Seed Node

A seed node is a long-running node that supplies new or returning clients with a list of reachable peers, acting as an entry point into a peer-to-peer network. In Bitcoin the same role is often filled by DNS seeds — domain names that resolve to the addresses of currently active nodes — while many other networks publish seed node lists in their client configuration. Seed nodes are about connectivity, not consensus: they cannot change protocol rules or validate on anyone's behalf, and a client that has connected once will usually remember peers for later restarts. Note that a seed node has nothing to do with a wallet seed phrase, despite the similar name; sharing a seed node address is harmless, sharing a seed phrase is not.