Leader Slot Information API Documentation | ERPC

What is the Leader Slot Information (getLeaderSlots) API?

getLeaderSlots is an extended Solana RPC method that retrieves leader validator schedule information from the network.
If you hold ERPC usage credits (API tokens), you can use it in the same format as a standard Solana RPC call.

This API provides the following information:

Leader validator schedule starting from the specified slot
Estimated region and geolocation of each leader
Reference ping measurements (pingToLeaders)

Endpoint and Request Body Example

endpoint
https://edge.erpc.global?api-key=<YOUR_API_KEY>

Specify the starting slot number in params.

json
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "getLeaderSlots",
  "params": [368488568]
}

Example (HTTP)

bash
curl https://edge.erpc.global?api-key=<YOUR_API_KEY> \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "jsonrpc":"2.0",
    "id":1,
    "method":"getLeaderSlots",
    "params":[368488568]
  }'

Example Response (JSON)

json
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "result": [
    {
      "identity": "DTSUKYHde29PHLy2fBLarsbDdPHQuhZmvjRVuJ2QRC8",
      "epoch": 852,
      "slot": 368488631,
      "ipAddress": "198.73.56.215",
      "gossipPort": 8000,
      "tpuPort": 8003,
      "tpuQuicPort": 8009,
      "rpcAddress": null,
      "version": "0.708.20306",
      "featureSet": "3640012085",
      "pingToLeaders": [
        {
          "city": "Amsterdam",
          "region": "North Holland",
          "ms": 7.687,
          "fromIp": "185.191.118.11",
          "country": "NL",
          "lat": 52.374,
          "lon": 4.8897,
          "org": "AS5552 Serverside.com",
          "postal": "1012",
          "timezone": "Europe/Amsterdam"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "identity": "HyperSPG8w4jgdHgmA8ExrhRLL1LBRirRTHDU9FdXJUud",
      "epoch": 852,
      "slot": 368488632,
      "ipAddress": "216.238.85.198",
      "gossipPort": 8001,
      "tpuPort": 9001,
      "tpuQuicPort": 9007,
      "rpcAddress": null,
      "version": "0.708.20306",
      "featureSet": "3640012085",
      "pingToLeaders": [
        {
          "city": "General Lázaro Cárdenas",
          "region": "Querétaro",
          "ms": 136.96,
          "fromIp": "185.191.118.11",
          "country": "MX",
          "lat": 20.5619,
          "lon": -100.2449,
          "org": "AS42473 The Constant Company, LLC",
          "postal": "76264",
          "timezone": "America/Mexico_City"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "identity": "HyperSPG8w4jgdHgmA8ExrhRLL1LBRirRTHDU9FdXJUud",
      "epoch": 852,
      "slot": 368488633,
      "ipAddress": "216.238.85.198",
      "gossipPort": 8001,
      "tpuPort": 9001,
      "tpuQuicPort": 9007,
      "rpcAddress": null,
      "version": "0.708.20306",
      "featureSet": "3640012085",
      "pingToLeaders": [
        {
          "city": "General Lázaro Cárdenas",
          "region": "Querétaro",
          "ms": 136.92,
          "fromIp": "185.191.118.11",
          "country": "MX",
          "lat": 20.5619,
          "lon": -100.2449,
          "org": "AS42473 The Constant Company, LLC",
          "postal": "76264",
          "timezone": "America/Mexico_City"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Token Usage

Retrieves 100 leader slot records starting from the specified slot. Each request consumes 420 tokens.

Why Leader Slot Information Matters

When a leader is geographically distant (e.g., >100 ms), direct transaction delivery becomes inefficient.
During intercontinental leader transitions (e.g., FRA → NY), regional switching strategies are crucial.
Combining slot schedules with measured ping data allows for optimized routing and validator placement.

Background

A single Solana epoch consists of approximately 432,000 slots. Continuously pinging all validators, storing, and aggregating the data requires a high-cost infrastructure. ERPC automates this process and provides an immediately usable leader slot map as a service.

Strategic Use Cases

Detection Optimization: Prioritize sending transactions to nearby (low-latency) leaders
Multi-region Deployment: Deploy in FRA, NY, TY, etc., to minimize slot transition gaps
Visualization and Analytics: Monitor leader ratios and latency distribution by region

Availability

getLeaderSlots is available to all ERPC users. API tokens (usage credits) can be issued or verified on the Validators DAO Discord.

Discord: https://discord.gg/C7ZQSrCkYR

Transaction Success Rate and SWQoS Endpoint

To further improve transaction success rate and execution speed, we recommend using the SWQoS Endpoint.

SWQoS (Stake-weighted Quality of Service) prioritizes validators with stake connections. Leaders allocate approximately 80 % of bandwidth to priority traffic and 20 % to non-priority, with the priority lane offering roughly 5× the throughput. This scheduling takes place before Priority-fee evaluation, meaning getting into the SWQoS priority lane is the prerequisite for true low-latency performance.