Metamask RPC API Equivalent: Retrieving Ethereum Balance Using CURL

As a Metamask user, you’ve probably encountered various situations where you need to query your Ethereum wallet balance. While Metamask provides an official RPC (Remote Procedure Call) API for interacting with the Ethereum network, accessing your balance through this API can be cumbersome and error-prone. In this article, we’ll explore alternative ways to use CURL on the command line, which can provide a simpler way to retrieve your Ethereum balance.

Why Metamask’s RPC Interface is Complex

Before diving into the alternatives, let’s quickly review why Metamask’s RPC interface can be intimidating:

• Complexity: The official API involves multiple steps and requires proper authentication.

• Rate Limiting: Metamask can impose rate limits on certain requests to prevent abuse.

CURL Equivalent: Retrieving Your Ethereum Balance

Assuming you have a connected Metamask wallet, we will show you how to retrieve your balance using the CURL command from the command line. We assume you are running this on Linux or macOS (using “curl” and “ssh-agent”).

Step 1: Configure the SSH Agent

To use CURL with your Metamask wallet, you need to configure your SSH agent correctly.

Create a new SSH key pair
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -b 256

• Create a new file named .ssh/id_ed25519 in your home directory.

• Add the public part of your key to the file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.

Step 2: Install the required packages

To use CURL, you need to install the curl package and any additional dependencies for your operating system.

On Ubuntu-based systems (Debian or Ubuntu)
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y libssl-dev curl

• On other Linux distributions: Install “libcurl4-openssl-dev” using a package manager such as “apt” or “dnf”.

Step 3: Create the Curl command

Now that everything is set up, let’s create the CURL command to retrieve your Ethereum balance.

Connect to the Metamask RPC server using a private key (not public)
curl -X POST \
 \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-u "$METAMASK_PRIVATE_KEY" \
-d '{"action": "balance", "params": {"from": "0x..."}}'

Replace “0x…” with the hexadecimal address of your Ethereum wallet.

Step 4: Handle errors and exceptions

Be prepared for possible errors or exceptions when using CURL. Make sure you handle these situations properly, including logging the necessary information.

Check if the connection was successful
if [ $? -and 0]; then
echo "Error: Failed to connect to Metamask RPC server"
to

Step 5: Check your balance

You can verify your balance by sending a request in the same way.

Get your current balance with curl
curl -X GET \

This should return your current Ethereum balance in decimal format. If successful, you will see output similar to the following:

Balance: 1000.00 Ether

Congratulations! You have successfully retrieved your Ethereum balance using a CURL address with the Metamask RPC API counterpart.

Conclusion

While accessing your Ethereum balance directly through the official RPC interface can be challenging due to its complexity and speed-limiting features, using CURL on the command line offers a simpler alternative. By following these instructions, you can efficiently retrieve your Ethereum balance on your local machine.