Metamask RPC API Equivalent: Get Ethereum Balance Using CURL

As a Metamask user, you’ve probably encountered various scenarios where you need to check your Ethereum wallet balance. While Metamask provides an official RPC (Remote Procedure Call) API for interacting with the Ethereum network, accessing your balance via this API can be cumbersome and error-prone. In this article, we’ll look at alternative approaches using CURL on the command line that may offer a simpler way to get your Ethereum balance.

Why Metamask’s RPC Interface Is Complex

Before we get to the alternatives, let’s quickly review why Metamask’s RPC interface can be intimidating:

• Complexity: The official API involves several steps and requires proper authentication.

• Rate limiting: Metamask may impose rate limits on some requests to prevent abuse.

CURL equivalent: fetching Ethereum balance

Assuming you have a Metamask wallet connected, we’ll show you how to fetch your balance using CURL on the command line. We’ll assume you’re running this on Linux or macOS (using curl and ssh-agent).

Step 1: Set up an SSH agent

To use CURL with your Metamask wallet, you need to set up your SSH agent correctly.

Generate a new SSH key pair
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -b 256

• Create a new file called .ssh/id_ed25519 in your home directory.

• Add the public part of your key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.

Step 2: Install the required packages

To use CURL, you need to install the curl package and any additional dependencies specific to your operating system.

On Ubuntu-based systems (Debian or Ubuntu)
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y libssl-dev curl

• On other Linux distributions: Install libcurl4-openssl-dev using a package manager such as apt or dnf.

Step 3: Create a Curl command

Now that everything is set up, let’s create a CURL command to retrieve your Ethereum balance.

Connect to the Metamask RPC server using your private key (not public)
curl -X POST \
 \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-u "$METAMASK_PRIVATE_KEY" \
-d '{"action": "balance", "params": {"from": "0x..."}}'

Replace "0x..." with the hexadecimal address of your Ethereum wallet.

Step 4: Handling Errors and Exceptions

Be prepared for potential errors or exceptions when using CURL. Make sure you handle these situations appropriately, including logging any relevant information.

Check if the connection was successful
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
echo "Error: Failed to connect to Metamask RPC server"
fi

Step 5: Verify your balance

To verify your balance, you can use the same method to send a request.

Get your current balance using curl
curl -X GET \

This should return your current Ethereum balance in decimal format. If successful, you will see output like:

Balance: 1000.00 Ether

Congratulations! You have successfully retrieved your Ethereum balance using CURL with the Metamask RPC API equivalent.

Conclusion

While accessing your Ethereum balance directly through the official RPC interface can be difficult due to its complexity and speed-limiting features, using CURL in the command line offers a more direct alternative. By following these steps, you can successfully download your Ethereum balance on your local computer.

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