Chainlink Node Fails to Start Due to "no password provided" Error Even When Password is Set

Question

I'm trying to set up a Chainlink node with Docker Compose, but I keep running into an issue. My Chainlink node container starts, but it keeps throwing the following error:

...
2024-11-09T15:59:49.588Z [INFO]  Nurse service (automatic pprof profiling) is disabled chainlink/application.go:229     version=1.13.3@47c02ec 
2024-11-09T15:59:49.588Z [INFO]  DatabaseBackup: periodic database backups are disabled. To enable automatic backups, set DATABASE_BACKUP_MODE=lite or DATABASE_BACKUP_MODE=full chainlink/application.go:272     version=1.13.3@47c02ec 
2024-11-09T15:59:49.590Z [WARN]  P2P_LISTEN_PORT was not set, listening on random port 43519. A new random port will be generated on every boot, for stability it is recommended to set P2P_LISTEN_PORT to a fixed value in your environment config/p2p_v1_config.go:87       logger=GeneralConfig p2pPort=43519 version=1.13.3@47c02ec 
error authenticating keystore: no password provided

Here is my setup:

I'm using Docker Compose to run Chainlink Node, Postgres, Grafana, and Prometheus.

pickycamel@chainlink-node:~/chainlink_node_project$ ls -al
total 36
drwxr-xr-x  3 pickycamel pickycamel 4096 Nov  9 15:59 .
drwxr-xr-x 13 pickycamel pickycamel 4096 Nov  9 15:17 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 pickycamel docker       15 Nov  9 14:58 .chainlink_password
-rw-r--r--  1 pickycamel docker     1024 Nov  9 15:07 .docker-compose.ymldocker-compose.swp
-rw-r--r--  1 pickycamel docker      371 Nov  9 15:14 .env
-rw-r--r--  1 pickycamel docker     1024 Nov  9 15:07 .up.swp
drwxr-xr-x  2 root       root       4096 Nov  9 15:52 chainlink_password
-rw-r--r--  1 pickycamel docker     1357 Nov  9 15:59 docker-compose.yml
-rw-r--r--  1 pickycamel docker      135 Nov  9 15:11 prometheus.yml

Below is my docker-compose.yml:

pickycamel@chainlink-node:~/chainlink_node_project$ cat docker-compose.yml 
version: '3'
services:
  chainlink:
    image: smartcontract/chainlink:1.13.3
    container_name: chainlink-node
    restart: always
    environment:
      ETH_URL: ${ETH_URL}
      ETH_CHAIN_ID: ${ETH_CHAIN_ID}
      CHAINLINK_EMAIL: ${CHAINLINK_EMAIL}
      CHAINLINK_PASSWORD: ${CHAINLINK_PASSWORD}
      DATABASE_URL: postgresql://chainlink:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@chainlink-postgres:5432/chainlink
    volumes:
      - ~/.chainlink-kovan:/chainlink
    ports:
      - "6688:6688"
    networks:
      - chainlink_network

  chainlink-postgres:
    image: postgres:13
    container_name: chainlink-postgres
    restart: always
    environment:
      POSTGRES_USER: chainlink
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: MyNewComplexPassword!2024
      POSTGRES_DB: chainlink
    volumes:
      - chainlink_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    ports:
      - "5432:5432"
    networks:
      - chainlink_network

  prometheus:
    image: prom/prometheus
    container_name: prometheus
    restart: always
    volumes:
      - ./prometheus.yml:/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml
    ports:
      - "9090:9090"
    networks:
      - chainlink_network

  grafana:
    image: grafana/grafana
    container_name: grafana
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    networks:
      - chainlink_network

networks:
  chainlink_network:
    driver: bridge

volumes:
  chainlink_data:

The .env file looks like this:

pickycamel@chainlink-node:~/chainlink_node_project$ cat .env 

ETH_URL=https://rinkeby.infura.io/v3/##########################

ETH_CHAIN_ID=4

CHAINLINK_EMAIL=me@gmail.com
CHAINLINK_PASSWORD=MyPassword123@

POSTGRES_PASSWORD=MyNewComplexPassword!2024

• The Chainlink container starts, but I always get the error: error authenticating keystore: no password provided.

• The Postgres and other containers are working fine, and I can access the database manually.

• The password file .chainlink_password contains the correct password, and it matches what is in the .env file.

pickycamel@chainlink-node:~/chainlink_node_project$ cat .chainlink_password 
MyPassword123@
pickycamel@chainlink-node:~/chainlink_node_project$ cat prometheus.yml 
global:
  scrape_interval: 15s

scrape_configs:
  - job_name: 'chainlink'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['chainlink-node:6688']
pickycamel@chainlink-node:~/chainlink_node_project$ 

What I have tried:

1. Verified that the password in .chainlink_password matches CHAINLINK_PASSWORD.

2. Made sure there are no typos or extra whitespace in the .chainlink_password file.

3. Updated the database password using psql inside the container.

4. Tried removing and re-creating the containers with docker-compose down followed by docker-compose up -d.

Questions:

1. Is there a specific way I need to provide the keystore password to the Chainlink node in Docker Compose?

2. Has anyone experienced a similar issue and found a solution??

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

You've to create the config.toml file containing the Secrets Config including the connection URL of your postgres database and the Keystore password.

Please refer to the official documentation for the exact steps and configuration.