# index

Expansion is responsible for providing an HTTP API to data in the bantu network. It ingests and re-serves the data produced by the bantu network in a form that is easier to consume than the performance-oriented data representations used by bantu-core.

This document describes how to administer a **production** Expansion instance. If you are just starting with Expansion and want to deploy it quickly to test it out, consider the [Quickstart Guide](https://developers.docs.bantufoundation.org/run-api-server/quickstart) instead. For information about developing on the Expansion codebase, check out the [Development Guide](https://github.com/bantu/go/blob/master/services/Expansion/internal/docs/developing.md).

## Why Run Expansion?

You don't need to run your own Expansion instance to build on bantu: the bantu Development Foundation runs two Expansion servers, one for the public network and one for the test network: <https://expansion.bantu.network/> and <https://expansion-testnet.bantu.network/>. These servers are free for anyone to use, and should be fine for development and small-scale projects. They are, however, rate limited, and we don't recommended using them for production services that need strong reliability.

Running Expansion within your own infrastructure provides a number of benefits. You can:

* Disable request rate limiting for guaranteed network access
* Have full operational control without dependency on the Bantu Blockchain Foundation
* Run multiple instances for redundancy and scalability


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://developers.docs.bantufoundation.org/run-api-server/index.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.