nautechsystems/nautilus_trader · error

No active WebSocket client

Error message

No active WebSocket client

What it means

send_secret_with_retry in the BitMEX WebSocket handler attempts an authenticated send but no WebSocket client/connection is currently active, so there is nothing to send on. The guard prevents a panic/dereference of an absent connection.

Source

Thrown at crates/adapters/bitmex/src/websocket/handler.rs:121

                    || {
                        let payload = payload.clone();
                        async move {
                            client
                                .send_text(payload.expose_secret().to_owned(), None)
                                .await
                                .map_err(|e| {
                                    BitmexWsError::ClientError(format!("Send failed: {e}"))
                                })
                        }
                    },
                    should_retry_bitmex_error,
                    |e| create_bitmex_timeout_error(e.to_string()),
                )
                .execute()
                .await
                .map_err(|e| anyhow::anyhow!("{e}"))
        } else {
            Err(anyhow::anyhow!("No active WebSocket client"))
        }
    }

    pub(super) async fn next(&mut self) -> Option<BitmexWsMessage> {
        loop {
            tokio::select! {
                Some(cmd) = self.cmd_rx.recv() => {
                    match cmd {
                        HandlerCommand::SetClient(client) => {
                            log::debug!("WebSocketClient received by handler");
                            self.inner = Some(client);
                        }
                        HandlerCommand::Disconnect => {
                            log::debug!("Disconnect command received");

                            if let Some(client) = self.inner.take() {
                                client.disconnect().await;
                            }

View on GitHub (pinned to 18893faf8b)

Solutions

1. Ensure the WebSocket client is connected before triggering authenticated sends (await the connect future).
2. Re-create/reconnect the client and retry the send instead of propagating the failure.
3. Check reconnect handling: only call send_with_retry while a live client exists.
4. Review shutdown ordering so pending sends are cancelled before the client is dropped.

Example fix

// before
send_secret_with_retry(&secret).await?;
// after
if client_is_active() {
    send_secret_with_retry(&secret).await?;
} else {
    log::warn!("Skipping secret send: no active WebSocket client");
    reconnect_and_auth().await?;
}

if !ws.is_connected() { ws.reconnect().await?; }

fn active_client(ws: &BitmexWsHandle) -> Option<&BitmexWsClient> { ws.client() }

if let Err(e) = send_with_retry(&msg).await {
    if e.to_string().contains("No active WebSocket client") {
        ws.reconnect().await?;
        send_with_retry(&msg).await?;
    } else { return Err(e); }
}

When it happens

Trigger: send_with_retry invoked (e.g. to (re)send the auth secret) after the WebSocket client was dropped, before connection was established, or after a disconnect closed the client slot.

Common situations: Calling a subscription/auth path before connect() completed; racing reconnect logic where the old client is cleared before the new one is installed; shutting down the adapter while an auth send is in flight.

Understand the failure class

Background: ECONNREFUSED and "connection refused" / "could not connect to server" errors: what they mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 44 libraries.

Related errors

• std::mem::take(&mut self.shutdown_errors).join("; ")
• WebSocket output receiver not available
• Failed to start Binance Spot session generation: {e}
• std::mem::take(&mut self.shutdown_errors).join("; ")
• Binance Spot public JSON stream pool is shutting down

AI-assisted analysis of nautechsystems/nautilus_trader@18893faf8b (2026-09-08). Data as JSON: /api/errors/39f4ef3d6878ff72. Report an issue: GitHub.