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netspecsEthereum networking

4.1.9.4.Reorg state retention

Stage
Future
Validity
Future proposal; no activation claim.
Sources
1 pinned source

Draft informational EIP-8252 sets REORG_RETENTION_WINDOW to 262,144 blocks, about 8,192 epochs or 36.4 days.

Proposed rule

For every canonical block from head - 262,144 through head, an execution client can reconstruct that block's post-state without sync. It may use full snapshots, reverse diffs, or another equivalent form in memory or on disk.

The rule covers state needed to execute a branch after a reorganization. It does not set retention for headers, bodies, or receipts.

Failure handling

A reorganization within the window must not fail only because the client pruned ancestor state. State older than the window may require sync or another recovery path. An implementation must not claim local reorg support deeper than the state it can reconstruct.

Status

The EIP is informational and Draft. It does not prove that current clients meet this floor.

Design rationale

A fixed reconstructible window gives fork choice a clear local recovery bound without requiring one storage layout.