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Explorer operator guide

This guide is for operators running the Catalyst explorer + indexer.

Canonical references:

warning

If you enable history pruning on your node, very old block/tx queries can return null. For explorers, keep at least one archival RPC node (no pruning) or a sufficiently long history window.

You will need​

  • Node.js >= 22 (per explorer repo)
  • A Catalyst HTTPS JSON-RPC URL (or your own node’s RPC)
  • Chain identity values for the target network (chain id, network id, genesis hash)

Steps (local dev)​

1) Clone and install​

git clone https://github.com/catalyst-network/BlockExplorer
cd BlockExplorer
npm ci

2) Configure env​

cp apps/indexer/.env.example apps/indexer/.env
cp apps/web/.env.example apps/web/.env

Edit apps/indexer/.env and set:

  • CATALYST_RPC_URL (or CATALYST_RPC_URLS for failover)

Security/guardrails (recommended, and present in the repo):

  • the indexer performs a startup chain identity check and refuses to run if mismatched
  • TLS verification must be enabled (it refuses to start if NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0)

3) Run​

npm run dev

Expected ports (from repo README):

  • Indexer/API: http://localhost:4040
  • Web UI: http://localhost:5173 (or next free port)

Verify​

  • Open the web UI and confirm:
    • it loads latest cycles/blocks
    • it can fetch tx receipts for a known tx hash

Troubleshooting​

  • RPC error -32029 rate limited: add endpoint failover, increase backoff, or run against your own node.
  • “No block produced” cycles: expected on Catalyst (cycles can be empty).