The seed API keeps a pool of NNTP connections (SEED_NNTP_CONNECTIONS) and serves GET /api/v1/seed/ranges/:id/chunk?from=&to= for leased ranges: the gzip stream the news server sent, passed on unopened. seed:node fetches that way by default (SEED_FETCH=relay), so a node needs only a token and SEED_CONNECTIONS; SEED_FETCH=direct keeps its own NNTP connections. All fetching then comes from the indexer's IP (the account allows two). Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>