ContractFactory runner is null when Hardhat config has no accounts

[ericglau]

Version of Hardhat

2.17.2

What happened?

When using a network that is defined in the Hardhat config with only url and no accounts, ethers.getContractFactory instantiates a ContractFactory with no runner.

While it may make sense in the context of the ContractFactory itself for deployments (there is no signer for deploying new contracts), subsequent usage of this ContractFactory might attempt to use the runner not as a signer but as a provider.

For example, consider the following code when there are no accounts:

import { ethers } from "hardhat";

async function main() {
  const MyToken = await ethers.getContractFactory("MyToken"); // MyToken.runner is null
  const instance = MyToken.attach('0xf37F5FE27A63876C172B110B0C229e2Ff3B29Eb8'); // instance.runner is null
  await instance.waitForDeployment();
}

This is a simplified example but we want to wait for a contract instance to exist on the network, but the contract instance may either be a new deployment or something that was previously deployed. In the above, it was previously deployed.

Since ethers uses the contract instance's runner in waitForDeployment to check for deployed code, the above fails with:

Error: runner does not support .provider (operation="getDeployedCode", code=UNSUPPORTED_OPERATION, version=6.7.1)
    at makeError (/Users/eric/Downloads/project 19/node_modules/ethers/src.ts/utils/errors.ts:685:21)
    at assert (/Users/eric/Downloads/project 19/node_modules/ethers/src.ts/utils/errors.ts:702:25)
    at Proxy.getDeployedCode (/Users/eric/Downloads/project 19/node_modules/ethers/src.ts/contract/contract.ts:817:15)
    at Proxy.waitForDeployment (/Users/eric/Downloads/project 19/node_modules/ethers/src.ts/contract/contract.ts:838:33)
    at main (/Users/eric/Downloads/project 19/scripts/waitForDeployment.ts:10:18)
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5) {
  code: 'UNSUPPORTED_OPERATION',
  operation: 'getDeployedCode'
}

I am wondering if either of the following would make sense for Hardhat:

• getContractFactory should use the default hre.ethers.provider as the runner if there are no accounts
  or
• Hardhat should provide an alternative to ContractFactory.attach where Hardhat injects the default hre.ethers.provider if there is no runner in the ContractFactory

Alternatively, please let me know if this is a usage error. For example, the following both work. Would any of these be preferred in terms of usage?

import { ethers } from "hardhat";

async function main() {
  const MyToken = await ethers.getContractFactory("MyToken");
  const MyTokenWithRunner = new ethers.ContractFactory(MyToken.interface, MyToken.bytecode, ethers.provider);
  const instance = MyTokenWithRunner.attach('0xf37F5FE27A63876C172B110B0C229e2Ff3B29Eb8');
  await instance.waitForDeployment();
}

or

import { ethers } from "hardhat";

async function main() {
  const MyToken = await ethers.getContractFactory("MyToken");
  const instance = new ethers.Contract('0xf37F5FE27A63876C172B110B0C229e2Ff3B29Eb8', MyToken.interface, ethers.provider);
  await instance.waitForDeployment();
}

Minimal reproduction steps

Create a new Hardhat project using ethers and hardhat-ethers.

In hardhat-config.ts, specify the following under networks (without any accounts):

    baseGoerli: {
      url: 'https://goerli.base.org',
    }

Create the following script and run it as npx hardhat run scripts/waitForDeployment.ts --network baseGoerli

import { ethers } from "hardhat";

async function main() {
  const MyToken = await ethers.getContractFactory("MyToken");

  console.log('runner', MyToken.runner);

  const instance = MyToken.attach('0xf37F5FE27A63876C172B110B0C229e2Ff3B29Eb8');
  await instance.waitForDeployment();
}

main().catch((error) => {
  console.error(error);
  process.exitCode = 1;
});

Output:

runner null
Error: runner does not support .provider (operation="getDeployedCode", code=UNSUPPORTED_OPERATION, version=6.7.1)
    at makeError (/Users/eric/Downloads/project 19/node_modules/ethers/src.ts/utils/errors.ts:685:21)
    at assert (/Users/eric/Downloads/project 19/node_modules/ethers/src.ts/utils/errors.ts:702:25)
    at Proxy.getDeployedCode (/Users/eric/Downloads/project 19/node_modules/ethers/src.ts/contract/contract.ts:817:15)
    at Proxy.waitForDeployment (/Users/eric/Downloads/project 19/node_modules/ethers/src.ts/contract/contract.ts:838:33)
    at main (/Users/eric/Downloads/project 19/scripts/waitForDeployment.ts:9:18)
    at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5) {
  code: 'UNSUPPORTED_OPERATION',
  operation: 'getDeployedCode'
}

Search terms

ContractFactory runner provider accounts