Metamask: ethers web3provider can’t connect to metamask the second time

Metamask Connectivity Issue: Can’t Connect to Web3Provider Second Time

As a developer building a React NFT marketplace on Polygon, you’ve likely encountered the frustration of encountering connectivity issues with your web3 provider. In this article, we’ll delve into the details of why Metamask/web3provider can’t connect to the second time and provide guidance on resolving this issue.

The Issue:

When a user creates an NFT on our platform, they’re prompted to link their Metamask wallet to interact with it. However, after successfully linking the first time, the web3 provider fails to reconnect for the second time, resulting in connectivity issues when attempting to create, buy, or relist an NFT.

Why is this happening?

Several factors contribute to this issue:

• Web3Provider’s Reconnection Mechanism: Web3 providers like MetaMask and others have a built-in reconnection mechanism that attempts to reconnect with the wallet after it has been closed. This process can be intermittent, causing issues when the connection is already established.

• Wallet Session Timeout: When a user closes their wallet, the session timeout can prevent the web3 provider from reconnecting automatically. This timeout is usually set to 60 seconds by default, but can vary depending on the wallet and operating system.

• Network Outages: Network outages or DNS resolution issues between the wallet and our platform can cause connectivity problems.

Solutions:

To resolve this issue, we recommend implementing the following solutions:

• Implement a Reconnection Mechanism: Introduce an API endpoint that listens for reconnect requests from the web3 provider. When a user closes their wallet, send a request to this endpoint to initiate reconnection.

• Use a Web3Provider with Advanced Options

  

  : Utilize a web3 provider like MetaMask’s wallet-adapter or ethers.js, which provides more control over the reconnecting process and allows for better optimization.

• Implement a Session Timeout: Set a session timeout for the wallet to prevent it from closing unnecessarily, ensuring that reconnection attempts can occur without interruption.

Example Code:

Here’s an example of how you could implement a reconnection mechanism using MetaMask’s wallet-adapter and ethers.js:

import { WalletAdapter } from "@metamask/web3-provider";

import { ethers } from "ethers";


const walletAdapter = new WalletAdapter();


export default async function connectWallet() {

  try {

    const provider = await walletAdapter.connect();

    // Use the connected provider for subsequent operations

  } catch (error) {

    console.error("Error connecting to wallet:", error);

    // Introduce a reconnect attempt after a short delay

    setTimeout(connectWallet, 5000).catch(() => null);

  }

}

In this example, we use connect to establish a connection with the Metamask provider and store it in the provider variable. We then attempt to reconnect using connect again after a 5-second delay. If an error occurs during reconnecting, we log the error and introduce another reconnect attempt.

By implementing these solutions or modifying your existing code, you should be able to resolve the connectivity issue with Metamask/web3provider for the second time when creating, buying, or relisting an NFT on our React NFT marketplace.