Contents
What’s changing (and why)
L1 Bitcoin activity grew rapidly around the launch of Ordinals, Runes, and BRC-20. During that early phase, Hiro’s tooling helped many teams experiment and ship quickly.
As the ecosystem matures, we believe the best path forward is:
- for Hiro to stay focused on core Stacks infrastructure + the Bitcoin functions that support it, and
- for L1 metaprotocol specific indexing and wallet-centric workflows to live with teams that are deeply invested in them and can drive forward more innovation.
Xverse has been a leader here for a while and has built and maintained a strong set of APIs for Ordinals, BRC-20, and Runes, and continues to expand support around wallet integration, minting, and transaction-level workflows, hence why we’re recommending developers migrate to Xverse as the API provider for these L1 use cases.
What’s being deprecated
Hiro will be deprecating the following L1 Bitcoin tooling:
- Ordinals API
- BRC-20 API
- Runes API
- Bitcoin Indexer
If your application depends on any of the above, you’ll need to migrate. We strongly recommend starting the migration soon to avoid any disruption.
Timeline
- Deprecation date: March 9th, 2026
- Existing endpoints will remain available until then to give teams time to migrate.
- After this date, L1 tooling endpoints will be shut down.
How to migrate: Hiro → Xverse
For most developers, migrating is straightforward. In many cases it’s a matter of:
- updating the base URL
- adjusting endpoint paths
- accounting for differences in how data is aggregated (global views vs per-address queries)
The Xverse L1 APIs are fully open and more information can be found here. Below is a quick overview of what to expect if you transition there.
Ordinals API
Most core Ordinals functionality maps cleanly from Hiro to Xverse:
- Inscription lists and metadata
- Raw inscription content
- Block-level inscription queries
- Collections and global stats
- Cursor-based pagination
What’s different
Some advanced filters available in Hiro are not supported in Xverse, including:
- filtering by sat ordinal range
- filtering by content length
- inscription tags
- a dedicated endpoint for satoshi-level metadata
In practice, this usually means applying client-side filtering using the metadata returned by Xverse.
Ordinals Docs
- Hiro Ordinals API: https://docs.hiro.so/en/apis/ordinals-api
- Migration guide: https://docs.hiro.so/en/apis/ordinals-api/migration
- Xverse Ordinals API: https://docs.xverse.app/api/ordinals
BRC-20 API
Xverse’s BRC-20 APIs are intentionally address-centric, reflecting how most wallets and apps interact with BRC-20 today.
What maps well
- Per-address BRC-20 balances migrate cleanly
- Token-level metadata is available by ticker
- Responses are compatible with existing balance-based workflows
What to plan for
Xverse does not provide:
- a global token registry
- token holder lists
- full token-level event histories
If your app relies on global aggregation, you may need to:
- derive views from address balances
- use third-party explorers
- maintain lightweight custom indexing
Xverse also offers additional functionality (minting, deploying, swaps) that wasn’t available in Hiro’s APIs.
BRC-20 Docs
- Hiro BRC-20 API: https://docs.hiro.so/en/apis/ordinals-api/reference/brc20
- Migration guide: https://docs.hiro.so/en/apis/ordinals-api/migration#brc-20-endpoint-mappings
- Xverse BRC-20 API: https://docs.xverse.app/api/brc-20
Runes API
Xverse supports the most common Rune workflows developers rely on today.
What maps well
- Rune metadata by ID
- Rune balances per address
- Rune-related transaction history
What’s not available
Xverse does not currently support:
- global rune (etching) lists
- block-level rune activity
- global rune holder lists
If you depend on those views, you’ll need to aggregate data at the application layer or supplement with external sources. Xverse also supports minting and order workflows via Sats Connect, which were not part of Hiro’s Runes API.
Runes Docs
- Hiro Runes API: https://docs.hiro.so/en/apis/runes-api
- Migration Guide: https://docs.hiro.so/en/apis/runes-api/migration
- Xverse Runes API: https://docs.xverse.app/api/runes
Questions or edge cases?
We know migrations aren’t always one-size-fits-all. If you have questions, edge cases, or aren’t sure how a specific endpoint maps, we’re happy to help. Reach out to us in the #ordinals channel of our Developer Discord, or email us at support@hiro.so and we’ll help point you in the right direction during the transition.
Closing
This change lets Hiro stay focused on building reliable, scalable infrastructure for Stacks and the broader Bitcoin ecosystem while partnering with teams like Xverse that are deeply invested in L1 Bitcoin tooling. Thanks for building with us, and thanks for your patience as the ecosystem continues to evolve.
