Getting started

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What is the Polygon zkEVM protocol?

A number of layer 2 strategies have emerged recently, all aiming to improve Ethereum’s network scalability, with a particular focus on transaction processing capacity. These approaches seek to lower gas expenses for Ethereum users without compromising too much on decentralization and protection.

The Polygon zkEVM is one such solution, functioning as a layer 2 rollup that merges data accessibility and execution validation within Ethereum’s layer 1. This fusion guarantees the security and dependability of layer 2 state transitions.

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What is the Polygon zkEVM API?

The Polygon zkEVM API allows developers to communicate with the zkEVM layer 2 to build applications.

To read data from and send transactions to the Polygon zkEVM blockchain, an application must connect to a Polygon zkEVM RPC node.

The Polygon zkEVM node is compatible with the Ethereum RPC specification, albeit with a few caveats. Due to how the network is structured, the zkEVM does not have support for quite a few methods from Ethereum’s JSON-RPC specification. In addition to that, the Polygon zkEVM node implements a unique zkevm_ namespace that can be used to access additional information highly relevant to the layer 2.

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Find all of the RPC methods

The zkEVM node API section only covers the new methods introduced under the zkevm_ namespace, but you can find a list of all EVM-compatible methods by referring to the Chainstack’s Polygon API reference and in Polygon Hermez’s docs.

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How to start using the zkEVM API

To use the zkEVM API, you need access to a Polygon zkEVM RPC node.

Follow these steps to sign up on Chainstack, deploy a zkEVM RPC node, and find your endpoint credentials:

Now you are ready to connect to the Polygon zkEVM blockchain and use the Polygon zkEVM API to build.