Where the data comes from
Inscribe keeps protocol construction tools separate from live discovery data. A provider problem in one protocol does not disable unrelated pages, wallet access, or inscription workflows.
The rule underneath every state on this page: a source that did not answer is never reported as a source that answered with nothing.
The six states
Section titled “The six states”A data source is in exactly one of these, and the app names which:
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| Live | Answering, and current with the chain |
| Live, currency unverified | Answering, but it reports no height, so how current it is cannot be checked |
| Tip not verified | Answering with a height, but the chain tip could not be read, so the two cannot be compared |
| Behind | Answering with a height that trails the chain tip |
| Unavailable | Not answering |
| Unknown | The payload named a source but not a state this build understands |
Two of those exist because a plain HTTP success is not proof of anything. A source can be up, reachable and returning valid data while being a thousand blocks behind, and a source can report a height while the chain tip it should be compared against is unreadable. Collapsing either into “healthy” would be a lie with a green dot next to it.
Separately from all six, a capability an operator has switched off is reported as switched off by the operator, not as a source being down. They are different problems with different fixes, so they are never shown as the same thing.
What you actually see
Section titled “What you actually see”The app does not reduce this to one word.
- A banner names the source and says that everything which does not read it is working normally. It does not claim the wait will be short.
- “See what is affected” opens the service status panel. Each source shows its state, the block it has reached against the chain tip, how many blocks behind that leaves it, and the workspaces that read it. Sources that are answering are listed too, so it is clear what is unaffected.
- Actions that write to the chain stay paused, and the reason names the source and states that nothing already signed or broadcast is at risk. Reading, drafting, and your wallet keep working.
When a source is rebuilding its index, the panel shows how fast it is reading blocks, measured from the heights your browser has actually seen since you opened the page, and what that pace implies for the rest. Until there is enough measurement it says so rather than showing a completion time it cannot support.
A workspace stays visible even when the index behind it is down or catching up. It says so instead of disappearing, because a missing workspace looks like a product that never had the feature.
Availability labels on a workspace
Section titled “Availability labels on a workspace”- Available: the source answered and is at the chain tip.
- Degraded: the source answered but is behind, or one of several sources did not answer. Reads still work, and the page names what is missing.
- Unsupported: the source is not running for this network. Nothing is guessed or filled in from elsewhere.
What the portfolio shows while a source is down
Section titled “What the portfolio shows while a source is down”The portfolio reads several independent sources: the Bitcoin node for your balance, the Ordinals index for inscriptions and Runes, and separate indexes for Mezcal, SRC-20, OP_DROP and OP_RETURN names. One of them being down does not empty the page; the rest still answer and what they report is still shown.
When a source does not answer, the portfolio names it above your holdings and says that anything held there is missing from the page, that what is shown is everything the sources that did answer reported, and that nothing you own has changed. The header reads Partial rather than Live for as long as that is true.
An empty portfolio is never presented as an answer while a source is silent. The page says that nothing was found in the sources that answered, and that this is not a complete picture of what the address holds. “No assets found for this address” appears only when every source answered.
This applies per source. If only the Ordinals index is behind, your Mezcal, SRC-20 and OP_DROP balances are still real numbers from indexes that answered.
Where the reads come from
Section titled “Where the reads come from”Blockchain reads come from Universe-operated nodes and indexes rather than public third-party APIs, so the data path is accountable end to end. Public blockchain providers are not used as a fallback: if the private source cannot answer, the app says so instead of quietly asking someone else.
Browser requests for fees, transactions, addresses and outputs stay on the Inscribe origin. The API relays only reviewed read paths onward, so wallet and payment screens never connect to an indexer or a public explorer directly.
Two things follow from that, and both are stated rather than hidden:
- A missing indexed height is never filled in from somewhere else. If the authoritative height cannot be read, the report carries no height and says it is not synchronised. It does not borrow a number from the node or an explorer to make the shape look complete.
- Readiness tolerates a small lag and no more. The index is expected to sit a block or two behind a moving chain tip. Beyond the configured tolerance, or with a negative or unreadable lag, readiness fails rather than rounding in its own favour.
Some protocols require more than one independent source to agree before they are treated as ready. Where two verifiers disagree about a finalized block, readiness stays unavailable rather than picking one.
Safety gates
Section titled “Safety gates”Some research protocols remain visible for documentation or controlled-network work while production actions stay disabled. Universe does not turn these on merely to make a status page look healthy. Mainnet writes require the protocol’s network profile, independent authorization, an authoritative index, transaction safety checks, and a verified readiness canary.
CAT-20 transaction features remain fail-closed when the required Fractal data and signing dependencies are unavailable. Market discovery reports that dependency state directly instead of returning a misleading empty market.
Fee data specifically
Section titled “Fee data specifically”Fee rates refresh every 30 seconds. If the source stops answering, the fee control shows Cached fees in place of the refresh countdown, so a stale number is visibly stale.
On a network where a fabricated rate would be worse than no rate, Inscribe refuses to quote and reports the service as unavailable rather than serving a fallback price.