ethereum/go-ethereum · error

trie.NewStateTrie called without a database

Error message

trie.NewStateTrie called without a database

What it means

Error "trie.NewStateTrie called without a database" thrown in ethereum/go-ethereum.

Source

Thrown at trie/secure_trie.go:80

// New and must have an attached database. The database also stores
// the preimage of each key if preimage recording is enabled.
//
// StateTrie is not safe for concurrent use.
type StateTrie struct {
	trie        Trie
	db          database.NodeDatabase
	preimages   preimageStore
	secKeyCache map[common.Hash][]byte
}

// NewStateTrie creates a trie with an existing root node from a backing database.
//
// If root is the zero hash or the sha3 hash of an empty string, the
// trie is initially empty. Otherwise, New will panic if db is nil
// and returns MissingNodeError if the root node cannot be found.
func NewStateTrie(id *ID, db database.NodeDatabase) (*StateTrie, error) {
	if db == nil {
		panic("trie.NewStateTrie called without a database")
	}
	trie, err := New(id, db)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	tr := &StateTrie{
		trie:        *trie,
		db:          db,
		secKeyCache: make(map[common.Hash][]byte),
	}

	// link the preimage store if it's supported
	if preimages, ok := db.(preimageStore); ok && preimages.PreimageEnabled() {
		tr.preimages = preimages
	}
	return tr, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 6bb0588ad8)

Solutions

1. Always pass a non-nil database to trie.NewStateTrie. Obtain it from the chain/state database (e.g., state.NewDatabase or triedb) instead of nil.
2. Guard construction: check db != nil before calling NewStateTrie and return an error to the caller.

Example fix

if db == nil {
    return nil, errors.New("state trie requires a database")
}
tr, err := trie.NewStateTrie(id, db)

When it happens

Trigger: Calling trie.NewStateTrie(id, nil) — constructing a state trie without a backing node database.

Common situations: Test setups or new code paths that forget to wire the triedb/database dependency into the trie constructor.

AI-assisted analysis of ethereum/go-ethereum@6bb0588ad8 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/63d914ab298c8a69. Report an issue: GitHub.