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

# Westend

> Endpoints and example requests for the Westend test network.

Westend is the primary test network of Polkadot. The tokens on this network are called *Westies* (WND) and they purposefully hold no economic value.

### How to Connect to Westend

You can connect to Westend using Blockops private API endpoints. Secure your data, speed up your queries, and take control of your API usage with our RPC API endpoint and personalized API keys. [Sign up now](https://app.blockops.network) to get your own API key.

To get your API key, create a project using a unique Identifier as the project name and select Westend from the network options.

<Frame caption="Create a Westend project">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/blockops-3855c227/OGmnNOc7FURsTCyJ/images/westend-create.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=OGmnNOc7FURsTCyJ&q=85&s=07f49fbe7ef6e7d6afca0ad201da4cda" alt="" width="2552" height="1426" data-path="images/westend-create.png" />
</Frame>

Open the project to view your api key and rpc endpoints.

<Frame caption="view Westend project">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/blockops-3855c227/OGmnNOc7FURsTCyJ/images/westend-view.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=OGmnNOc7FURsTCyJ&q=85&s=1a8df546374ffa786d096ef9b31eeb20" alt="" width="2552" height="1426" data-path="images/westend-view.png" />
</Frame>

#### Send requests

<Note>
  All requests are `POST` requests.
</Note>

**Connect via Command Line**

You can connect to the network using websocket or HTTP with your API key in two ways:

* Adding the API key as a query string `?api_key=${APIKEY}`
* Or the request header `-H 'authorization: APIKEY ${APIKEY}'`

**Curl**

For example, the following CURL command can be used to get header and body of a relay chain block.

```bash theme={null}
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H 'authorization: APIKEY xxxx'  -d '{"id":1, "jsonrpc":"2.0", "method": "chain_getBlock"}' https://westend.blockops.network/rpc
```

Here is the response you will receive back.

```bash theme={null}
{"jsonrpc":"2.0","result":{"block":{"header":{"parentHash":"0x381dd358f0b1e328e861822b2a51a72e8dc064803a5c7ccc96277da3b16d7667","number":"0xe07a1d","stateRoot":"0xa2aacd7ef5d7ff66da1df6643b3e1c13975d210363c568f1bed51bad56cf40db","extrinsicsRoot":"0x00bc7f1504c9a07364835d80d2114ca3d4e7ad774453198b119bea9be2a1f7c1","digest":{"logs":["0x0642414245b50103d8000000d17aae1000000000768dc1931ba697bb9ab4a08debf5d710bd1f55e6325d65315161c2340cc0217170dfe2df24a3680c8ff48868ac665f4b34ebefa4bc844d510c848d9fc99252035db579a0acbf52cded336d6daf6ab7fdb1d1eee0d480e6388c2a12785d4de809"]},"justifications":null},"id":1}
```

**Wscat**

If you want to send data requests with WebSockets, you can use several libraries or wscat. You can install and use wscat as follows:

* Download wscat from [https://www.npmjs.com/package/wscat](https://www.npmjs.com/package/wscat)
* Install wscat by running the following command: `npm install -g wscat`

You can connect to the network with wscat using two options by adding the API key as a query string.

```bash theme={null}
wscat -c 'wss://westend.blockops.network/ws?api_key=*********************'
```

Or the request header.

```bash theme={null}
wscat -c 'wss://westend.blockops.network/ws' --header 'authorization: APIKEY xxxx'
```

After executing the command, the terminal will display a message indicating that the connection has been enabled successfully.

```bash theme={null}
Connected (press CTRL+C to quit)
>
```

Then, you can send the following request:

```
{"id":1, "jsonrpc":"2.0", "method": "chain_getBlock"}
```

<Note>
  For more information on the Westend network, please see the official[ ](https://wiki.polkadot.network/docs/maintain-networks?ref=cms.polkadot.network#westend-test-network)[Westend developer documentation](https://wiki.polkadot.network/docs/maintain-networks#westend-test-network).
</Note>

Login or set up an account [here](https://app.blockops.network) to get started!

#### ***Quick Links***

[Github](https://github.com/paritytech/)