Latest bootstrap

One file pair. First published at height 1000, then overwritten every 400 blocks. Not a history. Magic shear-testnet-v3.

Checking latest.json…

latest.json latest.bin

Default sync is still full archival IBD. Bootstrap is opt-in. One file pair: first published at height 1000, then overwritten every 400 blocks (1400, 1800, …). Not every block. The last 1000 blocks still IBD from the live seed.

What this is

After 1000 confirmations the node drops Flow samples and share rows. Sealed transactions, coinbase vouts, headers, and merkle stay. This host overwrites latest.json + latest.bin at height 1000, then every 400 blocks (1400, 1800, …) — not on every prune. Older snapshots are not kept.

Do not use a bootstrap from anywhere except this page. A fake snapshot is a different book. After apply, your node must still reach the live tip hash on shear.digital:30303.

How to apply

No node rewrite. A stock node node/src/node.js already loads $SHEAR_DATA/chain.bin and then IBDs from the seed. Bootstrap is that file. Empty datadir only — do not pour this onto a chain you already have.

mkdir -p ~/shear-bootstrap
cd ~/shear-bootstrap
curl -fsSO https://boot.shear.digital/latest.json
curl -fsSO https://boot.shear.digital/latest.bin
python3 -m json.tool latest.json

export SHEAR_DATA="$HOME/.shear/testnet-v3"
rm -rf "$SHEAR_DATA"
mkdir -p "$SHEAR_DATA/bootstrap"
cp latest.bin "$SHEAR_DATA/chain.bin"
cp latest.bin "$SHEAR_DATA/bootstrap/latest.bin"
cp latest.json "$SHEAR_DATA/bootstrap/latest.json"

node node/src/node.js

Same binary, same ports (P2P 30303, RPC 18332 loopback), same magic shear-testnet-v3. It does not mine. It dials shear.digital:30303 and IBDs only what is still unpruned (about the last 1000 blocks). Merkle still runs. Share-batch POW is skipped only where the local book already has 1000 confirmations and samplesPruned — a peer flag alone is not enough.

Current source also accepts node node/src/node.js --bootstrap="$PWD" as a one-line copy. You do not need that flag if you copy latest.bin yourself.

If apply refuses

bootstrap_datadir_not_empty — you still have a chain.jsonl/bin. Use a new directory.
bootstrap_magic — not shear-testnet-v3. Wrong book.
bootstrap_dropped_txs — snapshot lost sealed txs. Do not use it. Full IBD instead.
Tip hash never matches the seed — throw the datadir away and IBD from empty. Do not dual-magic.

Full IBD (default)

export SHEAR_DATA="$HOME/.shear/testnet-v3"
node node/src/node.js

No --bootstrap. No SHEAR_FAST_SYNC. That is the stock user node.