cannot estimateGas using provider sometimes

[gauravmindzk]

Ethers Version

6.10.0

Search Terms

No response

Describe the Problem

When I run the below code as a standalone nodejs script , I get the estimated gas with provider but when trying it in my server or in hardhat test cases , it throws error .

this code works when I pass 'wallet' instead of 'provider'

What is the issue ?

Code Snippet

const { ethers } = require("ethers");

const provider = new ethers.JsonRpcProvider(
    "https://sepolia.infura.io/v3/key"
);

const CONTRACT_ADDRESS = "ERC721-contract-address"
const PRIVATE_KEY = "my-private-key";

const abi = standardERC721ABI

function createEthersContractMethodInstance(provider, smartContractAddress, abi) {
    try {
      const contract = new ethers.Contract(smartContractAddress, abi?.abi ?? abi, provider);
      return contract;
    } catch (error) {
      console.log("createEthersContractMethodInstance error -->", error);
      throw error;
    }
}

const estimateFunctionCallGas = async() => {
    // Create a new wallet instance
    const wallet = new ethers.Wallet(PRIVATE_KEY, provider);
    const contract_Methods = createEthersContractMethodInstance(provider,CONTRACT_ADDRESS,abi)
    const gasEstimate = await contract_Methods["mintToken"].estimateGas("0x27385c105d4ef3a20d6dd579bbb417dea318114b", "123458", "https://example.com/metadata/123458");
    const gasEstimate1 = await contract_Methods.mintToken.estimateGas("0x27385c105d4ef3a20d6dd579bbb417dea318114b", "123458", "https://example.com/metadata/123458");
    console.log("gas estimate :",gasEstimate)
    console.log("gas estimate 1: ",gasEstimate1)
}
estimateFunctionCallGas();

Contract ABI

Errors

Error: execution reverted (unknown custom error) (action="estimateGas", data="0xe2517d3f00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000009f2df0fed2c77648de5860a4cc508cd0818c85b8b8a1ab4ceeef8d981c8956a6", reason=null, transaction={ "data": "0x731133e90000000000000000000000008c4f69e9bbd1c837cd59a0bcf19f2498f8eda5980000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000006400000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000800000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000", "to": "0x00EE826B3027CD0A32Ce5B8EFe47c4bd80f19C22" }, invocation=null, revert=null, code=CALL_EXCEPTION, version=6.10.0)
      at makeError (node_modules\ethers\src.ts\utils\errors.ts:694:21)
      at getBuiltinCallException (node_modules\ethers\src.ts\abi\abi-coder.ts:118:21)
      at Function.getBuiltinCallException (node_modules\ethers\src.ts\abi\abi-coder.ts:235:16)
      at JsonRpcProvider.getRpcError (node_modules\ethers\src.ts\providers\provider-jsonrpc.ts:979:32)
      at C:\Users\gaura\Desktop\ERC2771\erc1155-gasless-hardhat\node_modules\ethers\src.ts\providers\provider-jsonrpc.ts:563:45
      at processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)

Environment

No response

Environment (Other)

No response

[chainide-agent-bob]

Just adding some observations that might help clarify the issue.

In Ethers v6, provider.estimateGas() does not automatically populate the from field. If the contract function depends on msg.sender, the estimation can fail unless from is explicitly set.

If the call works when using a Wallet (i.e., wallet.estimateGas(tx)), but fails with provider.estimateGas(tx), it suggests the missing from field is likely the root cause. Including it manually in the transaction object might resolve the issue:

const tx = {
  to: contractAddress,
  data: contract.interface.encodeFunctionData("someMethod", [...args]),
  from: wallet.address // or another valid sender
};

const gas = await provider.estimateGas(tx);

This is consistent with the stricter behavior in v6 compared to v5, where some default values (like from) were more often inferred.

Hope this helps narrow it down.