Connecting to a Provider

To interact with Ethereum from JavaScript you need a provider — an object that connects to a node and lets you read chain data and send transactions.

Libraries like ethers.js and web3.js wrap the JSON-RPC protocol nodes speak.

Two key abstractions:

• Provider — read-only connection to the chain (balances, blocks, view calls).
• Signer — holds a private key and can sign and send transactions.

You read with a provider and write with a signer.