hyperledger/fabric · critical

plugin with name wasn't found

Error message

plugin with name %s wasn't found

What it means

PluginValidator.getOrCreatePlugin looks up a validation-plugin factory by the name stored in the chaincode definition (ctx.PluginName); no factory with that name is registered. Fabric throws this when the peer was not configured with the named validation plugin, so transactions for that chaincode cannot be validated.

Solutions

1. Register the plugin in the peer's core.yaml under validators.<pluginName> (library path + command) and restart the peer.
2. Correct the plugin name in the chaincode definition to one registered on all validating peers (use 'vscc' for default validation).
3. Deploy the plugin shared library/bytes to every validating peer in the channel.
4. Ensure all peers run the same build/config so definitions referencing custom plugins resolve everywhere.

Example fix

// before (core.yaml)
validators: {}
// after
validators:
  myvscc:
    library: /etc/hyperledger/fabric/plugins/myvscc.so

// before approving a definition with a custom plugin, check peer config
const cfg = yaml.load(fs.readFileSync('core.yaml','utf8')); if (!cfg.validators?.[pluginName]) throw new Error(`plugin ${pluginName} not registered on this peer`);

function pluginRegistered(cfg, name) { return !!cfg?.validators && Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(cfg.validators, name); }

try { validate(tx); } catch (err) { if (/plugin with name .* wasn't found/.test(err.message)) { /* register plugin in core.yaml or use 'vscc' */ } else { throw err; } }

When it happens

Trigger: A chaincode definition names a custom validation plugin (e.g. plugin 'myvscc') that is absent from the peer's core.yaml validators map or was not registered via the plugin registry — hit at validation time for the first tx of that chaincode.

Common situations: Deploying a chaincode with a custom vscc plugin on a peer whose core.yaml lacks the validators.<name> entry; typo in plugin name in the definition; plugin .so/library not present on the peer host; definition approved on one peer image that lacks the plugin used by the channel.

Related errors

• chaincode definition for
• 1 - Error loading MSP configuration for org
• block numbers not maintained in index
• cannot init crypto, specified path
• cannot init crypto, specified path

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0f221e7764fc8f23. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at core/committer/txvalidator/v20/plugindispatcher/plugin_validator.go:146

	plugin, err := pv.getOrCreatePlugin(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return &validation.ExecutionFailureError{
			Reason: fmt.Sprintf("plugin with name %s couldn't be used: %v", ctx.PluginName, err),
		}
	}
	err = plugin.Validate(ctx.Block, ctx.Namespace, ctx.Seq, 0, txvalidatorplugin.SerializedPolicy(ctx.Policy))
	validityStatus := "valid"
	if err != nil {
		validityStatus = fmt.Sprintf("invalid: %v", err)
	}
	logger.Debug("Transaction", ctx.TxID, "appears to be", validityStatus)
	return err
}

func (pv *PluginValidator) getOrCreatePlugin(ctx *Context) (validation.Plugin, error) {
	pluginFactory := pv.FactoryByName(txvalidatorplugin.Name(ctx.PluginName))
	if pluginFactory == nil {
		return nil, errors.Errorf("plugin with name %s wasn't found", ctx.PluginName)
	}

	pluginsByChannel := pv.getOrCreatePluginChannelMapping(txvalidatorplugin.Name(ctx.PluginName), pluginFactory)
	return pluginsByChannel.createPluginIfAbsent(ctx.Channel)
}

func (pv *PluginValidator) getOrCreatePluginChannelMapping(plugin txvalidatorplugin.Name, pf validation.PluginFactory) *pluginsByChannel {
	pv.Lock()
	defer pv.Unlock()
	endorserChannelMapping, exists := pv.pluginChannelMapping[plugin]
	if !exists {
		endorserChannelMapping = &pluginsByChannel{
			pluginFactory:    pf,
			channels2Plugins: make(map[string]validation.Plugin),
			pv:               pv,
		}
		pv.pluginChannelMapping[plugin] = endorserChannelMapping
	}

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