Discord bot SSL certificate error during API connection

Other Questions Discord bot
1

I’m experiencing an odd SSL certificate error when my Discord bot tries to connect to the API. The error message indicates “unable to get local issuer certificate” and I can’t determine what the issue is. Here is the precise error message I encounter:

HTTPError [FetchError]: request to https://discord.com/api/v9/gateway/bot failed, reason: unable to get local issuer certificate
    at ResponseHandler.process (C:\MyBot\node_modules\discord.js\src\rest\ResponseHandler.js:198:12)
    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
    at async ResponseHandler.send (C:\MyBot\node_modules\discord.js\src\rest\ResponseHandler.js:48:11)
    at async SocketManager.initialize (C:\MyBot\node_modules\discord.js\src\client\websocket\SocketManager.js:127:8)
    at async Client.connect (C:\MyBot\node_modules\discord.js\src\client\Client.js:251:6) {
  code: 500,
  method: 'get',
  path: '/gateway/bot',
  requestData: { json: undefined, files: [] }
}

Here’s the section of my code responsible for handling requests:

// Execute the HTTP request
let response;
try {
  response = await httpRequest.send();
} catch (err) {
  // Retry logic for failed requests
  if (httpRequest.attempts === this.handler.client.options.maxRetries) {
    throw new HTTPError(err.message, err.constructor.name, err.status, httpRequest);
  }

  httpRequest.attempts++;
  return this.process(httpRequest);
}

if (this.handler.client.listenerCount(API_EVENT)) {
  /**
   * Fired when API request completes
   * @event BaseClient#apiEvent
   * @param {HTTPRequest} httpRequest The original request
   * @param {Response} response The API response
   */
  this.handler.client.emit(
    API_EVENT,
    {
      method: httpRequest.method,
      path: httpRequest.path,
      route: httpRequest.route,
      options: httpRequest.options,
      attempts: httpRequest.attempts,
    },
    response.clone(),
  );
}

I’ve looked everywhere but still can’t find a solution. Any suggestions on what might be the problem?

2

Node.js can’t find trusted certificate authorities in your environment. I’ve hit this same issue when deploying bots on servers with limited certificate stores. Usually updating your certificates fixes it - on Windows, just run Windows Update to refresh the certificate store. You can also set up a custom CA bundle by pointing the NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS environment variable to your certificate file. If you’re running Docker, make sure your container has updated CA certificates. Antivirus software sometimes messes with SSL connections too, so try disabling it temporarily to see if that’s the problem.

3

had the same problem on windows. first, check your system clock - ssl certs fail when the time’s wrong. try updating node too since older versions can have outdated cert stores. clearing npm cache fixed it for me: npm cache clean --force

4

This happens when Node.js can’t verify the SSL certificate chain - usually due to missing root certificates or corporate firewall issues. I had this exact problem last month, and my company’s proxy was intercepting HTTPS requests. You could try running your bot with NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0 as a quick test. If it connects, it indicates a certificate validation issue. For a permanent solution, consider updating Node.js or adding the missing certificate authority to your system. Also, verify if you’re behind a corporate firewall with SSL inspection.