Understanding TON Block Structure

Masterchain and shardchain blocks, and how to read one.

1 min readBeginner
  1. 1

    Navigate to Blocks page

    Recent masterchain (workchain -1) and basechain (workchain 0) blocks.

    Open the Blocks page
  2. 2

    Understand block identification

    A block is workchain:shard:seqno; seqno is its height in that shard.

    Open block -1:8000000000000000:86106653
  3. 3

    View masterchain blocks

    They coordinate the network: validator sets, shard configuration, cross-shard routing.

    Open the latest masterchain block
  4. 4

    Explore shardchain blocks

    They carry user transactions; shards split under load and run in parallel.

    Open basechain block 0:2000000000000000:90541957
  5. 5

    Read block details

    Time, producing validator, transaction count, gas and the transactions.

    Read that block’s details
  6. 6

    Track block relationships

    Each block references its parents, and sibling shards, forming a DAG.

    See the shard blocks a masterchain block lists

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