Filecoin public Glif RPC endpoint and node infrastructure
Filecoin stores client data across an open network of independent providers, but developers need a reliable way to read the chain and verify what is stored. Running a Lotus node is heavy, and no single provider can prove a file is still kept. Protofire built and operates two public tools for these gaps: the Glif public RPC endpoint, which lets any dApp query Filecoin without a node, and the open-source CID Checker (Storage Oracle) at filecoin.tools for storage verification, documented in Filecoin's own Lotus docs.
“Two gaps sat between Filecoin and its builders.”
Why reading Filecoin is harder than reading a typical chain
Filecoin is a storage network first: providers commit real disk capacity and the chain records proofs the data is still there, so a full Lotus node carries far more state than a general-purpose EVM node, and reading it means syncing heavy infrastructure first. At the time, the network already had thousands of active storage providers producing hundreds of thousands of FIL a day in block rewards, several million dollars a day, with stored data past 1 EiB (source: Filecoin network data).
The trigger: dApps need chain access and storage proof without running Lotus
Two gaps sat between Filecoin and its builders. Without a public endpoint, every project ran its own Lotus node just to read the chain or send a transaction, the barrier that keeps builders on centralized storage. And with storage spread across independent providers, no user or developer could easily confirm a file was still kept. The request behind the CID Checker was plain: list every CID with its current status in the latest state tree.
The barrier: a public endpoint must absorb concurrent load and reflect live chain state
Both are only useful if they are dependable. A public RPC endpoint is infrastructure others build on, so it must absorb concurrent traffic and stay available: a proxy layer, monitoring, and operational ownership, not a one-time deployment. The checker is stricter still: it must reflect the chain's real state-market-deals data, not a cached approximation, so it indexes deal state continuously behind an API and front end.
How Protofire built and operates Filecoin's public node infrastructure
Protofire built the public access layer and runs it in production. We operate public and dedicated Filecoin nodes and expose them through the Glif public RPC endpoint (a Protofire and Infinite Scroll collaboration); Filecoin's official Lotus documentation points builders to the Glif public API.
In front of the nodes we built filecoin-rpc-proxy for request routing and caching. For verification we built the CID Checker (Storage Oracle), an open-source site and API at filecoin.tools that lists CIDs by storage status, indexing deal state in the open (filecoin-statemarketdeals) so answers track the chain, not a stale snapshot.
Results
Proof pack
Both repos are Protofire-authored source, not forks; the Glif endpoint is documented by Filecoin itself.
| Artifact | What it verifies | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Glif public RPC endpoint (Lotus) | Protofire-operated, cited in Filecoin's own docs | lotus.filecoin.io/developers/glif-nodes · api.node.glif.io |
| CID Checker (Storage Oracle) | Live open-source storage-verification service | filecoin.tools |
| `filecoin-CID-checker` | Protofire-authored CID Checker source | github.com/protofire/filecoin-CID-checker |
| `filecoin-rpc-proxy` | Protofire-authored proxy for the endpoint | github.com/protofire/filecoin-rpc-proxy |