ipfs/kubo · error

cannot rename key with name 'self'

Error message

cannot rename key with name 'self'

What it means

Fired by CoreAPI.Rename when renaming a key to or involving the reserved name 'self'. The 'self' key is the node's identity peer key and cannot be a rename target; this validation guard rejects such requests before touching the keystore.

Source

Thrown at core/coreapi/key.go:186

	return out, nil
}

// Rename renames `oldName` to `newName`. Returns the key and whether another
// key was overwritten, or an error.
func (api *KeyAPI) Rename(ctx context.Context, oldName string, newName string, opts ...caopts.KeyRenameOption) (coreiface.Key, bool, error) {
	_, span := tracing.Span(ctx, "CoreAPI.KeyAPI", "Rename", trace.WithAttributes(attribute.String("oldname", oldName), attribute.String("newname", newName)))
	defer span.End()

	options, err := caopts.KeyRenameOptions(opts...)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, false, err
	}
	span.SetAttributes(attribute.Bool("force", options.Force))

	ks := api.repo.Keystore()

	if oldName == "self" {
		return nil, false, errors.New("cannot rename key with name 'self'")
	}

	if newName == "self" {
		return nil, false, errors.New("cannot overwrite key with name 'self'")
	}

	oldKey, err := ks.Get(oldName)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, false, fmt.Errorf("no key named %s was found", oldName)
	}

	pubKey := oldKey.GetPublic()

	pid, err := peer.IDFromPublicKey(pubKey)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, false, err
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 329838acdf)

Solutions

1. Rename a regular key instead; export it with 'ipfs key export' if you need it under another identity
2. To change the node identity, re-initialize the repo with 'ipfs init'

Example fix

// before
for _, k := range keys {
    api.Key().Rename(ctx, k.Name(), newName)
}
// after
for _, k := range keys {
    if k.Name() == "self" {
        continue
    }
    api.Key().Rename(ctx, k.Name(), newName)
}

if oldName == "self" {
    return errors.New("cannot rename the identity key; pick another key")
}

func isReservedKeyName(n string) bool { return n == "self" }

ok, overwritten, err := api.Key().Rename(ctx, oldName, newName, opts...)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "rename key with name 'self'") {
    return errSelfRename // skip and continue in bulk-rename loops
}

When it happens

Trigger: KeyAPI.Rename(ctx, "self", newName, opts...) or `ipfs key rename self <newname>`.

Common situations: Scripts iterating over all keys (including 'self' from `key list`) and renaming them; users trying to move their identity key to a new name.

Related errors

• cannot create key with name 'self'
• unrecognized key type: %s
• cannot overwrite key with name 'self'
• refusing to export key to %s: not a regular file, character
• cannot import key with name 'self'

AI-assisted analysis of ipfs/kubo@329838acdf (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e9a988d447cfaa82. Report an issue: GitHub.