ethers¶

Read the blockchain without running your own node — or signing a blank cheque.

What is it?¶

ethers is the ethers.js v6 library for Ethereum: read balances, call smart contracts, format wei, sign messages locally. In TBL it ships with a sandboxed RPC layer — HTTP providers only, with call limits and timeouts so one command can't hammer an endpoint forever.

Access it as modules.ethers.

How to use¶

Connect to a public JSON-RPC endpoint and read the current block — provider calls are async, use await:

let provider = new modules.ethers.JsonRpcProvider("https://eth.llamarpc.com")
let block = await provider.getBlockNumber()

Store your RPC URL in dashboard ENV settings and read it via process.env instead of hard-coding URLs.

What's available¶

Most of ethers v6 works as documented — utilities, ABI encoding, wallets (local signing), formatting, and more.

Sandboxed providers¶

Only HTTP/HTTPS JSON-RPC providers are allowed:

Allowed	Blocked
`JsonRpcProvider`	`WebSocketProvider`
`FallbackProvider` (HTTP URLs)	`IpcProvider`
`FetchRequest`	`getDefaultProvider()`
`Contract` with HTTP runner	WebSocket / IPC connections

// Allowed
let provider = new modules.ethers.JsonRpcProvider("https://rpc.example.com")

// Blocked — throws
new modules.ethers.WebSocketProvider("wss://...")
modules.ethers.getDefaultProvider()

RPC URLs must be valid public http:// or https:// URLs (SSRF-validated).

RPC limits¶

Limit	Value
Max RPC calls per command	`parallel_process × 5` (minimum 10)
Per-call timeout	Your plan's script timeout
Provider types	HTTP/HTTPS only

Exceeding the call limit throws: ethers RPC call limit exceeded (N).

// Free plan (parallel_process: 10) → max 50 RPC calls per command
let provider = new modules.ethers.JsonRpcProvider(process.env.ETH_RPC)
let balance = await provider.getBalance("0x...")

Every async RPC method on wrapped providers counts toward the limit and races against your plan timeout.

Common patterns¶

Read block number¶

let provider = new modules.ethers.JsonRpcProvider(process.env.ETH_RPC)
let block = await provider.getBlockNumber()
Bot.sendMessage("Current block: " + block)

Read contract¶

let provider = new modules.ethers.JsonRpcProvider(process.env.ETH_RPC)
let abi = ["function balanceOf(address) view returns (uint256)"]
let contract = new modules.ethers.Contract(tokenAddress, abi, provider)
let balance = await contract.balanceOf(walletAddress)
let formatted = modules.ethers.formatEther(balance)

Fallback provider¶

let provider = new modules.ethers.FallbackProvider([
  "https://rpc1.example.com",
  "https://rpc2.example.com"
])

Format values (sync — no RPC)¶

modules.ethers.formatEther("1000000000000000000")   // "1.0"
modules.ethers.parseEther("1.5")                   // 1500000000000000000n
modules.ethers.getAddress("0x...")                 // checksum address
modules.ethers.isAddress("0x...")                  // true/false

Local wallet (signing doesn't count as RPC)¶

let wallet = new modules.ethers.Wallet(process.env.PRIVATE_KEY)
let signature = await wallet.signMessage("Hello")

Try it¶

Check an ETH balance¶

Bot replies in the current chat:

let address = params.trim()

if (!modules.ethers.isAddress(address)) {
  return Bot.sendMessage("That doesn't look like a valid address.")
}

let provider = new modules.ethers.JsonRpcProvider(process.env.ETH_RPC)
let balance = await provider.getBalance(address)
let eth = modules.ethers.formatEther(balance)

Bot.sendMessage("Balance: " + eth + " ETH")

Handle RPC errors gracefully¶

try {
  let provider = new modules.ethers.JsonRpcProvider(process.env.ETH_RPC)
  let block = await provider.getBlockNumber()
  Bot.sendMessage("Block: " + block)
} catch (err) {
  Bot.sendMessage("RPC error: " + err.message)
}

Error reference¶

Error	Cause
`WebSocketProvider is not allowed`	Used a blocked provider type
`RPC URL must be a valid HTTP(S) URL`	Invalid or missing URL
`ethers RPC call limit exceeded`	Too many RPC calls in one command
`ethers.getBlockNumber timed out after Nms`	RPC call exceeded plan timeout

Notes¶

Provider calls need await — encoding, formatting, and isAddress() are sync
Store RPC URLs and private keys in process.env — never hard-code
Wallet signing is local — does not count as an RPC call
For price lookups without RPC, see marketHub
Official ethers v6 docs: docs.ethers.org