Running an Ethereum node used to mean running two of them. An execution client and a consensus client. Two processes, two datadirs, two config files, two upgrade schedules, and a JWT secret between them that fails in a way nobody enjoys debugging. Erigon ships Caplin, a consensus layer embedded in the same binary. It is on by default, so the plain command is the whole setup, and there is no separate disk store for it either. It is not a cut-down version: → --caplin.states-archive for historical beacon states → --caplin.blocks-archive for full block history → --caplin.blobs-archive for historical blobs For anyone running an op-node, --caplin.blobs-immediate-backfill populates the last 18 days of blobs up front instead of waiting for them to trickle in. The design reason is worth more than the feature. The two layers were split across two processes for historical reasons, not because the data wants to live apart. Putting them in one binary removes a category of operational failure rather than optimising it. https://t.co/Pzjp6ZBqTY #Erigon #Ethereum