requested sequence %d is larger than the next available sequ

Error message

requested sequence %d is larger than the next available sequence number %d

What it means

The requested sequence skips ahead: it is greater than currentSequence+1, leaving a gap in the strictly consecutive definition history. Lifecycle requires each new definition to be exactly one greater than the last committed one.

Source

Thrown at core/chaincode/lifecycle/lifecycle.go:439

func (ef *ExternalFunctions) ApproveChaincodeDefinitionForOrg(chname, ccname string, cd *ChaincodeDefinition, packageID string, publicState ReadableState, orgState ReadWritableState) error {
	// Get the current sequence from the public state
	currentSequence, err := ef.Resources.Serializer.DeserializeFieldAsInt64(NamespacesName, ccname, "Sequence", publicState)
	if err != nil {
		return errors.WithMessage(err, "could not get current sequence")
	}

	requestedSequence := cd.Sequence

	if currentSequence == requestedSequence && requestedSequence == 0 {
		return errors.Errorf("requested sequence is 0, but first definable sequence number is 1")
	}

	if requestedSequence < currentSequence {
		return errors.Errorf("currently defined sequence %d is larger than requested sequence %d", currentSequence, requestedSequence)
	}

	if requestedSequence > currentSequence+1 {
		return errors.Errorf("requested sequence %d is larger than the next available sequence number %d", requestedSequence, currentSequence+1)
	}

	if err := ef.SetChaincodeDefinitionDefaults(chname, cd); err != nil {
		return errors.WithMessagef(err, "could not set defaults for chaincode definition in channel %s", chname)
	}

	privateName := fmt.Sprintf("%s#%d", ccname, requestedSequence)

	if requestedSequence == currentSequence {
		metadata, ok, err := ef.Resources.Serializer.DeserializeMetadata(NamespacesName, ccname, publicState)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.WithMessage(err, "could not fetch metadata for current definition")
		}
		if !ok {
			return errors.Errorf("missing metadata for currently committed sequence number (%d)", currentSequence)
		}

		definedChaincode := &ChaincodeDefinition{}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2736b63f8f)

Solutions

Approve with exactly currentSequence+1 based on the committed sequence
Reset any cached/incremented sequence counters in CI to derive from querycommitted output
Re-run the approval for the skipped sequences in order if intermediate definitions are needed

Example fix

// before
peer lifecycle chaincode approveformyorg -C mychannel --sequence 5  # current=2
// after
peer lifecycle chaincode approveformyorg -C mychannel --sequence 3  # current+1

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Enforce sequence == committed+1
current := queryCommittedSequence(ch, ccname)
if def.Sequence != current+1 {
    return fmt.Errorf("sequence must be %d (committed %d + 1), got %d", current+1, current, def.Sequence)
}

Try / catch

err := ef.ApproveChaincodeDefinitionForOrg(...)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "larger than the next available sequence") {
    // set def.Sequence = current+1 and retry
}

Prevention

Compute next sequence from querycommitted, never from cached counters
Reset CI sequence counters per deployment run
Reject configs that skip sequences in pre-flight checks

When it happens

Trigger: Approving with --sequence 5 when only sequence 2 is committed; teams bumping sequences arbitrarily or hard-coding high sequence numbers after multiple failed attempts.

Common situations: Operators 'jumping' sequences hoping to bypass a failed definition; CI pipelines incrementing a cached counter across retries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hyperledger/fabric@2736b63f8f (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5569a0547a424a5a. Report an issue: GitHub.