---
title: "Snapshots"
description: "Restore Base nodes from official Reth and proofs snapshots for Base Mainnet and Base Sepolia to skip the initial sync window."
source: https://basehub.org/node-operations/snapshots/
---
import { Aside } from '@astrojs/starlight/components';

Restoring from a snapshot drastically reduces initial Base node sync time. Snapshots are refreshed regularly.

## Restoring from a snapshot

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

1. **Prepare the data directory.**
   - **Before launching Docker for the first time**, create the host directory that will be mapped into the container. The path must match the `volumes` entry in `docker-compose.yml`:

     ```bash
     mkdir ./reth-data
     ```

   - If a previous run left an existing data directory, **stop the node first** (`docker compose down`), wipe the contents (for example, `rm -rf ./reth-data/*`), then continue.

2. **Download the snapshot.** Pick the row that matches your network and client, and download into the `node` directory using `wget` or equivalent.

   | Network  | Snapshot type        | Download command (`wget …`)                                                                                       |
   | -------- | -------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
   | Testnet  | Archive (recommended)| `wget -c https://sepolia-reth-archive-snapshots.base.org/$(curl https://sepolia-reth-archive-snapshots.base.org/latest)` |
   | Testnet  | Pruned               | `wget -c https://sepolia-reth-pruned-snapshots.base.org/$(curl https://sepolia-reth-pruned-snapshots.base.org/latest)` |
   | Mainnet  | Archive (recommended)| `wget -c https://mainnet-reth-archive-snapshots.base.org/$(curl https://mainnet-reth-archive-snapshots.base.org/latest)` |
   | Mainnet  | Pruned               | `wget -c https://mainnet-reth-pruned-snapshots.base.org/$(curl https://mainnet-reth-pruned-snapshots.base.org/latest)` |

   <Aside type="note">
   Make sure you have enough free disk space for both the archive (`.tar.gz` / `.tar.zst`) and the extracted contents — extraction yields significantly more data than the archive itself.
   </Aside>

3. **Extract the snapshot.** Replace `snapshot-filename` with the actual download:

   ```bash
   tar -xzvf <snapshot-filename.tar.gz>

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

4. **Move the data into place.** Extraction typically produces a `reth/` directory.

   - Move its contents into the data directory created in step 1:

     ```bash
     mv ./reth/* ./reth-data/
     rm -rf ./reth    # remove the now-empty extracted folder
     ```

   - The chain data subdirectories (`chaindata`, `nodes`, `segments`, etc.) must sit directly under `./reth-data` — not in a nested folder.

5. **Start the node.** Return to the root of your Base node folder and bring it up:

   ```bash
   cd ..
   docker compose up --build
   ```

   The node should pick up syncing from the last block recorded in the snapshot.

6. **Verify and clean up.** Tail the logs (`docker compose logs -f <service_name>`) or use the [sync monitoring](/getting-started/running/) command to confirm the node starts at the snapshot's block height. Once verified, delete the downloaded archive (`.tar.gz`) to reclaim disk space.

## Proofs snapshots

If you run the [historical proofs ExEx](/getting-started/running/), proof database snapshots are available so you can skip the 24–48 hour backfill.

| Network | Download command (`wget …`) |
| ------- | --------------------------- |
| Testnet | `wget -c https://sepolia-reth-proofs-snapshots.base.org/$(curl https://sepolia-reth-proofs-snapshots.base.org/latest)` |
| Mainnet | `wget -c https://mainnet-reth-proofs-snapshots.base.org/$(curl https://mainnet-reth-proofs-snapshots.base.org/latest)` |

The restore process matches the steps above — follow [Restoring from a snapshot](#restoring-from-a-snapshot) using this archive.