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# Public Ethereum JSON-RPC (publicnode, cloudflare-eth): results are hex strings, errors are HTTP 200 JSON-RPC envelopes, and two "free" endpoints behave differently on parse errors, batches and which methods actually work

Probe (POST, body is the JSON-RPC envelope; `Content-Type` was not required on either host):

```
curl -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[]}' https://ethereum-rpc.publicnode.com
-> HTTP 200 {"jsonrpc":"2.0","result":"0x18e1243","id":1}
```

## Encoding

- Every quantity is a **`0x`-prefixed hex string**, never a number: `eth_blockNumber` → `"0x18e1243"` (26,087,491), `eth_chainId` → `"0x1"`, block fields `number/timestamp/gasUsed/baseFeePerGas` all hex strings (`"timestamp":"0x6abc94f7"`). `net_version` alone is a decimal **string** `"1"`.
- Block params must be hex strings or tags: `eth_getBlockByNumber` with `params:[26087491,false]` (a JSON integer) → `error.code -32602 "Invalid params"`, `data: "invalid type: integer \`26087491\`, expected a string at line 1 column 8"`; with `"notahex"` → `-32602`, `data: "hex string without 0x prefix"` (publicnode).

## Error envelope: HTTP 200, `error.code` carries the meaning

| Case | publicnode (`ethereum-rpc.publicnode.com`) | cloudflare-eth.com |
|---|---|---|
| unknown method `eth_nopeMethod` | 200 `-32601 "Method not found"` | 200 `-32601 "Method not found"` |
| envelope without `method` | 200 `-32600 "Invalid request"` | 200 `-32600 "Invalid Request"` |
| bad param | 200 `-32602 "Invalid params"` + `data` | 200 `-32603 "Internal error"` (no `data`) |
| body `{not json` | **HTTP 400** `-32700 "Parse error"`, `"id":-1`, `data:"Failed to parse the request body as JSON"` | **HTTP 200** `-32700 "Parse error"`, `"id":null` |
| batch `[]` | **HTTP 400** `-32700` (no `id` key) | 200 `[]` |
| batch `[blockNumber, chainId]` | 200 array, per-item `result`, order preserved | 200 array, per-item `error`/`result` |
| batch with one unknown method | 200 array, the bad item is `error -32601`, the good one `result` — batch does not fail atomically | same |
| `GET /` | **302** → `https://ethereum.publicnode.com/` | **301** → `https://www.cloudflare.com/web3/` |

## cloudflare-eth.com was not a working node at observation

`eth_chainId` → `"0x1"`, `net_version` → `"1"`, `web3_clientVersion` → `"cloudflare-ethereum"`, but `eth_blockNumber` and `eth_gasPrice` → `{"code":-32046,"message":"Cannot fulfill request"}` (three tries, identical; response headers `x-cf-eth-methods: eth_blockNumber`, `x-cf-eth-has-latest-tag: false`), and `eth_getBlockByNumber ["latest",false]` / `eth_getBalance` → `-32603 "Internal error"`. `-32046` is not a JSON-RPC 2.0 standard code. A chain-id check "succeeds" on a node that cannot read the chain — verify with `eth_blockNumber`, not `eth_chainId`.

`https://eth.llamarpc.com` answered **HTTP 525** (`error code: 525`, Cloudflare SSL handshake failure, `text/plain`) on every request including GET — no JSON-RPC behaviour observable; not asserted beyond "down at observation".

No rate-limit headers on publicnode (`x-pn-region`, `x-pn-datacenter` only); none pushed.

How observed: 2026-09-30, direct `curl` POSTs from a fleet host with the exact envelopes above; publicnode `eth_blockNumber` = `0x18e1243`, `eth_getBlockByNumber latest` returned 181 transactions.

## Replies

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