Currently available Monero blockchain explorers have several limitations which are of special importance to privacy-oriented users:
- they use JavaScript,
- have images which might be used for cookieless tracking,
- track users activates through google analytics,
- are closed sourced,
- are not available as hidden services,
- do not support Monero testnet,
- have limited JSON API.
In this example, these limitations are addressed by development of an Onion Monero Blockchain Explorer. The example not only shows how to use Monero C++ libraries, but also demonstrates how to use:
- crow - C++ micro web framework
- mstch - C++ {{mustache}} templates
- json - JSON for Modern C++
- fmt - Small, safe and fast string formatting library
Tor users:
- http://dvwae436pd7nt4bc.onion (Front-end templates are maintained by @suhz).
- http://libwh5lvouddzei4.onion/ - bleeding edge version.
Clearnet versions:
- https://oculus.serveo.net/ - bleeding edge version.
- https://xmrchain.net/ - https enabled, most popular and very stable.
- https://MoneroExplorer.com/ - nice looking one, https enabled.
- https://monerohash.com/explorer/ - nice looking one, https enabled.
- http://explore.MoneroWorld.com - same as the second one.
- https://moneroexplorer.pro/ - nice looking one, https enabled.
- https://explorer.monero-otc.com/ - https enabled.
- http://monerochain.com/ - JSON API based, multiple nodes.
- http://atesti.mooo.com:8081/ - Proof of Existence built with Monero and IPFS.
- https://anunknownamount.com - looks nice, https enabled.
Clearnet testnet Monero version:
- http://nimis.serveo.net/ - bleeding edge version.
- https://testnet.xmrchain.com/ - https enabled.
- https://explorer.monero-otc.com/ - https enabled.
- https://testnet.MoneroExplorer.com/ - https enabled.
i2p users (main Monero network):
Alternative block explorers:
The key features of the Onion Monero Blockchain Explorer are:
- no javascript, no cookies, no web analytics trackers, no images,
- open sourced,
- made fully in C++,
- showing encrypted payments ID,
- showing ring signatures,
- showing transaction extra field,
- showing public components of Monero addresses,
- decoding which outputs and mixins belong to the given Monero address and viewkey,
- can prove that you send Monero to someone,
- detailed information about mixins, such as, mixins' age, timescale, mixin of mixins,
- showing number of amount output indices,
- support Monero testnet network,
- tx checker and pusher for online pushing of transactions,
- estimate possible spendings based on address and viewkey,
- can provide total amount of all miner fees.
- decoding encrypted payment id.
- decoding outputs and proving txs sent to sub-address.
Download and compile recent Monero into your home folder:
# first install monero dependecines
sudo apt update
sudo apt install git build-essential cmake libboost-all-dev miniupnpc libunbound-dev graphviz doxygen libunwind8-dev pkg-config libssl-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libgtest-dev libreadline-dev libzmq3-dev
# go to home folder
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/monero-project/monero
cd monero/
makeOnce the Monero is compiles, the explorer can be downloaded and compiled as follows:
# go to home folder if still in ~/monero
cd ~
# download the source code
git clone https://github.com/moneroexamples/onion-monero-blockchain-explorer.git
# enter the downloaded sourced code folder
cd onion-monero-blockchain-explorer
# make a build folder and enter it
mkdir build && cd build
# create the makefile
cmake ..
# altearnatively can use: cmake -DMONERO_DIR=/path/to/monero_folder ..
# if monero is not in ~/monero
#
# also can build with ASAN (sanitizers), for example
# cmake -DSANITIZE_ADDRESS=On ..
# compile
makeWhen compilation finishes executable xmrblocks should be created. Before running
please make sure that ~/Downloads folder exists and is writable.
Time zone library that explorer is using, puts there
its database of time zone offsets
To run it:
./xmrblocks
By default it will look for blockchain in its default location i.e., ~/.bitmonero/lmdb.
You can use --bc-path option if its in different location.
Example output:
[mwo@arch onion-monero-blockchain-explorer]$ ./xmrblocks
2016-May-28 10:04:49.160280 Blockchain initialized. last block: 1056761, d0.h0.m12.s47 time ago, current difficulty: 1517857750
(2016-05-28 02:04:49) [INFO ] Crow/0.1 server is running, local port 8081Go to your browser: http://127.0.0.1:8081
xmrblocks, Onion Monero Blockchain Explorer:
-h [ --help ] [=arg(=1)] (=0) produce help message
-t [ --testnet ] [=arg(=1)] (=0) use testnet blockchain
--enable-pusher [=arg(=1)] (=0) enable signed transaction pusher
--enable-mixin-details [=arg(=1)] (=0)
enable mixin details for key images,
e.g., timescale, mixin of mixins, in tx
context
--enable-key-image-checker [=arg(=1)] (=0)
enable key images file checker
--enable-output-key-checker [=arg(=1)] (=0)
enable outputs key file checker
--enable-json-api arg (=1) enable JSON REST api
--enable-tx-cache [=arg(=1)] (=0) enable caching of transaction details
--show-cache-times [=arg(=1)] (=0) show times of getting data from cache
vs no cache
--enable-block-cache [=arg(=1)] (=0) enable caching of block details
--enable-autorefresh-option [=arg(=1)] (=0)
enable users to have the index page on
autorefresh
--enable-emission-monitor [=arg(=1)] (=0)
enable Monero total emission monitoring
thread
-p [ --port ] arg (=8081) default explorer port
--testnet-url arg you can specify testnet url, if you run
it on mainnet. link will show on front
page to testnet explorer
--mainnet-url arg you can specify mainnet url, if you run
it on testnet. link will show on front
page to mainnet explorer
--no-blocks-on-index arg (=10) number of last blocks to be shown on
index page
--mempool-info-timeout arg (=5000) maximum time, in milliseconds, to wait
for mempool data for the front page
--mempool-refresh-time arg (=5) time, in seconds, for each refresh of
mempool state
-b [ --bc-path ] arg path to lmdb folder of the blockchain,
e.g., ~/.bitmonero/lmdb
--ssl-crt-file arg path to crt file for ssl (https)
functionality
--ssl-key-file arg path to key file for ssl (https)
functionality
-d [ --deamon-url ] arg (=http:://127.0.0.1:18081)
Monero deamon url
Example usage, defined as bash aliases.
# for mainnet explorer
alias xmrblocksmainnet='~/onion-monero-blockchain-explorer/build/xmrblocks --port 8081 --testnet-url "http://139.162.32.245:8082" --enable-pusher --enable-emission-monitor'
# for testnet explorer
alias xmrblockstestnet='~/onion-monero-blockchain-explorer/build/xmrblocks -t --port 8082 --mainnet-url "http://139.162.32.245:8081" --enable-pusher --enable-emission-monitor'These are aliases similar to those used for http://139.162.32.245:8081/ and http://139.162.32.245:8082/, respectively.
Obtaining current Monero emission amount is not straight forward. Thus, by default it is
disabled. To enable it use --enable-emission-monitor flag, e.g.,
xmrblocks --enable-emission-monitor This flag will enable emission monitoring thread. When started, the thread
will initially scan the entire blockchain, and calculate the cumulative emission based on each block.
Since it is a separate thread, the explorer will work as usual during this time.
Every 10000 blocks, the thread will save current emission in a file, by default,
in ~/.bitmonero/lmdb/emission_amount.txt. For testnet network,
it is ~/.bitmonero/testnet/lmdb/emission_amount.txt. This file is used so that we don't
need to rescan entire blockchain whenever the explorer is restarted. When the
explorer restarts, the thread will first check if ~/.bitmonero/lmdb/emission_amount.txt
is present, read its values, and continue from there if possible. Subsequently, only the initial
use of the tread is time consuming. Once the thread scans the entire blockchain, it updates
the emission amount using new blocks as they come. Since the explorer writes this file, there can
be only one instance of it running for mainnet and testnet. Thus, for example, you cant have
two explorers for mainnet
running at the same time, as they will be trying to write and read the same file at the same time,
leading to unexpected results. Off course having one instance for mainnet and one instance for testnet
is fine, as they write to different files.
When the emission monitor is enabled, information about current emission of coinbase and fees is displayed on the front page, e.g., :
Monero emission (fees) is 14485540.430 (52545.373) as of 1313448 block
The values given, can be checked using Monero daemon's print_coinbase_tx_sum command.
For example, for the above example: print_coinbase_tx_sum 0 1313449.
To disable the monitor, simply restart the explorer without --enable-emission-monitor flag.
By default, the explorer does not use ssl. But it has such a functionality.
As an example, you can generate your own ssl certificates as follows:
cd /tmp # example folder
openssl genrsa -out server.key 1024
openssl req -new -key server.key -out server.csr
openssl x509 -req -days 3650 -in server.csr -signkey server.key -out server.crtHaving the crt and key files, run xmrblocks in the following way:
./xmrblocks --ssl-crt-file=/tmp/server.crt --ssl-key-file=/tmp/server.key Note: Because we generated our own certificate, modern browsers will complain about it as they cant verify the signatures against any third party. So probably for any practical use need to have properly issued ssl certificates.
The explorer has JSON api. For the API, it uses conventions defined by JSend.
curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://127.0.0.1:8081/api/transaction/6093260dbe79fd6277694d14789dc8718f1bd54457df8bab338c2efa3bb0f03d"Partial results shown:
{
"data": {
"block_height": 1268252,
"coinbase": false,
"confirmations": 1,
"current_height": 1268253,
"extra": "01be23e277aed6b5f41f66b05244bf994c13108347366ec678ae16657f0fc3a22b",
"inputs": [
{
"amount": 0,
"key_image": "67838fd0ffd79f13e735830d3ec60412aed59e53e1f997feb6f73d088b949611",
"mixins": [
{
"block_no": 1238623,
"public_key": "0a5b853c55303c10e1326acfb085b9e246e088b1ccac7e37f7a810d46a28a914"
},
{
"block_no": 1246942,
"public_key": "527cf86f5abbfb006c970f7c6eb40493786d4751306f8985c6a43f98a88c0dff"
}
]
}
],
"mixin": 9,
"outputs": [
{
"amount": 0,
"public_key": "525779873776e4a42f517fd79b72e7c31c3ba03e730fc32287f6414fb702c1d7"
},
{
"amount": 0,
"public_key": "e25f00fceb77af841d780b68647618812695b4ca6ebe338faba6e077f758ac30"
}
],
"payment_id": "",
"payment_id8": "",
"rct_type": 1,
"timestamp": 1489753456,
"timestamp_utc": "2017-03-17 12:24:16",
"tx_fee": 12517785574,
"tx_hash": "6093260dbe79fd6277694d14789dc8718f1bd54457df8bab338c2efa3bb0f03d",
"tx_size": 13323,
"tx_version": 2,
"xmr_inputs": 0,
"xmr_outputs": 0
},
"status": "success"
}Transactions in last 25 blocks
curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://127.0.0.1:8081/api/transactions"Partial results shown:
{
"data": {
"blocks": [
{
"age": "33:16:49:53",
"height": 1268252,
"size": 105390000000000000,
"timestamp": 1489753456,
"timestamp_utc": "2017-03-17 12:24:16",
"txs": [
{
"coinbase": true,
"mixin": 0,
"outputs": 8491554678365,
"rct_type": 0,
"tx_fee": 0,
"tx_hash": "7c4286f64544568265bb5418df84ae69afaa3567749210e46f8340c247f4803f",
"tx_size": 151000000000000,
"tx_version": 2
},
{
"coinbase": false,
"mixin": 5,
"outputs": 0,
"rct_type": 2,
"tx_fee": 17882516700,
"tx_hash": "2bfbccb918ee5f050808dd040ce03943b7315b81788e9cdee59cf86b557ba48c",
"tx_size": 19586000000000000,
"tx_version": 2
}
]
}
],
"limit": 25,
"page": 0
},
"status": "success"
}curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://127.0.0.1:8081/api/transactions?page=2&limit=10"Result analogical to the one above.
curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://139.162.32.245:8081/api/block/1293257"Partial results shown:
{
"data": {
"block_height": 1293257,
"block_reward": 0,
"current_height": 1293264,
"hash": "9ef6bb8f9b8bd253fc6390e5c2cdc45c8ee99fad16447437108bf301fe6bd6e1",
"size": 141244,
"timestamp": 1492761974,
"timestamp_utc": "2017-04-21 08:06:14",
"txs": [
{
"coinbase": true,
"extra": "018ae9560eb85d5ebd22d3beaed55c21d469eab430c5e3cac61b3fe2f5ad156770020800000001a9030800",
"mixin": 0,
"payment_id": "",
"payment_id8": "",
"rct_type": 0,
"tx_fee": 0,
"tx_hash": "3ff71b65bec34c9261e01a856e6a03594cf0472acf6b77db3f17ebd18eaa30bf",
"tx_size": 95,
"tx_version": 2,
"xmr_inputs": 0,
"xmr_outputs": 8025365394426
}
]
},
"status": "success"
}Return all txs in the mempool.
curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://127.0.0.1:8081/api/mempool"Partial results shown:
{
"data": {
"limit": 100000000,
"page": 0,
"total_page_no": 0,
"txs": [
{
"coinbase": false,
"extra": "022100325f677d96f94155a4840a84d8e0c905f7a4697a25744633bcb438feb1e51fb2012eda81bf552c53c2168f4130dbe0265c3a7898f3a7eee7c1fed955a778167b5d",
"mixin": 3,
"payment_id": "325f677d96f94155a4840a84d8e0c905f7a4697a25744633bcb438feb1e51fb2",
"payment_id8": "",
"rct_type": 2,
"timestamp": 1494470894,
"timestamp_utc": "2017-05-11 02:48:14",
"tx_fee": 15894840000,
"tx_hash": "9f3374f8ac67febaab153eab297937a3d0d2c706601e496bf5028146da0c9aef",
"tx_size": 13291,
"tx_version": 2,
"xmr_inputs": 0,
"xmr_outputs": 0
}
],
"txs_no": 7
},
"status": "success"
}Limit of 100000000 is just default value above to ensure that all mempool txs are fetched if no specific limit given.
Return number of newest mempool txs, e.g., only 10.
curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://127.0.0.1:8081/api/mempool?limit=10"Result analogical to the one above.
curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://127.0.0.1:8081/api/search/1293669"Partial results shown:
{
"data": {
"block_height": 1293669,
"current_height": 1293670,
"hash": "5d55b8fabf85b0b4c959d66ad509eb92ddfe5c2b0e84e1760abcb090195c1913",
"size": 118026,
"timestamp": 1492815321,
"timestamp_utc": "2017-04-21 22:55:21",
"title": "block",
"txs": [
{
"coinbase": true,
"extra": "01cb7fda09033a5fa06dc601b9295ef3790397cf3c645e958e34cf7ab699d2f5230208000000027f030200",
"mixin": 0,
"payment_id": "",
"payment_id8": "",
"rct_type": 0,
"tx_fee": 0,
"tx_hash": "479ba432f5c88736b438dd4446a11a13046a752d469f7828151f5c5b86be4e9a",
"tx_size": 95,
"tx_version": 2,
"xmr_inputs": 0,
"xmr_outputs": 7992697599717
}
]
},
"status": "success"
}For txprove=0 we check which outputs belong to given address and corresponding viewkey.
For txprove=1 we use to prove to the recipient that we sent them founds.
For this, we use recipient's address and our tx private key as a viewkey value,
i.e., viewkey=<tx_private_key>
Checking outputs:
# we use here official Monero project's donation address as an example
curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://127.0.0.1:8081/api/outputs?txhash=17049bc5f2d9fbca1ce8dae443bbbbed2fc02f1ee003ffdd0571996905faa831&address=44AFFq5kSiGBoZ4NMDwYtN18obc8AemS33DBLWs3H7otXft3XjrpDtQGv7SqSsaBYBb98uNbr2VBBEt7f2wfn3RVGQBEP3A&viewkey=f359631075708155cc3d92a32b75a7d02a5dcf27756707b47a2b31b21c389501&txprove=0"{
"data": {
"address": "42f18fc61586554095b0799b5c4b6f00cdeb26a93b20540d366932c6001617b75db35109fbba7d5f275fef4b9c49e0cc1c84b219ec6ff652fda54f89f7f63c88",
"outputs": [
{
"amount": 34980000000000,
"match": true,
"output_idx": 0,
"output_pubkey": "35d7200229e725c2bce0da3a2f20ef0720d242ecf88bfcb71eff2025c2501fdb"
},
{
"amount": 0,
"match": false,
"output_idx": 1,
"output_pubkey": "44efccab9f9b42e83c12da7988785d6c4eb3ec6e7aa2ae1234e2f0f7cb9ed6dd"
}
],
"tx_hash": "17049bc5f2d9fbca1ce8dae443bbbbed2fc02f1ee003ffdd0571996905faa831",
"tx_prove": false,
"viewkey": "f359631075708155cc3d92a32b75a7d02a5dcf27756707b47a2b31b21c389501"
},
"status": "success"
}Proving transfer:
We use recipient's address (i.e. not our address from which we sent xmr to recipient).
For the viewkey, we use tx_private_key (although the GET variable is still called viewkey) that we obtained by sending this txs.
# this is for testnet transaction
curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://127.0.0.1:8082/api/outputs?txhash=94782a8c0aa8d8768afa0c040ef0544b63eb5148ca971a024ac402cad313d3b3&address=9wUf8UcPUtb2huK7RphBw5PFCyKosKxqtGxbcKBDnzTCPrdNfJjLjtuht87zhTgsffCB21qmjxjj18Pw7cBnRctcKHrUB7N&viewkey=e94b5bfc599d2f741d6f07e3ab2a83f915e96fb374dfb2cd3dbe730e34ecb40b&txprove=1"{
"data": {
"address": "71bef5945b70bc0a31dbbe6cd0bd5884fe694bbfd18fff5f68f709438554fb88a51b1291e378e2f46a0155108782c242cc1be78af229242c36d4f4d1c4f72da2",
"outputs": [
{
"amount": 1000000000000,
"match": true,
"output_idx": 0,
"output_pubkey": "c1bf4dd020b5f0ab70bd672d2f9e800ea7b8ab108b080825c1d6cfc0b7f7ee00"
},
{
"amount": 0,
"match": false,
"output_idx": 1,
"output_pubkey": "8c61fae6ada2a103565dfdd307c7145b2479ddb1dab1eaadfa6c34db65d189d5"
}
],
"tx_hash": "94782a8c0aa8d8768afa0c040ef0544b63eb5148ca971a024ac402cad313d3b3",
"tx_prove": true,
"viewkey": "e94b5bfc599d2f741d6f07e3ab2a83f915e96fb374dfb2cd3dbe730e34ecb40b"
},
"status": "success"
}Result analogical to the one above.
curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://127.0.0.1:8081/api/networkinfo"{
"data": {
"alt_blocks_count": 0,
"block_size_limit": 600000,
"cumulative_difficulty": 2091549555696348,
"difficulty": 7941560081,
"fee_per_kb": 303970000,
"grey_peerlist_size": 4991,
"hash_rate": 66179667,
"height": 1310423,
"incoming_connections_count": 0,
"outgoing_connections_count": 5,
"start_time": 1494822692,
"status": "OK",
"target": 120,
"target_height": 0,
"testnet": false,
"top_block_hash": "76f9e85d62415312758bc09e0b9b48fd2b005231ad1eee435a8081e551203f82",
"tx_count": 1219048,
"tx_pool_size": 2,
"white_peerlist_size": 1000
},
"status": "success"
}Search for our outputs in last few blocks (up to 5 blocks), using provided address and viewkey.
# testnet address
curl -w "\n" -X GET http://127.0.0.1:8081/api/outputsblocks?address=9sDyNU82ih1gdhDgrqHbEcfSDFASjFgxL9B9v5f1AytFUrYsVEj7bD9Pyx5Sw2qLk8HgGdFM8qj5DNecqGhm24Ce6QwEGDi&viewkey=807079280293998634d66e745562edaaca45c0a75c8290603578b54e9397e90a&limit=5&mempool=1Example result:
{
{
"data": {
"address": "0182d5be0f708cecf2b6f9889738bde5c930fad846d5b530e021afd1ae7e24a687ad50af3a5d38896655669079ad0163b4a369f6c852cc816dace5fc7792b72f",
"height": 960526,
"limit": "5",
"mempool": true,
"outputs": [
{
"amount": 33000000000000,
"block_no": 0,
"in_mempool": true,
"output_idx": 1,
"output_pubkey": "2417b24fc99b2cbd9459278b532b37f15eab6b09bbfc44f9d17e15cd25d5b44f",
"payment_id": "",
"tx_hash": "9233708004c51d15f44e86ac1a3b99582ed2bede4aaac6e2dd71424a9147b06f"
},
{
"amount": 2000000000000,
"block_no": 960525,
"in_mempool": false,
"output_idx": 0,
"output_pubkey": "9984101f5471dda461f091962f1f970b122d4469077aed6b978a910dc3ed4576",
"payment_id": "0000000000000055",
"tx_hash": "37825d0feb2e96cd10fa9ec0b990ac2e97d2648c0f23e4f7d68d2298996acefd"
},
{
"amount": 96947454120000,
"block_no": 960525,
"in_mempool": false,
"output_idx": 1,
"output_pubkey": "e4bded8e2a9ec4d41682a34d0a37596ec62742b28e74b897fcc00a47fcaa8629",
"payment_id": "0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001234",
"tx_hash": "4fad5f2bdb6dbd7efc2ce7efa3dd20edbd2a91640ce35e54c6887f0ee5a1a679"
}
],
"viewkey": "807079280293998634d66e745562edaaca45c0a75c8290603578b54e9397e90a"
},
"status": "success"
}curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://127.0.0.1:8081/api/emission"{
"data": {
"blk_no": 1313969,
"coinbase": 14489473877253413000,
"fee": 52601974988641130
},
"status": "success"
}Emission only works when the emission monitoring thread is enabled.
curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://127.0.0.1:8081/api/version"{
"data": {
"api": 65536,
"blockchain_height": 1357031,
"git_branch_name": "update_to_current_monero",
"last_git_commit_date": "2017-07-25",
"last_git_commit_hash": "a549f25",
"monero_version_full": "0.10.3.1-ab594cfe"
},
"status": "success"
}api number is store as uint32_t. In this case 65536 represents
major version 1 and minor version 0.
In JavaScript to get these numbers, one can do as follows:
var api_major = response.data.api >> 16;
var api_minor = response.data.api & 0xffff;Return raw json block data, as represented in Monero.
curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://139.162.32.245:8081/api/rawblock/1293257"Example result not shown.
Return raw json tx data, as represented in Monero.
curl -w "\n" -X GET "http://139.162.32.245:8081/api/rawtransaction/6093260dbe79fd6277694d14789dc8718f1bd54457df8bab338c2efa3bb0f03d"Example result not shown.
Other examples can be found on github. Please know that some of the examples/repositories are not finished and may not work as intended.
Constructive criticism, code and website edits are always good. They can be made through github.