You can use this JSON-WSP (websocket) API to gather live blockchain info directly from a cardano-node instance
Ogmios is a translation service written in Haskell running on top of cardano-node. It offers a JSON-WSP interface through WebSockets and enables clients to speak Ouroboros' mini-protocols via remote procedure calls over JSON.
echo '{ "type": "jsonwsp/request", "version": "1.0", "servicename": "ogmios", "methodname": "RequestNext", "args": {} }' \\
| websocat --text -1 - wss://ogmios-api.testnet.dandelion.link
echo '{ "type": "jsonwsp/request", "version": "1.0", "servicename": "ogmios", "methodname": "FindIntersect", "args": { "points": [ "origin" ] } }' \\
| websocat --text -1 - wss://ogmios-api.testnet.dandelion.link