ipfs/kubo · critical

peer ID invalid: %s

Error message

peer ID invalid: %s

What it means

The PeerID string in Identity.PeerID exists but fails peer.Decode — it is not a valid multihash/base58 peer ID. Node construction aborts because every libp2p component depends on a decodable identity.

Source

Thrown at core/node/groups.go:281

		finalBstore,
	)
}

// Identity groups units providing cryptographic identity
func Identity(cfg *config.Config) fx.Option {
	// PeerID

	cid := cfg.Identity.PeerID
	if cid == "" {
		return fx.Error(errors.New("identity was not set in config (was 'ipfs init' run?)"))
	}
	if len(cid) == 0 {
		return fx.Error(errors.New("no peer ID in config! (was 'ipfs init' run?)"))
	}

	id, err := peer.Decode(cid)
	if err != nil {
		return fx.Error(fmt.Errorf("peer ID invalid: %s", err))
	}

	// Private Key

	if cfg.Identity.PrivKey == "" {
		return fx.Options( // No PK (usually in tests)
			fx.Provide(PeerID(id)),
			fx.Provide(libp2p.Peerstore),
		)
	}

	sk, err := cfg.Identity.DecodePrivateKey("passphrase todo!")
	if err != nil {
		return fx.Error(err)
	}

	return fx.Options( // Full identity
		fx.Provide(PeerID(id)),

View on GitHub (pinned to 329838acdf)

Solutions

1. Restore the original Identity.PeerID (and matching PrivKey) from backup
2. Re-init the repo (`ipfs init`) if the identity is unrecoverable — note this generates a new peer identity
3. Trim whitespace/newlines around the PeerID value and verify it decodes (e.g. `ipfs id <peerID>` validates a peer ID)

Example fix

// before (config.json)
"Identity": { "PeerID": "12D3KooW...\n  " }
// after
"Identity": { "PeerID": "12D3KooWAbcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzExample" }

if _, err := peer.Decode(cfg.Identity.PeerID); err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("Identity.PeerID is not a valid peer ID: %w", err)
}

if _, err := peer.Decode(peerIDStr); err != nil {
	// restore from backup or re-init
	return fmt.Errorf("invalid peer ID in config: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: `peer.Decode(cfg.Identity.PeerID)` returns an error — malformed base58, wrong length, truncated CID, or non-peer-ID content pasted into PeerID.

Common situations: Hand-editing config.json and corrupting the PeerID; copying an ID with whitespace or line-wrap; pasting a libp2p key or CID instead of a peer ID; partial restore of a config backup.

Related errors

• private network does not work with Routing.Type=auto. Update
• Provide.Strategy='flat' is no longer supported. Use 'all' in
• invalid configuration: Provide.DHT.MaxWorkers cannot be 0 wh
• Routing.Type=delegated does not support content providing. S
• serveHTTPGateway: invalid gateway address: %q (err: %s)

AI-assisted analysis of ipfs/kubo@329838acdf (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e2b5cbc6e1847230. Report an issue: GitHub.