How to run eos nodeos with sync starting at top of chain (current head block)?

Question

I'm attempting to run a non-historical node that has access to the most recent block data.

My current plugins are:

plugin = eosio::chain_api_plugin
plugin = eosio::chain_plugin
plugin = eosio::http_plugin
plugin = eosio::net_plugin
plugin = eosio::net_api_plugin

I suspect it's the genesis file:

{
  "initial_timestamp": "2018-06-08T08:08:08.888",
  "initial_key": "EOS7EarnUhcyYqmdnPon8rm7mBCTnBoot6o7fE2WzjvEX2TdggbL3",
  "initial_configuration": {
    "max_block_net_usage": 1048576,
    "target_block_net_usage_pct": 1000,
    "max_transaction_net_usage": 524288,
    "base_per_transaction_net_usage": 12,
    "net_usage_leeway": 500,
    "context_free_discount_net_usage_num": 20,
    "context_free_discount_net_usage_den": 100,
    "max_block_cpu_usage": 200000,
    "target_block_cpu_usage_pct": 1000,
    "max_transaction_cpu_usage": 150000,
    "min_transaction_cpu_usage": 100,
    "max_transaction_lifetime": 3600,
    "deferred_trx_expiration_window": 600,
    "max_transaction_delay": 3888000,
    "max_inline_action_size": 4096,
    "max_inline_action_depth": 4,
    "max_authority_depth": 6
  }
}

Is there a way to change the initial_timestamp to start from the current top of the chain? I've tried using --genesis-timestamp=now but that puts me on a "wrong" chain.

Is this possible without using a snapshot?

Answer 1

After some more research, I realized that even if I don't want to keep historical state, I have to start at the genesis block for consensus.

An option is to download a snapshot and use that (but that carries some risk): https://eosnode.tools/snapshots