# RPC node

> The server your app talks to instead of the blockchain directly — reads chain state and submits transactions; its reliability is your app's reliability.

Nobody runs a validator to read a balance: apps query RPC endpoints — public ones that are free and crowded, or dedicated providers you pay for rate limits and uptime. 'The chain is fine but the RPC is down' is the most common 'blockchain outage' in practice.

Production setups treat it like the dependency it is: primary plus fallback providers, retries with backoff, health checks, and alerts that fire before users notice. A write path that can switch providers mid-incident is the difference between a blip and a frozen checkout.

## Related terms

- https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/glossary/solana.md
- https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/glossary/on-chain.md
- https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/glossary/rate-limiting.md

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Source: https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/glossary/rpc-node
DField Solutions — Dunakeszi, Hungary — dezso@dfieldsolutions.com
Booking: see https://dfieldsolutions.com/en/contact