Merge pull request #264 from ethersphere/staging

2.6 release blogpost

Author: GasperX93

content/_index.md

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-description = 'Swarm news. An open-source, censorship-resistant blog hosted on [Swarm](https://www.ethswarm.org/ "Swarm").'
-featured = "posts/shtuka-partnership.md"
+description = 'Swarm news. An open-source, censorship-resistant blog hosted on Swarm.'
+featured = "posts/bee-v2.6.0-release-notice.md"
 featured_blog = "foundation"
-featured_secondary_first = "swarm-community-call-june-2025-recap.md"
+featured_secondary_first = "posts/shtuka-partnership.md"
 featured_secondary_first_blog = "foundation"
-featured_secondary_second = "monthly-development-update-june-2025.md"
+featured_secondary_second = "swarm-community-call-june-2025-recap.md"
 featured_secondary_second_blog = "foundation"
 title = "Swarm home"
 _template = "home"

content/foundation/posts/bee-v2.6.0-release-notice.(md)

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+banner = "/uploads/bee-2-6-0.jpg"
+images = [ "/uploads/bee-2-6-0.jpg" ]
+categories = [ "Development updates" ]
+date = 2025-07-22T00:00:00.000Z
+description = "Bee v2.6.0 brings faster than ever startup times (~10x faster!) so you can get busy uploading and downloading from Swarm in just a couple minutes."
+references_and_footnotes = [ ]
+title = "Bee Version 2.6.0 Goes Live!"
+_template = "post"
+slug="bee-2-6-0-release"
++++
+
+
+
+
+# 🚀 Bee v2.6.0 Is Now Live!
+
+{{< admonition warning >}}
+⚠️ **Immediate Action Required for Node Operators**
+
+**Bee v2.6.0 introduces changes that require a stake migration.**
+
+For continued data availability and the ability to participate in the redistribution game, you must **upgrade your node** and **migrate your stake** ASAP.
+
+🔗 [Follow the migration guide →](https://docs.ethswarm.org/docs/bee/working-with-bee/staking/#stake-migration)
+{{< /admonition >}}
+
+We’re excited to announce that **Bee v2.6.0** has officially been released!
+
+This update brings **faster node startup**, **protocol readiness improvements**, and a collection of important **bug fixes, monitoring enhancements, and compatibility updates**.
+
+## ⚡ Faster Startup
+
+Bee nodes now import postage batch data from a **snapshot file** by default, allowing them to skip syncing historical postage events. This drastically improves **startup speed for new mainnet nodes**, streamlining node deployment and reducing time-to-readiness.
+
+{{< admonition info >}}
+📌 The snapshot import is only used for new mainnet nodes.
+If your node has previously run, it will continue syncing the usual way.
+{{< /admonition >}}
+
+This behavior is enabled by default, but can be disabled by setting this configuration option:
+
+```yaml
+skip-postage-snapshot: true
+```
+
+Additionally, the fixed startup delay has been replaced with **dynamic protocol readiness** based which ensures that nodes begin protocol operations as soon as they’re actually fully connected to the network rather than waiting a fixed period of time, reducing idle time and improving responsiveness.
+
+If you're running multiple nodes or deploying fresh infrastructure, these changes will save time and simplify the onboarding process.
+
+## 🐞 Bug Fixes & Maintenance
+
+This release includes:
+
+* **New upload/download speed metrics** in the status protocol, enabling better performance analysis across nodes.
+* A fix for inaccurate Prometheus vector variables, ensuring more reliable monitoring.
+* Memory optimization: the number of background cache workers has been reduced from 128 to 32, lowering resource consumption.
+* Clearer error messages during startup, including improved feedback when chequebook deployment fails due to insufficient funds.
+* Deprecated CLI flags like `swap-endpoint` and `swap-deployment-gas-price` have been removed.
+
+The release also upgrades to **Go 1.24** and **go-ethereum v1.14.13**, improving performance, security, and compatibility with the latest tooling. Smart contracts and OpenAPI docs have also been updated, including removal of outdated auth entries and improvements to the `/stake` and `/status` endpoints.
+
+For developers maintaining integrations or using monitoring systems, these improvements enhance clarity, stability, and debugging workflows.
+
+## 📘 Full Release Notes
+
+For a complete list of changes, see the [v2.6.0 Release Notes](https://github.com/ethersphere/bee/releases/tag/v2.6.0).
+For technical details, view the [v2.6.0 diff on GitHub](https://github.com/ethersphere/bee/compare/v2.5.0...v2.6.0).
+
+## 🐝 Need Help?
+
+If you're a node operator looking for support, join the Swarm Discord [#node-operators channel](https://discord.com/channels/799027393297514537/811553590170353685) where you can get answers from the team and community.
+