Access Keys

Arkiv’s public RPC is heavily rate limited to prevent abuse, so get a free access key from the Arkiv Hub. The key raises the rate limits on your calls.

• You get one key per wallet on each network.
• A key works on one network only. You choose the network when you create the key.
• Each key has a monthly quota, measured in cost units.

The SDK asks for a key when you connect to Rabdi. To try Arkiv without one, pass accessKey: "": the SDK uses the public RPC and logs a warning.

Use of the public RPC is subject to the Arkiv Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get a key

1. Open hub.arkiv.network/access-keys.

2. Connect your wallet and sign the sign-in message. The signature proves that you own the wallet. It does not send a transaction.

3. Complete your registration if the Hub asks for it.

4. Select the network. For the current public testnet, select Rabdi.

5. Give your project a name, solve the captcha, and select Generate.

The Hub shows your key on the page. Copy it with the copy button.

Send the key with your requests

The RPC accepts the key in three forms. Use the one that fits your client.

Form	How
In the path	Append the key to the RPC URL: https://rpc.rabdi.db-chain.testnet.arkiv.network/<key>
X-API-KEY header	X-API-KEY: <key>
Bearer token	Authorization: Bearer <key>

HTTP

curl --json '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[]}' \
  -H "X-API-KEY: <key>" \
  https://rpc.rabdi.db-chain.testnet.arkiv.network

WebSocket

The WebSocket endpoint accepts the key in the path or in the X-API-KEY header.

wscat -c wss://rpc.rabdi.db-chain.testnet.arkiv.network/<key> \
  -x '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[]}' \
  -w 1

Use a key with the SDK

Pass the key to rabdi. Read it from an environment variable rather than writing it in code:

import { createPublicClient } from "@arkiv-network/sdk"
import { rabdi } from "@arkiv-network/sdk/chains"
import { http } from "viem"

const publicClient = createPublicClient({
  chain: rabdi({ accessKey: process.env.ARKIV_ACCESS_KEY ?? "" }),
  transport: http(),
})

rabdi puts the key at the end of both RPC URLs. So http() and webSocket() with no URL send it. Don’t add a chain with your key to a user’s wallet: the wallet keeps the URL and uses it for every app. Add the chain without a key instead.

Leaving out accessKey is a type error, and throws MissingAccessKeyError if it runs anyway. A key the RPC doesn’t know fails every call with HTTP status 401.

Handle the key with care

A key isn’t a password, but anyone who has it can spend your quota. In a web app, anyone can read it from the network requests, so add your site to the key’s Origins. On a server, add your server’s IP to the IP allowlist. See lock the key down.

Watch your quota

The Usage tab on the Hub shows the cost units you used this month, the RPC calls and requests made, and the date the quota resets. The counts can lag a few minutes behind live traffic.

When you reach the quota, the RPC can reject calls on that key. The Hub shows a warning when this happens.

If you need more, select Request more quota on the Usage tab and give a short reason. For very large quotas, use Request even higher quota to contact the team.

Lock the key down

The Hub has two allowlists. Both are empty by default, which allows requests from anywhere.

• Origins. List the websites that can use the key from a browser. Non-browser clients can forge the Origin header, so treat this as attribution, not access control.
• IP allowlist. List the exact server IPs that can use the key. No CIDR ranges. Requests from other IPs are rejected, so this is real access control.

Regenerate or delete a key

Both actions are on the key header in the Hub.

• Regenerate gives you a new key. The old key stops working at once. Update your integrations before you regenerate.
• Delete removes the key. This is permanent, but you can generate a new key afterwards.

Get help

If your calls are rejected and you are not over quota, ask in Discord.