OpenZeppelin Initializable Error "Initializable: contract is not initializing" when calling initialize function for the first time

Question

I have a contract that "is Initializable" and it is the base contract so I am using the onlyInitializing modifier. However, after I deploy my contract and call the initialize function I receive "Error: VM Exception while processing transaction: reverted with reason string 'Initializable: contract is not initializing'" I am using hardhat deploy. My initialize function

   function initialize(
        IERC20 _token,
        uint256 _maxDuration,
        uint256 _minDuration
    ) public onlyInitializing {
        token = _token;
        maxDuration = _maxDuration;
        minDuration = _minDuration;
    }

and here is some of my deploy script where I hit the error

   await deploy('Crowdfund', {
      from: deployer,
      log: true,
      waitConfirmations: waitBlockConfirmations
    });

    log('Initializing Crowdfund');

    crowdfund = await ethers.getContract('Crowdfund');
    const initTx = await crowdfund.initialize(
      initArgs.tokenAddress,
      initArgs.min_duration,
      initArgs.max_duration
    );
    initTx.wait(1);

    log('Crowdfund initialized');

FULL REPO

Answer 1

You should use the initializer() modifier instead of onlyInitializing(). initializer() is used in the top-level initialize call, onlyInitializing() only in functions called inside it.

    function initialize(
        IERC20 _token,
        uint256 _maxDuration,
        uint256 _minDuration
    ) public initializer {
        token = _token;
        maxDuration = _maxDuration;
        minDuration = _minDuration;
    }