Skycoin Blockchain Explorer Now Integrated into Skycoin

Blockchain Explorer Integrated into the Skycoin Binary

The Skycoin blockchain explorer has been integrated directly into the Skycoin repository and can now be run as a subcommand of the unified Skycoin binary:

skycoin explorer

Previously, the explorer was maintained as a separate project and required its own deployment. Now it ships as part of every Skycoin release.

What It Does

The explorer provides a web-based interface for browsing the Skycoin blockchain — blocks, transactions, addresses, and network statistics. It runs a local HTTP server (default 127.0.0.1:8001) that serves a compiled Angular frontend and proxies API requests to a running Skycoin node.

Usage

Start the explorer alongside a running Skycoin daemon:

skycoin explorer --node-addr http://127.0.0.1:6420

Then open http://127.0.0.1:8001 in a browser to explore the blockchain.

Key flags:

• --server-host — bind address for the explorer web server (default 127.0.0.1:8001)
• --node-addr — Skycoin node address to query (default http://127.0.0.1:6420)
• --files-folder — override the embedded UI with a custom frontend
• --api-only — run only the API proxy without serving the frontend

The frontend assets are embedded in the binary using Go’s embed package, so no external files are needed.

$ skycoin explorer --help
┌─┐─┐ ┬┌─┐┬  ┌─┐┬─┐┌─┐┬─┐
├┤ ┌┴┬┘├─┘│  │ │├┬┘├┤ ├┬┘
└─┘┴ └─┴  ┴─┘└─┘┴└─└─┘┴└─

Usage:
  skywire skycoin explorer

Flags:
  -a, --api-only              Only run the API, don't serve static content
  -f, --files-folder string   Path for the folder with the precompiled front-end files
  -n, --node-addr string      The skycoin node's address
                               (default "http://127.0.0.1:6420")
  -s, --server-host string    The addr:port to bind the explorer web server to
                               (default "127.0.0.1:8001")
  -v, --verify                Run init() checks and quit

The integrated explorer is included starting with Skycoin v0.28.2.