A dive into the latest updates around the popular Tezos block explorer, TzKT.
One of the most important aspects of a blockchain is its ability to be used in different manners and applications. Equally as important is a way to verify that you used the blockchain and, going further, how exactly you used it.
Generally speaking, this is the purpose of block explorers. TzKT is no exception, and they’ve rolled out some exciting updates. In this article, we will dive deeper into TzKT and highlight some of those updates.
What is TzKT?
Built by Baking Bad, TzKT is a Tezos block explorer built on its own open-source indexer and highly performant API. We said a lot there; what does that mean?
In simple terms, TzKT is both a block explorer and an indexer. A block explorer provides a friendly interface for exploring detailed information about blocks, transactions, accounts, smart contracts, and more on the blockchain. This allows users to monitor transactions, check balances, inspect smart contracts, and verify on-chain activities.
On the other hand, an indexer processes and organizes the raw data added to the Tezos blockchain, making it accessible and searchable. This involves indexing transactions, blocks, smart contracts, and other relevant data. Indexers also play an important role in enriching the data by providing additional metadata and APIs (Application Programming Interface).
Metadata is important for developers as it provides context to other data. That context can include names associated with a Tezos address, smart contracts, or an indication that a transaction was a payment to a specific service or part of a specific smart contract.
APIs help developers access and interact with blockchain data programmatically. For instance, you might want to compile a list of all transactions tied to a specific address or get the current state of a smart contract. APIs help provide these things for developers, who use them to create dApps (Decentralized Applications) on Tezos.
Now that we understand block explorers, indexers, and more, let’s explore some exciting updates from TzKT.
New Updates to TzKT
You might remember that as early as a few weeks ago, when you went to stake your tez, you could not use TzKT to check staking capacity or if bakers even supported staking. The workaround at the time was to use a tool on XTZChad called “Chad Stake,” which props to Doctor Chad for building and maintaining this suite along with several others.
Chad Stake
The reason why you couldn’t check staking capacity of bakers was due to the activation of the Paris B protocol, which introduced a new staking mechanism to the Tezos network. To stake, users had to use the new staking dApp provided by Trilitech and ensure they had already been delegated to a baker. The problem was that not every baker supported staking, as indicated by the need for the XTZChad tools.
New and improved TzKT bakers section.
Baking Bad has now fixed this problem on TzKT showing a clean new section for bakers that shows staking capacity as green next to a bakery. The blue represents the stake filled out of the total capacity for the baker. Thus, red indicates a baker is currently at capacity or over. Lastly, a red “X” indicates a baker is not supporting staking.
Some bakers do not support staking.
Additionally, Baking Bad has released a new version of their public bakers API. If you’re a wallet provider, migrate to the latest version.
Final Thoughts
Something that seems simple, such as a block explorer, is vital to a blockchain ecosystem. For Tezos, we’re lucky to have an amazing one with TzKT, and we thank all the hard work from Baking Bad that went into developing and maintaining it. Thanks to their latest update, you can now head to a single page to ensure your baker is not over staking capacity or supports it!
Some Exciting Updates to TzKT Block Explorer was originally published in Tezos Commons on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
