hyperledger/fabric · error

no server specified

Error message

no server specified

What it means

EndorsersCmd.Execute requires the discovery server address to send the endorsers query. If pc.server is nil or an empty string, there is no endpoint to contact, so the command returns this error after the channel check passes.

Source

Thrown at discovery/cmd/endorsers.go:79

// SetServer sets the server
func (pc *EndorsersCmd) SetServer(server *string) {
	pc.server = server
}

// SetChannel sets the channel
func (pc *EndorsersCmd) SetChannel(channel *string) {
	pc.channel = channel
}

// Execute executes the command
func (pc *EndorsersCmd) Execute(conf common.Config) error {
	if pc.channel == nil || *pc.channel == "" {
		return errors.New("no channel specified")
	}

	if pc.server == nil || *pc.server == "" {
		return errors.New("no server specified")
	}

	server := *pc.server
	channel := *pc.channel

	ccAndCol := &chaincodesAndCollections{
		Chaincodes:  pc.chaincodes,
		Collections: pc.collections,
		NoPrivReads: pc.noPrivReads,
	}
	cc2collections, err := ccAndCol.parseInput()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	var ccCalls []*peer.ChaincodeCall

	for _, cc := range *ccAndCol.Chaincodes {

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

  1. Pass --server <host:port> pointing at the discovery service
  2. Call endorsersCmd.SetServer("peer0.example.com:7051") before Execute in programmatic use
  3. Ensure deployment scripts/config supply the peer/discovery address

Example fix

// before
endorsersCmd := discovery.NewEndorsersCmd()
endorsersCmd.SetChannel("mychannel")
// after
endorsersCmd := discovery.NewEndorsersCmd()
endorsersCmd.SetChannel("mychannel")
endorsersCmd.SetServer("peer0.example.com:7051")
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if server == "" {
    return errors.New("--server is required: discovery service address host:port")
}

Type guard

func hasServer(pc *discovery.EndorsersCmd) bool {
    return pc.Server != nil && *pc.Server != ""
}

Try / catch

if err := endorsersCmd.Execute(conf); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no server specified") {
        return fmt.Errorf("supply --server host:port: %w", err)
    }
    return err
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Running the discovery endorsers command without --server, or calling EndorsersCmd.Execute without SetServer.

Common situations: Missing -S/--server (or --peerURL style) flag; peer address loaded from empty env/config; TLS config scripts that set channel but not server.

Understand the failure class

Background: "missing required argument" and "the following required arguments were not provided": what required-argument errors mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/12a94070dca37f01. Report an issue: GitHub.