Using Node as RPC URL endpoint

How to connect your ETH wallet to your own node's RPC endpoint

🎉 Reasons to use your own NODE as RPC URL endpoint

• Privacy: No spying by middleman between you and the blockchain

• Trustless verification: Ability to verify the ETH transaction data you see is raw and not manipulated

• Decentralization: No need to depend on Infura or other centralized 3rd parties

• Coolness and credibility: Using Ethereum as it was meant to be, a step towards being more sovereign

🤖 How to use your NODE as a RPC endpoint

Before continuing please understand the following:

• As this method uses SSH tunneling, no changes are required to your firewall or router's port forwarding

1. Verify RPC port 8545 is listening

Double check that your node is listening on port 8545

ss -ntlp | grep 8545

For example, here's the output for Besu with RPC enabled.

LISTEN 0      128    [::ffff:127.0.0.1]:8545             *:*    users:(("java",pid=26453,fd=433))

Port 8545 is NOT listening or using Geth or Besu?

Note: Nethermind and Erigon enable RPC by default.

The following flags on the ExecStart line are required to enable RPC.

Geth

--http

Besu

--rpc-http-enabled=true
--rpc-http-cors-origins="*"

Changes can be made to the systemd unit file execution.service,

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/execution.service

To exit and save, press Ctrl + X, then Y, then Enter.

Make sure to reload and restart.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart execution

2. Create a SSH tunnel

Every time you want to use your node as an RPC endpoint, you must open a SSH tunnel connection with port 8545 forwarded.

Exception: Local nodes (i.e. using Ubuntu Desktop) - if you're accessing your wallet on the same machine as your node, skip this step.

Linux or MacOS

Example of how to create a SSH tunnel in Linux or MacOS:

ssh -N -v <user>@<staking.node.ip.address> -L 8545:localhost:8545

#Full Example
ssh -N -v ethereum@192.168.1.69 -L 8545:localhost:8545

Windows

3. Configure wallet to use RPC URL

When configuring your wallet, you can reference the following network information:

Network	Chain ID	Block Explorer	Currency
Mainnet	1	https://etherscan.io	ETH
Holešky	17000	https://holesky.etherscan.io	HoleskyETH
Goerli	5	https://goerli.etherscan.io	GoerliETH
Sepolia	11155111	https://sepolia.etherscan.io	SepoliaETH

Here are steps to configure popular wallets to use a custom RPC URL endpoint.

Rabby

Download from https://rabby.io

1. Click More

2. Click Custom RPC

3. Click Add RPC

4. Select the network. If testnet, you might need to go back a menu and enable testnets.

5. Fill in the RPC URL as http://127.0.0.1:8545

6. Rabby will now show your balances with this RPC.

Example of Adding a Network:

Frame

Download from https://frame.sh

1. Open Chains

2. Either add to an existing chain (i.e. Mainnet) or Click "Add New Chain"

3. Fill in Primary (if new chain) or Secondary (if existing chain) RPC URL as http://localhost:8545

4. If required, fill in Chain name, Chain ID, Native symbol, Native Currency Name and Block Explorer with data from above table

5. Click ADD CHAIN button

6. Frame will now display your balances with this RPC.

Example of Adding a Network:

Metamask

Download from https://metamask.io

1. Open Settings

2. Open Networks

3. Click "Add a network" > Add a network manually

4. Fill in New RPC URL as http://localhost:8545

5. Fill in Network name, Chain ID, Currency symbol, and Block Explorer with data from above table

6. Click Save button

7. Finally, click the top left button and "Select a Network", the network which you just added.

Example of Adding a Network:

Great job! You're now using your own node as your own RPC URL endpoint.