ipfs/kubo · error

key with name '%s' already exists

Error message

key with name '%s' already exists

What it means

`ipfs key import` refuses to overwrite an existing key in the node's keystore. Before storing, it looks up the target name; if a key with that name already exists, the import is aborted to protect the existing identity.

Source

Thrown at core/commands/keystore.go:555

					" use flag --%s if you are sure of what you're doing",
					t, keyAllowAnyTypeOptionName)
			}
		}

		cfgRoot, err := cmdenv.GetConfigRoot(env)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}

		r, err := fsrepo.Open(cfgRoot)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}
		defer r.Close()

		_, err = r.Keystore().Get(name)
		if err == nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("key with name '%s' already exists", name)
		}

		err = r.Keystore().Put(name, sk)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}

		pid, err := peer.IDFromPrivateKey(sk)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}

		return cmds.EmitOnce(res, &KeyOutput{
			Name: name,
			Id:   keyEnc.FormatID(pid),
		})
	},
	Encoders: cmds.EncoderMap{

View on GitHub (pinned to 329838acdf)

Solutions

1. Pick a new name: `ipfs key import mykey2 key.pem`
2. Remove the existing key first with `ipfs key rm mykey`, then re-import (the old key/identity is lost — export it first if needed)
3. Check existing names with `ipfs key list` before importing

Example fix

// before
$ ipfs key import mykey key.pem
Error: key with name 'mykey' already exists
// after
$ ipfs key rm mykey
$ ipfs key import mykey key.pem

out, _ := exec.Command("ipfs", "key", "list", "--enc=json").Output()
var names []struct{ Name string }
json.Unmarshal(out, &names)
for _, n := range names {
    if n.Name == targetName {
        return fmt.Errorf("key %q exists; choose another name or run `ipfs key rm` first", targetName)
    }
}

err := importKey(name, file)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "already exists") {
    // pick a new name or explicitly rm the old key
}

When it happens

Trigger: `ipfs key import mykey key.pem` when `ipfs key list` already shows `mykey` (previously generated, imported, or a leftover); also importing with a name colliding with a key created by `ipfs key gen`.

Common situations: Re-running an import script that already succeeded once; forgetting that a previous `key gen` used the same name; restoring keys into a repo that already has them.

Related errors

• expected PRIVATE KEY type in PEM block but got: %s
• parsing PKCS8 format: %w
• converting std Go key to libp2p key: %w
• unexpected PEM block for format=%s: try again with format=%s
• unable to unmarshall format=%s: %w

AI-assisted analysis of ipfs/kubo@329838acdf (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/db7dbac2f9394324. Report an issue: GitHub.