linera-io/linera-protocol · warning

nonexistent chain `{chain_id}`

Error message

nonexistent chain `{chain_id}`

What it means

`linera wallet forget <chain>` was asked to remove a chain that the wallet does not track: wallet.remove() returned None. The earlier guard already blocks forgetting the default chain, so this error specifically means the chain id is absent — already forgotten, never known to this wallet, or mistyped.

Source

Thrown at linera-service/src/cli/main.rs:2655

                info!(
                    "Chain keys forgotten in {} ms",
                    start_time.elapsed().as_millis()
                );
                Ok(0)
            }

            WalletCommand::ForgetChain { chain_id } => {
                let start_time = Instant::now();
                let wallet = options.wallet()?;
                if wallet.default_chain() == Some(*chain_id) {
                    anyhow::bail!(
                        "cannot forget the default chain `{chain_id}`; \
                         switch to another chain with `wallet set-default` first"
                    );
                }
                wallet
                    .remove(*chain_id)?
                    .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("nonexistent chain `{chain_id}`"))?;
                info!("Chain forgotten in {} ms", start_time.elapsed().as_millis());
                Ok(0)
            }

            WalletCommand::Init {
                genesis_config_path,
                faucet,
                testing_prng_seed,
            } => {
                let start_time = Instant::now();
                let genesis_config: GenesisConfig = match (genesis_config_path, faucet) {
                    (None, None) => {
                        anyhow::bail!("please specify one of `--faucet` or `--genesis`.")
                    }
                    (Some(genesis_config_path), _) => util::read_json(genesis_config_path)?,
                    (None, Some(url)) => {
                        let faucet = cli_wrappers::Faucet::new(url.clone());
                        let version_info = faucet

View on GitHub (pinned to 6c226ddcb3)

Solutions

1. List what this wallet actually tracks: `linera wallet show`.
2. Copy the exact chain id from that listing and retry the forget command.
3. Confirm you are operating on the right wallet (--wallet path).
4. In scripts, treat this error as a no-op (chain already absent) if idempotency is desired.

Example fix

# before: chain id not present in this wallet
linera wallet forget e5…9f   # -> "nonexistent chain `e5…9f`"

# after: list chains, forget an existing one
linera wallet show
linera wallet forget <chain-id-from-show>

if !wallet.chain_ids().contains(chain_id) {
    anyhow::bail!(
        "chain {chain_id} is not in this wallet — `linera wallet show` lists known chains"
    );
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running forget twice; passing a chain id from a different wallet file; a typo or truncated chain id; wallet state where the chain was removed but the caller's notes were not updated.

Common situations: Idempotent-looking scripts that forget chains on cleanup; operators managing several wallet files and mixing up chain ids; copy-paste of ChainId with missing/extra characters.

Related errors

• Chain {chain_id} not found.
• Wallet already exists: {}
• No default chain found for client
• The chain with the ID returned by the faucet is not owned by
• No wallet found at {}. Please initialize a wallet first, e.g

AI-assisted analysis of linera-io/linera-protocol@6c226ddcb3 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/12df33466012160b. Report an issue: GitHub.