Node.js: Error: self-signed certificate in certificate chain (TLS handshake failure)

Error: self-signed certificate in certificate chain at TLSSocket.onConnectSecure (node:_tls_wrap.js:1530:34) at TLSSocket.emit (node:events:513:28)

Immediate Remediation

bash

export NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0

Root Cause Analysis

The server presented a self-signed certificate that Node.js cannot verify against its CA store, causing the TLS handshake to fail.

Verification & Guardrails

Only use this in development; never disable TLS verification in production.
For a permanent fix, add the self-signed certificate to the system trust store or use a CA-signed certificate.
In Node.js code, you can also set `rejectUnauthorized: false` in the request options for specific requests.

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