Pruning seed

Which data remains available

Pruning removes portions of old prunable transaction data while preserving the information required for continued node operation. Different pruned nodes retain different stripes, so their ability to serve historical requests differs.

The pruning seed encodes the stripe selection. A zero seed denotes an unpruned node in this scheme. The implementation also keeps recent data without applying the historical stripe selection.

References: Monero pruning-stripe code

Peer selection during synchronization

The P2P software records pruning information with peer records and connections. When selecting peers, it can consider which stripe the syncing node needs next.

This coordination does not replace block or transaction validation. A peer can be slow, stale or dishonest regardless of its advertised seed. Inspect actual synchronization progress alongside peer metadata when diagnosing missing downloads.

References: Monero source: p2p/net_node.inl

Example

A syncing node needs historical data from a particular stripe. It can prefer a peer whose advertised pruning seed indicates that stripe, or a peer that retains the full data.

References: Monero source: p2p/net_node.inl

Limits and cautions

A pruning seed is not a wallet recovery seed and does not grant spending access. It describes a storage pattern, not a guarantee that the advertising peer is reachable or will supply correct data.

References: Monero pruning-stripe code · Monero source: p2p/net_node.inl