Base RPC — Free Endpoint & Developer Guide

Base is an Ethereum layer-2 incubated by Coinbase, built on the OP Stack for low-cost transactions. This guide shows how to connect to a free Base RPC endpoint on MoltNode — no API key and no signup required.

What is Base

Base is an Ethereum layer-2 network. It batches transactions and settles them back to Ethereum mainnet, inheriting Ethereum's security while offering much lower fees and faster confirmation for everyday activity. Built on the OP Stack, it is part of the broader Superchain family of OP Stack rollups.

Base is fully EVM-compatible, so it uses the standard eth_* JSON-RPC method set, ordinary Ethereum-style addresses, and familiar Solidity tooling. Like other OP Stack chains, Base uses ETH as its native gas token, so there is no separate token to acquire just to pay fees. The network is identified by chain ID 8453.

Base RPC endpoint on MoltNode

MoltNode gives Base one clean URL that is also a working RPC endpoint:

https://moltnode.ag/base

No API key is required and there is no signup. The endpoint speaks JSON-RPC 2.0 over HTTP POST, and CORS is open so browser apps can call it without a proxy. The URL behaves two ways depending on the request: a GET opened in a browser shows a human-readable page about the chain, while a POST with a JSON-RPC body returns a machine response. One address, two audiences.

To use it in a wallet, add a custom network with the RPC URL https://moltnode.ag/base, chain ID 8453, and currency symbol ETH.

Probe it with curl

To verify the Base JSON-RPC endpoint is live, ask for the latest block number:

curl -s https://moltnode.ag/base \
  -X POST \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[]}'

The response is a JSON object with the current block height, hex-encoded, in result. Replace the method with any standard eth_* call — eth_chainId, eth_getBalance, eth_getTransactionReceipt — to read what you need.

Use it from your app

Any JSON-RPC client connects to the free Base RPC. Here is a minimal viem example pointed at the endpoint:

import { createPublicClient, http } from "viem";

const client = createPublicClient({
  transport: http("https://moltnode.ag/base"),
});

const blockNumber = await client.getBlockNumber();
console.log("Base block:", blockNumber);

The same URL slots into ethers, web3.py, wagmi, or any library that takes an HTTP RPC URL — no special setup beyond the endpoint.

Reliability & failover

Behind the single moltnode.ag/base URL are multiple upstream providers. MoltNode tries them in order, and if the first upstream is unavailable or returns an error, it automatically fails over to the next. The upstream API keys stay server-side and are never exposed to your client, so you get premium Base node reliability without juggling credentials.

There is no hard rate limit, but this is a shared, free resource. Please use it responsibly: cache where practical, avoid tight polling loops, and for heavy production traffic, treat MoltNode as a fast default and failover rather than your sole dependency.

For humans and agents

The dual GET/POST behavior makes the endpoint useful to both developers and automated tools. You can paste https://moltnode.ag/base into a browser to read about the chain, while a script or wallet POSTs JSON-RPC to the same URL.

For automated discovery, MoltNode publishes a machine-readable catalog of every supported chain at https://moltnode.ag/api/chains and an agent-oriented summary at https://moltnode.ag/llms.txt. An AI agent can fetch the catalog, find the Base entry and its endpoint, and start making eth_* calls without any human in the loop.

Closing

The free Base RPC endpoint at https://moltnode.ag/base gives you a no-key, JSON-RPC Base node that works with viem, ethers, wallets, and AI agents — with automatic failover handled for you. Point your client at the URL and start building.