Stream real-time transactions on Base with Flashblocks

Base has no public mempool — pending transactions are held privately by the sequencer, so eth_newPendingTransactionFilter and eth_subscribe("newPendingTransactions") return empty. To watch transactions in real time on Base, subscribe to Flashblocks: the sequencer streams pre-confirmed sub-blocks roughly every 200 ms over WebSocket. This guide streams individual transactions, filtered event logs, and the in-progress block, with tested Python and JavaScript.

Flashblocks is enabled by default on Chainstack Base endpoints. For how it works, see Flashblocks on Base.

Prerequisites

A Base mainnet WebSocket endpoint. On Chainstack, copy the WSS endpoint from your Base node’s Access and credentials tab — it looks like wss://base-mainnet.core.chainstack.com/<key>. The examples below use YOUR_CHAINSTACK_WSS_ENDPOINT as a placeholder.
Python 3.8+ with the websockets library (pip install websockets), or Node.js 22+ (the WebSocket client is built in, so there are no dependencies to install).

Why pending-transaction filters return empty on Base

Base is an OP Stack chain with a single sequencer. Transactions go to the sequencer’s private mempool and are never gossiped to RPC nodes, so a node has no public pending transactions to report. eth_newPendingTransactionFilter and eth_subscribe("newPendingTransactions") are accepted but always return empty — this is by design, not a node error, and it is the same on every Base RPC provider. See Mempool configurations for the per-protocol breakdown. Flashblocks fills this gap from the other side: instead of unconfirmed mempool transactions, it streams transactions the sequencer has already pre-confirmed into a 200 ms sub-block.

Stream individual transactions

eth_subscribe("newFlashblockTransactions") pushes each transaction as the sequencer pre-confirms it — one WebSocket message per transaction, roughly every 200 ms in batches. By default each message is a transaction hash. Pass true as a second parameter to receive the full transaction object instead.

import asyncio
import json

import websockets

WSS = "YOUR_CHAINSTACK_WSS_ENDPOINT"  # wss://base-mainnet.core.chainstack.com/<key>


async def stream_transactions():
    async with websockets.connect(WSS) as ws:
        await ws.send(json.dumps({
            "jsonrpc": "2.0",
            "id": 1,
            "method": "eth_subscribe",
            "params": ["newFlashblockTransactions"],  # add True for full tx objects
        }))
        await ws.recv()  # subscription id

        async for raw in ws:
            message = json.loads(raw)
            if message.get("method") == "eth_subscription":
                tx_hash = message["params"]["result"]
                print(tx_hash)


asyncio.run(stream_transactions())

// Node.js 22+ has a built-in WebSocket — no dependencies required.
const WSS = "YOUR_CHAINSTACK_WSS_ENDPOINT"; // wss://base-mainnet.core.chainstack.com/<key>

const ws = new WebSocket(WSS);

ws.addEventListener("open", () => {
  ws.send(JSON.stringify({
    jsonrpc: "2.0",
    id: 1,
    method: "eth_subscribe",
    params: ["newFlashblockTransactions"], // add true for full tx objects
  }));
});

ws.addEventListener("message", (event) => {
  const message = JSON.parse(event.data);
  if (message.method === "eth_subscription") {
    console.log(message.params.result);
  }
});

You get a continuous stream of transaction hashes:

0x0cfe50baafea669279002091724b8b63c38e26a63283bbd276c5f4aa98b4df95
0x6f924d44e1b02b71072032b26a263d8ed70e4d943ea4b7aef9d36950b13908a0
0xe9a7f6b0db41bb499326bdf6cc5b67015c0c2e59bc0ab0d798b11ce953576af4

Full transaction objects

Pass true to receive the full transaction with its receipt fields (logs, status, gasUsed) embedded — useful when you want to act on the transaction without a follow-up eth_getTransactionReceipt call:

"params": ["newFlashblockTransactions", True]

{
  "hash": "0xe9a7f6b0db41bb499326bdf6cc5b67015c0c2e59bc0ab0d798b11ce953576af4",
  "blockNumber": "0x2da0b71",
  "blockHash": null,
  "from": "0x065d75c4550f27c2665716569c105a785edf64ee",
  "to": "0x681e908b8ab57c49c74d770f369754ccc3e1ae09",
  "value": "0x0",
  "status": "0x1",
  "type": "0x2"
}

blockHash is null because the transaction is pre-confirmed, not yet sealed into a final block. blockNumber is the block the sequencer is currently building.

Stream filtered event logs

eth_subscribe("pendingLogs") streams event logs from pre-confirmed transactions, filtered by address and topics the same way as eth_getLogs. This example follows USDC transfers on Base:

import asyncio
import json

import websockets

WSS = "YOUR_CHAINSTACK_WSS_ENDPOINT"
USDC = "0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913"
TRANSFER = "0xddf252ad1be2c89b69c2b068fc378daa952ba7f163c4a11628f55a4df523b3ef"


async def stream_logs():
    async with websockets.connect(WSS) as ws:
        await ws.send(json.dumps({
            "jsonrpc": "2.0",
            "id": 1,
            "method": "eth_subscribe",
            "params": ["pendingLogs", {"address": USDC, "topics": [TRANSFER]}],
        }))
        await ws.recv()  # subscription id

        async for raw in ws:
            message = json.loads(raw)
            if message.get("method") == "eth_subscription":
                log = message["params"]["result"]
                print(log["transactionHash"], log["data"])


asyncio.run(stream_logs())

Each log carries the standard fields, with blockHash set to zero until the block seals:

{
  "address": "0x833589fcd6edb6e08f4c7c32d4f71b54bda02913",
  "topics": [
    "0xddf252ad1be2c89b69c2b068fc378daa952ba7f163c4a11628f55a4df523b3ef",
    "0x000000000000000000000000b7bb38bf6c9f947b1a192199cc2b152cda3bf1ef",
    "0x0000000000000000000000008f10b468b06c6fd214b65f87778827f7d113f996"
  ],
  "data": "0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000550d0b5",
  "blockNumber": "0x2da0b7d",
  "blockHash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "transactionHash": "0xc5043e57489bbfe79f2002412d958ddca923d3fff432ae..."
}

Stream the in-progress block

eth_subscribe("newFlashblocks") pushes the block the sequencer is currently building as a standard block object, refreshed roughly every 200 ms. Across updates the block number stays the same while transactions grows, and hash and stateRoot are zero until the block seals — it is the pending block, streamed:

block = message["params"]["result"]
print(int(block["number"], 16), len(block["transactions"]))

47844267 1
47844267 51
47844267 131
47844267 252
47844267 308
47844268 1

The block number repeats while transactions accumulate, then advances to the next block — each 2-second block is built from about 10 Flashblocks.

Read pre-confirmed state over HTTP

If you need request-response access rather than a stream, the pending block tag reflects the latest Flashblock on Chainstack Base endpoints. eth_getBlockByNumber("pending"), eth_getTransactionReceipt, and eth_call with the pending tag all return pre-confirmed state:

curl -s -X POST YOUR_CHAINSTACK_HTTPS_ENDPOINT \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"eth_getBlockByNumber","params":["pending",false]}'

The pending block is one block ahead of latest, with a zero hash and fewer transactions, because the sequencer is still building it.

Production considerations

Pre-confirmations are not final. Flashblock state can change until the 2-second block seals, so for settlement confirm the transaction against latest or a finalized block.
Empty hashes are expected. blockHash is null on streamed transactions and zero on logs and Flashblocks until the block seals — read the final hash from the sealed block.
The stream is best-effort. Flashblocks can arrive in bursts or pause briefly; if the stream stops, fall back to the finalized block from the node.
Re-subscribe on reconnect. A subscription ends when the WebSocket drops, so re-send the eth_subscribe request after reconnecting.
Throughput tracks network activity. In tests against Base mainnet, newFlashblockTransactions delivered roughly 130–330 transactions per second.

Flashblocks on Base — how Flashblocks works
Mempool configurations — mempool availability by protocol
eth_subscribe newFlashblockTransactions
eth_subscribe pendingLogs
eth_subscribe newFlashblocks

Platform

Pricing

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Migrate to Chainstack

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Tooling

Stream real-time transactions on Base with Flashblocks

Prerequisites

Why pending-transaction filters return empty on Base

Stream individual transactions

Full transaction objects

Stream filtered event logs

Stream the in-progress block

Read pre-confirmed state over HTTP

Production considerations

​Prerequisites

​Why pending-transaction filters return empty on Base

​Stream individual transactions

​Full transaction objects

​Stream filtered event logs

​Stream the in-progress block

​Read pre-confirmed state over HTTP

​Production considerations

​Related

Prerequisites

Why pending-transaction filters return empty on Base

Stream individual transactions

Full transaction objects

Stream filtered event logs

Stream the in-progress block

Read pre-confirmed state over HTTP

Production considerations

Related