API & Node Access

Connect to the TRON network using native HTTP APIs, Ethereum-compatible JSON-RPC, or high-throughput gRPC endpoints. This guide details managed provider options like TronGrid and Alchemy, along with the specific interfaces required for contract interaction, indexing, and exchange integrations.

TronGrid — Managed Node Access

TronGrid is TRON’s official managed node service, managed by the TronGrid team. It is the fastest path to a working connection and the equivalent of Infura or Alchemy for Ethereum.

Network	HTTP / JSON-RPC base URL	gRPC
Mainnet	https://api.trongrid.io	grpc.trongrid.io:50051
Nile testnet	https://nile.trongrid.io	grpc.nile.trongrid.io:50051
Shasta testnet	https://api.shasta.trongrid.io	grpc.shasta.trongrid.io:50051

TronGrid serves the FullNode API, SolidityNode API, and Event Server from a single base URL.

API Keys

TronGrid enforces rate limits on unauthenticated requests. For production use, register for a free API key at trongrid.io and pass it in your request headers:

init_pro.js

// Task: Configure the SDK with a TronGrid Pro API Key for higher rate limits.
const tronWeb = new TronWeb({
  fullHost: 'https://api.trongrid.io',
  headers: { 'TRON-PRO-API-KEY': process.env.TRONGRID_API_KEY },
  privateKey: process.env.PRIVATE_KEY,
});

Terminal

// Task: Make an authenticated HTTP request to the FullNode API.
curl -H "TRON-PRO-API-KEY: your_key_here" \
  https://api.trongrid.io/wallet/getnowblock

The free tier is sufficient for development and low-volume production use.

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Third-Party Node Providers

Several major infrastructure providers offer TRON node access as a managed service, often with more generous rate limits or geographic distribution than TronGrid.

Provider	URL
Ankr	ankr.com/rpc/tron
Alchemy	alchemy.com/docs/reference/tron-api-quickstart
QuickNode	quicknode.com/chains/tron
GetBlock	getblock.io/nodes/trx
Chainstack	chainstack.com/build-better-with-tron
Tatum	tatum.io/chains/tron
TronQL	tronql.com
NOWNodes	nownodes.io/nodes/tron-trx

All providers expose the same TRON HTTP API surface — swap the fullHost URL in tronweb and your code needs no other changes.

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HTTP API

The TRON HTTP API follows a REST-like structure. Every endpoint is a POST request with a JSON body.

Common Endpoints

Common Endpoints

# Task: Interact with account and transaction endpoints via curl.
# Get latest block
curl -X POST https://api.trongrid.io/wallet/getnowblock

# Get account info
curl -X POST https://api.trongrid.io/wallet/getaccount \
  -d '{ "address": "TN3W4H6rK2ce4vX9YnFQHwKENnHjoxb2Jq", "visible": true }'

# Get account resources (Energy, Bandwidth)
curl -X POST https://api.trongrid.io/wallet/getaccountresource \
  -d '{ "address": "TN3W4H6rK2ce4vX9YnFQHwKENnHjoxb2Jq", "visible": true }'

# Broadcast a signed transaction
curl -X POST https://api.trongrid.io/wallet/broadcasttransaction \
  -d '{ "transaction": {...} }'

# Get transaction by hash
curl -X POST https://api.trongrid.io/wallet/gettransactionbyid \
  -d '{ "value": "transaction_hash_hex" }'

# Get transaction receipt
curl -X POST https://api.trongrid.io/wallet/gettransactioninfobyid \
  -d '{ "value": "transaction_hash_hex" }'

visible: true

Pass "visible": true in request bodies to receive addresses in Base58Check format (T-prefix). Without it, addresses are returned in hex format.

TronGrid Extended Endpoints

TronGrid adds developer-friendly endpoints beyond the base FullNode API:

TronGrid v1 API

# Task: Query indexed history via the TronGrid v1 API.
# Get TRC-20 token transfers for an address
curl https://api.trongrid.io/v1/accounts/{address}/transactions/trc20

# Get contract events
curl https://api.trongrid.io/v1/contracts/{contractAddress}/events

# Get account transactions
curl https://api.trongrid.io/v1/accounts/{address}/transactions

These support pagination via limit, min_timestamp, and max_timestamp query parameters.

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JSON-RPC (EVM-Compatible)

TRON exposes a JSON-RPC endpoint compatible with Ethereum’s eth_* namespace. This allows EVM tooling — MetaMask, ethers.js, Hardhat — to interact with TRON directly without rewriting for the native API.

# JSON-RPC endpoint
POST https://api.trongrid.io/jsonrpc

ethers_rpc.js

// Task: Use standard EVM libraries (Ethers.js) to query TRON via JSON-RPC.
import { JsonRpcProvider } from "ethers"

const provider = new JsonRpcProvider('https://api.trongrid.io/jsonrpc');
const blockNumber = await provider.getBlockNumber();

EVM compatibility scope

The JSON-RPC endpoint supports eth_getBalance, eth_call, eth_sendRawTransaction, and other read/write methods. However, TRON-specific features (Energy, Bandwidth, resource delegation, TRC-10) are not accessible through the EVM namespace. Use the native HTTP API or tronweb for TRON-specific operations.

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gRPC

For high-throughput applications — indexers, exchange backends, real-time data pipelines — TRON’s gRPC interface is significantly more efficient than HTTP.

# Mainnet gRPC
grpc.trongrid.io:50051    # FullNode
grpc.trongrid.io:50052    # SolidityNode (finalized state only)

# Nile testnet gRPC
grpc.nile.trongrid.io:50051
grpc.nile.trongrid.io:50061

The protocol buffer definitions are published at github.com/tronprotocol/protocol. The Trident-java SDK wraps the gRPC interface for Java applications.

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Choosing the Right Interface

Use case	Recommended interface
DApp frontend, scripts, general use	tronweb over HTTP
Migration from Ethereum EVM tooling	JSON-RPC
Java backend applications	Trident-java over gRPC
Go backend applications	gotron-sdk
High-volume indexing	gRPC directly
Contract event monitoring	TronGrid extended API (/v1/contracts/...)