eth_call

Executes a new message call immediately without creating a transaction on Optimism. Used for reading smart contract state.

Why Optimism? Build on the heart of the Superchain powering 60%+ of Ethereum L2 transactions with $6B+ TVL with OP Stack modularity, Superchain interoperability, 17M+ daily transactions across 33 chains, and 20% of tokens for public goods.

Use Cases

The eth_call method is essential for:

• Reading contract state - Query view/pure functions
• Simulating transactions - Test execution without gas costs
• DeFi integrations - Check prices, balances, allowances for cross-chain DeFi, Superchain-interoperable dApps, and public goods funding recipients
• Complex queries - Execute multi-step contract logic

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
from	DATA	No	20-byte address executing the call
to	DATA	Yes	20-byte contract address
gas	QUANTITY	No	Gas limit for the call
gasPrice	QUANTITY	No	Gas price in wei
value	QUANTITY	No	Value to send in wei
data	DATA	Yes	Encoded function call data
blockParameter	QUANTITY|TAG	Yes	Block number or tag

Request

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "method": "eth_call",
  "params": [
    {
      "to": "0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045",
      "data": "0x70a08231000000000000000000000000d8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045"
    },
    "latest"
  ],
  "id": 1
}

Returns

Type	Description
DATA	The return value of the executed contract function

Response

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "result": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000de0b6b3a7640000"
}

Code Examples

cURL

# Call ERC20 balanceOf function
curl -X POST https://api-optimism-mainnet-archive.n.dwellir.com/YOUR_API_KEY \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "eth_call",
    "params": [{
      "to": "0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045",
      "data": "0x70a08231000000000000000000000000d8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045"
    }, "latest"],
    "id": 1
  }'

JavaScript

import { JsonRpcProvider, Contract } from 'ethers';

const provider = new JsonRpcProvider('https://api-optimism-mainnet-archive.n.dwellir.com/YOUR_API_KEY');

// ERC20 ABI for common functions
const ERC20_ABI = [
  "function balanceOf(address owner) view returns (uint256)",
  "function allowance(address owner, address spender) view returns (uint256)",
  "function totalSupply() view returns (uint256)",
  "function decimals() view returns (uint8)",
  "function symbol() view returns (string)"
];

// Read ERC20 token balance
async function getTokenBalance(tokenAddress, walletAddress) {
  const contract = new Contract(tokenAddress, ERC20_ABI, provider);
  const balance = await contract.balanceOf(walletAddress);
  const decimals = await contract.decimals();
  const symbol = await contract.symbol();

  return {
    raw: balance.toString(),
    formatted: (Number(balance) / Math.pow(10, decimals)).toFixed(4),
    symbol: symbol
  };
}

// Direct eth_call
async function directCall(to, data) {
  const result = await provider.call({ to, data });
  return result;
}

Python

from web3 import Web3

w3 = Web3(Web3.HTTPProvider('https://api-optimism-mainnet-archive.n.dwellir.com/YOUR_API_KEY'))

def get_erc20_balance(token_address, wallet_address):
    # balanceOf(address) selector
    function_signature = "balanceOf(address)"
    function_selector = w3.keccak(text=function_signature)[:4].hex()

    # Encode address parameter
    encoded_address = wallet_address[2:].lower().zfill(64)
    data = function_selector + encoded_address

    # Make the call
    result = w3.eth.call({
        'to': token_address,
        'data': data
    })

    return int(result.hex(), 16)

balance = get_erc20_balance(
    '0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045',
    '0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045'
)
print(f'Balance: {balance}')

Go

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "log"

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

func main() {
    client, err := ethclient.Dial("https://api-optimism-mainnet-archive.n.dwellir.com/YOUR_API_KEY")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }

    contractAddress := common.HexToAddress("0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045")
    data := common.FromHex("0x70a08231000000000000000000000000d8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045")

    msg := ethereum.CallMsg{
        To:   &contractAddress,
        Data: data,
    }

    result, err := client.CallContract(context.Background(), msg, nil)
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }

    fmt.Printf("Result: 0x%x\n", result)
}

Error Handling

Error Code	Message	Description
-32000	Execution reverted	Contract function reverted
-32602	Invalid parameters	Invalid data encoding
-32015	VM execution error	Contract logic error

Related Methods

• eth_estimateGas - Estimate gas for transaction
• eth_sendRawTransaction - Send actual transaction