> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.serializedaudit.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Introduction

> Instant smart-contract risk verdicts over a single REST endpoint.

Serialized Audit tells you whether a smart contract is safe to trade. Send a contract address and chain, get back a clear verdict, a human-readable summary, and the specific risks we found. Contracts we've already seen return in milliseconds; a first-time audit takes a few seconds.

It catches owner privileges and trap mechanisms that ordinary scanners miss, across 23 EVM chains, through one endpoint.

## How it works

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create an account and key">
    Sign up, then generate an API key from your [dashboard](https://www.serializedaudit.io/portal). New accounts include free trial credits, no card required.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Call the endpoint">
    Send a `GET` request to `/audit-contract` with the contract `address` and `chain`, authenticated with your key.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Read the verdict">
    Branch on `isSafe`, show the `description` to your users, and inspect `vulnerabilities` for the detected risk categories.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Why Serialized Audit

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="One call, full verdict" icon="bolt">
    A single request returns a trade-safety decision. No pipeline to assemble, no rules to maintain on your side.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Catches what scanners miss" icon="shield-halved">
    Detects intentional, obfuscated, and owner-controlled risks, not just known-bad signatures.
  </Card>

  <Card title="23 EVM chains" icon="link">
    One integration covers Ethereum, Base, BSC, Arbitrum, and 19 more. See [Supported Chains](/supported-chains).
  </Card>

  <Card title="Built for throughput" icon="gauge-high">
    Cached verdicts return in milliseconds. Poll at high volume without paying full-audit latency.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Base URL

All requests go to:

```
https://www.serializedaudit.io/api
```

## Quick example

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash cURL theme={null}
  curl "https://www.serializedaudit.io/api/audit-contract?chain=base&address=0x6D7401F6f1fB09ff24a048337ff44D890CdF86F8" \
    -H "X-Auth-Key: sk_live_your_key_here"
  ```

  ```ts TypeScript theme={null}
  const res = await fetch(
    "https://www.serializedaudit.io/api/audit-contract?chain=base&address=0x6D7401F6f1fB09ff24a048337ff44D890CdF86F8",
    { headers: { "X-Auth-Key": process.env.SERIALIZED_API_KEY! } },
  );
  const { audit } = await res.json();
  console.log(audit.isSafe, audit.description);
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  import os, requests

  res = requests.get(
      "https://www.serializedaudit.io/api/audit-contract",
      params={"chain": "base", "address": "0x6D7401F6f1fB09ff24a048337ff44D890CdF86F8"},
      headers={"X-Auth-Key": os.environ["SERIALIZED_API_KEY"]},
  )
  audit = res.json()["audit"]
  print(audit["isSafe"], audit["description"])
  ```
</CodeGroup>

<Note>
  Ready to integrate? Start with the [Quickstart](/quickstart), then see the [Audit a Contract](/api-reference/audit-contract) reference.
</Note>