The unavailability of formal snapshots for earlier epochs appears to be intentional, likely due to storage optimization or retention policies. The 404 error indicates these historical snapshots have either been purged or were never archived in the first place. For accessing older epoch data, you might need to explore alternative sources like Sui's archival nodes or third-party indexers. This limitation suggests developers should proactively save critical historical data rather than relying on long-term availability of formal snapshots. The response headers confirm the request reached Sui's infrastructure but the specific resource wasn't found.

Formal snapshots for older epochs (like epoch_769) are not stored permanently and may return 404 after a certain period. This is likely intentional to save storage costs.

What You Can Do:

• Check recent epochs – Only the latest epochs may be available.
• Run your own archival node – If you need historical data.
• Ask Sui team – They might provide snapshots on request.

(The 404 confirms the snapshot is no longer accessible.)

Yes, formal snapshots are only available from recent epochs (e.g., ~epoch 780+). Earlier epochs like 769 are not available — this is intended. Sui only retains snapshots for a limited historical window.

Why This Happens

1. Automatic Pruning:
   Sui only maintains formal snapshots for recent epochs (typically last 2-5 epochs)
2. Storage Optimization:
   Older epochs are archived to reduce storage costs

Workarounds

1. Use Checkpoint Sync:

   sui-node --fullnode-config ~/.sui/fullnode.yaml \
     --checkpoint-sync-url https://checkpoints.mainnet.sui.io
   

2. Request Specific Epoch:
   Contact Mysten Labs via:

   • Discord: #mainnet-validators
   • Email: support@mystenlabs.com

3. Alternative Sources:

   # Try community archives
   curl https://archive.sui.io/epoch_769/ | grep MANIFEST
   

For Urgent Needs

# Reconstruct state from transactions
sui-tool replay --epoch 769 --start-checkpoint 10000

Expected Availability

You're encountering a 404 Not Found error when trying to access a formal snapshot for an earlier epoch on the Sui network, which likely means that snapshots like epoch_769/MANIFEST are either no longer hosted, have been pruned, or were never published for public access. This is expected behavior because the Sui formal snapshot server (https://formal-snapshot.mainnet.sui.io) is typically configured to retain recent epochs for performance and storage efficiency. If your use case depends on fetching archived state data for older epochs, you should consider running or querying an archive fullnode with extended epoch retention or storing formal snapshots yourself at the time of generation. You can read more about snapshot storage and archive node practices here: Sui Node Types & Archival.