Alchemy Hello World
Overview
Minimal working examples with the real Alchemy SDK: get ETH balance, fetch NFTs for a wallet, read ERC-20 token balances, and subscribe to pending transactions.
Prerequisites
- Completed
alchemy-install-authsetup alchemy-sdkinstalled (npm install alchemy-sdk)- Valid API key configured
Instructions
Step 1: Get ETH Balance
// src/hello-world/get-balance.ts
import { Alchemy, Network, Utils } from 'alchemy-sdk';
const alchemy = new Alchemy({
apiKey: process.env.ALCHEMY_API_KEY,
network: Network.ETH_MAINNET,
});
async function getBalance(address: string) {
const balanceWei = await alchemy.core.getBalance(address);
const balanceEth = Utils.formatEther(balanceWei);
console.log(`Balance of ${address}: ${balanceEth} ETH`);
return balanceEth;
}
// Query Vitalik's address
getBalance('0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045').catch(console.error);
Step 2: Fetch NFTs for a Wallet
// src/hello-world/get-nfts.ts
import { Alchemy, Network } from 'alchemy-sdk';
const alchemy = new Alchemy({
apiKey: process.env.ALCHEMY_API_KEY,
network: Network.ETH_MAINNET,
});
async function getNftsForOwner(owner: string) {
const nfts = await alchemy.nft.getNftsForOwner(owner);
console.log(`Total NFTs: ${nfts.totalCount}`);
for (const nft of nfts.ownedNfts.slice(0, 5)) {
console.log(` ${nft.contract.name} — ${nft.name || nft.tokenId}`);
console.log(` Contract: ${nft.contract.address}`);
console.log(` Token ID: ${nft.tokenId}`);
if (nft.image?.cachedUrl) {
console.log(` Image: ${nft.image.cachedUrl}`);
}
}
return nfts;
}
getNftsForOwner('vitalik.eth').catch(console.error);
Step 3: Get ERC-20 Token Balances
// src/hello-world/get-tokens.ts
import { Alchemy, Network } from 'alchemy-sdk';
const alchemy = new Alchemy({
apiKey: process.env.ALCHEMY_API_KEY,
network: Network.ETH_MAINNET,
});
async function getTokenBalances(address: string) {
const balances = await alchemy.core.getTokenBalances(address);
console.log(`Token balances for ${address}:`);
for (const token of balances.tokenBalances.slice(0, 10)) {
if (token.tokenBalance && token.tokenBalance !== '0x0') {
// Get token metadata for human-readable names
const metadata = await alchemy.core.getTokenMetadata(token.contractAddress);
const balance = parseInt(token.tokenBalance, 16) / Math.pow(10, metadata.decimals || 18);
console.log(` ${metadata.symbol}: ${balance.toFixed(4)}`);
}
}
}
getTokenBalances('0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045').catch(console.error);
Step 4: Get Latest Block Info
// src/hello-world/get-block.ts
import { Alchemy, Network } from 'alchemy-sdk';
const alchemy = new Alchemy({
apiKey: process.env.ALCHEMY_API_KEY,
network: Network.ETH_MAINNET,
});
async function getLatestBlock() {
const blockNumber = await alchemy.core.getBlockNumber();
const block = await alchemy.core.getBlock(blockNumber);
console.log(`Block #${blockNumber}`);
console.log(` Hash: ${block.hash}`);
console.log(` Timestamp: ${new Date(block.timestamp * 1000).toISOString()}`);
console.log(` Transactions: ${block.transactions.length}`);
console.log(` Gas Used: ${block.gasUsed.toString()}`);
}
getLatestBlock().catch(console.error);
Output
- ETH balance query with Wei → ETH conversion
- NFT enumeration with metadata and images
- ERC-20 token balances with symbol resolution
- Block data with timestamp and gas usage
Error Handling
| Error | Cause | Solution |
|-------|-------|----------|
| Invalid address | Malformed Ethereum address | Use checksummed 0x-prefixed address |
| 429 Too Many Requests | Rate limit exceeded | Add delay between calls or upgrade plan |
| ENS name not found | ENS not resolving | Verify ENS name exists on mainnet |
| Timeout | Slow node response | Increase timeout in SDK config |
Resources
Next Steps
Proceed to alchemy-local-dev-loop for development workflow setup.