Depending on the practical experience that you have with Web3 development, it can either be self-evident or quite confusing. As such, if you’re new to the blockchain world, dApp development might seem like a daunting task. However, it does not have to be if you equip yourself with the proper tools. One such tool is a blockchain node, which is crucial when developing dApps. Nodes are vital components of any blockchain as they allow users and applications to communicate directly with a blockchain. So, if you find yourself looking to, for example, develop Avalanche dApps, then you’ll likely find that you need to connect to an Avalanche node. However, finding a fast and reliable node isn’t always easy. As such, we are going to take this article to look closer at how to connect to Avalanche nodes.
Even-though nodes are vital for a blockchain’s ecosystems, setting up and continuously managing your own can be a bothersome task. For this reason, developers are turning to blockchain node providers as they are a more convenient alternative. An excellent alternative for this is Moralis.
Moralis is the premier operating system for Web3 development, and with Moralis’ Speedy Nodes, you get immediate access to fast and reliable nodes from six different networks, one of which is Avalanche. Moreover, Moralis also provides an underlying backend infrastructure for all users. This allows developers to build dApps in a matter of hours rather than weeks and months.
So, if you have ambitions to become a blockchain developer, then feel free to sign up with Moralis. Creating an account is free, and you’ll receive immediate access to the backend infrastructure and all the Moralis tools.
Avalanche Explained — What is Avalanche?
The most prominent blockchain for Web3 development is Ethereum, as the network is home to an extensive ecosystem of dApps. However, as more people join the crypto community, the Ethereum network has experienced issues with congested networks. This has driven up the transaction costs to astronomical amounts making it economically unviable to participate in the network. This has incentivized businesses to come up with potential solutions to solve these issues, one of which is Avalanche.
Avalanche is a programmable smart contract platform for dApps that focuses on solving some of the significant issues with Ethereum. As such, the platform focuses on both transaction cost and speed. Avalanche, therefore, contributes to solving the scalability issues of Ethereum without sacrificing security and decentralization.
Ava Labs is the organization behind Avalanche, and according to the official website, they suggest that they have created the fastest smart contract platform in the industry based on time to finality. Moreover, they further state that they have the most validators of any proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol keeping the network secure.
The Avalanche network is unique in the fact that it consists of three different chains, all specializing in different tasks. There is an Exchange (X), Platform (P) Chain, and Contract (C) Chain. The latter of which is an instance of EVM or Ethereum Virtual Machine. Moreover, with the EVM compatibility, the Avalanche network is Solidity-compatible. This will allow you to create smart contracts using Solidity, which is one of the best languages for blockchain development.
As such, when developing dApps and smart contracts on the Avalanche network, it is possible to utilize comprehensive and well-established development tools like Remix, Truffle Suite, etc., making blockchain programming easier.
However, if you want to learn more about the Avalanche network, then we suggest taking a closer look at their official webpage.
Speedy Nodes — Moralis as a Node Provider
Moralis is the premier operating system for Web3 development, and as a Moralis user, it is possible to shorten the development time of all your blockchain projects significantly. One of the origins of the power of working with Moralis comes from the already developed backend infrastructure that all users get access to. This allows developers to focus on frontend and smart contract development and consequently avoid the hassle of setting up a complex underlying backend infrastructure.
Moreover, Moralis supplies an extensive toolbox with various different development tools, one of which are the Speedy Nodes. Moralis’ Speedy Nodes are some of the most reliable and fastest nodes on the market. With the Speedy Nodes service, you get access to nodes from six different networks: Ethereum, Arbitrum, BSC (Binance Smart Chain), Polygon, Fantom, and, of course, Avalanche.
What’s more, Moralis provides archive nodes for some of the networks. As such, you have access to the entire history of some of the nodes if any of your blockchain projects require instant information from the past state of a blockchain. Furthermore, Moralis is constantly growing and continuously adding to the platform providing support for new chains and features, making it easy to understand why developers opt for Moralis.
Lastly, the Speedy Nodes are also fully integrated with the Moralis ecosystem. This will allow you to easily and quickly develop dApps. This is just one of the many great Moralis features. For more information, feel free to visit the Moralis blog, where you can find additional exciting articles that can make you a better blockchain developer.
How to Connect to Avalanche Nodes Using Moralis
With a better understanding of what the Speedy Nodes of Moralis are, we can move on to the main topic and explain how to connect to Avalanche nodes. Prior to accessing the nodes, you’ll need to have an account. So, if you haven’t already, the first step is to sign up with Moralis.
With an account at hand, you’ll find the ”Speedy Nodes” tab on the left-hand side of the Moralis admin panel. Once you click this tab, you’ll be presented with six different alternative networks, and among them, you’ll find the Avalanche network. To connect to the Avalanche nodes, you’ll then need to click the ”Endpoints” button for the network in question. This will supply you with two different URLs as Moralis support nodes for both the test- and mainnets of Avalanche. As such, you have the option to pick whichever you would like depending on where you plan to develop/launch your dApp.
The URLs or endpoints that you acquire from this process can be regarded as the nodes themselves. This means that you can utilize the URLs directly in the command line or in your code to, for example, query information regarding user ERC-20 token balances, NFT balances, the current block number, etc.
Now that’s it! This is how easy it is to acquire a node as a Moralis user! Moreover, if you are interested in building dApps for another chain, we also have excellent guides on how to connect to BSC nodes and how to connect to Ethereum nodes. All this is possible due to the magic of Moralis, so if you are interested in expanding your blockchain programming capabilities, then sign up with Moralis immediately.
How to Connect to Avalanche Nodes — Practical Examples
With the knowledge of how to obtain the Speedy Nodes as a Moralis user and what the endpoints actually mean, we will provide two practical examples of how the nodes can be used. Firstly, we will demonstrate how you can connect a JavaScript project to the Avalanche network, and then we’ll take a closer look at how you can change MetaMask network through the Speedy Nodes.
However, this only scratches the surface of what is possible with Moralis’ Speedy Nodes. For more information regarding the Speedy Nodes and what’s possible with Moralis, feel free to visit the Moralis documentation. Here you’ll for example find guides on how to get going with your first blockchain project. This covers everything from getting started to slightly more advanced development like checking token balances, sending tokens, and how to authenticate withMetaMask.
How to Connect a Project to Avalanche Using Moralis’ Speedy Nodes
If you are developing a blockchain project for the Avalanche network, you’ll need to connect a node to your code. If we add the endpoint to our projects, it is possible to, for example, query the Avalanche chain for the current block number. The first step in this process is to import the Web3 library Web3.js. There are various ways in which the library can be imported, but in this instance, we are going to be using the following script:
<script src=”https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/web3@latest/dist/web3.min.js"></script>
With the library imported, we can simply proceed with adding a provider. This is where the endpoint URL comes in handy. So, all we need to do now is copy the URL and add the following three lines to appoint a provider, which in this case should be Avalanche:
const NODE_URL = "YOUR SPEEDY NODE URL HERE"; const provider = new Web3.providers.HttpProvider(NODE_URL); const web3 = new Web3(provider);
With the node added to your project, it is possible to query the chain for all sorts of information. As we mentioned above, it is, for example, possible to acquire the current block number. All we need to do here is use the Web3 library that we previously imported.
How to Change MetaMask Network with Moralis’ Speedy Nodes
An additional use case for the Speedy Nodes is that they can be used to change MetaMask network. If you’d like to follow along here, the first step is to get a MetaMask account. If you are unfamiliar with the extension, we recommend checking out the following article on MetaMask. This will provide an overview of MetaMask and assist you in acquiring your very own crypto wallet.
Once you have a MetaMask account, you’ll be able to alternate between networks. To do so, all you need to do is click the ”Networks” tab at the top of the MetaMask interface. However, you’ll soon notice that the list doesn’t contain a whole lot of different networks. As such, it is up to you to add the ones you prefer.
You can utilize two different methods to add a new network to MetaMask; either click ”Add Network” and input all the information manually, or you can simply use Moralis’ Speedy Nodes. If you opt for the Speedy Nodes alternative, all you need to do is navigate back to the ”Speedy Nodes” tab in the admin panel, click the desired network, and finally press the ”Add to MetaMask” button.
Clicking this button will open your MetaMask account, and all you need to do from there is follow the instructions. Doing so will allow you to add a new network to MetaMask in only a couple of seconds.
How to Connect to Avalanche Nodes — Summary
If you find yourself looking to create dApps on the Avalanche network, then you’ll also find that you require an Avalanche node. Setting up, developing, and managing your own node can be quite the hassle. For this reason, it is an unnecessarily time- and resource-intensive practice, which is why many turn to blockchain node providers.
A blockchain node provider is the easiest and quickest way to connect to Avalanche nodes, and the best provider on the market is Moralis. Through Moralis’ Speedy Nodes, you receive immediate access to not only Avalanche nodes but nodes for an additional five networks. As such, you can also build ETH dApps or create BSC dApps just as easily as these are among the supported networks.
However, this tutorial shows how easy it is to connect to Avalanche nodes using Moralis, as all you need is an account. We also demonstrated how to connect your blockchain projects to a node and how easy it is to change MetaMask networks when working with Moralis.
Although Moralis is a node provider, this only scratches the surface of what the operating system is capable of. When working with Moralis, it is possible to leverage the underlying backend infrastructure of the platform, which makes dApp development significantly more accessible. Moreover, along with the Speedy Nodes, there are additional tools like the NFT API, Moralis’ SDK, native support for IPFS, and much more.
So, if you are looking to build your first dApp, join 65,000+ blockchain projects and sign up with Moralis today! Signing up is free, and it only takes a couple of minutes to get going with your first blockchain project!
