Connecting to Base

Connect to Base Mainnet or the Sepolia testnet using the public RPC endpoints, then configure any EVM-compatible wallet to use the network.

Base Mainnet

Name	Value
Network Name	Base Mainnet
Description	The public mainnet for Base.
RPC Endpoint	https://mainnet.base.org — Flashblocks-enabled; rate limited, not for production.
Transaction Submission	https://mainnet-sequencer.base.org — send transactions only; use the RPC endpoint for everything else.
Chain ID	8453
Currency Symbol	ETH
Block Explorer	https://base.blockscout.com/

Base Testnet (Sepolia)

Name	Value
Network Name	Base Sepolia
Description	The public testnet for Base.
RPC Endpoint	https://sepolia.base.org — Flashblocks-enabled; rate limited, not for production.
Transaction Submission	https://sepolia-sequencer.base.org — send transactions only; use the RPC endpoint for everything else.
Chain ID	84532
Currency Symbol	ETH
Block Explorer	https://sepolia-explorer.base.org

Base Vibenet (preview)

Vibenet is Base’s experimental preview network. Chain-level features land here first, ahead of any rollout to Sepolia or Mainnet, so it is the place to try upcoming capabilities before they stabilize. At the moment it carries B20 tokens — an ERC-20 superset that adds roles, supply caps, pausing, and policy gating, with permit provided as a native precompile. Treat Vibenet as a sandbox for cutting-edge work only; it is not meant for production deployments or anything user-facing. Vibenet’s landing page, faucet, and explorer now all sit under chain.base.org/vibenet; the older vibes.base.org subdomains have been retired apart from the RPC endpoint.

Name	Value
Network Name	Base Vibenet
Description	Base’s experimental preview network.
RPC Endpoint	https://rpc.vibes.base.org
WebSocket Endpoint	wss://rpc.vibes.base.org/ws
Chain ID	84538453
Currency Symbol	ETH
Faucet	https://chain.base.org/vibenet/faucet
Block Explorer	https://chain.base.org/vibenet/explorer

Note

Protocol and network smart contract deployments for L1 and L2 are catalogued on the Base Contracts page.

Tip

Production workloads should connect through one of the node providers or run a Base node directly.

Caution

The public endpoints speak HTTP and nothing else. There is no WebSocket transport on them, so eth_subscribe and the newHeads and logs streams it feeds are simply unavailable — a subscription-based client cannot be pointed at mainnet.base.org or sepolia.base.org and made to work. Anything built on push notification needs a WebSocket-capable node provider from the outset. This is separate from the rate limits above: raising your request budget does not turn the feature on.

Streaming from Vibenet

Vibenet is the one Base network with an open WebSocket, at wss://rpc.vibes.base.org/ws. It accepts eth_subscribe, so subscription code can be written and tested here without a provider account:

• newHeads fires once per block and tracks chain progress.
• logs carries contract events, narrowed by address and indexed topics.

import WebSocket from "ws";

const ws = new WebSocket("wss://rpc.vibes.base.org/ws");

ws.on("open", () => {
  ws.send(JSON.stringify({
    jsonrpc: "2.0",
    id: 1,
    method: "eth_subscribe",
    params: ["newHeads"],
  }));
});

ws.on("message", (data) => {
  const msg = JSON.parse(data.toString());
  if (msg.method === "eth_subscription") {
    console.log("new head:", msg.params.result.number);
  }
});

Vibenet runs 200ms blocks, which changes what polling can do. A loop on a 250ms to 1s timer will step over whole blocks rather than merely lag behind them, so the socket has to be the primary feed and polling drops back to reconciliation work: balances, fee estimates, health checks. Hold a small number of long-lived connections and share each one across subscriptions and ordinary calls rather than opening a socket per subscription. Keep an HTTPS path ready for when the socket drops.

Do not carry this endpoint into code destined for Sepolia or Mainnet. Neither offers an equivalent, so the transport has to change when the network does.

Using Base with your wallet

Coinbase Wallet

The Coinbase Wallet browser extension supports Base out of the box.

To switch to Base in Coinbase Wallet:

1. Open the Coinbase Wallet extension and sign in.
2. Connect to an app from within the wallet.
3. Click the network icon in the top right to open the network menu.
4. Choose Base.

The active network now points at Base.

Other wallets

Base works as a custom network in any EVM-compatible wallet, including MetaMask.

MetaMask

To add Base as a custom network in MetaMask:

1. Open the MetaMask extension.

2. Click the network dropdown at the top of the extension.

3. Click Add network.

4. Click Add a network manually.

5. Enter the Base mainnet values:

   Name	Value
   Network Name	Base Mainnet
   Description	The public mainnet for Base.
   RPC Endpoint	https://mainnet.base.org
   Chain ID	8453
   Currency Symbol	ETH
   Block Explorer	https://base.blockscout.com/

6. Click Save.

Base now appears in the network dropdown.

Testnet

Coinbase Wallet supports Base Sepolia by default

To use Base Sepolia in Coinbase Wallet:

1. Open the Coinbase Wallet extension and sign in.
2. Connect to an app.
3. Click the network icon at the top right.
4. Click More networks.
5. Open the Testnets tab.
6. Choose Base Sepolia.

The active network is now the Base testnet.

Other wallets

Base Sepolia can also be added as a custom network in any EVM-compatible wallet such as MetaMask.

MetaMask

To add Base Sepolia in MetaMask:

1. Open the MetaMask extension.

2. Click the network dropdown.

3. Click Add network.

4. Click Add a network manually.

5. Enter the Base Sepolia values:

   Name	Value
   Network Name	Base Sepolia
   RPC Endpoint	https://sepolia.base.org
   Chain ID	84532
   Currency Symbol	ETH
   Block Explorer	https://sepolia-explorer.base.org

6. Click Save.

Base Sepolia is now selectable from the network dropdown.