Where each number comes from
Every figure on a Core screen came from somewhere. This page names the paths, and the one request that answers the question for any protocol.
The three paths
Section titled “The three paths”Path 3 is the only case where a request leaves your own browser to a host Universe does not operate. The pages that show that data name it.
Path 1: Universe-operated
Section titled “Path 1: Universe-operated”Chain height, blocks, transactions, address activity, address UTXOs, and fee estimates come from Universe-operated Mempool and Ordinals services. Internal protocol indexers use the same operator-owned block routes to verify chain continuity.
There is no public-provider fallback. If that source is unavailable, the API answers with an explicit unavailable response rather than a zero or a stale value.
Path 2: an external provider, through Core
Section titled “Path 2: an external provider, through Core”Some protocol families are read through an external provider rather than a Universe-operated index. That is stated on the coverage page rather than hidden, and each protocol’s page names the provider.
The clearest examples: BRC-20 reads the UniSat Open API, and the registry adds that order freshness and inventory reconciliation are delegated there. Stamps and SRC-20 read StampDEX. Mezcal reads the mezcal.sh API. Alkanes reads an external Alkanes API set.
Core validates the exact proxy route and body it allows, but it does not compare an external provider’s tip with the Bitcoin tip. Several registry entries say so in those words.
Path 3: your own browser, directly
Section titled “Path 3: your own browser, directly”TAP, DMT, and UNAT are a further step removed. Their deployments, mint progress, and holder counts are fetched by your own browser from a host Universe does not operate. They do not pass through a Universe index at all, so their availability and freshness are that host’s rather than Core’s.
Those three rows name their read source on the coverage page, and the same
sentence appears on /index/tap, /index/dmt, and /index/unat beside the
numbers it applies to.
Fiat prices are a fourth case
Section titled “Fiat prices are a fourth case”The USD figures next to Bitcoin amounts come from one Universe-operated market price service, read by the browser once a minute. No exchange API is called from the page. Fiat prices covers what happens when it cannot answer.
Finding the reader for any protocol
Section titled “Finding the reader for any protocol”One request answers it for all 29 at once:
curl -s https://api.bitcoinuniverse.io/indexer-health \ | jq -r '.data[] | [.protocolId, .indexerIdentity, .source, .lag, (.lastSuccess // "never")] | @tsv'| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
configuredIndexers.primary | What the registry declared |
indexerIdentity, source | What actually answered. Believe this pair |
lag, tip, nodeTip | How far behind it was |
lastSuccess | null means it has never been read successfully |
status, reasonCode, reasons | Why it is in the state it is in |
Provenance on this site
Section titled “Provenance on this site”Every material page here carries a source strip under its heading naming the owning repository, the path the facts were read from, the chain and network it applies to, and the date a maintainer last checked it against the product. The protocol pages go further: they are generated from a snapshot whose own provenance block names the exact Core commit it was taken from.