Last update: September 2, 2021

Alethio Ethereum Lite Explorer

Use the Alethio Ethereum Lite Explorer to explore blockchain data at the block, transaction, and account level.

The Alethio Ethereum Lite Explorer is a Web application that connects to any Ethereum JSON-RPC-enabled node. The Explorer does not require an online server, hosting, or trusting third parties to display the blockchain data.

Prerequisites

Docker or Node.js.

Tip

Using Docker is the easiest way to get started using the Ethereum Lite Explorer with Hyperledger Besu if you do not have Node.js installed.

Run using Docker

To run the Ethereum Lite Explorer using the Docker image:

1. Start Besu with the --rpc-http-enabled option.

   Example

   To run Besu in development mode:

   besu --network=dev --miner-enabled --miner-coinbase=0xfe3b557e8fb62b89f4916b721be55ceb828dbd73 --rpc-http-cors-origins="all" --host-allowlist="*" --rpc-http-enabled --data-path=/tmp/tmpDatdir
   

2. Run the alethio/ethereum-lite-explorer Docker image specifying the JSON-RPC HTTP URL (http://localhost:8545 in this example):

   docker run --rm -p 8080:80 -e APP_NODE_URL=http://localhost:8545 alethio/ethereum-lite-explorer
   

3. Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser to view the Lite Explorer.

   

   Default HTTP port

   We are using port 8080 to run the Ethereum Lite Explorer so the EthStats Lite can use port 80, allowing you to run both at the same time.

Install and run with Node.js

1. Clone the ethereum-lite-explorer repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Alethio/ethereum-lite-explorer.git
   

2. Change into the ethereum-lite-explorer directory:

   cd ethereum-lite-explorer
   

3. Install npm packages:

   npm install
   

4. Copy the sample configuration:

   cp config.default.json config.dev.json
   

5. Update the config.dev.json file:

   • Set APP_NODE_URL to the JSON-RPC HTTP URL of your node (http://localhost:8545 in this example).
   • Remove other environment variables.

6. In another terminal, start Besu with the --rpc-http-enabled option.

   Example

   To run Besu in development mode:

   besu --network=dev --miner-enabled --miner-coinbase=0xfe3b557e8fb62b89f4916b721be55ceb828dbd73 --rpc-http-cors-origins="all" --host-allowlist="*" --rpc-http-enabled --data-path=/tmp/tmpDatdir
   

7. In the ethereum-lite-explorer directory, run the Lite Explorer in development mode:

   npm run build
   npm run start
   

A browser window displays the Ethereum Lite Explorer http://localhost:3000/.

Use with JSON-RPC authentication

You can install the Alethio Explorer Plugin to use the Alethio Ethereum Lite Explorer with Hyperledger Besu nodes with JSON-RPC authentication enabled. See the plugin documentation for how to use the plugin with Node.js and Docker.