About

Edge & Node is a core developer behind The Graph, which is the leading decentralized indexing protocol that powers access to blockchain data for thousands of dApps, from DeFi giants and NFT marketplaces to the next generation of social platforms. As a core developer of The Graph, Edge & Node is foundational in how the decentralized web operates, enabling billions of blockchain data queries each month across the ecosystem.

Operating at massive scale by serving billions of data queries each month, Edge & Node’s systems demand reliability, performance, and seamless developer experiences. Their mission to make blockchain data fast, accessible, and verifiable fuels nearly every corner, from DeFi and NFTs to emerging social and gaming platforms.

Problem

The Challenge: Simplifying Complex IPFS Infrastructure Without Losing Reliability

For teams operating at the scale of Edge & Node, reliability is mission-critical. Their infrastructure supports thousands of dApps and billions of queries. Every layer of their system needs to be fast, stable, and scalable to serve a global ecosystem that never sleeps.

But managing their own IPFS instance came with growing complexity. The team was spending valuable engineering hours maintaining infrastructure instead of advancing core products. As The Graph expanded, the Edge & Node team was hitting performance limitations for what IPFS could handle in its current implementation.

Frequent on-call alerts and troubleshooting sessions were cutting into developer productivity and after-hours peace of mind.

Edge & Node needed a solution that could:

• Reduce Engineering Overhead: Free up their team from constant IPFS management and node maintenance.
• Improve Stability: Eliminate disruptive on-call pages and provide dependable uptime for users around the world.
• Simplify Architecture: Streamline their stack by removing the operational burden of self-hosting.
• Enable Focus: Allow engineers to dedicate time to core development rather than infrastructure maintenance.

They began searching for a partner that could provide all the reliability of self-hosted infrastructure at the scale they require...without the complexity, cost, or sleepless nights.

Solution

Streamlining Infrastructure with a Reliable, Managed IPFS Partner

To eliminate the challenges of managing in-house IPFS infrastructure, Edge & Node chose Pinata to deliver a managed, stable, and scalable foundation for their operations. Pinata provided the reliability and performance needed, while also allowing their engineers to consolidate complex routing and storage processes under one seamless setup.

Working closely with Edge & Node’s technical team, Pinata helped fine-tune caching, routing, and traffic management strategies to ensure consistent performance at scale. The collaboration extended beyond setup as Pinata’s engineers assisted in exploring ways to optimize network visibility, refine caching mechanisms, and reduce rate-limiting friction without disrupting production traffic.

Results

From On-Call Chaos to Always-On Stability

By migrating to Pinata, Edge & Node cut the time engineers spent on maintenance and troubleshooting from 8–10 hours a week down to about one hour. This freed their team to focus almost entirely on product development and advancing The Graph ecosystem.

Eliminated On-Call Pages

• Before Pinata, Edge & Node engineers averaged five incident alerts per month related to IPFS node performance or availability. During times of instability, the number of weekly pages was even higher. Since migrating, they’ve seen that number drop to one or zero, virtually eliminating after-hours disruptions.

Simplified Architecture

• Pinata’s stable infrastructure allowed Edge & Node to retire their self-hosted IPFS nodes, removing layers of operational complexity and infrastructure costs. Their system is now easier to scale and maintain, reducing the need for ongoing DevOps oversight.

Improved Performance and Reliability

• With optimized caching and routing strategies guided by Pinata, Edge & Node achieved consistent uptime across billions of monthly data queries, even during external network incidents. This reliability has helped maintain seamless user experiences across thousands of dApps that depend on The Graph.

Exceptional Technical Partnership

• Pinata’s support extended far beyond standard service. Our engineers worked directly with Edge & Node’s team to analyze traffic patterns, fine-tune caching, and implement smarter rate-limiting strategies, ensuring long-term resilience and efficiency.

A Partnership Built to Scale & Win in the Market

The relationship between Edge & Node and Pinata is a technical partnership grounded in expertise, trust, and shared goals as well as an understanding of what is needed to build a trusted product to power crypto at scale.

What sets the partnership apart:

• Direct access to IPFS experts who understand the scale and complexity of The Graph’s infrastructure.
• Proactive collaboration on caching, scaling, and optimization while solving challenges before they impact performance.
• Transparent communication and fast response times that enable rapid iteration and innovation.
• Strategic alignment around reliability, scalability, and long-term ecosystem growth.