root: nullable: true allOf: - $ref: '#/components/schemas/ConsensusLayerBlockRoot' required: - slot ExecutionLayerReference: type: object description: | Reference to an execution layer block if one exists for the given slot. This will be null for missed slots. properties: block: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Block' hash: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ExecutionLayerBlockHash' required: - block - hash SyncCommitteePeriod: description: > The sync committee period number. Each sync committee period spans 256 epochs (approximately 27.3 hours with 6.4 minute epochs). The first sync committee period (period 290 on Ethereum Mainnet) started at the Altair hard fork on Oct 27, 2021, 10:56:23am UTC (epoch 74240). type: integer minimum: 0 ResultRange: type: object description: > The time span actually covered by the returned results — from the first to the last matching data point — specified in slots, epochs, and Unix timestamps. This reflects the data that was found, not the range that was queried. When no data is found, it falls back to the requested range, or to the full available history if no range was given. properties: slot: $ref: '#/components/schemas/SlotRange' epoch: $ref: '#/components/schemas/EpochRange' timestamp: $ref: '#/components/schemas/TimeRange' required: - slot - epoch - timestamp ConsensusLayerBlockRoot: type: string pattern: ^0x[a-fA-F0-9]{64}$ description: A 32-byte block root represented as a hex string with 0x prefix. Block: type: integer minimum: 0 description: Block by number. ExecutionLayerBlockHash: type: string pattern: ^0x[a-fA-F0-9]{64}$ description: A 32-byte block hash represented as a hex string with 0x prefix. SlotRange: type: object properties: start: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Slot' end: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Slot' required: - start - end EpochRange: type: object properties: start: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Epoch' end: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Epoch' required: - start - end TimeRange: type: object properties: start: $ref: '#/components/schemas/timestamp' end: $ref: '#/components/schemas/timestamp' required: - start - end Epoch: type: integer minimum: 0 timestamp: type: integer minimum: 0 securitySchemes: ApiKeyAuth: type: http scheme: bearer description: >- Authorization header with value: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN. Refer to the [API Keys](/api/overview#api-keys) section to create your API key. ````