hyperledger/fabric · error

cannot obtain orderer endpoint, empty endorser list

Error message

cannot obtain orderer endpoint, empty endorser list

What it means

In setOrdererClient, when no orderer address was supplied, the peer attempts to discover one by querying the cscc (configuration system chaincode) via an endorser client. If the client has zero endorser clients configured, there is no peer to ask for the orderer endpoint, so this error is thrown.

Source

Thrown at internal/peer/lifecycle/chaincode/client_connections.go:209

		return errors.WithMessage(err, "failed to retrieve client cerificate")
	}

	c.Certificate = certificate

	return nil
}

func (c *ClientConnections) setOrdererClient() error {
	oe := viper.GetString("orderer.address")
	if oe == "" {
		// if we're here we didn't get an orderer endpoint from the command line
		// so we'll attempt to get one from cscc - bless it
		if c.Signer == nil {
			return errors.New("cannot obtain orderer endpoint, no signer was configured")
		}

		if len(c.EndorserClients) == 0 {
			return errors.New("cannot obtain orderer endpoint, empty endorser list")
		}

		orderingEndpoints, err := common.GetOrdererEndpointOfChainFnc(channelID, c.Signer, c.EndorserClients[0], c.CryptoProvider)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.WithMessagef(err, "error getting channel (%s) orderer endpoint", channelID)
		}
		if len(orderingEndpoints) == 0 {
			return errors.Errorf("no orderer endpoints retrieved for channel %s, pass orderer endpoint with -o flag instead", channelID)
		}

		logger.Infof("Retrieved channel (%s) orderer endpoint: %s", channelID, orderingEndpoints[0])
		// override viper env
		viper.Set("orderer.address", orderingEndpoints[0])
	}

	broadcastClient, err := common.GetBroadcastClient()
	if err != nil {
		return errors.WithMessage(err, "failed to retrieve broadcast client")

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

1. Add at least one --peerAddresses flag (with --tlsRootCertFiles if TLS is on) so an endorser client is created.
2. Supply -o/--orderer so the cscc lookup path is skipped entirely.
3. Check that --peerAddresses parsing/viper keys are not being overridden by environment variables like CORE_PEER_ADDRESS.
4. If constructing ClientConnections in code, populate EndorserClients before calling NewClientConnections.

Example fix

// before
peer lifecycle chaincode commit -C mychannel --name mycc --version 1.0
// after
peer lifecycle chaincode commit -C mychannel --name mycc --version 1.0 \
  --peerAddresses peer0.org1.example.com:7051 \
  --tlsRootCertFiles /path/org1.pem \
  -o orderer.example.com:7050

if !strings.Contains(os.Getenv("CORE_PEER_ADDRESS"), "peer") && ordererFlag == "" {
    // ensure at least one --peerAddresses or -o is provided
}
// CLI: require flags before running
// if orderer == "" && len(peerAddresses) == 0 { return errors.New("provide -o or --peerAddresses") }

When it happens

Trigger: Running a lifecycle chaincode command (approve/commit/checkcommitreadiness etc.) without an orderer address (-o / --orderer) and without any peer endorser addresses (--peerAddresses), so NewClientConnections builds a ClientConnections with an empty EndorserClients slice.

Common situations: CLI invocations missing both -o and --peerAddresses flags; scripts that set only the orderer flag but no peers; test harnesses constructing the client struct programmatically without calling the code that appends endorser clients.

Related errors

• no orderer endpoints retrieved for channel %s, pass orderer
• The required parameter 'channelID' is empty. Rerun the comma
• The required parameter 'name' is empty. Rerun the command wi
• The required parameter 'version' is empty. Rerun the command
• The required parameter 'sequence' is empty. Rerun the comman

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/590881f345a91f8d. Report an issue: GitHub.