Geth #35907 lets you set transaction history independently of archive mode

Serguey Asael Shinder17 October 2026, 08:542 min read

The go-ethereum (Geth) project merged pull request #35907 on 16 October 2026, which decouples the transaction-history setting from archive mode. Until now, running an archive node implied keeping transaction indexes for the entire chain; the change makes the two settings independent. The author is rjl493456442, and the PR was opened on 8 October.

The four combinations it enables. The PR spells out how the two settings now interact:

• archive, no transaction-history setting — the node indexes transactions for the entire chain (the old archive behaviour);
• archive, transaction history configured (via config file or CLI flag) — the node honours the configured window;
• non-archive, no transaction-history setting — the default window of 2,350,000 blocks applies;
• non-archive, transaction history configured — the node honours the configured window.

In other words, an archive node that does not explicitly configure transaction history still keeps full transaction indexes, so the default archive experience is unchanged; the new flexibility is for operators who do set a window.

Why it matters to node operators. Transaction indexing is what lets a node answer "where is this transaction" by hash. On an archive node it previously could not be limited, which tied index storage to the archive dataset. After this change, an operator running an archive node for state history can choose to keep only a bounded transaction-index window, trimming that storage without giving up archive state — or keep the full index by leaving the setting unset. The behaviour is driven by whether the setting is "explicitly configured", so the distinction between an unset default and an explicit value is what the node keys on.

This is a single merged change in the development branch, not a tagged Geth release; the exact flag and config-file key are in the PR and the cmd/utils code it touches. Operators should confirm the setting name there before relying on it, and watch for the release that first ships it.

Source: go-ethereum, "cmd/utils: decouple the transaction history from archive mode" (PR #35907) — https://github.com/ethereum/go-ethereum/pull/35907