hyperledger/fabric · error

Must supply channel ID

Error message

Must supply channel ID

What it means

getinfo validates that the global channelID (set via the -c/--channelID flag) is not the undefined empty value. If the user did not supply a channel ID, the command aborts early with this message. It is a straightforward CLI argument validation error thrown before any network activity.

Source

Thrown at internal/peer/channel/getinfo.go:87

	}

	if proposalResp.Response == nil || proposalResp.Response.Status != http.StatusOK {
		return nil, errors.Errorf("received bad response, status %d: %s", proposalResp.Response.Status, proposalResp.Response.Message)
	}

	blockChainInfo := &cb.BlockchainInfo{}
	err = proto.Unmarshal(proposalResp.Response.Payload, blockChainInfo)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "cannot read qscc response")
	}

	return blockChainInfo, nil
}

func getinfo(cmd *cobra.Command, cf *ChannelCmdFactory) error {
	// the global chainID filled by the "-c" command
	if channelID == common.UndefinedParamValue {
		return errors.New("Must supply channel ID")
	}
	// Parsing of the command line is done so silence cmd usage
	cmd.SilenceUsage = true

	var err error
	if cf == nil {
		cf, err = InitCmdFactory(EndorserRequired, PeerDeliverNotRequired, OrdererNotRequired)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}
	}

	client := &endorserClient{cf}

	blockChainInfo, err := client.getBlockChainInfo()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

1. Rerun with the channel ID: `peer channel getinfo -c mychannel`.
2. In scripts, verify the CHANNEL_NAME variable is set before invoking the command.
3. Check `peer channel getinfo --help` for exact flag spelling.

Example fix

// before
peer channel getinfo
// after
peer channel getinfo -c mychannel

// bash
: "${CHANNEL_NAME:?set -c / CHANNEL_NAME before running}"
peer channel getinfo -c "$CHANNEL_NAME"

// bash
if ! out=$(peer channel getinfo -c "$CHAN" 2>&1); then
  case "$out" in *"Must supply channel ID"*) echo "add -c flag";; esac
fi

When it happens

Trigger: Running `peer channel getinfo` without the `-c <channelID>` flag (or with an empty -c value).

Common situations: Copying an example command that omitted -c; scripting with an unset shell variable for the channel name; typos like -channelID instead of --channelID.

Understand the failure class

Background: "--flag is required" and "must specify" CLI errors: how missing-required-flag validation works and how to fix it — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• empty JSON chaincode parameters must contain the following k
• Must supply genesis block file
• Must supply genesis block path
• the required parameter 'snapshotpath' is empty. Rerun the co
• Must supply channel ID

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b2d0428c501c67fe. Report an issue: GitHub.