Update PathDB docs (mar2026)

[leeederek]

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Description

This PR:

• Clarifies that PathDB is our recommendation for archive nodes
• Adds details around the state of PathDB snapshots for full nodes
• Clarifies the pruning modes and what they do, including a key difference in that PathDB only retains the last 24hrs worth of state by default (and online, auto prunes everything outside that window)
• Clarifies that our pruning instructions only apply to HashDB
• Adds 3 more pathDB relevant flags for node operators to be aware of: --execution.caching.state-history, --execution.caching.state-scheme, and --execution.caching.pathdb-max-diff-layers, alongside defaults and assumptions
• Updated the minimum hardware requirements for archive nodes to match what we have in the full nodes section
• Removed mentions of Nova storage growth rate estimates
• Updated our Arbitrum One storage growth rate estimates (using internal metrics)
• Emphasized the fact that PathDB snapshot auto-download with --init.latest is not yet supported in the database snapshots page
• Did some minor formatting/grammar fixes for how we refer to PathDB enabled archive nodes and capitalization of certain words

Document type

• Gentle introduction
• Quickstart
• How-to
• Concept
• FAQ
• Troubleshooting
• Reference
• Third-party content
• Not applicable

Checklist

• I have read the CONTRIBUTE.md guidelines
• My changes follow the style conventions outlined in CONTRIBUTE.md
• I have used sentence-case for titles and headers
• I have used descriptive link text (not "here" or "this")
• I have separated procedural from conceptual content where appropriate
• I have tested my changes locally with yarn start or yarn build
• My code follows the existing code style and conventions
• I have added/updated frontmatter for new documents
• I have checked for broken links
• I have verified that my changes don't break the build
• Third-party docs only: Do you agree to the third-party content policy outlined within CONTRIBUTE.md?
  • Yes
  • Not applicable

Additional Notes

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
arbitrum-docs	Ready	Preview	Apr 1, 2026 11:10pm

[anegg0]

A few edits, some of them lending toward a more colloquial tone to follow the pattern guide.

[iamhsk]

LGTM

[magicxyyz]

LGTM