troubleshoot-connection

name	troubleshoot-connection
description	Diagnose and fix common MetaMask Connect SDK connection failures, transport issues, and runtime errors

Troubleshoot MetaMask Connect Issues

When to use

Use this skill when:

• A connection attempt hangs, fails, or produces an unexpected error
• React Native apps crash on import or at runtime with missing polyfill errors
• QR codes don't appear or deeplinks don't open MetaMask Mobile
• Solana wallet adapter doesn't detect MetaMask
• Sessions are lost after page reload or disconnect behaves unexpectedly
• You need a systematic checklist to verify a MetaMask Connect integration

Symptom -> Cause -> Fix Reference

---

1. Connection hangs / nothing happens after connect()

Cause A: Extension not detected but preferExtension is true (the default). The SDK falls through to MetaMask Wallet Protocol (MWP) but no QR code is rendered because headless mode is on and there is no display_uri listener.

Fix: Register a display_uri event listener to render the QR code URI before calling connect()

Cause B: A concurrent connect() call is already in progress over MWP.

Fix: Guard against double-clicking. Wrap connect() in a loading-state check and match on the "Existing connection is pending" error message — on MWP this error has no numeric code. (-32002 only appears on the extension transport.)

---

2. User rejected request (code 4001)

Cause: The user clicked "Reject" in MetaMask. This is normal behavior.

Fix: Handle gracefully — show a retry button. Do not treat this as an application error or log it to error-tracking services:

try {
  await client.connect({ chainIds: ['0x1'] });
} catch (err) {
  if (err.code === 4001) {
    // User rejected — show retry UI
    return;
  }
  throw err;
}

---

3. Connection already pending (code -32002)

Cause: A previous connect() call has not yet resolved (the user may still have the MetaMask approval dialog open on mobile).

Fix: Show a message like "Check MetaMask Mobile to approve the connection." Do not call connect() again — the original promise will resolve once the user acts.

---

4. Chain not configured in supportedNetworks

Cause: An RPC request was made on a chain whose CAIP scope is missing from api.supportedNetworks. This error is thrown by the EIP-1193 provider's request() path for the active chain's node-routed reads — not by connect() (which only checks chainIds is non-empty) and not by wallet_switchEthereumChain (forwarded to the wallet).

Fix: Add every chain the dApp needs to supportedNetworks with a valid RPC URL:

const client = await createEVMClient({
  dapp: { name: 'My DApp' },
  api: {
    supportedNetworks: {
      ...getInfuraRpcUrls({ infuraApiKey: 'YOUR_INFURA_KEY', chainIds: ['0x1', '0x89', '0xaa36a7'] }),
      '0xa4b1': 'https://arb1.arbitrum.io/rpc',
    },
  },
});

---

5. Cannot find variable: Buffer / Buffer is not defined (React Native)

Cause: A dependency loaded before @metamask/connect-multichain uses Buffer. The connect package self-polyfills Buffer via its React Native entry point, but peer dependencies like eciesjs may execute first.

Fix: Add this to polyfills.ts and import it early (after react-native-get-random-values, before other imports):

import { Buffer } from 'buffer';
global.Buffer = Buffer;

---

6. Cannot find variable: Event / CustomEvent is not defined (React Native)

Cause: wagmi dispatches DOM events internally, and React Native does not provide Event/CustomEvent globals. The @metamask/connect-* packages themselves never construct DOM events (they use eventemitter3) — this error only occurs when wagmi (or another DOM-dependent library) is in the stack.

Fix: If you use wagmi in React Native, add standalone class polyfills in polyfills.ts. Do not extends Event — that references the very global that is missing:

class EventPolyfill {
  type: string;
  constructor(type: string) {
    this.type = type;
  }
}

class CustomEventPolyfill extends EventPolyfill {
  detail: any;
  constructor(type: string, options?: { detail?: any }) {
    super(type);
    this.detail = options?.detail;
  }
}

global.Event = EventPolyfill as any;
global.CustomEvent = CustomEventPolyfill as any;

If you are not using wagmi and still see this error, the source is another dependency — not the MetaMask Connect SDK.

---

7. Deeplinks not opening MetaMask app (React Native)

Cause: The mobile.preferredOpenLink callback is not configured.

Fix: Pass a function that calls Linking.openURL:

import { Linking } from 'react-native';

const client = await createEVMClient({
  dapp: { name: 'My DApp', url: 'https://mydapp.com' },
  mobile: {
    preferredOpenLink: (deeplink: string) => Linking.openURL(deeplink),
  },
});

---

8. App crashes on import of SDK (React Native)

Cause: Metro bundler cannot resolve Node.js built-in modules (stream, crypto, http, https, os, url, assert, events, etc.) that SDK dependencies reference.

Fix: Add extraNodeModules shims in metro.config.js:

const { getDefaultConfig, mergeConfig } = require('@react-native/metro-config');
const path = require('path');

// src/empty-module.js: `module.exports = {};`
// Only `stream` needs a real shim — the other Node built-ins are referenced
// by transitive deps but never called at runtime in React Native.
const emptyModule = path.resolve(__dirname, 'src', 'empty-module.js');

const config = {
  resolver: {
    extraNodeModules: {
      stream: require.resolve('readable-stream'),
      crypto: emptyModule,
      http: emptyModule,
      https: emptyModule,
      net: emptyModule,
      tls: emptyModule,
      zlib: emptyModule,
      os: emptyModule,
      dns: emptyModule,
      assert: emptyModule,
      url: emptyModule,
      path: emptyModule,
      fs: emptyModule,
    },
  },
};

module.exports = mergeConfig(getDefaultConfig(__dirname), config);

Install the corresponding shim packages via npm install.

---

9. crypto.getRandomValues is not a function (React Native)

Cause: react-native-get-random-values is either not installed or not imported as the very first import.

Fix: Import it as the first line of your entry file — before any other import:

import 'react-native-get-random-values';
// all other imports follow

---

10. MetaMask wallet not appearing in Solana wallet adapter

Cause A: createSolanaClient was never called (or was called only inside a component that hasn't mounted). Note that registration happens ~1 second after the factory resolves, and the wallet adapter discovers late registrations automatically — so a briefly empty wallet list right after startup is normal.

Fix: Call client creation once in your bootstrap. Rendering does not need to block on it:

import { createSolanaClient } from '@metamask/connect-solana';

// Kick off client creation — no need to await before rendering;
// the wallet registers via the wallet-standard register event (~1s later)
void createSolanaClient({
  dapp: { name: 'My DApp', url: window.location.href },
});

const root = createRoot(document.getElementById('root')!);
root.render(<App />);

Cause B: The wallets prop on WalletProvider is not an empty array. MetaMask uses the wallet-standard auto-discovery protocol and must not be listed manually.

Fix: Always pass wallets={[]}:

<WalletProvider wallets={[]} autoConnect>
  <WalletModalProvider>
    <App />
  </WalletModalProvider>
</WalletProvider>

---

11. Solana devnet / testnet not working

Cause: The SDK models mainnet, devnet, and testnet Solana scopes, but a given cluster's availability depends on the connected MetaMask build/version — and public cluster RPC endpoints are frequently rate-limited or flaky.

Fix: Confirm the connected wallet actually granted the devnet/testnet scope (inspect session.sessionScopes), and don't assume a non-mainnet cluster is present — handle the connection error. If the scope is granted but reads fail, the issue is likely an unreliable RPC endpoint; use a dedicated provider instead of the public default:

// Public endpoints can be rate-limited or unavailable — use a dedicated RPC:
const endpoint = 'https://api.devnet.solana.com'; // or your own Infura /Helius / QuickNode / Alchemy URL

---

12. Session lost after page reload

Cause: The app is not re-deriving UI state after the automatic session restore. The EVM client syncs any persisted session before createEVMClient resolves, then re-emits connect/accountsChanged on the provider. (The EIP-1193 provider never emits wallet_sessionChanged — that event exists only on the multichain client.)

Fix: Check the cached state right after client creation, and subscribe to the provider events:

const client = await createEVMClient({ /* ... */ });

// Synchronous check — a restored session is already reflected here
const account = client.getAccount();
if (account) {
  updateUI([account], client.getChainId());
}

const provider = client.getProvider();
provider.on('connect', ({ accounts, chainId }) => updateUI(accounts, chainId));
provider.on('accountsChanged', (accounts) => updateUI(accounts, client.getChainId()));

If you use the multichain client directly, listen there instead: client.on('wallet_sessionChanged', (session) => session?.sessionScopes ...).

Do not call connect() again immediately on page load if a session already exists.

---

13. disconnect() doesn't fully disconnect

Cause: Disconnect behavior differs by client. On the multichain client (createMultichainClient), disconnect(scopes) with specific CAIP scopes only revokes those scopes; disconnect() with no arguments revokes all. On the EVM client (createEVMClient), disconnect() takes no arguments and revokes only eip155:* scopes. On the Solana client (createSolanaClient), disconnect() takes no arguments and revokes only the Solana scopes.

Fix: To fully terminate a multichain session, call the multichain client's disconnect() with no arguments:

// Multichain client — partial revoke (only the specified scope)
await multichainClient.disconnect(['eip155:1']);

// Multichain client — full disconnect (all scopes)
await multichainClient.disconnect();

// EVM client — revokes eip155 scopes only (no scope argument)
await evmClient.disconnect();

---

14. QR code not appearing

Cause A: Headless mode is enabled but no display_uri listener is registered. The SDK generates the URI but has nowhere to render it.

Fix: Register a displayUri handler (or a provider display_uri listener) before calling connect(). The EVM client itself has no .on() method:

const client = await createEVMClient({
  dapp: { name: 'My DApp', url: window.location.href },
  api: { supportedNetworks: getInfuraRpcUrls({ infuraApiKey: 'YOUR_INFURA_KEY' }) },
  ui: { headless: true },
  eventHandlers: {
    displayUri: (uri) => renderQrCode(uri), // your QR rendering logic
  },
});

// Equivalent: client.getProvider().on('display_uri', renderQrCode);

await client.connect({ chainIds: ['0x1'] });

Cause B: The extension is detected and the SDK uses the extension transport instead of MWP. No QR is generated because none is needed.

Fix: Force the MWP/QR flow by disabling extension preference:

const client = await createEVMClient({
  dapp: { name: 'My DApp', url: window.location.href },
  api: { supportedNetworks: getInfuraRpcUrls({ infuraApiKey: 'YOUR_INFURA_KEY' }) },
  ui: { preferExtension: false },
});

---

15. Extension transport used but want mobile QR

Cause: preferExtension defaults to true. When the MetaMask browser extension is installed, the SDK always prefers it.

Fix: Set ui.preferExtension = false:

const client = await createEVMClient({
  dapp: { name: 'My DApp', url: window.location.href },
  api: { supportedNetworks: getInfuraRpcUrls({ infuraApiKey: 'YOUR_INFURA_KEY' }) },
  ui: { preferExtension: false },
});

---

16. QR code modal blocked by dapp Content-Security-Policy

Cause: Older versions of the QR modal created a blob: URL for the embedded MetaMask icon. If the host page's CSP connect-src directive did not include blob:, the XMLHttpRequest used to build the blob was rejected and the QR image failed to render.

Fix: Upgrade to @metamask/connect-multichain ^0.12.1 and @metamask/multichain-ui ^0.4.1 (shipped in connect-monorepo v30.0.0). The icon is now embedded as a data: URI and saveAsBlob: false is set in the QR image options, so no connect-src blob: entry is needed:

npm install @metamask/connect-multichain@^0.12.1 @metamask/multichain-ui@^0.4.1
# or update @metamask/connect-evm to ^0.11.2 / @metamask/connect-solana to ^0.8.1
# which pin the fixed multichain version transitively

---

17. eth_coinbase returns an array / inconsistent account responses

Cause: Before @metamask/connect-evm 1.3.1, the SDK's intercepted EIP-1193 account requests returned the same accounts array for both eth_requestAccounts and eth_coinbase. Per spec, eth_coinbase should return a single address (Address), not an array.

Fix: Upgrade to @metamask/connect-evm ^1.3.1 (connect-monorepo v35.0.0). After upgrade, eth_requestAccounts resolves to Address[] and eth_coinbase resolves to the currently selected account (Address). Update any code that destructured eth_coinbase as an array:

const accounts = await provider.request({ method: 'eth_requestAccounts' });
const coinbase = await provider.request({ method: 'eth_coinbase' });

console.log(accounts[0]); // selected account
console.log(coinbase);    // same address as accounts[0] — a string, NOT an array

npm install @metamask/connect-evm@^1.3.1

---

18. wallet_switchEthereumChain masks Unrecognized chain ID with No chain configuration found.

Cause: Before @metamask/connect-evm 1.2.0, calling client.switchChain({ chainId }) without a chainConfiguration fallback (or invoking wallet_switchEthereumChain directly) replaced the wallet's original Unrecognized chain ID error with the wrapper message No chain configuration found., hiding the underlying 4902 code from the dapp.

Fix: Upgrade to @metamask/connect-evm ^1.2.0 (connect-monorepo v33.0.0). The original wallet error (EIP-1193 code 4902) is now forwarded to the dapp. Handle it explicitly — either retry with a chainConfiguration fallback or call wallet_addEthereumChain:

try {
  await client.switchChain({ chainId: '0xa4b1' });
} catch (err) {
  if ((err as { code?: number }).code === 4902) {
    await client.switchChain({
      chainId: '0xa4b1',
      chainConfiguration: {
        chainId: '0xa4b1',
        chainName: 'Arbitrum One',
        rpcUrls: ['https://arb1.arbitrum.io/rpc'],
        nativeCurrency: { name: 'Ether', symbol: 'ETH', decimals: 18 },
      },
    });
    return;
  }
  throw err;
}

Do not pattern-match on the legacy "No chain configuration found" string — that branch will never fire after the upgrade.

---

19. Analytics _rejected count looks artificially high / wallet_unauthorized mis-classified

Cause: Before @metamask/connect-multichain 0.14.0, the isRejectionError helper that drives the mmconnect_wallet_action_rejected analytics event treated EIP-1193 4100 Unauthorized (a CAIP-25 permission denial) as a user rejection, matched any error message containing the bare substring "user" (catching unrelated phrases like Account Abstraction's "user operation reverted"), and masked wallet-side codes behind the router's transport-boundary wrapper (code: 53).

Fix: Upgrade to @metamask/connect-multichain ^0.14.0 (connect-monorepo v34.0.0). The classifier now:

• Unwraps RPCInvokeMethodErr so wallet-side codes survive the router boundary
• No longer counts 4100 wallet_unauthorized as a rejection — it's a permission denial, surfaced under mmconnect_wallet_action_failed instead
• Narrows the substring match to four explicit phrases: "user rejected", "user denied", "user cancelled", "user canceled"

Net effect: _rejected becomes more precise, and _failed picks up everything 4100 was previously hiding. Update analytics dashboards / alerts that compared _rejected counts across the 0.13.x → 0.14.0 boundary — expect _rejected to drop and _failed to rise without an underlying behavior change.

The same release adds three optional companion fields on mmconnect_wallet_action_failed and mmconnect_connection_failed:

• failure_reason — coarse classifier (transport timeout, transport disconnect, EIP-1193 wallet errors 4100 / 4200 / 4902, JSON-RPC wallet errors -32601 / -32602 / -32603 and -32000…-32099, or unknown)
• error_code — raw wallet-side JSON-RPC / EIP-1193 code (e.g. 4001, -32603)
• error_message_sample — sanitised, 200-char-max preview of the original error message (wallet addresses, hex blobs, URLs, and large decimal numbers scrubbed)

Use these for finer triage in analytics consumers:

npm install @metamask/connect-multichain@^0.14.0
# or update @metamask/connect-evm to ^1.3.0 / @metamask/connect-solana to ^1.1.0
# which pin the fixed multichain version transitively

---

20. Module-not-found / peer-version warning for @metamask/connect-multichain after upgrading to connect-evm 2.0.0 or connect-solana 2.0.0

Cause: You are on the 2.0.0 releases of @metamask/connect-evm/@metamask/connect-solana, which (only in that version) made @metamask/connect-multichain a peer dependency that was not installed transitively. 2.1.0 reverted this — @metamask/connect-multichain is a regular dependency again. If a wrong or duplicate version is resolved, the SDK logs a runtime warning about a version mismatch or duplicate @metamask/connect-multichain resolutions.

Fix: Add it explicitly to your own dependencies:

npm install @metamask/connect-multichain@^1.0.0

• Ensure a single @metamask/connect-multichain resolves in your tree — npm ls @metamask/connect-multichain (or yarn why / pnpm why) should show one 1.x version. Deduplicate (e.g. npm dedupe) if two copies appear, since duplicate resolutions trigger the runtime warning and can break singleton/session sharing.
• @metamask/connect-multichain is now a stable 1.0 package following strict semver, so ^1.0.0 is safe for all current ecosystem packages.

---

21. MMConnect provider shows up twice in wallet discovery, or the wrong provider is selected

Cause: Since @metamask/connect-evm 2.0.0, the MMConnect-managed EIP-1193 provider is announced through EIP-6963 by default (when native MetaMask hasn't already announced). If your app also announces a provider manually, or a discovery library (RainbowKit / ConnectKit / Web3Modal / wagmi) re-announces, you can end up with a duplicate MetaMask-style entry.

Fix:

• Pass skipAutoAnnounce: true to createEVMClient() to suppress the automatic announcement when you want to control discovery yourself, then call client.announceProvider() exactly when you need to surface it.
• Do not manually re-emit eip6963:announceProvider for the MMConnect provider in addition to the SDK — let the SDK own it, or use skipAutoAnnounce + announceProvider(), not both.
• Note the SDK restricts EIP-6963 extension detection to native MetaMask RDNS values, so the MMConnect-managed provider will not be mistaken for — or select — the browser-extension transport.

---

Diagnostic Checklist

Run through this checklist when any MetaMask Connect integration is misbehaving:

• supportedNetworks has valid RPC URLs — every chain the dApp uses must have an entry with a reachable URL
• Chain IDs are hex strings for EVM — use '0x1' not 1 or '1'
• Polyfills loaded (React Native) — react-native-get-random-values is first entry-file import (required for RN < 0.72); window shim present (required for all); Event/CustomEvent shims present only if using wagmi; Buffer set as safety net for peer deps
• preferredOpenLink set (React Native) — required for deeplinks to open MetaMask Mobile
• Import order correct — polyfills before SDK imports; react-native-get-random-values is the very first import
• Error codes handled in catch blocks — at minimum handle 4001 (user rejected) and -32002 (pending)
• Client not recreated per render — call createEVMClient / createMultichainClient / createSolanaClient once; the shared multichain core is the singleton (its options merge), but each create*Client call still returns a fresh wrapper
• display_uri listener registered before connect() — required in headless mode for QR codes
• Solana wallets prop is [] — MetaMask uses wallet-standard discovery, not manual registration
• Solana network availability checked — mainnet/devnet/testnet scopes are all modeled by the SDK; don't assume a non-mainnet cluster is available on the connected wallet — handle connection errors

Important Notes

• Always check the error code first — it tells you the category of failure before you need to inspect the message.
• Use typed error classes from @metamask/connect-multichain for granular instanceof checks: RPCInvokeMethodErr (wallet errors from invokeMethod — original wallet code on rpcCode, revert data on rpcData), RPCHttpErr / RPCReadonlyResponseErr / RPCReadonlyRequestErr (RPC-node-routed read calls).
• The underlying multichain core is a singleton: createMultichainClient merges options into the shared core, and createEVMClient / createSolanaClient build chain-specific wrappers on top of it. Each create*Client call returns a fresh wrapper, so call it once at startup and reuse — do not wrap it in a React component render cycle.
• Extension detection is synchronous but MWP connection is asynchronous — if the extension is not installed, expect the flow to involve QR scanning or deeplinks with noticeable latency.
• In React Native, import order matters critically. react-native-get-random-values must be the very first import in the entry file (not inside polyfills.ts). The connect-* packages do not use DOM Event/CustomEvent — those polyfills are only needed when also using wagmi. @metamask/connect-multichain self-polyfills Buffer but set global.Buffer early as a safety net for peer deps.
• When debugging, enable debug: true in the client options to get verbose console output from the SDK internals.