Geth ships with an interactive JavaScript console that exposes the full
JSON-RPC API as well as additional management APIs.
The console runs a JavaScript runtime (powered by Goja)
and connects to the node over RPC.
Starting the console
There are two ways to open a console.
Inline console
Start Geth with a console attached in the same process:
Combine with other flags as needed:
geth --mainnet console
geth --sepolia console
geth console 2>/tmp/geth.log
Attaching to a running node
If a Geth node is already running, attach a console to it without restarting:
IPC (default)
HTTP
WebSocket
Attaches over the IPC socket. This is the simplest option when you are on
the same machine as the node.Specify a non-default socket path:geth attach /path/to/geth.ipc
Attaches over the HTTP JSON-RPC endpoint. The node must be started with
--http.geth attach http://localhost:8545
Attaches over the WebSocket JSON-RPC endpoint. The node must be started
with --ws.geth attach ws://localhost:8546
Available objects
Once the console is open, the following top-level objects are available,
depending on which API namespaces are enabled on the connected node:
| Object | Namespace | Description |
|---|
eth | eth | Core Ethereum API |
net | net | Network information |
web3 | web3 | Utility functions (conversion, hashing) |
admin | admin | Node management |
txpool | txpool | Transaction pool inspection |
debug | debug | Low-level debugging |
miner | miner | Mining control (PoW networks only) |
Objects are only available when the corresponding namespace is exposed on the
RPC endpoint the console is attached to. Over IPC all namespaces are always
available.
eth commands
The eth object maps directly to the eth_* JSON-RPC methods.
// Current block number
> eth.blockNumber
12345678
// List accounts in the local keystore
> eth.accounts
["0xd3cda913deb6f4967b2ef3aa68f5a843ffef3dec", "0x..."]
// Get the balance of an address (result is in wei)
> eth.getBalance("0xd3cda913deb6f4967b2ef3aa68f5a843ffef3dec")
1000000000000000000
// Convert wei to ether for readability
> web3.fromWei(eth.getBalance(eth.accounts[0]), "ether")
"1.5"
// Get a transaction receipt by hash
> eth.getTransactionReceipt("0xabcdef1234567890...")
{
blockHash: "0x...",
blockNumber: 12345678,
contractAddress: null,
gasUsed: 21000,
status: "0x1",
transactionHash: "0xabcdef1234567890...",
...
}
// Send ETH (requires an unlocked account)
> eth.sendTransaction({
from: eth.accounts[0],
to: "0x3535353535353535353535353535353535353535",
value: web3.toWei("0.5", "ether")
})
"0x..." // transaction hash
// Get the latest block
> eth.getBlock("latest")
{
number: 12345678,
hash: "0x...",
timestamp: 1680000000,
transactions: [...],
...
}
// Get the current gas price (in wei)
> eth.gasPrice
1000000000
admin commands
The admin namespace provides node management functions.
// Show connected peers
> admin.peers
[{
id: "04...",
name: "Geth/v1.x.x-stable/linux-amd64/go1.x.x",
network: { remoteAddress: "1.2.3.4:30303", ... },
...
}]
// Show this node's information (enode, ID, ports)
> admin.nodeInfo
{
enode: "enode://04...@127.0.0.1:30303",
id: "...",
ip: "127.0.0.1",
listenAddr: "[::]:30303",
name: "Geth/v1.x.x-stable/linux-amd64/go1.x.x",
...
}
// Manually connect to a peer using its enode URL
> admin.addPeer("enode://04...@1.2.3.4:30303")
true
// Show the data directory path
> admin.datadir
"/home/user/.ethereum"
txpool commands
The txpool namespace lets you inspect the local transaction pool.
// Summary count of pending and queued transactions
> txpool.status
{
pending: 4,
queued: 1
}
// Full details of all pending and queued transactions
// keyed by sender address and nonce
> txpool.content
{
pending: {
"0xd3cda913...": {
"6": { hash: "0x...", nonce: "0x6", ... }
}
},
queued: { ... }
}
// Same as content, but returns only sender, nonce, and hash
> txpool.inspect
Loading scripts
Run a JavaScript file inside the console with loadScript:
> loadScript("/path/to/script.js")
true
geth attach --preload /path/to/init.js,/path/to/helpers.js
geth --exec 'eth.blockNumber' attach
History and autocomplete
The console stores command history to a file in the Geth data directory
(history by default). Use the up and down arrow keys to navigate previous
commands.
Press Tab to autocomplete object properties and method names. For example,
typing eth. and pressing Tab shows all available eth methods.
Use Ctrl+C to cancel the current line and Ctrl+D or type exit to
close the console session.
