Error messages

The messages you are most likely to meet, what they mean, and what to do. Each was produced by a real command unless the section says it comes from the code.

Two kinds of failure

The command fails before anything reaches the ledger, or the ledger refuses to certify it. The CLI prints error: … on standard error and exits with status 1. Nothing was charged.
The transaction executes and fails. The receipt reads Failed (…); nothing happened except the fee of … USD. and the CLI exits with status 0: the transaction was processed and its fee was charged. A transaction that fails preparation (expired, wrong input version, bad signature, fee too low) is Rejected (…); nothing changed and no fee was charged.

Connecting and arguments

Message	Meaning
`error: cannot reach the node: http://127.0.0.1:9999/v1/genesis: …: Connection Failed: Connect error: Connection refused (os error 111)`	No node at `--node`; start `sion devnet` or set `SION_NODE`
`error: "1.1234567" is not an amount with at most 6 decimals`	Amounts have at most six decimals
`error: "abc" is not an amount`	Not a decimal number
`error: claim must be a 64-digit hex ID`	Identifiers are 64 hex digits
`error: digest must be a 64-digit hex ID`	The same, for a transaction digest
`error: --chain takes 64 hex digits`	A chain identity is 64 hex digits
`error: side must be buy or sell, not hold`	Market orders are `buy` or `sell`
`error: unknown bond class foo`	`--class` is `economic`, `adjudicator` or `institutional`
`error: --charter and --allotment go together`	Paying under a charter needs both
`error: unknown demo "nope"; try invoice, agents, market, receipts, x402, censorship, light, staking or all`	A demo name
`error: unknown benchmark group "foo"; groups: signatures, state, data, clearing, assurance, execution, devnet`	A benchmark group

Wallets and money

Message	Meaning
`error: insufficient funds: need 5.001, have 0`	The wallet’s coins do not cover the amount plus the fee. `need` includes the fee
`error: $HOME/.sion/wallets/dana.seed already exists`	`sion keys new` never overwrites a seed
`error: amount must be between 1 micro-unit and one million units`	The faucet’s limits
`error: <digest> did not execute in time`	The CLI waited 90 seconds. The gateway may be censoring you: try `--forced`
`error: not certified: the transaction has expired`	The transaction’s 20-Pulse validity passed before it was certified (seen on a devnet with `--insecure-fast-signatures`)
`rejected: object ObjectRef { id: ObjectId(27657e3b), version: Version(0) } is locked to transaction TxDigest(93d6ac50)`	Another transaction already locked that coin: a double spend

Looking things up

Message	Meaning
`unknown transaction` (from `sion tx`, exit status 0)	The node has never seen this digest
`error: verification failed: unknown transaction`	The same, from `sion receipt`
`error: verification failed: never certified: …`	The transaction was rejected; there is no receipt
`error: unknown claim`	No such claim in the log, or it was rejected when it was to join it
`error: unknown or pruned Pulse`	The Pulse is in the future or older than the node’s 256-Pulse history
`error: no such market`	No market with that identifier
`error: no sealed batch to clear`	The latest batch has not sealed, or was already cleared or refunded

Verification

Message	Meaning
`error: verification failed: header chain: the node serves chain 6345655c, not the pinned chain 00000000`	The node serves another chain than the one you pinned. Do not trust it
`error: verification failed: no certified Pulse yet`	Also printed when the devnet has no prover: use `--no-world`
`error: the epoch's boundary Pulse is not certified yet`	An epoch just began; retry in a few seconds

Transactions that fail on the ledger

These are the Failed (…) reasons of common operations:

Reason	Operation
`missing object 0000…`	The transaction names an object that does not exist (here, an unknown market)
`assurance: challenge: claim names no adjudicator; only cryptographic evidence can break its atoms`	Challenging a claim that names no adjudicator
`invalid transaction: claim not accepted: cost of corruption 10 (after detection discount 1000/1000) is below κ·V = 200; only 10 of backing is unreserved; κ·V = 200 is needed`	`sion accept` for more than the claim’s backing covers
`invalid transaction: unknown challenge`	Ruling on a challenge that does not exist
`charter caveat violated: payee not allowed`	An agent paying someone its charter does not list
`charter caveat violated: payment 60 above per-payment limit 50`	Over the per-payment limit
`charter caveat violated: window total 85 above limit 80`	Over the per-window budget
`charter caveat violated: charter revoked`	The charter, or one it was delegated from, was revoked

A claim whose formula fails its checks is not a failed transaction: the transaction succeeds and the claim is rejected in the deferred phase, with an event such as {"ClaimRejected":{"claim":"746b…","reason":"unknown atom b758c281…"}}.

Validator transactions

From the reference executor (no CLI command sends these yet); see Staking and Slashing for equivocation.

Forced intents

A forced intent that cannot be posted is dismissed with a reason in its ForcedDismissed event. From the reference executor:

Reason	Meaning
`already pending`	The same intent is already owed
`too many intents pending`	4,096 obligations are pending
`faucet transactions cannot be forced`
`it expires before its shard could include it`	Its expiry is at or before this Pulse
`it needs 1 to 256 inputs`
`duplicate inputs`
`fee below the minimum`
`unknown account and no genesis policy`	A new sender must carry its genesis policy
`invalid genesis policy`
`its authorization does not verify`	The signatures do not satisfy the sender’s policy
`input … does not exist`
`input … was spent or moved (executed or invalid)`	The input is no longer at that version, often because the intent already executed
`input … is not the sender's`
`inputs[0] must be a USD coin covering the fee`

x402

Message	Meaning
`error: the server asks 0.25 USD, more than the 0.1 USD this client may pay`	Raise `--max` (or `max_usd`) or do not buy
`402: unknown quote, or one already used` (server answer)	A replayed or expired payment

HTTP API

Status	Body
404	`{"error":"no route for /v1/nothing"}`
400	`{"error":"\"xyz\" is not a 64-digit hex identifier"}`
400	{"error":"bad JSON body: invalid type: integer `5`, expected a string at line 1 column 8"}
400	`{"error":"tx is not a Borsh SignedTransaction"}`
400	`{"error":"the epoch must be a number"}`
404	`{"error":"unknown transaction"}`
404	`{"error":"no proof for that epoch (it has not begun, or began before this validator kept proofs)"}`

MCP

Message	Meaning
`{"error":{"code":-32601,"message":"method not found: resources/list"},…}`	The server offers tools only
`unknown tool sion_teleport` (`isError: true`)	No such tool

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