invalid configuration: Bitswap.Libp2pEnabled and HTTPRetriev

Error message

invalid configuration: Bitswap.Libp2pEnabled and HTTPRetrieval.Enabled are both disabled, unable to initialize Bitswap

What it means

Kubo's Bitswap client requires at least one transport network to retrieve blocks: the libp2p bitswap network and/or the HTTP retrieval network. During node construction (fx dependency injection in core/node/bitswap.go), if both Bitswap.Libp2pEnabled and HTTPRetrieval.Enabled are disabled, there is no way to build the bitswap network stack and the constructor fails, aborting daemon startup.

Source

Thrown at core/node/bitswap.go:125

				httpCfg.Allowlist != nil,
				httpCfg.Denylist != nil,
			)

			bitswapHTTP := httpnet.New(in.Host,
				httpnet.WithHTTPWorkers(int(httpCfg.NumWorkers.WithDefault(config.DefaultHTTPRetrievalNumWorkers))),
				httpnet.WithAllowlist(httpCfg.Allowlist),
				httpnet.WithDenylist(httpCfg.Denylist),
				httpnet.WithInsecureSkipVerify(httpCfg.TLSInsecureSkipVerify.WithDefault(config.DefaultHTTPRetrievalTLSInsecureSkipVerify)),
				httpnet.WithMaxBlockSize(int64(maxBlockSize)),
				httpnet.WithUserAgent(version.GetUserAgentVersion()),
				httpnet.WithMetricsLabelsForEndpoints(httpCfg.Allowlist),
				httpnet.WithConnectEventManager(connEvtMgr),
			)
			bitswapNetworks = network.New(in.Host.Peerstore(), bitswapLibp2p, bitswapHTTP)
		} else if libp2pEnabled {
			bitswapNetworks = bitswapLibp2p
		} else {
			return nil, errors.New("invalid configuration: Bitswap.Libp2pEnabled and HTTPRetrieval.Enabled are both disabled, unable to initialize Bitswap")
		}

		// Kubo uses own, customized ProviderQueryManager
		in.BitswapOpts = append(in.BitswapOpts, bitswap.WithClientOption(client.WithDefaultProviderQueryManager(false)))
		var maxProviders int = DefaultMaxProviders

		var bcDisposition string
		if in.Cfg.Internal.Bitswap != nil {
			maxProviders = int(in.Cfg.Internal.Bitswap.ProviderSearchMaxResults.WithDefault(DefaultMaxProviders))
			if in.Cfg.Internal.Bitswap.BroadcastControl != nil {
				bcCfg := in.Cfg.Internal.Bitswap.BroadcastControl
				bcEnable := bcCfg.Enable.WithDefault(config.DefaultBroadcastControlEnable)
				in.BitswapOpts = append(in.BitswapOpts, bitswap.WithClientOption(client.BroadcastControlEnable(bcEnable)))
				if bcEnable {
					bcDisposition = "enabled"
					bcMaxPeers := int(bcCfg.MaxPeers.WithDefault(config.DefaultBroadcastControlMaxPeers))
					in.BitswapOpts = append(in.BitswapOpts, bitswap.WithClientOption(client.BroadcastControlMaxPeers(bcMaxPeers)))

View on GitHub (pinned to 329838acdf)

Solutions

Re-enable at least one retrieval transport: `ipfs config --json Bitswap.Libp2pEnabled true` (the default) or `ipfs config --json HTTPRetrieval.Enabled true`.
If you only want HTTP retrieval, keep Libp2pEnabled=false but set HTTPRetrieval.Enabled=true with an Allowlist in HTTPRetrieval config.
If you meant to disable serving blocks only, use `ipfs config --json Bitswap.ServerEnabled false` instead of disabling the client transports.
Review the effective config with `ipfs config Bitswap` and `ipfs config HTTPRetrieval` before restarting the daemon.

Example fix

// before (config.json)
{"Bitswap": {"Libp2pEnabled": false}, "HTTPRetrieval": {"Enabled": false}}

// after
{"Bitswap": {"Libp2pEnabled": false}, "HTTPRetrieval": {"Enabled": true, "Allowlists": {"Allowlist": ["example.com"]}}}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Before starting the daemon, verify at least one bitswap transport is enabled
import "github.com/ipfs/kubo/config"
cfg, err := repo.Config()
if err != nil { return err }
libp2p := cfg.Bitswap.Libp2pEnabled.WithDefault(config.DefaultBitswapLibp2pEnabled)
http := cfg.HTTPRetrieval.Enabled.WithDefault(config.DefaultHTTPRetrievalEnabled)
if !libp2p && !http {
    return fmt.Errorf("at least one of Bitswap.Libp2pEnabled or HTTPRetrieval.Enabled must be true")
}

Prevention

Never disable both Bitswap.Libp2pEnabled and HTTPRetrieval.Enabled; Bitswap.ServerEnabled=false is the correct way to stop serving blocks.
After scripted config changes, run `ipfs config Bitswap` and `ipfs config HTTPRetrieval` to sanity-check before restart.
Test config changes on a throwaway IPFS_PATH (`IPFS_PATH=$(mktemp -d) ipfs daemon`) before applying to production.

When it happens

Trigger: Starting `ipfs daemon` with a config where `Bitswap.Libp2pEnabled=false` (or its default-resolved value) and `HTTPRetrieval.Enabled=false` are both set; the Bitswap fx constructor hits the else branch and returns this error before any bitswap client is created.

Common situations: Operators who disable libp2p bitswap (e.g. wanting HTTP-only retrieval) then also turn off HTTPRetrieval believing it is unused; scripted config hardening that zeroes out all retrieval transports; misreading Bitswap.ServerEnabled (server off is fine) as also disabling the client.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of ipfs/kubo@329838acdf (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/011f50bb33866b73. Report an issue: GitHub.