About ApeChain RPC

Apechain RPC (Remote Procedure Call) is a JSON-RPC interface that allows developers and applications to interact with Apechain nodes programmatically. It enables operations such as querying blockchain data (e.g., balances, blocks, and transactions) and submitting write operations (e.g., deploying smart contracts or sending transactions). Being EVM-compatible, Apechain RPC supports Ethereum-like methods, making it easy to use tools like ethers.js or web3.js for interaction.

Running a replica node for ApeChain Mainnet

Please check out the latest (v3.9.9) Replica Guide (opens in a new tab) for an example of how to spin up a node locally. Simply run docker-compose up -d to bring a replica node up locally, then run docker-compose logs -f to follow the logs.

The nodeConfig.json file is prepopulated with apechain parameters and should not need modification. The current setup uses a public rpc url for the Arbitrum One rpc and stores node data in a docker volume.

You need to modify docker-compose.yml to replace the public Arbitrum One RPC URL with your own, or you will be rate limited.

Docker Images

public.ecr.aws/i6b2w2n6/nitro-node:apechain-3.9.9

RPC Endpoints

HTTP endpoint: https://rpc.apechain.com/http

WS endpoint: wss://rpc.apechain.com/ws

Snapshot guide

To bring your replica node up to sync, use the following available snapshot: Snapshot July 30, 2026 (opens in a new tab)

resumable download (re-run the same command if it drops)

curl -C - -O 'https://caldera-chain-data-snapshots.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/exported-snapshots/nitro-apechain/nitro-apechain-2026-Jul-30.tar.zst'

or parallel + resumable

aria2c -x8 'https://caldera-chain-data-snapshots.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/exported-snapshots/nitro-apechain/nitro-apechain-2026-Jul-30.tar.zst'

verify size: should be 1238297822396 bytes

ls -l nitro-apechain-2026-Jul-30.tar.zst

extract (unpacks to nitro/)

tar --zstd -xf nitro-apechain-2026-Jul-30.tar.zst

Running a replica node for Curtis

Download the zipped repository below for an out-of-the-box example of how to spin up a node locally.

nitro-replica-curtis.zip (opens in a new tab)

Using the Repo

The repo is set up to easily run Curtis testnet replica nodes. Simply run docker-compose up from the root of the repository to bring a replica node up locally.

The Docker image for Curtis Testnet is hosted in a public docker repo: public.ecr.aws/i6b2w2n6/nitro-node:curtis3

The nodeConfig file included in the repository is prepopulated with curtis testnet parameters. The current setup uses a public rpc url for the Arbitrum Sepolia rpc and stores node data in ad Docker volume.

It is recommended to replace the Arbitrum Sepolia RPC URL in docker-compose.yml with your own private url to avoid ratelimiting issues, it's advised to use your private PRC URL instead of the default public one. By default, this value is set to Arbitrum's public RPC url.

RPC Endpoints

HTTP endpoint: https://curtis.rpc.caldera.xyz/http

WS endpoint: wss://curtis.rpc.caldera.xyz/ws