The STEEM Network runs on decentralized steemd server nodes which allow for numerous complex functions to be called depending on which API module is referenced.

This page lists various API calls for the steemd binary which acts as a backbone for the entire STEEM network. It should be noted that steemd is different than the STEEM wallet which is cli_wallet which is a completely different program that can be run alongside or independently of a steemd node. STEEM is pretty complex and a number of API call rules apply.

Most bots and other automated scripts accomplish their goal by using the cli_wallet program. You can visit our current documentation on it here: cli_wallet API <-- Under Construction!

 

Before Attempting steemd RPC Calls

In order to access steemd calls you MUST have a full node running and listening to port 8092, on a local machine (or other server you have access to). If you would like more information on setting up your own full STEEM node please check out the following information: EZSTEEM or STEEM-in-a-box

Make sure to set the rpc-endpoint in your STEEM nodes config.ini file.

Or can start your steemd client with the following to run it listening on port 8092:

./steemd --rpc-endpoint=127.0.0.1:8092

This allows our steemd server an RPC endpoint so that we can make calls to the node via RPC-JSON and have the program respond properly.

 

Call Format for steemd

The STEEM network is built off of Graphene architecture meaning that RPC calls are state-less and can be accessed through regular JSON formatted RPC-HTTP.

The following structure should be used when calling the steemd client: { "jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "get_accounts", "params": [["klye"]], "id": 1 }

Or like

{
"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"method": "get_accounts",
"params": [["klye"]],
"id": 1
}


In the example above the "get_accounts" function calls to the database_api module and would returns information pertaining to the Hive account@klye account.

 

Using curl

A simple way to pass command to the same command to the steemd client is by with curl using the following format:

curl --data '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "get_accounts", "params": [["klye"]], "id": 1 }' http://127.0.0.1:8090/rpc

Calls That Are a Success

When an API call is successful it will return a response JSON formatted. The returned response should also have a similar id number indicating it's from the call you've just put out:

{ "id":1, "result": "data" }


The output of the above curl call invoking the get_accounts function with the id of 1 & the klye username in the only parameter yields a response of:

{"id":1,"result":[{"id":"2.2.9852","name":"klye","owner":{"weight_threshold":1,"account_auths":[],
"key_auths":[["STM7wBNbebQLUi8ayUqSCFHnJRHewrPdD1CCTjJeH2C2ym4gsyeiL",1]]},
"active":{"weight_threshold":1,"account_auths":[],"key_auths":[["STM5pMzmpjvcUnwwt5TJvzWhH6z4Ku5nzcUFA1NGHHJ7RnjFAnxT3",1]]},
"posting":{"weight_threshold":1,"account_auths":[],"key_auths":[["STM8f9jATn1kYzVhuLA7xKMZXS4zDBpJph5qNfMsRFb3iL4raoAYe",1]]},
"memo_key":"STM8XCEUv4bPbXTsHRQctHf2UASzsevoeV8tBYfb6D7btuTt5bzuz",
"json_metadata":"","proxy":"","last_owner_update":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","last_account_update":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","created":"2016-05-25T23:34:03","mined":false,"owner_challenged":false,"active_challenged":false,"last_owner_proved":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","last_active_proved":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","recovery_account":"steem","last_account_recovery":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","comment_count":0,"lifetime_vote_count":0,"post_count":1417,"voting_power":9714,"last_vote_time":"2016-09-18T03:03:09","balance":"0.000 STEEM","sbd_balance":"0.089 SBD","sbd_seconds":"195301723950","sbd_seconds_last_update":"2016-09-16T14:41:15","sbd_last_interest_payment":"2016-09-02T11:15:03","vesting_shares":"8673602.167564 VESTS","vesting_withdraw_rate":"0.000000 VESTS","next_vesting_withdrawal":"1969-12-31T23:59:59","withdrawn":0,"to_withdraw":0,"withdraw_routes":0,"curation_rewards":12180,"posting_rewards":4896836,"proxied_vsf_votes":[0,0,0,0],"witnesses_voted_for":12,"average_bandwidth":236760191,"lifetime_bandwidth":"1827138000000","last_bandwidth_update":"2016-09-18T05:44:51","average_market_bandwidth":122097987,"last_market_bandwidth_update":"2016-09-16T14:41:15","last_post":"2016-09-17T20:57:39","last_root_post":"2016-09-13T16:00:36","post_bandwidth":10000,"last_active":"2016-09-18T05:44:51","activity_shares":"20803969092513102456","last_activity_payout":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","vesting_balance":"0.000 STEEM","reputation":0,"transfer_history":[],"market_history":[],"post_history":[],"vote_history":[],"other_history":[],"witness_votes":["anyx","dantheman","jesta","liondani","pfunk","pharesim","proctologic","riverhead","roadscape","royaltiffany","smooth.witness","someguy123"],"blog_category":{}}]}

As you can see a fair amount of data is given off by some of these calls which can easily be parsed or scraped for whatever intention a coder had for the information.

Calls That Fail

If an API doesn't return a successful call the return output will show some details as shown below:


{
"id": 0
"error": {
"data": {
"code": error-code,
"name": " .. name of exception .."
"message": " .. message of exception ..",
"stack": [ .. stack trace .. ],
},
"code": 1,
},
}


Error handling will spit out some information pertaining to what went wrong. I've included an actual example of a response from a failed call below:

{"id": 177,"error": {"code": 1,"message": "7 bad_cast_exception: Bad Cast\nInvalid cast from string_type to Array\n {"type":"string_type"}\n th_a variant.cpp:537 get_array","data": {"code": 7,"name": "bad_cast_exception","message": "Bad Cast","stack": [{"context": {"level": "error","file": "variant.cpp","line": 537,"method": "get_array","hostname": "","thread_name": "th_a","timestamp": "2016-09-18T06:41:36"},"format": "Invalid cast from ${type} to Array","data" :{"type": "string_type"}}]}}}

As clearly seen above the failure response is in depth however hard for most humans to decypher. I'll be going into further details of how this is broken down in the future.

 

login_api functions

 

login

Call example: { "id": 1, "method": "login", "params": [["username", "password"]]}
Usage: Allows login to accounts on the STEEM network

get_api_by_name

Call example: { "id": 2, "method": "get_api_by_name", "params": [["apiname"]]}
Usage: Returns ??? (more info needed)

 

database_api functions

 

Accounts

 

get_accounts

JSON example: {"id":3,"method":"get_accounts","params":[["username"]]}
Usage: Return displays a large amount of data pertaining to accounts included in call. Call multiples simply by adding a comma between the names.
Example: "params":[["usernamehere", "steem-global"]]

get_account_references

Call example: {"id":4,"method":"get_account_references","params":[["accountid"]]}
Usage: Currently returns an error. Will update in future when more info on this is found.

lookup_account_names

Call example: {"id":5,"method":"lookup_account_names","params":[["username", "callback"]]}
Usage: Returns information about the accounts. Call multiples simply by adding a comma between the names. example: "usernamehere", "steem-global"

lookup_accounts

Call example: {"id":6,"method":"lookup_accounts","params":[["username", "limit"]]}
Usage: Acts as a search function to display usernames containing letters given in the first parameter.

get_account_count

Call example: {"id":7,"method":"get_account_count","params":[]}
Usage: Shows the number of STEEM accounts on the network currently.

get_conversion_requests

Call example: {"id":8,"method":"get_conversion_requests","params":[["username"]]}
Usage: Displays current conversion requests of the given account.

get_account_history

Call example: {"id": 9, method: 'get_account_history', 'params': [["username", "from", "limit"]]}
Usage: Allows you to recall the history of given account on the STEEM network.

get_owner_history

Call example: {"id": 10, method: 'get_owner_history', 'params': [["username"]]}
Usage: Goes back and display if the given account has changed ownership on the blockchain.

get_recovery_request

Call example: {"id": 11, method: 'get_recovery_request', 'params': [["username"]]}
Usage: If the status of the account is currently flagged as wanting recovered will return true, returns "null" otherwise.

 

Voting

 

get_active_votes

Call example: {"id": 12, method: 'get_active_votes', 'params': [[ "username", "permalink"]]}
Usage: Check and see if a post currently has any active votes on it.

get_account_votes

Call example: {"id": 13, method: 'get_account_votes', 'params': [[ "username"]]}
Usage: Lists the last 100+ votes on the given account.

 

Market

 

get_order_book

Call example: {"id":14,"method":"get_order_book","params":["limit"]}
Usage: Returns a list of orders on the internal STEEM market.

get_open_orders

Call example: {"id":15,"method":"get_open_orders","params":["username"]}
Usage: If specified username has orders open on the internal STEEM market it will return them.

get_liquidity_queue

Call example: {"id":16,"method":"get_liquidity_queue","params":["startusername", "limit"]}
Usage: When there are users in the liquidity queue it will return them.

get_current_median_history_price

Call example: {"id":17,"method":"get_current_median_history_price","params":[]}
Usage: Grabs the current median conversion price of SBD / STEEM.

get_feed_history

Call example: {"id":18,"method":"get_chain_properties","params":[]}
Usage: Fetches the conversion history of SBD / STEEM.

 

Content

 

get_content

Call example: {"id":19,"method":"get_content","params":["username","permalink"]}
Usage: Grabs information about the post given in second parameter.

get_content_replies

Call example: {"id":20,"method":"get_content_replies","params":["username","permalink"]}
Usage: Lists all replies on the post given in second parameter.

get_discussions_by_author_before_date

Call example: {"id":21,"method":"get_content_replies","params":[["username", "startpermalink", "beforedate", "limit"]]}
Usage: Grabs discussions from the username given from a starting permalink or start date.

get_replies_by_last_update

Call example: {"id":22,"method":"get_content_replies","params":[["username", "startpermalink", "limit"]]}
Usage: Grabs replies from the username given from a starting permalink.

 

Block Info

 

get_block

Call example: {"id":23,"method":"get_block","params":["blocknumber"]}
Usage: Displays various information about the particular block number given.

get_block_header

Call example: {"id":24,"method":"get_block_header","params":["blocknumber"]}
Usage: Shows the header and other brief info about the given block number.

get_state

Call example: {"id":25,"method":"get_block_header","params":["path"]}
Usage: Gets the current state of the STEEM network. Leave path blank for current info.

get_trending_categories

Call example: {"id":26,"method":"get_trending_categories","params":[["searchafter","limit"]]}
Usage: Allows for the searching of trending categories both current and past.

get_best_categories

Call example: {"id":27,"method":"get_best_categories","params":[["after","limit"]]}
Usage: To be 100% honest I wasn't able to figure this call out yet.

get_active_categories

Call example: {"id":28,"method":"get_active_categories","params":[["after","limit"]]}
Usage: To be 100% honest I wasn't able to figure this call out yet.

get_discussions_in_category_by_total_pending_payout

Call example: Unknown. I couldn't get it to work.
Usage: To be 100% honest I wasn't able to figure this call out yet.

get_discussions_in_category_by_last_update

Call example: Unknown. I couldn't get it to work.
Usage: To be 100% honest I wasn't able to figure this call out yet.

get_discussions_by_last_update

Call example: Unknown. I couldn't get it to work.
Usage: To be 100% honest I wasn't able to figure this call out yet.

 

Transactions / Authority / Validation

 

get_transaction_hex

Call example: {"id":32,"method":"get_transaction_hex","params":["trx"]}
Usage: Fetches the transaction hex digits from the given transaction.

get_transaction

Call example: {"id":33,"method":"get_transaction","params":["txid"]}
Usage: Grabs the details a transaction from a given transactionID.

get_potential_signatures

Call example: {"id":34,"method":"get_potential_signatures","params":["trx"]}
Usage: To be 100% honest I haven't attempted to figure out call out yet.

get_required_signatures

Call example: {"id":35,"method":"get_required_signatures","params":[["trx", "availablekeys"]]}
Usage: To be 100% honest I haven't attempted to figure out call out yet.

verify_authority

Call example: {"id":36,"method":"verify_authority","params":["trx"]}
Usage: To be 100% honest I haven't attempted to figure out call out yet.

verify_account_authority

Call example: {"id":37,"method":"verify_account_authority","params":[["userid/username", "signer"]]}
Usage: To be 100% honest I haven't attempted to figure out call out yet.

 

Globals

 

get_config

Call example: {"id":38,"method":"get_config","params":[]}
Usage: Displays the current configuration of the steemd node.

get_dynamic_global_properties

Call example: {"id":39,"method":"get_dynamic_global_properties","params":[]}
Usage: Shows an overview of various information regarding the current state of the STEEM network.

get_chain_properties

Call example: {"id":40,"method":"get_chain_properties","params":[]}
Usage: Returns current account creation fee, maximum block size and SBD(Steem Dollar) interest rate.

get_hardfork_version

Call example: {"id":40,"method":"get_hardfork_version","params":[]}
Usage: The current version of STEEM hardfork will be displayed.

get_next_scheduled_hardfork

Call example: {"id":42,"method":"get_hardfork_version","params":[]}
Usage: Gives a date and version as to when the next version of STEEM is expected.

 

Witnesses

 

get_witnesses

Call example: {"id":43,"method":"get_witnesses","params":["witnessid"]}
Usage: I've not looked into what this call does yet, will shortly.

get_witness_by_account

Call example: {"id":44,"method":"get_witness_by_account","params":["username"]}
Usage: When invoked answers true if the username given is a witness or "result": null if not.

get_witnesses_by_vote

Call example: {"id":45,"method":"get_witnesses_by_vote","params":[["username/blank", "limit"]]}
Usage: Displays a list of the top witnesses by order of witness votes.

lookup_witness_accounts

Call example: {"id":46,"method":"lookup_witness_accounts","params":[["searchusername", "limit"]]}
Usage: Returns a list of every user that has declared their intent to run as witness.

get_witness_count

Call example: {"id":47,"method":"get_witness_count","params":[]}
Usage: Calculates and displays the total number of accounts that have shown intent to run for witness.

get_active_witnesses

Call example: {"id":48,"method":"get_active_witnesses","params":[]}
Usage: Shows the current active witnesses (Top 21 last I checked, might be wrong).

get_miner_queue

Call example: {"id":49,"method":"get_miner_queue","params":[]}
Usage: Creates a list of miners waiting to get into the DPOW line to create a block.

 

Subscriptions

 

set_subscribe_callback

Call example: {"id":50,"method":"set_subscribe_callback","params":[["cb", "clearfilter"]]}
Usage: I've not yet looked into how this function works, sorry. Will update soon.

set_pending_transaction_callback

Call example: {"id":51,"method":"set_pending_transaction_callback","params":["cb"]}
Usage: I've not yet looked into how this function works, sorry. Will update soon.

set_block_applied_callback

Call example: {"id":52,"method":"set_block_applied_callback","params":["cb"]}
Usage: I've not yet looked into how this function works, sorry. Will update soon.

cancel_all_subscriptions

Call example: {"id":53,"method":"cancel_all_subscriptions","params":["cb"]}
Usage: I've not yet looked into how this function works, but it seemingly appears to cancel subscriptions.

 

Tags

 

get_trending_tags

Call example: {"id":54,"method":"get_trending_tags","params":[["aftertag", "limit"]]}
Usage: Displays a list of tags containing the first parameter (almost as if parent and "spin-off" tags).

get_discussions_by_trending

Call example: {"id":55,"method":"get_discussions_by_trending","params":[{"tag":"tagnamehere", "limit":"10"}]}
Usage: Displays a list of tags containing the first parameter (almost as if parent and "spin-off" tags).

get_discussions_by_created

Call example: {"id":56,"method":"get_discussions_by_created","params":[{"tag":"tagnamehere","limit":"10"}]}
Usage: Displays a list of post from the start of the tags containing the first parameter.

get_discussions_by_active

Call example: {"id":57,"method":"get_discussions_by_active","params":[{"tag":"tagnamehere","limit":"10"}]}
Usage: Displays a list of active posts from tag contained the first parameter.

get_discussions_by_cashout

Call example: {"id":58,"method":"get_discussions_by_cashout","params":[{"tag":"tagnamehere","limit":"10"}]}
Usage: Displays a list of posts with outstanding payouts from the tag contained the first parameter.

get_discussions_by_payout

Call example: {"id":59,"method":"get_discussions_by_payout","params":[{"tag":"tagnamehere","limit":"10"}]}
Usage: Couldn't seem to get this one to work properly, will look at it more closely soon.

get_discussions_by_votes

Call example: {"id":60,"method":"get_discussions_by_votes","params":[{"tag":"tagnamehere","limit":"10"}]}
Usage: Returns a list of posts sorted by votes from the tag contained the first parameter.

get_discussions_by_children

Call example: {"id":61,"method":"get_discussions_by_children","params":[{"tag":"tagnamehere","limit":"10"}]}
Usage: Calls forth a list of child posts from the tag contained the first parameter.

get_discussions_by_hot

Call example: {"id":62,"method":"get_discussions_by_hot","params":[{"tag":"tagnamehere","limit":"10"}]}
Usage: Conjures up a list of the hottest posts from the tag contained the first parameter.

get_discussions_by_total_pending_payout

Call example: {"id":63,"method":"get_discussions_by_total_pending_payout","params":[{"tag":"tagnamehere","limit":"10"}]}
Usage: I haven't checked out this one yet but I imagine it does something similar to its siblings above.

 

Keys

 

get_key_references

Call example: {"id":64,"method":"get_key_references","params":["key"]}
Usage: Not had the chance to look into this yet.

This is a work in progress

I'd like to ask the community in aide in helping me explain the calls and functions I was unable to figure out in the comments section below. This information is being mirrored on my site steem.global STEEM Network News & Node and hopefully once I'm done filling in the gaps here and making a more comprehensive write-up as well as start the cli_wallet write up it will allow for enough documentation for coinpayments.net to want to have a whack at integrating our currency and token into their payment gateway platform allowing for EASY woocommerce integrations of SBD/ STEEM.

Thanks for reading. I hope you find this info useful!