eth_getCode

Returns the bytecode at a given address on Moonriver.

Why Moonriver? Build on the Moonbeam canary network on Kusama for real-world testing of EVM dApps with Moonbeam code ships here first, full EVM compatibility on Kusama, 80% fee burn mechanism, and XCM cross-chain messaging.

Use Cases

The eth_getCode method is essential for:

• Contract verification - Check if address is a contract
• Security analysis - Verify deployed bytecode matches expected
• DeFi integrations - Validate contracts before interactions
• Protocol analysis - Analyze contract deployments for production-grade dApp testing, early feature deployment, and Kusama-based EVM applications

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
address	DATA	Yes	20-byte address
blockParameter	QUANTITY|TAG	Yes	Block number or tag

Request

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_getCode",
  "params": [
    "5GrwvaEF5zXb26Fz9rcQpDWS57CtERHpNehXCPcNoHGKutQY",
    "latest"
  ],
  "id": 1
}

Returns

Type	Description
DATA	Contract bytecode or 0x if EOA

Code Examples

cURL

curl -X POST  \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "eth_getCode",
    "params": [
      "5GrwvaEF5zXb26Fz9rcQpDWS57CtERHpNehXCPcNoHGKutQY",
      "latest"
    ],
    "id": 1
  }'

JavaScript

import { JsonRpcProvider } from 'ethers';

const provider = new JsonRpcProvider('');

const address = '5GrwvaEF5zXb26Fz9rcQpDWS57CtERHpNehXCPcNoHGKutQY';
const code = await provider.getCode(address);

if (code === '0x') {
  console.log('Address is an EOA (externally owned account)');
} else {
  console.log('Address is a contract');
  console.log('Bytecode length:', code.length);
}

// Check if address is a contract
async function isContract(address) {
  const code = await provider.getCode(address);
  return code !== '0x';
}

Python

from web3 import Web3

w3 = Web3(Web3.HTTPProvider(''))

address = '5GrwvaEF5zXb26Fz9rcQpDWS57CtERHpNehXCPcNoHGKutQY'
code = w3.eth.get_code(address)

if code == b'':
    print('Address is an EOA')
else:
    print('Address is a contract')
    print(f'Bytecode length: {len(code.hex())}')

# Check if address is a contract
def is_contract(address):
    code = w3.eth.get_code(address)
    return code != b''

Go

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "log"

    "github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/common"
    "github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/ethclient"
)

func main() {
    client, err := ethclient.Dial("")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }

    address := common.HexToAddress("5GrwvaEF5zXb26Fz9rcQpDWS57CtERHpNehXCPcNoHGKutQY")
    code, err := client.CodeAt(context.Background(), address, nil)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }

    if len(code) == 0 {
        fmt.Println("Address is an EOA")
    } else {
        fmt.Printf("Contract bytecode length: %d\n", len(code))
    }
}

Related Methods

• eth_getBalance - Get account balance
• eth_getStorageAt - Get contract storage