Engine API

ev-node communicates with ev-reth through the Ethereum Engine API, the same protocol used by Ethereum consensus clients.

Overview

The Engine API is a JSON-RPC interface authenticated with JWT. ev-node acts as the consensus client, driving ev-reth (execution client) to build and finalize blocks.

Authentication

All Engine API calls require JWT authentication:

# Generate shared secret
openssl rand -hex 32 > jwt.hex

Configure both sides:

• ev-reth: --authrpc.jwtsecret jwt.hex
• ev-node: --evm.jwt-secret jwt.hex

Block Production Flow

ev-node                                    ev-reth
   │                                          │
   │  1. engine_forkchoiceUpdatedV3/V4        │
   │     (headBlockHash, payloadAttributes)   │
   │─────────────────────────────────────────►│
   │                                          │
   │  2. {payloadId}                          │
   │◄─────────────────────────────────────────│
   │                                          │
   │  3. engine_getPayloadV4/V5/V6(payloadId) │
   │─────────────────────────────────────────►│
   │                                          │
   │  4. {executionPayload, blockValue}       │
   │◄─────────────────────────────────────────│
   │                                          │
   │  [ev-node broadcasts to P2P, submits DA] │
   │                                          │
   │  5. engine_newPayloadV4/V5(payload)      │
   │─────────────────────────────────────────►│
   │                                          │
   │  6. {status: VALID}                      │
   │◄─────────────────────────────────────────│
   │                                          │
   │  7. engine_forkchoiceUpdatedV3           │
   │     (newHeadBlockHash)                   │
   │─────────────────────────────────────────►│
   │                                          │

Methods

Fork family	Forkchoice	Get payload	New payload
Prague	engine_forkchoiceUpdatedV3	engine_getPayloadV4	engine_newPayloadV4
Osaka/Fusaka	engine_forkchoiceUpdatedV3	engine_getPayloadV5	engine_newPayloadV4
Amsterdam	engine_forkchoiceUpdatedV4	engine_getPayloadV6	engine_newPayloadV5

Amsterdam support is more than a method rename: payload attributes include slotNumber, and built payloads include executionPayload.blockAccessList. ev-node preserves the raw Amsterdam executionPayload returned by ev-reth and submits it unchanged to engine_newPayloadV5. ev-node detects Amsterdam by retrying engine_forkchoiceUpdatedV4 after an unsupported-fork response from engine_forkchoiceUpdatedV3, then caches V4.

engine_forkchoiceUpdatedV3 / V4

Update the fork choice and optionally start building a new block.

Request:

{
  "method": "engine_forkchoiceUpdatedV4",
  "params": [
    {
      "headBlockHash": "0x...",
      "safeBlockHash": "0x...",
      "finalizedBlockHash": "0x..."
    },
    {
      "timestamp": "0x...",
      "prevRandao": "0x...",
      "suggestedFeeRecipient": "0x...",
      "withdrawals": [],
      "parentBeaconBlockRoot": "0x...",
      "slotNumber": "0x..."
    }
  ]
}

Response:

{
  "payloadStatus": {
    "status": "VALID",
    "latestValidHash": "0x..."
  },
  "payloadId": "0x..."
}

engine_getPayloadV4 / V5 / V6

Retrieve a built payload.

Request:

{
  "method": "engine_getPayloadV6",
  "params": ["0x...payloadId"]
}

Response:

{
  "executionPayload": {
    "parentHash": "0x...",
    "feeRecipient": "0x...",
    "stateRoot": "0x...",
    "receiptsRoot": "0x...",
    "logsBloom": "0x...",
    "prevRandao": "0x...",
    "blockNumber": "0x1",
    "gasLimit": "0x...",
    "gasUsed": "0x...",
    "timestamp": "0x...",
    "extraData": "0x",
    "baseFeePerGas": "0x...",
    "blockHash": "0x...",
    "transactions": ["0x..."],
    "slotNumber": "0x...",
    "blockAccessList": []
  },
  "blockValue": "0x..."
}

engine_newPayloadV4 / V5

Validate and execute a payload.

Request:

{
  "method": "engine_newPayloadV5",
  "params": [
    {
      "parentHash": "0x...",
      "blockHash": "0x...",
      "slotNumber": "0x...",
      "blockAccessList": []
    },
    ["0x...versionedHashes"],
    "0x...parentBeaconBlockRoot",
    []
  ]
}

Response:

{
  "status": "VALID",
  "latestValidHash": "0x..."
}

Status Codes

Status	Meaning
VALID	Payload is valid
INVALID	Payload is invalid
SYNCING	Node is syncing
ACCEPTED	Payload accepted but not yet validated

Ports

Port	Purpose
8545	JSON-RPC (public)
8551	Engine API (authenticated)

Next Steps

• Engine API Reference — Full method reference
• Configuration — ev-reth settings