Overview

The Shinzo IndexerIndexer A node that reads blockchain data from a source chain, parses it into structured documents, and writes them to defraDB. Indexers are write-only: they push data out over P2P and reject all incoming replication. is a lightweight sidecar that runs alongside an existing Ethereum execution client and reads from it. It pulls block dataBlock Data Raw blockchain data: blocks, transactions, and logs. The indexer fetches this from source chains such as Ethereum and structures it into defraDB documents. out of the node and writes it into a local DefraDBdefraDB A peer-to-peer, document-oriented database embedded in every indexer and host. It handles storage, content addressing, CRDT merging, query serving, and P2P replication via libp2p. in a shape that is easy to query.

The IndexerIndexer A node that reads blockchain data from a source chain, parses it into structured documents, and writes them to defraDB. Indexers are write-only: they push data out over P2P and reject all incoming replication. is not an RPC node. It does not replace GethGeth Go-Ethereum, the Go implementation of an Ethereum node. Each indexer runs alongside a Geth node and connects over WebSocket (port 8546) and JSON-RPC (port 8545) to fetch block data., Reth, Nethermind, or any other execution client, and it does not serve JSON-RPC traffic to applications. Instead, the IndexerIndexer A node that reads blockchain data from a source chain, parses it into structured documents, and writes them to defraDB. Indexers are write-only: they push data out over P2P and reject all incoming replication. consumes upstream RPC and WebSocket endpoints from a node you already have access to: a local execution client, a node co-located with your validatorValidator An entity that participates in a chain's consensus. On Ethereum, a validator's withdrawal key signs an EIP-712 message on the outpost to authorize an operator key as its indexer., or a managed provider. It transforms the raw chain data those endpoints return into structured, relationally linked documents stored in its local DefraDBdefraDB A peer-to-peer, document-oriented database embedded in every indexer and host. It handles storage, content addressing, CRDT merging, query serving, and P2P replication via libp2p. instance.

Purpose and role in the stack

The IndexerIndexer A node that reads blockchain data from a source chain, parses it into structured documents, and writes them to defraDB. Indexers are write-only: they push data out over P2P and reject all incoming replication. continuously pulls blocks, transactions, logsLog A document type the indexer produces for event logs emitted during transaction execution. `topics` holds the indexed parameters and `data` holds the non-indexed ones, both as raw hex. ABI decoding happens later, in a lens., and EIP-2930EIP-2930 An Ethereum standard that adds optional access lists to transactions, pre-declaring which storage slots a transaction will read or write. The indexer stores these as `AccessListEntry` documents. access lists from whichever upstream Ethereum node you point it at, then normalizes them into a strongly-typed data model. It exposes this indexed data through a peer-to-peer network powered by DefraDBdefraDB A peer-to-peer, document-oriented database embedded in every indexer and host. It handles storage, content addressing, CRDT merging, query serving, and P2P replication via libp2p., so downstream services can query block-level and transaction-level information without going through JSON-RPC themselves. The execution client still does the work of being an execution client. The IndexerIndexer A node that reads blockchain data from a source chain, parses it into structured documents, and writes them to defraDB. Indexers are write-only: they push data out over P2P and reject all incoming replication. just reads from it and reshapes the data for query.

Supported chains

The IndexerIndexer A node that reads blockchain data from a source chain, parses it into structured documents, and writes them to defraDB. Indexers are write-only: they push data out over P2P and reject all incoming replication. currently supports Ethereum Mainnet. It works with any execution client that exposes a standard Ethereum JSON-RPC and WebSocket interface (GethGeth Go-Ethereum, the Go implementation of an Ethereum node. Each indexer runs alongside a Geth node and connects over WebSocket (port 8546) and JSON-RPC (port 8545) to fetch block data., Reth, Nethermind, Erigon, or a managed provider). Supported chains can also be found at shinzo.network/chains.

How it fits together

For details on how the IndexerIndexer A node that reads blockchain data from a source chain, parses it into structured documents, and writes them to defraDB. Indexers are write-only: they push data out over P2P and reject all incoming replication. connects to the rest of the Shinzo stack, including DefraDBdefraDB A peer-to-peer, document-oriented database embedded in every indexer and host. It handles storage, content addressing, CRDT merging, query serving, and P2P replication via libp2p., the signing and attestation pipeline, and the P2P replication layer, see the Architecture overview.