Lava

Archived

A decentralized RPC routing protocol for scalable and reliable blockchain access.

Lava Mainnet State Sync

State sync allows a node to synchronize with the network quickly by downloading a recent application state snapshot instead of replaying all historical blocks.

This method significantly reduces sync time and disk usage.

Requirements

Before using state sync, make sure:

The RPC endpoint supports state sync snapshots
jq is installed
Your node binary is stopped

Configuration Overview

State sync parameters in this guide are derived from the snapshot configuration of Linknode-operated Lava RPC nodes.

Snapshot settings:

Setting	Value
Snapshot interval	2000 blocks
Snapshots retained	5 recent snapshots

These values directly affect the trusted height calculation used during state sync.
RPC providers with different snapshot configurations may require a different offset value.

State Sync Instructions

CHAIN_HOME="$HOME/.lava"
CHAIN_BIN="lavad"
RPC_URL="https://lava-rpc.linknode.org"
OFFSET=2000
PERSISTENT_PEERS="a15b5d190a6d15eba574c542a1bbe46944d2d6d2@89.58.12.214:29656"
 
# Stop node
sudo systemctl stop $CHAIN_BIN
 
sudo mv $HOME/.lava/data/priv_validator_state.json $HOME/.lava/priv_validator_state.json.backup
 
# Reset data
$CHAIN_BIN tendermint unsafe-reset-all --home $CHAIN_HOME --keep-addr-book
 
# Get latest height
LATEST_HEIGHT=$(curl -s $RPC_URL/block | jq -r .result.block.header.height)
 
if [ -z "$LATEST_HEIGHT" ]; then
  echo "Failed to fetch latest height from RPC"
  exit 1
fi
 
# Calculate trusted height
TRUST_HEIGHT=$((LATEST_HEIGHT - OFFSET))
 
# Get trusted hash
TRUST_HASH=$(curl -s "$RPC_URL/block?height=$TRUST_HEIGHT" | jq -r .result.block_id.hash)
 
if [ -z "$TRUST_HASH" ]; then
  echo "Failed to fetch trusted hash from RPC"
  exit 1
fi
 
echo "Trusted Height: $TRUST_HEIGHT"
echo "Trusted Hash: $TRUST_HASH"
 
# Configure state sync
sed -i \
  -e "s|^enable *=.*|enable = true|" \
  -e "s|^rpc_servers *=.*|rpc_servers = \"$RPC_URL,$RPC_URL\"|" \
  -e "s|^trust_height *=.*|trust_height = $TRUST_HEIGHT|" \
  -e "s|^trust_hash *=.*|trust_hash = \"$TRUST_HASH\"|" \
  $CHAIN_HOME/config/config.toml
 
sed -i "s|^persistent_peers *=.*|persistent_peers = \"$PERSISTENT_PEERS\"|" $HOME/.lava/config/config.toml
 
sudo mv $HOME/.lava/priv_validator_state.json.backup $HOME/.lava/data/priv_validator_state.json
 
# Start node
sudo systemctl start $CHAIN_BIN
 
# Check logs
journalctl -u $CHAIN_BIN -f

If configured correctly, the node will discover snapshots and complete synchronization within a few minutes.

Notes

The OFFSET value must match the snapshot interval used by the RPC provider
If state sync fails, reduce the offset value
Avoid using large offsets unless the RPC serves older snapshots

Common Errors

`no snapshot available`

The RPC endpoint does not serve snapshots
The trusted height is lower than the available snapshot height

Solution: reduce the offset or switch RPC endpoints

Node stuck at `Discovering snapshots`

RPC endpoint overloaded or unstable

Solution: retry later or use an alternative RPC

Verify Sync Status

$CHAIN_BIN status 2>&1 | jq .SyncInfo

The node is fully synced when:

"catching_up": false

Summary

State sync is the recommended way to quickly synchronize a Lava node.

Using the correct offset value ensures a reliable and successful state sync process.