chaincode %s is specified as not containing private data rea

Error message

chaincode %s is specified as not containing private data reads but should be explicitly defined via a chaincode flag

What it means

The discovery CLI's parseInput validates that every chaincode named in the --noPrivateReads flag is also listed in the chaincode selection. Discovery needs to know which chaincodes to build endorsement descriptors for, and the no-priv-reads hint only makes sense for a chaincode that is actually being queried. If a chaincode appears in NoPrivReads but not in Chaincodes, input is inconsistent and parsing aborts.

Source

Thrown at discovery/cmd/endorsers.go:181

	if ec.NoPrivReads == nil {
		ec.NoPrivReads = &emptyChaincodes
	}

	var emptyCollections map[string]string
	if ec.Collections == nil {
		ec.Collections = &emptyCollections
	}

	res := make(map[string][]string)

	for _, cc := range *ec.Chaincodes {
		res[cc] = nil
	}

	for _, cc := range *ec.NoPrivReads {
		if !ec.existsInChaincodes(cc) {
			return nil, errors.Errorf("chaincode %s is specified as not containing private data reads but should be explicitly defined via a chaincode flag", cc)
		}
	}

	for cc, collections := range *ec.Collections {
		if !ec.existsInChaincodes(cc) {
			return nil, errors.Errorf("a collection specified chaincode %s but it wasn't specified with a chaincode flag", cc)
		}
		res[cc] = strings.Split(collections, ",")
	}

	return res, nil
}

func parseEndorsementDescriptors(descriptors []*discovery.EndorsementDescriptor) []endorsermentDescriptor {
	var res []endorsermentDescriptor
	for _, desc := range descriptors {
		endorsersByGroups := make(map[string][]endorser)
		for grp, endorsers := range desc.EndorsersByGroups {

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

Add the missing chaincode to the --chaincode flag so it is explicitly defined
Remove the extraneous entry from --noPrivateReads if that chaincode should not be queried
Fix typos so the chaincode name matches exactly in both flags

Example fix

// before
discover --configFile conf.yaml endorsers --server peer:7051 --chaincode cc1 --noPrivateReads cc2

// after
discover --configFile conf.yaml endorsers --server peer:7051 --chaincode cc1 --chaincode cc2 --noPrivateReads cc2

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const chaincodes = flags.chaincode || [];
const noPrivReads = flags.noPrivateReads || [];
const missing = noPrivReads.filter(cc => !chaincodes.includes(cc));
if (missing.length > 0) {
  throw new Error(`--noPrivateReads entries not in --chaincode: ${missing.join(',')}`);
}

Type guard

function hasAllNoPrivReadsDefined(chaincodes, noPrivReads) {
  return noPrivReads.every(cc => chaincodes.includes(cc));
}

Try / catch

try {
  resp, err := runDiscover(args)
  if err != nil { log.Fatalf("input validation: %v", err) }
} catch (e) {
  if (String(e.message).includes('explicitly defined via a chaincode flag')) {
    console.error('Sync --chaincode and --noPrivateReads lists');
  }
}

Prevention

Generate both --chaincode and --noPrivateReads from a single list variable
Validate flag overlap in wrapper scripts before invoking discover
Grep CI scripts for noPrivateReads entries missing from chaincode flags

When it happens

Trigger: Running `discover endorsers` with --chaincode for one chaincode but listing another chaincode in --noPrivateReads, or passing --noPrivateReads cc1 while forgetting --chaincode cc1 entirely.

Common situations: Copy-pasted CLI commands where the --chaincode flag list was edited but the --noPrivateReads list was not; scripts generating flags from separate lists that drift out of sync; typos in the chaincode name between the two flags.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e6559b5811c76cf2. Report an issue: GitHub.