Archive node

Use the same host, home, and registration as Sync. The oldest height you must query has to still be on disk. Install the v1.27.2 MAINNET deb. A pruned join is Sync.

Set two keys in ~/.secretd/config/app.toml before the process starts. The unit is ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/secretd start with no pruning flag.

• pruning = "nothing" keeps every IAVL version.
• min-retain-blocks = 0 tells Comet not to drop blocks. It does not keep IAVL versions. It is also the default. A default full node can serve an old block and still fail the state query.

Use pruning-keep-recent and pruning-interval only when pruning = "custom". Do not use custom to keep everything: pruning-interval must be at least 10 and must not be 0, and pruning-keep-recent must be at least 2. An unknown pruning string is an error at start. There is no pruning-keep-every. Use the keys in the table above.

default keeps the last 362880 versions, about 3.5 weeks if blocks are 6 seconds.

These keys are not the archive switch:

• Leave [tx_index] indexer at "kv". "null" does not serve tx search.
• Leave [storage] discard_abci_responses at false. true drops the responses /block_results and event reindex need.
• Leave [wasm] store-sgx-data at false unless you want ecall and execution traces. It is not IAVL history. Turning it on later does not recreate records for heights already passed. pruning = "nothing" keeps ciphertext. It does not decrypt it. A historical secret-contract query still needs a registered enclave.

Do not start mainnet with scripts/start-node.sh. That script passes --pruning=nothing and SGX_MODE=SW.

When you need it

Set pruning = "nothing" before you serve an ABCI, LCD, or gRPC query at an old height with header x-cosmos-block-height. If the version is gone, GetImmutable returns version does not exist. Version has either been pruned, or is for a future block height. A latest-height query, a /block for a height still in the blockstore, /tx when the index exists, and /block_results when ABCI responses were kept do not need pruning = "nothing" by themselves. Staking historical_entries 10000 is a ring in module state. It does not replace an old IAVL version.

Do not use the release RPC as an archive.

Do not expect deleted heights to come back

Once versions are deleted, they stay deleted. Switching a live node to nothing keeps versions still on disk and every version committed after the restart. It does not rebuild deleted versions. The switch also does not bring back blocks you never downloaded, blocks already pruned because min-retain-blocks was non-zero, ABCI responses discarded while discard_abci_responses = true, tx index entries never written or deleted with data/, ecall records for heights where store-sgx-data was false, or any height the pruned tarball never contained. A pruned-snapshot join starts at the snapshot height.

Steps

1. Pick the oldest height that must stay queryable.
2. If that height is below the published snapshot, do not start from the Secret³ tarball. Replay from the first height in range.
3. Before the first commit under a pruning strategy, set app.toml:

pruning = "nothing"
min-retain-blocks = 0

Leave pruning-keep-recent and pruning-interval unused. Leave indexer = "kv" and discard_abci_responses = false if /tx and /block_results matter. Set store-sgx-data = true only if the ecall and trace methods must be stored.

4. Replay from the first height in range.
5. Install the MAINNET deb. dpkg replaces the systemd unit, not app.toml. After that install, check pruning is still "nothing". See Upgrade a seeded node.
6. Restart secret-node. Query a height older than 362880 blocks, using a height the blockstore actually has.
7. To stop archiving, set pruning to "default" or "everything" and restart. Deleted versions do not come back. To prune blocks as well, set min-retain-blocks to a non-zero offset and restart.

Disk

pruning = "nothing" grows for the life of the node. Plan disk for that growth.

Set the keys before the first commit of the range. On a node that has been pruning, the switch only protects what is still on disk and what comes next. A binary upgrade does not change pruning.

store-sgx-data does not rebuild IAVL history. A machine without SGX cannot serve encrypted queries.

To publish the API, follow RPC and LCD. Keep Prometheus off, or bind it to 127.0.0.1:26660.