What are the synchronization stages when setting up a Kaspa node from scratch?

Syncing a Kaspa node from scratch involves five stages: two short ones and three larger ones. The short stages are processing the pruning point proof and fetching the pruning point UTXO set. The three larger stages are processing headers, processing blocks, and building the DAG. A pruning point is a checkpoint in the blockDAG that lets the node avoid downloading the entire history; a UTXO set is the list of all unspent coins at that point. If you start from a database snapshot instead of syncing from scratch, some stages may be skipped depending on how current the snapshot is. Knowing the stages helps you tell the difference between normal progress and a stall — the large stages take longer, so patience during those is expected.