> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.validationcloud.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# getchaintips

Return information about all known tips in the block tree, including the main chain as well as orphaned branches.

This method will use `10` [Compute Units](/nodeapi/about/billing).

***

## **Reference:** [**Here**](https://developer.bitcoin.org/reference/rpc/getchaintips.html)

## Returns

```json theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark-default"}}
[                        (json array)
  {                      (json object)
    "height" : n,        (numeric) height of the chain tip
    "hash" : "hex",      (string) block hash of the tip
    "branchlen" : n,     (numeric) zero for main chain, otherwise length of branch connecting the tip to the main chain
    "status" : "str"     (string) status of the chain, "active" for the main chain
                         Possible values for status:
                         1.  "invalid"               This branch contains at least one invalid block
                         2.  "headers-only"          Not all blocks for this branch are available, but the headers are valid
                         3.  "valid-headers"         All blocks are available for this branch, but they were never fully validated
                         4.  "valid-fork"            This branch is not part of the active chain, but is fully validated
                         5.  "active"                This is the tip of the active main chain, which is certainly valid
  },
  ...
]
```

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash title="mainnet" theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark-default"}}
  curl https://mainnet.bitcoin.validationcloud.io/v1/<YOUR_API_KEY_HERE> \
   -X POST \
   -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
   -d '{
  	"jsonrpc": "1.0",
  	"id": "curltest",
  	"method": "getchaintips",
  	"params": []
  }'
  ```

  ```bash title="testnet" theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark-default"}}
  curl https://testnet.bitcoin.validationcloud.io/v1/<YOUR_API_KEY_HERE> \
   -X POST \
   -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
   -d '{
  	"jsonrpc": "1.0",
  	"id": "curltest",
  	"method": "getchaintips",
  	"params": []
  }'
  ```
</CodeGroup>


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