#
Providers

A Provider is an abstraction of a connection to the Ethereum network, providing a concise, consistent interface to standard Ethereum node functionality.

The ethers.js library provides several options which should cover the vast majority of use-cases, but also includes the necessary functions and classes for sub-classing if a more custom configuration is necessary.

Most users should be able to simply use the Default Provider.

##
Default Provider

The default provider is the safest, easiest way to begin developing on Ethereum, and it is also robust enough for use in production.

It creates a FallbackProvider connected to as many backend services as possible. When a request is made, it is sent to multiple backends simulatenously. As responses from each backend are returned, they are checked that they agree. Once a quorum has been reached (i.e. enough of the backends agree), the response is provided to your application.

This ensures that if a backend has become out-of-sync, or if it has been compromised that its responses are dropped in favor of responses that match the majority.

ethers . getDefaultProvider ( [ network ] ) ⇒ Provider

Returns a new Provider, backed by multiple services, connected to network. Is no network is provided, homestead (i.e. mainnet) is used.

##
Provider Documentation

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