github.com/onflow/flow-go@v0.35.7-crescendo-preview.23-atree-inlining/cmd/observer/README.md (about)

     1  # Observer Service
     2  
     3  The observer service provides read-only access to the Flow network. It implements a subset of the [Access API](https://docs.onflow.org/access-api/) which is served from a local copy of the protocol data. It can be configured to proxy the remaining endpoints to an upstream staked Access Node.
     4  
     5  At a high level it does the following:
     6  
     7  1. Follows updates to the Flow network's protocol state, and maintains a local copy.
     8  
     9  2. Runs a gRPC server which implements a subset of the Access API
    10  
    11      1. Responds to API calls for information such as `GetBlockByID`, `GetCollectionByID`, `GetTransaction` etc using its local data
    12  
    13      2. Forwards requests for execution state (`ExecuteScriptAt*`, `GetEvents*`, `TransactionResult`, etc) to a configured upstream staked Access Node.
    14  
    15  ***NOTE**: The Observer service does not participate in the Flow protocol*
    16  
    17