Find a validator’s next leader assignment before maintenance

A validator operator planning a short restart needs absolute leader slots. The epoch schedule returns indices relative to the start of the selected epoch.

Anchor the schedule to a known epoch

Read getEpochInfo and calculate epochStart = absoluteSlot − slotIndex. Replace null in the request below with that observed absoluteSlot so a rollover between calls cannot select a different epoch. Replace the identity placeholder with your validator public key.

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "getLeaderSchedule",
  "params": [
    null,
    {
      "identity": "VALIDATOR_IDENTITY",
      "commitment": "finalized"
    }
  ]
}

Convert the assigned indices to absolute slots

If epochStart is 400000 and the schedule lists 120 through 123, the assignment spans absolute slots 400120 through 400123. From slot 400110 there are ten slot steps until the first assignment. Include time for startup and replay in your maintenance estimate.

A null schedule leaves assignments unknown for that epoch. A window extending across an epoch boundary needs the next epoch’s schedule once available. Verify observed progress before stopping the validator.

Documentation