Light Client Mode

[Danie0918]

Light Client Mode is a connection mode for Neuron that connects to the built-in CKB Light Node Network. It downloads a portion of the blockchain data to obtain necessary information compared to a full node. This gives Neuron faster access to the CKB blockchain. (Attention : Currently, light client mode is only supported on the test network, with support for the main network to follow)

Light Client Mode Advantages

• Higher synchronization speed: Light Client Mode enables faster synchronization of blockchain data, saving users' time and network bandwidth.
• Less disk usage: Light Client Mode requires only a fraction of the blockchain data to be stored, resulting in less storage space requirement compared to a full node.

Using a MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020) device as an example, we conducted a realistic test of synchronization from block 0 to the latest block 9,380,828 (2023/05/22 Pudge network data):

Light Client Mode: The synchronization process consumed about 5.5 hours and approximately 45MB of disk space during running. (The disk usage is related to the transaction count, and this test included 782 transactions.)
Full Node Mode: It took about 36 hours to synchronize 107.8GB of data. (Excluding the time to find an assumed valid target block.)

In the above test scenario, using a light node compared to a full node reduced synchronization time by 84.7% and disk usage by 99.9%. (Please note that these numbers are for reference only and may vary depending on different equipment, network conditions, and account data.)