> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://base-a060aa97-docs-add-b20-spec.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Node Snapshots

> Download and restore Base node snapshots to significantly reduce initial sync time for nodes.

Using a snapshot significantly reduces the initial time required to sync a Base node. Snapshots are updated regularly.

If you're a prospective or current Base node operator, you can restore from a snapshot to speed up your initial sync. Follow the steps below carefully.

## Restoring from Snapshot

These steps assume you are in the cloned `node` directory (the one containing `docker-compose.yml`).

<Note>
  These steps use the `base-reth-node` CLI to download snapshots. If you don't already have it, follow the [installation instructions](https://github.com/base/base#install-binaries) to install it first.
</Note>

1. **Prepare Data Directory**:
   * **Before running Docker for the first time**, create the data directory on your host machine that will be mapped into the Docker container. This directory must match the `volumes` mapping in the `docker-compose.yml` file.
     ```bash theme={null}
     mkdir ./reth-data
     ```
   * If you have previously run the node and have an existing data directory, **stop the node** (`docker compose down`), remove the *contents* of the existing directory (e.g. `rm -rf ./reth-data/*`), and proceed.

2. **Choosing the chain**: Use the `--chain` flag to select the network

   | Network      | `--chain` value |
   | ------------ | --------------- |
   | Base Mainnet | `base`          |
   | Base Sepolia | `base-sepolia`  |

3. **Download Snapshot**: V2 snapshots are split into many small, segmented files rather than a single archive. The CLI lists one `archive` snapshot because it contains all available files. The `full` and `minimal` options select progressively smaller subsets of that archive:

   | Config      | Flag        | What you get                                                                                                                                | Use when                                                                |
   | ----------- | ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
   | **Minimal** | `--minimal` | The smallest set needed to boot: latest state + headers (plus the minimum required history).                                                | You want the fastest, smallest download and don't need historical data. |
   | **Full**    | `--full`    | Full-node data matching the default full-node prune settings (state, headers, and a bounded window of transactions, receipts, and history). | You want a standard full node without keeping the entire archive.       |
   | **Archive** | `--archive` | Everything available — all transactions, receipts, and account/storage history, with no pruning.                                            | You need complete historical data (e.g. archive queries, indexing).     |

   <Note>
     Ensure you have enough free disk space to download the snapshot *and* extract its contents. The extracted data will be significantly larger than the archive.
   </Note>

   The above presets are convenient defaults that are available at [chain.base.org/snapshots](https://chain.base.org/snapshots). You may still configure custom pruning flags with the [flag](https://github.com/base/node/blob/main/.env.mainnet#L55). It is required to download the archival snapshot and then configure your custom pruning args.

   ```bash theme={null}
   # Minimal node on Base Mainnet
   base-reth-node download --minimal --datadir ./reth-data --chain base --resumable

   # Full node on Base Sepolia
   base-reth-node download --full --datadir ./reth-data --chain base-sepolia --resumable
   ```

   Alternatively, for archival nodes only, you may run `base db migrate-v2`. However, this is expected to take **much** longer than downloading. `--resumable` is also not supported in `migrate-v2`.

4. **(Optional) - tuning download concurrency:**

   The `--download-concurrency` flag controls how many simultaneous HTTP downloads run across the whole
   snapshot job. It defaults to `8`, which is a good baseline for most machines.

   If you have high-end hardware, you can safely increase it to speed up the download. A good rule of
   thumb is **2× the number of physical CPU cores**:

   ```bash theme={null}
   # Example: a 16 physical-core machine
   base-reth-node download --full --datadir ./reth-data --chain base --download-concurrency 32
   ```

5. <span id="start-the-node" />**Start the Node**: Now that the snapshot data is in place, return the root of your Base node folder and start the node:

   ```bash theme={null}
   cd ..
   docker compose up --build
   ```

   Your node should begin syncing from the last block in the snapshot.

6. **Verify**: Monitor the node logs (`docker compose logs -f <service_name>`) or use the [sync monitoring](/base-chain/node-operators/run-a-base-node#syncing) command to ensure the node starts syncing from the snapshot's block height.

## Proofs Snapshots

<Note>
  V2 Proofs Snapshots are coming soon.
</Note>

If you are running the [historical proofs ExEx](/base-chain/node-operators/run-a-base-node#enable-historical-proofs-rpcs), snapshots of the proofs database are available to skip the 24-48 hour backfill.

Proofs snapshots are still distributed as archives, so you'll need `aria2c`, a resumable downloader that handles the periodic connection interruptions imposed by Cloudflare. If you don't have it installed:

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash macOS theme={null}
  brew install aria2
  ```

  ```bash Ubuntu / Debian theme={null}
  sudo apt-get install aria2
  ```
</CodeGroup>

| Network | Download Command                                                                                                                          |
| ------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Testnet | `aria2c -c -x 16 -s 16 "https://sepolia-reth-proofs-snapshots.base.org/$(curl -s https://sepolia-reth-proofs-snapshots.base.org/latest)"` |
| Mainnet | `aria2c -c -x 16 -s 16 "https://mainnet-reth-proofs-snapshots.base.org/$(curl -s https://mainnet-reth-proofs-snapshots.base.org/latest)"` |

<Note>
  Ensure you have enough free disk space to download the snapshot archive (`.tar.gz` / `.tar.zst` file) *and* extract its contents. The extracted data will be significantly larger than the archive.
</Note>

Once downloaded, extract the archive. Replace `snapshot-filename` with the actual downloaded filename:

```bash theme={null}
tar -xzvf <snapshot-filename.tar.gz>

# For .tar.zst
tar -I zstd -xvf <snapshot-filename.tar.zst>
```

The extraction process will likely create a `reth` directory. Move the *contents* of that directory into the data directory you created in [**Prepare Data Directory**](#restoring-from-snapshot) in the section above:

```bash theme={null}
mv ./reth/* ./reth-data/
rm -rf ./reth    # Clean up empty extracted folder
```

The goal is to have the chain data directories (e.g., `chaindata`, `nodes`, `segments`, etc.) directly inside `./reth-data`, not in a nested subfolder. Once confirmed, you can safely delete the downloaded snapshot archive (`.tar.gz` file) to free up disk space.

Then continue from [**Start the Node**](#start-the-node) in the section above.

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What's the difference between a Full and Minimal node?">
    In Reth, a "full" node is just a pruned node with a specific preset rather than a distinct node type. Reth's `--full` preset retains the last **10,064 blocks** (\~1.4 days on Ethereum; \~5-6 hours on Base due to faster block times).

    To read more about the difference between a Full and Minimal node, see the [Reth docs](https://reth.rs/run/storage/minimal).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How do I run my previous pruned node setup with v2 storage?">
    If your v1-storage pruned node had a pruning distance of more than 10064 blocks, it is required to pull an Archival snapshot and then add the prune args.

    Full will not work because it'll only have the last 10064 blocks.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I'm seeing: Archive extracted, but output verification failed.">
    This is caused due to a newer snapshot being uploaded during the time your download is happening. Please interrupt the download command and re-run it.

    Note: The download is idempotent, so it will not re-download files that have already been downloaded; it will only fetch the diff.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>