Archive node
A network node that stores the full historical state of the blockchain rather than just recent blocks. Explorers, indexers and analytics services run archive nodes because they need access to data from any point in the past.
Aliases: archive node, archival node, full-history node
An archive node is a TON network node that stores the full history of blockchain state from the very beginning, instead of pruning old data.
How it differs from a regular node
- A full node keeps the current state and recent blocks but periodically prunes old history to save disk space. See full-node.
- A validator is a full node with stake that takes part in consensus. It does not need to keep all of history. See validator.
- An archive node never prunes: it retains every state and every block, so data from any past day can be queried.
Why it exists
- Explorers (Tonviewer, Tonscan) can show any old transaction — archive access is what makes that possible.
- Indexers and APIs build databases for searching by address, jetton transfer, or NFT.
- Analytics and reporting — historical balance reconstruction, tax exports, dashboards.
Storage requirements
TON’s full history is large and keeps growing, so an archive node needs big, fast disks (tens of terabytes of NVMe-class storage) and a stable link. This is markedly more expensive than running a plain full node.
Who runs them
Archive nodes are typically run by explorer teams, analytics services, exchanges, and large data providers. An ordinary user does not need one — a public API or explorer is enough, and those rely on someone’s archive node under the hood. The masterchain remains the state-sync anchor; see masterchain.