Shardeum Explorer serves as a comprehensive Data Collector, Indexer, and API Server for the Shardeum Network. It operates by collecting data from the distributor, indexing it for efficient search capabilities, and providing APIs and a Web Interface for easy access to this information.

Shardeum Explorer consists of three componenets:

• Collector: Responsible for gathering data from the distributor.
• API and UI Server: Provides APIs and a User Interface for accessing indexed data.
• Data Stats Aggregator: Aggregates statistical data for analysis and reporting.

The Explorer server uses Fastify.js for its backend implementation, while the User Interface is developed using NextJS. For data storage, we are using sqlite.

Before starting the explorer, be sure that the distributor and rpc services are up and running. Shardeum Explorer uses the distributor to collect data and the rpc service to decode the contract information.

If you are running a local Shardeum Network, you can start the distributor and rpc services with the following repos:

• Distributor Repo: https://github.com/shardeum/relayer-distributor
• RPC Repo: https://github.com/shardeum/json-rpc-server

1. Install dependencies:

npm install

Update the distributorInfo, collectorInfo and rpcUrl info in the src/config/index.ts file. If you're testing for a local network, you can use the default values. If you're starting for a testnet or prod network, update the values accordingly. (Be sure that your collectorInfo is in the subscriber list of the distributor.)

2. Compile the update:

npm run prepare

3. Start the data collector server:

npm run collector << OR >> pm2 start --name explorer-collector  npm -- run collector

4. Start the API and UI server. The default port of the server is 6001. We can change the port by providing the port number as an argument. We can start multiple instances of the server by providing different port numbers.

npm run server << OR >> pm2 start --name explorer-server npm -- run server <port>

5. View the explorer in the web

http://localhost:6001 <<OR>> http://localhost:<port>

6. Start the data stats aggregator server

npm run aggregator << OR >> pm2 start --name explorer-aggregator npm -- run aggregator

To clean the old database, use:

npm run flush

Usage endpoints are provided to track and manage usage statistics for each endpoint in the explorer server API. Key points regarding usage endpoints:

• Usage endpoints require a security key (default: ceba96f6eafd2ea59e68a0b0d754a939) this should be a secret key in the production servers provided by the env var USAGE_ENDPOINTS_KEY
  • The security key can be used in the x-usage-key HTTP header in the related requests, incorrect or invalid keys will result in a 403 error
• The usage endpoints are:
  • POST host:port/usage/enable Enable the usage and start saving usage data
  • POST host:port/usage/disable Disable the usage and reset usage data
  • GET host:port/usage/metrics Provide usage data in the JSON format

GET /is-alive this endpoint returns 200 if the server is running. GET /is-healthy currently the same as /is-alive but will be expanded

Contributions to Shardeum Explorer are highly encouraged! We welcome everyone to participate in our codebases, issue trackers, and any other form of communication. However, we expect all contributors to adhere to our code of conduct to ensure a positive and collaborative environment for all involved in the project.