Kusama Jsonrpc Examples

{
  "generated": "2026-07-19",
  "method": "searched",
  "source": "Live probes of https://kusama-rpc.polkadot.io/ and https://kusama-public-sidecar.parity-chains.parity.io/ on 2026-07-19",
  "notes": "Every request/response pair below was captured verbatim from the public Kusama endpoints. Block-height and hash values are point-in-time and will not reproduce; shapes and field names will.",
  "json_rpc": {
    "endpoint": "https://kusama-rpc.polkadot.io/",
    "transport": "HTTP POST (application/json); WSS at wss://kusama-rpc.polkadot.io for subscriptions",
    "protocol": "JSON-RPC 2.0",
    "auth": "none",
    "examples": [
      {
        "name": "Identify the chain",
        "request": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "system_chain", "params": []},
        "response": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "result": "Kusama"}
      },
      {
        "name": "Node client version",
        "request": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "system_version", "params": []},
        "response": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "result": "1.24.0-660acefe665"}
      },
      {
        "name": "Node implementation name",
        "request": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "system_name", "params": []},
        "response": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "result": "Parity Polkadot"}
      },
      {
        "name": "Chain type",
        "request": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "system_chainType", "params": []},
        "response": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "result": "Live"}
      },
      {
        "name": "Node health — use as a liveness check before submitting extrinsics",
        "request": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "system_health", "params": []},
        "response": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "result": {"peers": 74, "isSyncing": false, "shouldHavePeers": true}}
      },
      {
        "name": "Token and address properties — SS58 prefix 2, KSM with 12 decimals",
        "request": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "system_properties", "params": []},
        "response": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "result": {"ss58Format": 2, "tokenDecimals": 12, "tokenSymbol": "KSM"}}
      },
      {
        "name": "Latest finalized block hash",
        "request": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "chain_getFinalizedHead", "params": []},
        "response": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "result": "0xca30b746c0427928ecf5e575cc9e43f10f48a5b24609db52c04916910286e4c6"}
      },
      {
        "name": "Runtime version — spec_version is the closest thing Kusama has to an API version",
        "request": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "state_getRuntimeVersion", "params": []},
        "response_excerpt": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "result": {"specName": "kusama", "implName": "parity-kusama", "authoringVersion": 2, "specVersion": 2003000, "implVersion": 0, "apis": [["0xab3c0572291feb8b", 2], ["0xbc9d89904f5b923f", 1], ["0xf3ff14d5ab527059", 3]]}},
        "note": "The apis array is truncated here; the live response lists every runtime API with its version."
      },
      {
        "name": "Enumerate the served method surface",
        "request": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "rpc_methods", "params": []},
        "response_shape": {"jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "result": {"methods": ["account_nextIndex", "..."]}},
        "observed_method_count": 130,
        "note": "Full captured list is in examples/kusama-rpc-methods.json."
      }
    ]
  },
  "sidecar_rest": {
    "endpoint": "https://kusama-public-sidecar.parity-chains.parity.io/",
    "auth": "none",
    "examples": [
      {
        "name": "Node version — confirms which chain the sidecar is attached to",
        "request": "GET /node/version",
        "status": 200,
        "response": {"clientVersion": "1.24.0-660acefe665", "clientImplName": "parity-kusama", "chain": "Kusama"}
      },
      {
        "name": "Latest finalized block header",
        "request": "GET /blocks/head/header",
        "status": 200,
        "response_excerpt": {
          "parentHash": "0x119b623486df6575de30b16c567710e5f221a3d5215103e30d28830c4b49532f",
          "number": "34448611",
          "stateRoot": "0x83fdf53da545b85a9c037bc181a98e89b245e461493275620309833f4955029a",
          "extrinsicsRoot": "0x054f3e3cb8582354e56255bfd93d3500d581ebf974669910309795484b51d4e4",
          "digest": {"logs": ["...truncated hex log entries..."]}
        },
        "note": "Numeric fields are returned as JSON strings, not numbers — see conventions/kusama-conventions.yml."
      },
      {
        "name": "Runtime spec",
        "request": "GET /runtime/spec",
        "status": 200,
        "response_excerpt": {
          "at": {"height": "34448629", "hash": "0x11a3c69a4a1fe6ef763962a7db002e68d72ed9a106059ecb5a85e7b8128ff985"},
          "authoringVersion": "2",
          "transactionVersion": "26",
          "implVersion": "0",
          "specName": "kusama",
          "specVersion": "2003000",
          "chainType": {"live": null},
          "properties": {"isEthereum": false, "ss58Format": "2", "tokenDecimals": "..." }
        }
      },
      {
        "name": "Peer-to-peer networking state",
        "request": "GET /node/network",
        "status": 200,
        "response_excerpt": {
          "nodeRoles": [{"full": null}],
          "numPeers": "74",
          "isSyncing": false,
          "shouldHavePeers": true,
          "localPeerId": "12D3KooWLtpQ6JioQoQaYKQWSutgBVg24RaLCn4sPfYBfKUeFwvM"
        }
      },
      {
        "name": "Error envelope — captured live, not synthesized",
        "request": "GET /pallets/staking/progress",
        "status": 500,
        "response_excerpt": {
          "code": 500,
          "message": "ActiveEra is None when Some was expected.",
          "stack": "InternalServerError: ActiveEra is None when Some was expected.\n    at PalletsStakingProgressService.deriveSessionAndEraProgress (...)"
        },
        "note": "The sidecar returns a bespoke {code,message,stack} envelope with Content-Type application/json — NOT RFC 9457 application/problem+json. The stack field leaks internal file paths."
      }
    ]
  }
}