Join the testnet and mainnet network using Node Snapshots

Before you resync a node using snapshots, make sure that in case of a successful resync that you under no circumstance double sign blocks at previous heights with your validator. Failure to do so will cause tombstoning of your validator.

Follow this guide to join an existing network through snapshot sync. To quickly spin up a fresh full node and join the network, it’s recommended to restore from a snapshot instead of replaying all historical blocks.

Snapshot Sync

Snapshot sync allows a new node to join a network by downloading a recent, compressed copy of the entire application state and extracting it directly into the data directory. This reduces the initial sync time from days to minutes.

Snapshot Providers

You can select from various providers for downloading snapshots:

Polkachu: Mainnet Snapshots | Testnet Snapshots
Imperator.co
Stakeme
kjnodes

Clean Up & Preparation

If you are not starting a node from fresh, perform the following backups and clean‑ups first.

Note: This step is not needed for fresh nodes.

Stop the service
```
sudo systemctl stop seid
```

Backup Validator State (Critical for Validators) Assuming your sei home directory is $HOME/.sei, back up priv_validator_key.json and priv_validator_state.json:


cp $HOME/.sei/data/priv_validator_state.json $HOME/priv_validator_state.json
cp $HOME/.sei/config/priv_validator_key.json $HOME/priv_validator_key.json

Reset the State


seid tendermint unsafe-reset-all --home $HOME/.sei

Remove Data and Wasm


rm -rf $HOME/.sei/data
rm -rf $HOME/.sei/wasm

All snapshotsalso include the wasm folder. Make sure to copy over the wasm folder as well, the node cannot successfully sync without it.

Download & Restore

The following commands are generic examples. Please verify the SNAPSHOT_URL and extraction command from your chosen provider above.

Prerequisites

Ensure you have the necessary tools installed (e.g., lz4, aria2, pv, wget).


sudo apt update
sudo apt install curl lz4 wget aria2 pv -y

Download and Extract

Set the Snapshot URL Replace <SNAPSHOT_URL> with the link from your chosen provider.
```
SNAPSHOT_URL="<PASTE_SNAPSHOT_URL_HERE>"
```
Download and Extract Most providers compress the data and wasm directory directly. The following command streams the download and extracts it into $HOME/.sei.
```
curl -L $SNAPSHOT_URL | lz4 -c -d | tar -x -C $HOME/.sei
```
Alternative: Parallel Download with aria2

For faster downloads, especially with large snapshots, you can use aria2c which supports parallel connections:
```
# Download with 16 parallel connections
aria2c -x 16 -s 16 -o snapshot.tar.lz4 $SNAPSHOT_URL
 
# Extract after download completes
lz4 -c -d snapshot.tar.lz4 | tar -x -C $HOME/.sei
 
# Clean up the downloaded file
rm snapshot.tar.lz4
```
You can also use pv to monitor extraction progress:
```
pv snapshot.tar.lz4 | lz4 -c -d | tar -x -C $HOME/.sei
```
The -x 16 flag sets the maximum connections per server, and -s 16 splits the file into 16 segments for parallel downloading. You can adjust these values based on your network conditions.

Variation Warning: Some providers might wrap the data in a folder or use different compression. - If the snapshot is a .tar.gz, use tar -xzf. - If the snapshot contains a root folder (e.g. sei/data), you might need to adjust the -C target or use --strip-components. - Always check the provider’s specific page for exact commands.

Restore Validator State


cp $HOME/priv_validator_state.json $HOME/.sei/data/priv_validator_state.json

Enable SeiDB Make sure to enable sei-db in your config if it’s not already enabled:


sed -i.bak -E "/^\[state-commit\]/,/^\[.*\]/ s|^(sc-enable[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*).*$|\1true| ; /^\[state-store\]/,/^\[.*\]/ s|^(ss-enable[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*).*$|\1true|" $HOME/.sei/config/app.toml

Restart the Node
```
sudo systemctl start seid
```
Monitor Logs
```
sudo journalctl -fu seid
```

Troubleshooting

Q: I can’t download a snapshot. A: Try another time later as these snapshots are refreshed regularly and inform us in the Sei Tech Chat .

Q: The snapshot finishes, but I immediately get AppHash errors upon regular block syncing. A: Make sure that you use the latest version of the node software. This usually means the snapshot version doesn’t match your node version, or the snapshot is corrupted. Ensure you are using the correct binary version for the block height of the snapshot.

Q: “No space left on device” A: Snapshots require significant disk space to download and extract. Ensure you have enough free space (check with df -h).