> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.chainstack.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# getdifficulty | Bitcoin

> The getdifficulty method retrieves the current network difficulty, which is a measure of how difficult it is to find a new block on the blockchain.

The `getdifficulty` method retrieves the current network difficulty, which is a measure of how difficult it is to find a new block on the blockchain.

## Parameters

* None

## Response

* `result` — a number representing the current network difficulty.
* `error` — an object containing an error message if an error occurred, otherwise `null`.
* `id` — an integer representing the ID of the request, used to match requests with responses.

## Use case

The `getdifficulty` method is commonly used to monitor the network's mining difficulty level. Miners and network participants can use this information to gauge the competitiveness of mining on the network.


## OpenAPI

````yaml openapi/bitcoin_node_api/getdifficulty.json POST /788f110831fe13808302bd79796d55e8
openapi: 3.0.0
info:
  title: getdifficulty example
  version: 1.0.0
  description: >-
    This is an API example for getdifficulty, a method to get the current
    network difficulty.
servers:
  - url: https://nd-202-842-353.p2pify.com
security: []
paths:
  /788f110831fe13808302bd79796d55e8:
    post:
      tags:
        - Blockchain Operations
      summary: getdifficulty
      operationId: getDifficulty
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              type: object
              properties:
                jsonrpc:
                  type: string
                  default: '1.0'
                method:
                  type: string
                  default: getdifficulty
                params: {}
                id:
                  type: integer
                  default: 1
      responses:
        '200':
          description: The current network difficulty
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: object
                properties:
                  result:
                    type: number
                    description: The current network difficulty as a number
                  error:
                    type: object
                  id:
                    type: integer

````