Dolos Cuts Cardano Data Node Memory Use to About 3 GB

TxPipe’s Santiago Carmuega demonstrated Dolos during a Midnight Fireside Dev Hang focused on agentic monitoring and infrastructure. According to figures presented during the session, Dolos can operate with approximately 3 GB of RAM, compared with around 64 GB for a configuration combining a Cardano node, cardano-db-sync and PostgreSQL. Dolos achieves that reduction by maintaining current ledger state and serving queries without producing blocks or performing full consensus validation.

Dolos Combines Cardano Data and APIs

Dolos is an open-source Cardano data node written in Rust. It connects directly to the network through Ouroboros Node-to-Node protocols and provides blockchain data to applications, wallets and monitoring services.

Carmuega contrasted this architecture with cardano-db-sync, which typically requires a Cardano node, a separate synchronization process and a PostgreSQL database. Dolos consolidates the functions required for chain observation and uses an embedded database.

The tool can expose several compatible interfaces, including UTxO RPC, Mini Blockfrost API and node-to-client access. Development teams can use established methods for querying Cardano data without operating the complete db-sync stack.

Dolos does not replace a block-producing node or relay. It relies on upstream peers and is designed specifically for systems that need an updated ledger and efficient query access.

Configurable History Reduces Storage Requirements

Cardano-db-sync indexes transactions, UTxOs, native assets, stake pools, DReps, governance actions and other historical information. Supporting that scope requires a large PostgreSQL database containing records from the Byron era to the current chain tip.

The presentation cited approximately 700 GB of storage, five to eight CPU cores and around 64 GB of RAM for such a configuration, although actual requirements depend on the deployment and workload.

Dolos allows operators to define how much history they retain. A deployment can keep one day, several days, one month or another customized period. Older records are removed after the configured window expires while the system continues following the latest network state.

This makes Dolos suitable for services that need current Cardano data and limited recent history. Explorers, analytics platforms and other applications requiring extensive historical queries may still need the broader indexing capabilities of cardano-db-sync.

Dolos Simplifies Cardano Infrastructure Deployment

The demonstration included launching the tool through the dolos init command. Its interactive setup lets operators select the Cardano network, synchronization source, data retention period and API interfaces they want to activate.

Users can synchronize from the beginning of the chain or download a snapshot to reach the current state more quickly. Carmuega described Dolos snapshots as the fastest startup option, while deployments with stricter trust requirements can use additional verification methods.

TxPipe is working with Blockfrost and Blink Labs on snapshot infrastructure and the use of Dolos within their systems. Mithril was also discussed as a potential source of cryptographically certified bootstrap data, although additional processing is currently required before Mithril data can be used directly by Dolos.

For applications that do not require Cardano’s complete historical record, Dolos changes the deployment model from a multi-component database stack to a lightweight data node with selectable APIs and a configurable history window.