docker/cli · error

node ID not found in /info

Error message

node ID not found in /info

What it means

Thrown by the Reference helper (used by node commands to resolve the 'self' keyword) when /info returns an empty Swarm.NodeID. This means the engine is not part of a swarm or is not acting as a manager. The code first attempts a NodeList call to surface a more specific swarm error; if that succeeds, this generic message is returned.

Solutions

1. Initialize a swarm on a manager: 'docker swarm init', then run from that node.
2. Join this host to an existing swarm as a manager if applicable.
3. Use an explicit node ID or hostname instead of 'self' when targeting a remote manager.

Example fix

# before (on a non-swarm host)
docker node inspect self
# after
docker swarm init
docker node inspect self

// Verify swarm membership before resolving 'self'
info, err := apiClient.Info(ctx, client.InfoOptions{})
if err != nil { return err }
if info.Info.Swarm.NodeID == "" {
    return fmt.Errorf("this node is not in a swarm; run 'docker swarm init'")
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running 'docker node inspect self', 'docker node ps self', or any node command with 'self' on a daemon that is not in swarm mode or is only a worker node (lines 47-62 of cmd.go).

Common situations: Running node commands on a standalone Docker host with no swarm initialized; executing on a worker node where /info omits the manager NodeID; stale engine state after leaving a swarm.

Related errors

• cannot supply extra formatting options to the pretty…
• when using secret driver secret data must be empty
• error reading from STDIN: data is empty
• secret file is required
• every ip-range or gateway must have a corresponding subnet

AI-assisted analysis of docker/cli@4f84911bfe (2026-08-07). Data as JSON: /api/errors/52f8f3684006cdbf. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cli/command/node/cmd.go:62

// reference is mapped to the current node, hence the node ID is retrieved using
// the `/info` endpoint.
func Reference(ctx context.Context, apiClient client.APIClient, ref string) (string, error) {
	if ref == "self" {
		res, err := apiClient.Info(ctx, client.InfoOptions{})
		if err != nil {
			return "", err
		}
		if res.Info.Swarm.NodeID == "" {
			// If there's no node ID in /info, the node probably
			// isn't a manager. Call a swarm-specific endpoint to
			// get a more specific error message.
			//
			// FIXME(thaJeztah): this should not require calling a Swarm endpoint, and we could just suffice with info / ping (which has swarm status).
			_, err = apiClient.NodeList(ctx, client.NodeListOptions{})
			if err != nil {
				return "", err
			}
			return "", errors.New("node ID not found in /info")
		}
		return res.Info.Swarm.NodeID, nil
	}
	return ref, nil
}

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