Account Queries

Look up account info, sequence numbers, and handle custom account types with AccountParser

Account data is available through both the high-level client and the auth extension. Use StargateClient methods for most cases, and drop down to the auth extension when you need the raw protobuf response.

Using StargateClient

import { StargateClient } from "@cosmjs/stargate";

const client = await StargateClient.connect("https://rpc.my-chain.network");

const account = await client.getAccount("cosmos1...");
if (account) {
  console.info(account.address);
  console.info(account.accountNumber);
  console.info(account.sequence);
  console.info(account.pubkey);
}

const seq = await client.getSequence("cosmos1...");
console.info(seq.accountNumber, seq.sequence);

getAccount returns null for addresses that have never received tokens. getSequence throws if the account does not exist.

Supported Account Types

The default accountFromAny parser handles these Cosmos SDK account types:

Type URL	Account Type
/cosmos.auth.v1beta1.BaseAccount	Standard account
/cosmos.auth.v1beta1.ModuleAccount	Module-owned account
/cosmos.vesting.v1beta1.BaseVestingAccount	Base vesting
/cosmos.vesting.v1beta1.ContinuousVestingAccount	Continuous vesting
/cosmos.vesting.v1beta1.DelayedVestingAccount	Delayed vesting
/cosmos.vesting.v1beta1.PeriodicVestingAccount	Periodic vesting

Any unrecognized type URL causes accountFromAny to throw. Use a custom AccountParser to handle chain-specific account types.

Using the Auth Extension Directly

import { QueryClient, setupAuthExtension } from "@cosmjs/stargate";
import { connectComet } from "@cosmjs/tendermint-rpc";

const cometClient = await connectComet("https://rpc.my-chain.network");
const queryClient = QueryClient.withExtensions(cometClient, setupAuthExtension);

const anyAccount = await queryClient.auth.account("cosmos1...");

The auth extension returns the raw protobuf Any type. StargateClient parses this with accountFromAny, which handles BaseAccount, ModuleAccount, and all vesting account types.

Custom Account Parser

Chains with non-standard account types require a custom AccountParser:

import { StargateClient, Account, accountFromAny } from "@cosmjs/stargate";
import { Any } from "cosmjs-types/google/protobuf/any";

function myAccountParser(any: Any): Account {
  if (any.typeUrl === "/my.chain.CustomAccount") {
    const decoded = MyCustomAccount.decode(any.value);
    return {
      address: decoded.address,
      pubkey: null,
      accountNumber: decoded.accountNumber,
      sequence: decoded.sequence,
    };
  }
  return accountFromAny(any);
}

const client = await StargateClient.connect("https://rpc.my-chain.network", {
  accountParser: myAccountParser,
});

Fall back to accountFromAny for standard types so your parser stays forward-compatible with Cosmos SDK updates.

Next Steps

Bank Queries

Token balances and supply.

Error Handling

Handle missing accounts and other query errors.