Node Provider

When using use-cardano, behind the scenes (via Lucid) to actually interact with the chain, a call is made to a RPC node. Currently, we only support Blockfost (opens in a new tab), and there are two ways to use it:

options.node.provider = 'blockfrost' (default)

This is the default option, and it will use the Blockfrost API directly. This is the simplest option, but it has a drawback, which is that it requires you to expose your API key in the browser, by setting the options.node.projectId to your Blockfrost API key. This is not recommended, and should only be used for testing purposes.

const options = {
  node: {
    provider: "blockfrost",
    projectId: "your-blockfrost-api-key",
  },
}

options.node.provider = 'blockfrost-proxy'

As an alternative to blockfrost, blockfrost-proxy allows you to use a proxy server to interact with the Blockfrost API. This is the recommended option, as it allows you to keep your API key secret.

const options = {
  node: {
    provider: "blockfrost-proxy",
    proxyUrl: "/api/blockfrost", // the path to your proxy server
  },
}

use-cardano-blockfrost-proxy

For simplicity, we have authored a blockfrost proxy api which can easily be used with Next.JS. See use-cardano-blockfrost-proxy (opens in a new tab) for more information.

Usage Options