Introducing GoalSeeker, a New Algorand Explorer

As you might have seen, PureStake released a new Algorand explorer, GoalSeeker, earlier today (which, by the way, is Algorand’s six-month anniversary of MainNet launch). We’re very excited for this release, since it’s an opportunity to build the kind of block explorer that we’d want to use ourselves.

At first glance, it might seem counter-intuitive for an infrastructure company to produce a software-based UI for tracking Algorand’s network data. But it actually makes a lot of sense for us as a showcase application for our indexed REST APIs: the project turned into a great way to highlight our infrastructure capabilities while at the same time supporting the Algorand ecosystem.

Why an Algorand Explorer?

Since the Algorand MainNet launch, our focus has been on the backend of Algorand applications — providing relay and participation nodes as well as an API platform. We felt that the ecosystem would benefit from an additional reliable application for viewing data on the blockchain. By creating GoalSeeker, we’ve provided the community with more options and another place to view and validate any kind of Algorand data they may need.

This aligns with PureStake’s core value of giving back to the networks of which we are part. We believe in the people and technology around Algorand technology and see view an explorer as an investment to help and grow the ecosystem.

GoalSeeker’s development was spurred when PureStake identified performance issues with a native Algorand node API query, internally dubbed “The Query of Doom.” This discovery led the team to create a managed backend datastore and a new API endpoint that could resolve the query performance issues. Like all of PureStake’s infrastructure, the backend was designed to be highly secure and reliable with no single point of failure.

Building this managed datastore opened up new possibilities to create a set of indexed APIs, but we needed a real-world use case for those APIs to help drive development. GoalSeeker served as a perfect use case, ensuring the backend APIs were useful and forcing us to “eat our own dog food” at the same time.

GoalSeeker Explorer Capabilities

GoalSeeker makes it easier than ever to view critical network statistics, browse recently created blocks, search for transactions and accounts in previous blocks, and review activity related to Algorand Standard Assets (ASAs).

At launch, you can use the GoalSeeker block explorer to:

• Monitor Algorand transactions on both the MainNet and TestNet ledgers
• View and search for blocks, transactions, accounts, and assets
• Access a feed of the most recently created blocks and assets
• Drill down into all assets and transactions associated with accounts
• View vital network statistics at a glance, including total supply, online stake, exchange rate to USD, and the current block reward level

GoalSeeker is free to use and does not require an account. You can start using it by navigating here: goalseeker.purestake.io

Future Adaptations and Enhancements

The release of GoalSeeker wraps up a big year for PureStake, which included launching an Algorand API service for developers, Algorand node infrastructure services for early network participants, and validator services for Polkadot’s BetaNet, Kusama. Each was designed to consistently deliver secure and reliable network access to ecosystem participants. We plan to continue this momentum into 2020.

As an infrastructure provider, we generally work backstage, helping applications run smoothly. But this Algorand explorer gave us an opportunity to take center stage for the first time by producing an end user application. Usability is a key issue that is hampering blockchain adoption, and we will continue to make investments into GoalSeeker which will hopefully, in turn, reduce friction related to the adoption of Algorand.

And it’s not just GoalSeeker that will be provided to the community; we plan to open up our new indexed REST APIs early next year to sit alongside our existing Algorand node APIs.

Originally published at https://www.purestake.com on December 19, 2019.