Cardano Blocks API

The Blocks API exposes everything you'd expect from a Cardano block: height, hash, size, protocol version, epoch and slot context, slot-leader metadata, VRF key, transaction count, and timestamp. Use it to power explorer front-ends, monitor chain progression, or pull historical block context for downstream analytics.

Endpoint

Cardano GraphQL queries are served at https://graphql.bitquery.io.

Look up a Cardano block by height

Fetch a single block by its height. The response carries the block hash, size and protocol version, epoch and slot context, operational certificate, slot-leader description and hash, VRF key, transaction count, and the production timestamp.

query {
  cardano(network: cardano) {
    blocks(height: {is: 9612373}) {
      timestamp {
        time(format: "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
      }
      blockHash
      blockSize
      blockVersion
      transactionCount
      epoch
      opCert
      slot
      slotInEpoch
      slotLeaderDescription
      slotLeaderHash
      vrfKey
      height
    }
  }
}

To look up by hash instead, swap height for blockHash: {is: "..."}. To pull several blocks in one request, pass an array with height: {in: [...]}.

List recent Cardano blocks in a time window

Get the 10 most recent blocks produced between two timestamps. Handy for explorer recent-block widgets, throughput dashboards, and watching slot leaders across an epoch.

{
  cardano(network: cardano) {
    blocks(
      options: {desc: "height", limit: 10, offset: 0}
      time: {since: "2023-11-30T06:10:00Z", till: "2023-11-30T06:17:00Z"}
    ) {
      height
      blockHash
      blockSize
      transactionCount
      epoch
      slot
      slotInEpoch
      timestamp {
        time(format: "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
      }
    }
  }
}

Sort ascending with asc: "height" to walk the chain forward, and widen the time window for longer scans.

Related resources

• Cardano Transactions API — per-block transaction details and fees
• Cardano Inputs and Outputs API — UTXO data tied to each transaction