Когда я только начинал работать с Express и пытался разобраться с тем, как обрабатывать ошибки, мне пришлось нелегко. Возникало такое ощущение, будто никто не писал о том, что мне было нужно. В итоге мне пришлось самому искать ответы на мои вопросы. Сегодня я хочу рассказать всё, что знаю об обработке ошибок в Express-приложениях. Начнём с синхронных ошибок.
Обработка синхронных ошибок
Если вам нужно обработать синхронную ошибку, то вы можете, для начала, с помощью инструкции throw
, выдать такую ошибку в обработчике запроса Express. Обратите внимание на то, что обработчики запросов ещё называют «контроллерами», но я предпочитаю использовать термин «обработчик запросов» так как он кажется мне понятнее.
Вот как это выглядит:
app.post('/testing', (req, res) => {
throw new Error('Something broke! ')
})
Такие ошибки можно перехватить с помощью обработчика ошибок Express. Если вы не написали собственный обработчик ошибок (подробнее об этом мы поговорим ниже), то Express обработает ошибку с помощью обработчика, используемого по умолчанию.
Вот что делает стандартный обработчик ошибок Express:
- Устанавливает код состояния HTTP-ответа в значение 500.
- Отправляет сущности, выполнившей запрос, текстовый ответ.
- Логирует текстовый ответ в консоль.
Сообщение об ошибке, выведенное в консоль
Обработка асинхронных ошибок
Для обработки асинхронных ошибок нужно отправить ошибку обработчику ошибок Express через аргумент next
:
app.post('/testing', async (req, res, next) => {
return next(new Error('Something broke again! '))
})
Вот что попадёт в консоль при логировании этой ошибки.
Сообщение об ошибке, выведенное в консоль
Если вы пользуетесь в Express-приложении конструкцией async/await, то вам понадобится использовать функцию-обёртку, наподобие express-async-handler. Это позволяет писать асинхронный код без блоков try/catch. Подробнее об async/await в Express можно почитать здесь.
const asyncHandler = require('express-async-handler')
app.post('/testing', asyncHandler(async (req, res, next) => {
// Сделать что-нибудь
}))
После того, как обработчик запроса обёрнут в express-async-handler
, то можно, так же, как было описано выше, выбросить ошибку с использованием инструкции throw
. Эта ошибка попадёт к обработчику ошибок Express.
app.post('/testing', asyncHandler(async (req, res, next) => {
throw new Error('Something broke yet again! ')
}))
Сообщение об ошибке, выведенное в консоль
Написание собственного обработчика ошибок
Обработчики ошибок Express принимают 4 аргумента:
- error
- req
- res
- next
Размещать их нужно после промежуточных обработчиков и маршрутов.
app.use(/*...*/)
app.get(/*...*/)
app.post(/*...*/)
app.put(/*...*/)
app.delete(/*...*/)
// Собственный обработчик ошибок нужно поместить после всех остальных промежуточных обработчиков
app.use((error, req, res, next) => { /* ... */ })
Если создать собственный обработчик ошибок, то Express прекратит использование стандартного обработчика. Для того чтобы обработать ошибку, нужно сформировать ответ для фронтенд-приложения, которое обратилось к конечной точке, в которой возникла ошибка. Это означает, что нужно выполнить следующие действия:
- Сформировать и отправить подходящий код состояния ответа.
- Сформировать и отправить подходящий ответ.
То, какой именно код состояния подойдёт в каждом конкретном случае, зависит от того, что именно произошло. Вот список типичных ошибок, к обработке которых вы должны быть готовы:
- Ошибка
400 Bad Request
. Используется в двух ситуациях. Во-первых — тогда, когда пользователь не включил в запрос необходимое поле (например — в отправленной платёжной форме не заполнено поле со сведениями о кредитной карте). Во-вторых — тогда, когда в запросе содержатся некорректные данные (например — ввод в поле пароля и в поле подтверждения пароля разных паролей). - Ошибка
401 Unauthorized
. Этот код состояния ответа применяется в том случае, если пользователь ввёл неправильные учётные данные (вроде имени пользователя, адреса электронной почты или пароля). - Ошибка
403 Forbidden
. Используется в тех случаях, когда пользователю не разрешён доступ к конечной точке. - Ошибка
404 Not Found
. Применяется в тех случаях, когда конечную точку невозможно обнаружить. - Ошибка
500 Internal Server Error
. Применяется тогда, когда запрос, отправленный фронтендом, сформирован правильно, но на бэкенде при этом возникла какая-то ошибка.
После того, как определён подходящий код состояния ответа, его нужно установить с помощью res.status
:
app.use((error, req, res, next) => {
// Ошибка, выдаваемая в ответ на неправильно сформированный запрос
res.status(400)
res.json(/* ... */)
})
Код состояния ответа должен соответствовать сообщению об ошибке. Для этого нужно отправлять код состояния вместе с ошибкой.
Легче всего это сделать с помощью пакета http-errors. Он позволяет отправлять в ошибке три фрагмента информации:
- Код состояния ответа.
- Сообщение, сопутствующее ошибке.
- Любые данные, которые нужно отправить (это необязательно).
Вот как установить пакет http-errors
:
npm install http-errors --save
Вот как этим пакетом пользоваться:
const createError = require('http-errors')
// Создание ошибки
throw createError(status, message, properties)
Рассмотрим пример, который позволит как следует в этом всём разобраться.
Представим, что мы пытаемся обнаружить пользователя по адресу его электронной почты. Но этого пользователя найти не удаётся. В результате мы решаем отправить в ответ на соответствующий запрос ошибку User not found
, сообщающую вызывающей стороне о том, что пользователь не найден.
Вот что нам нужно будет сделать при создании ошибки:
- Установить код состояния ответа как
400 Bad Request
(ведь пользователь ввёл неправильные данные). Это будет наш первый параметр. - Отправить вызывающей стороне сообщение наподобие
User not found
. Это будет второй параметр.
app.put('/testing', asyncHandler(async (req, res) => {
const { email } = req.body
const user = await User.findOne({ email })
// Если пользователь не найден - выбросим ошибку
if (!user) throw createError(400, `User '${email}' not found`)
}))
Получить код состояния можно с помощью конструкции error.status
, а сообщение ошибки — с помощью error.message
:
// Логирование ошибки
app.use((error, req, res, next) => {
console.log('Error status: ', error.status)
console.log('Message: ', error.message)
})
Результат логирования ошибки в консоли
Затем состояние ответа устанавливают с помощью res.status
, а сообщение записывают в res.json
:
app.use((error, req, res, next) => {
// Установка кода состояния ответа
res.status(error.status)
// Отправка ответа
res.json({ message: error.message })
})
Лично я предпочитаю отправлять в подобных ответах код состояния, сообщение и результат трассировки стека. Это облегчает отладку.
app.use((error, req, res, next) => {
// Установка кода состояния ответа
res.status(error.status)
// Отправка ответа
res.json({
status: error.status,
message: error.message,
stack: error.stack
})
})
▍Код состояния ответа, используемый по умолчанию
Если источником ошибки не является createError
, то у неё не будет свойства status
. Вот пример, в котором сделана попытка прочесть несуществующий файл с помощью fs.readFile
:
const fs = require('fs')
const util = require('util')
// Преобразуем readFile из функции, использующей коллбэки, в async/await-функцию.
// Подробности об этом смотрите здесь: https://zellwk.com/blog/callbacks-to-promises
const readFilePromise = util.promisify(fs.readFile)
app.get('/testing', asyncHandler(async (req, res, next) => {
const data = await readFilePromise('some-file')
})
У такого объекта ошибки не будет свойства status
:
app.use((error, req, res, next) => {
console.log('Error status: ', error.status)
console.log('Message: ', error.message)
})
Результат логирования ошибки в консоли
В подобных случаях можно задать код ошибки, используемый по умолчанию. А именно, речь идёт об ошибке 500 Internal Server Error
:
app.use((error, req, res, next) => {
res.status(error.status || 500)
res.json({
status: error.status,
message: error.message,
stack: error.stack
})
})
▍Изменение кода состояния ошибки
Предположим, мы собираемся прочитать некий файл, воспользовавшись данными, предоставленными пользователем. Если такого файла не существует, это значит, что нам нужно выдать ошибку 400 Bad Request
. Ведь в том, что файл найти не удаётся, нет вины сервера.
В подобном случае нужно воспользоваться конструкцией try/catch для перехвата исходной ошибки. Затем нужно воссоздать объект ошибки с помощью createError
:
app.get('/testing', asyncHandler(async (req, res, next) => {
try {
const { file } = req.body
const contents = await readFilePromise(path.join(__dirname, file))
} catch (error) {
throw createError(400, `File ${file} does not exist`)
}
})
▍Обработка ошибок 404
Если запрос прошёл через все промежуточные обработчики и маршруты, но так и не был обработан, это означает, что конечная точка, соответствующая такому запросу, не была найдена.
Для обработки ошибок 404 Not Found
нужно добавить, между маршрутами и обработчиком ошибок, дополнительный обработчик. Вот как выглядит создание объекта ошибки 404:
// Промежуточные обработчики...
// Маршруты...
app.use((req, res, next) => {
next(createError(404))
})
// Обработчик ошибок...
Сведения об ошибке
▍Замечания об ошибке ERR_HTTP_HEADERS_SENT
Не впадайте в панику если видите сообщение об ошибке ERR_HTTP_HEADERS_SENT: Cannot set headers after they are sent to the client
. Она возникает из-за того, что в одном и том же обработчике многократно вызывается метод, устанавливающий заголовки ответа. Вот методы, вызов которых приводит к автоматической установке заголовков ответа:
- res.send
- res.json
- res.render
- res.sendFile
- res.sendStatus
- res.end
- res.redirect
Так, например, если вы вызовете методы res.render
и res.json
в одном и том же обработчике ответа, то вы получите ошибку ERR_HTTP_HEADERS_SENT
:
app.get('/testing', (req, res) => {
res.render('new-page')
res.json({ message: '¯_(ツ)_/¯' })
})
В результате, в том случае, если вы сталкиваетесь с этой ошибкой, тщательно проверьте код обработчиков ответа и убедитесь в том, что в нём нет ситуаций, в которых вызывается несколько вышеописанных методов.
▍Обработка ошибок и потоковая передача данных
Если что-то идёт не так при потоковой передаче ответа фронтенду, то можно столкнуться с той же самой ошибкой ERR_HTTP_HEADERS_SENT
.
В подобном случае обработку ошибок нужно передать стандартным обработчикам. Такой обработчик отправит ошибку и автоматически закроет соединение.
app.use((error, req, res, next) => {
// Сделать это нужно только в том случае, если ответ передаётся в потоковом режиме
if (res.headersSent) {
return next(error)
}
// Остальной код обработки ошибок
})
Итоги
Сегодня я рассказал вам всё, что знаю об обработке ошибок в Express. Надеюсь, это поможет вам писать более надёжные Express-приложения.
Уважаемые читатели! Как вы обрабатываете ошибки в своих Node.js-проектах?
The error code that states failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 () occurs when your website fails to load a resource. Multiple factors cause this error, which makes it a hard one to fix. Keep on reading as we demystify these causes and how you can fix them.
By the end of this article, you’ll be in a better position to fix and prevent this error in your projects.
Why Server Fail to Load a Resource Causing a Status of 404 Happens?
The following are the reasons why your server failed to load a resource causing a status of 404:
- Invalid Relative Paths
- Invalid URL
- Typographical error in a folder name
- Non-existent file name
- Misuse of the forward-slash character
- A Missing Resource
– Invalid Relative Paths
An invalid relative path for a resource in your website or application causes an error. If the resource is an image, you’ll observe the failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 image error. For example, your website can have an image in FolderX, and FolderX is in FolderY. In your website code, the following <img> element will cause an error:
<img src=”./FolderX/image.jpg” alt=”Describe your image” />
When looking at the code above, you can see that we have made an outright error. That’s because the image folder itself, FolderX, is in FolderY. However, in our code, there is no reference to FolderY when trying to retrieve the image. This is analogous to dialing an invalid phone number.
– Invalid URL
An invalid URL causes the failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 () react error. An example, where you can have an invalid URL goes as such:
- You build your React project locally on your system.
- Use a web publishing tool like Surge to test the website.
- You tested the URL only to see a blank page.
- You check the console, and there are lots of error messages. Most of the error messages are references to a failed resource.
Another example is when you attempt to load a file from a CDN and you forgot to include the directory that contains the file in the CDN URL. As a result, you get an error because the server tried to locate your specified directory, but it could not.
On WordPress, an invalid URL can lead to failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 WordPress error. The main cause of this WordPress error is when you have an error in your WordPress URL settings. Be aware that an outdated Theme or Plugin can cause the error as well.
– Typographical Error in a Folder Name
When you have a typo in a folder name, a request for such folder sends the server on an “error journey”. For example, if you have a server folder called FlderA, afterward, you made a request for FolderA. When you observe the folder’s name on the server, we have a typo. That’s why the below code will lead to an error:
<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”FolderA/styles.css” />
From the code above, we have tried to retrieve the styles.css file from FolderA but on the server, the folder’s name is FlderA. Therefore, you’ll get an error when the server tries to fetch the styles.css file. That’s because FolderA has the wrong spelling on the server.
– Non-existent File Name
A non-existent file name causes the failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 spring boot error. A typical example is when you load a different jQuery version into your code but try to use a different jQuery version. If you are running a typical HTML+CSS+JavaScript stack, there is a high chance you’ll get the error.
That’s because it’s easy to make mistakes in file names when using HTML+CSS+JavaScript. For example, you’ll get an error if you save a CSS file as style.css and your code requested for styles.css. Note, in the latter, we have an S before the file extension, while in the former, there is no S. before the file extension. Subtle mistakes like this can lead to hours of debugging.
– Misuse of the Forward-Slash Character
Misuse of the forward-slash (/) can cause an error when you deploy your website to GitHub pages. As a result, you’ll notice the failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 () GitHub error. Let’s assume you’ve deployed your website, and there is a barrage of errors in the console. The first place to check is your < link/> element that points to a CSS file.
This means if your < link/> tag reads something like the following:
< link rel=”stylesheet” href=”/css/main.css”>
This will point to the following URL:
https://<your_github_username>.github.io/css/main.css
The URL will throw an error because the GitHub repo for your website should follow <your_github_username>. However, due to the forward-slash at the beginning of the href value, this is not the case. As a result, your web browser produces the wrong URL leading to the error.
In Express in Node.js, you could use a forward-slash when specifying the location of static files. However, you could ignore the forward-slash in the source of the < script> tag. As a result, you’ll get the failed to load resource the server responded with a status of 404 (not found) node js error. Besides, lookout for failed to load resource the server responded with a status of 404 (not found) web api error.
– A Missing Resource
If you try to retrieve a missing resource on your web server, you’ll get the “failed to load” resource error. That’s because it’s missing and there is no way for the server to get it. Now that you know the reason for the “failed to load” resource error, you’ll ask the following question:
How do I fix failed to load the resource: the server responded with a status 404?
How To Fix Failed to Load Resource Warning?
You can fix the resource error by taking precautions that prevent a load resource error. Among these precautions is to use the right relative path and avoid an invalid URL. That’s not all, also, ensure the correct usage of the forward-slash character and double-check your folder names and ensure a resource exists on the web server.
– Use the Right Relative Path
The correct usage of a relative path goes a long way in preventing the failed to load resource error. To explain this better, we’ll revisit an earlier example in this article. In the example, we talked about your website having an image in FolderX. At the same time, FolderX is in FolderY, so you write the following code to get the image:
<img src=”./FolderX/image.jpg” alt=”Describe your image” />
The previous code results in an error because there is no reference to FolderY. Therefore, the following is the correct code that prevents the error:
<img src=”./FolderY/FolderX/image.jpg” alt=”Describe your image” />
The code above assumes that the HTML that retrieves the image is in the root directory.
– Use the Correct URL
You should use the correct URL if you’d like to prevent the failed to load resource error. If you are working with React, check your website’s URL to ensure the URL has the form of “https://<your_domain>/static/css” (without quotes). If you are on WordPress, do the following to prevent a failed to load resource error:
- Navigate to Settings — General.
- Look for WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL).
- Ensure both URLs are correct
- Ensure both URLs hold the same value.
- Save your settings.
– Double-check Your Folder Names
Every time you run into the failed to load resource error, check your folder name and ensure it’s correct. Read the folder name letter-for-letter, as it’s easy for your brain to think the spelling is correct. We emphasize this because you might not look at folder names as the cause of the “failed to load resource” error. But, you should not, it should be the first thing when you encounter this error.
– Load the Correct File
In the href value of the <link/> tag in your code, ensure you load the correct file. That means if you want jquery-3.3.1.min.js, don’t request for jquery-3.min.js as you’ll get an error. The only rare case that you won’t get an error is if the server has that file named jquery-3.min.js. However, this is unlikely due to jQuery’s naming convention.
– Don’t Misuse the Forward-Slash Character
If you are running a website on GitHub pages, in the <link/> tag, be careful how you use the forward-slash in the href value. For example, the following < link /> tag causes an error:
<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”/css/main.css”>
Note the forward-slash at the beginning of CSS, i.e. “/css”. As a result, you get the following URL:
https://<your_github_username>.github.io/css/main.css
In most cases, this causes an error. So, the following is the correct form of the < link /> tag:
<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”./css/main.css”>
Therefore, this will point to the correct URL:
https://<your_github_username>.github.io/<your_website_repo>/css/main.css
In Express, you can serve your website from “/public”. (note the forward-slash). So, if you want to load a JavaScript file from this folder, use the forward-slash before the file name. For example:
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”/main.js”></script>
Be aware, to not use the word “public” before the file name.
Conclusion
This article explained what causes the “failed to load resource” error and how you can fix it. The following are the takeaway from this article:
- An invalid URL causes the “failed to load resource” error.
- Different values for WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) can cause an error.
- Misuse of the forward-slash on GitHub pages can cause a “failed to load resource” error.
- When you try to retrieve a non-existent file from a server, you’ll get the “failed to load resource” error.
- To prevent the “failed to load” resource error, always double-check your folder names.
With everything that we’ve taught you, we are confident you can fix the “failed to load resource” error. We advise that you print our article, and use it as a reference the next time you run into the error.
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Position Is Everything: Your Go-To Resource for Learn & Build: CSS,JavaScript,HTML,PHP,C++ and MYSQL.
Applications running in Node.js will generally experience four categories of
errors:
- Standard JavaScript errors such as {EvalError}, {SyntaxError}, {RangeError},
{ReferenceError}, {TypeError}, and {URIError}. - System errors triggered by underlying operating system constraints such
as attempting to open a file that does not exist or attempting to send data
over a closed socket. - User-specified errors triggered by application code.
AssertionError
s are a special class of error that can be triggered when
Node.js detects an exceptional logic violation that should never occur. These
are raised typically by thenode:assert
module.
All JavaScript and system errors raised by Node.js inherit from, or are
instances of, the standard JavaScript {Error} class and are guaranteed
to provide at least the properties available on that class.
Error propagation and interception
Node.js supports several mechanisms for propagating and handling errors that
occur while an application is running. How these errors are reported and
handled depends entirely on the type of Error
and the style of the API that is
called.
All JavaScript errors are handled as exceptions that immediately generate
and throw an error using the standard JavaScript throw
mechanism. These
are handled using the try…catch
construct provided by the
JavaScript language.
// Throws with a ReferenceError because z is not defined. try { const m = 1; const n = m + z; } catch (err) { // Handle the error here. }
Any use of the JavaScript throw
mechanism will raise an exception that
must be handled using try…catch
or the Node.js process will exit
immediately.
With few exceptions, Synchronous APIs (any blocking method that does not
accept a callback
function, such as fs.readFileSync
), will use throw
to report errors.
Errors that occur within Asynchronous APIs may be reported in multiple ways:
-
Most asynchronous methods that accept a
callback
function will accept an
Error
object passed as the first argument to that function. If that first
argument is notnull
and is an instance ofError
, then an error occurred
that should be handled.const fs = require('node:fs'); fs.readFile('a file that does not exist', (err, data) => { if (err) { console.error('There was an error reading the file!', err); return; } // Otherwise handle the data });
-
When an asynchronous method is called on an object that is an
EventEmitter
, errors can be routed to that object’s'error'
event.const net = require('node:net'); const connection = net.connect('localhost'); // Adding an 'error' event handler to a stream: connection.on('error', (err) => { // If the connection is reset by the server, or if it can't // connect at all, or on any sort of error encountered by // the connection, the error will be sent here. console.error(err); }); connection.pipe(process.stdout);
-
A handful of typically asynchronous methods in the Node.js API may still
use thethrow
mechanism to raise exceptions that must be handled using
try…catch
. There is no comprehensive list of such methods; please
refer to the documentation of each method to determine the appropriate
error handling mechanism required.
The use of the 'error'
event mechanism is most common for stream-based
and event emitter-based APIs, which themselves represent a series of
asynchronous operations over time (as opposed to a single operation that may
pass or fail).
For all EventEmitter
objects, if an 'error'
event handler is not
provided, the error will be thrown, causing the Node.js process to report an
uncaught exception and crash unless either: The domain
module is
used appropriately or a handler has been registered for the
'uncaughtException'
event.
const EventEmitter = require('node:events'); const ee = new EventEmitter(); setImmediate(() => { // This will crash the process because no 'error' event // handler has been added. ee.emit('error', new Error('This will crash')); });
Errors generated in this way cannot be intercepted using try…catch
as
they are thrown after the calling code has already exited.
Developers must refer to the documentation for each method to determine
exactly how errors raised by those methods are propagated.
Error-first callbacks
Most asynchronous methods exposed by the Node.js core API follow an idiomatic
pattern referred to as an error-first callback. With this pattern, a callback
function is passed to the method as an argument. When the operation either
completes or an error is raised, the callback function is called with the
Error
object (if any) passed as the first argument. If no error was raised,
the first argument will be passed as null
.
const fs = require('node:fs'); function errorFirstCallback(err, data) { if (err) { console.error('There was an error', err); return; } console.log(data); } fs.readFile('/some/file/that/does-not-exist', errorFirstCallback); fs.readFile('/some/file/that/does-exist', errorFirstCallback);
The JavaScript try…catch
mechanism cannot be used to intercept errors
generated by asynchronous APIs. A common mistake for beginners is to try to
use throw
inside an error-first callback:
// THIS WILL NOT WORK: const fs = require('node:fs'); try { fs.readFile('/some/file/that/does-not-exist', (err, data) => { // Mistaken assumption: throwing here... if (err) { throw err; } }); } catch (err) { // This will not catch the throw! console.error(err); }
This will not work because the callback function passed to fs.readFile()
is
called asynchronously. By the time the callback has been called, the
surrounding code, including the try…catch
block, will have already exited.
Throwing an error inside the callback can crash the Node.js process in most
cases. If domains are enabled, or a handler has been registered with
process.on('uncaughtException')
, such errors can be intercepted.
Class: Error
A generic JavaScript {Error} object that does not denote any specific
circumstance of why the error occurred. Error
objects capture a «stack trace»
detailing the point in the code at which the Error
was instantiated, and may
provide a text description of the error.
All errors generated by Node.js, including all system and JavaScript errors,
will either be instances of, or inherit from, the Error
class.
new Error(message[, options])
message
{string}options
{Object}cause
{any} The error that caused the newly created error.
Creates a new Error
object and sets the error.message
property to the
provided text message. If an object is passed as message
, the text message
is generated by calling String(message)
. If the cause
option is provided,
it is assigned to the error.cause
property. The error.stack
property will
represent the point in the code at which new Error()
was called. Stack traces
are dependent on V8’s stack trace API. Stack traces extend only to either
(a) the beginning of synchronous code execution, or (b) the number of frames
given by the property Error.stackTraceLimit
, whichever is smaller.
Error.captureStackTrace(targetObject[, constructorOpt])
targetObject
{Object}constructorOpt
{Function}
Creates a .stack
property on targetObject
, which when accessed returns
a string representing the location in the code at which
Error.captureStackTrace()
was called.
const myObject = {}; Error.captureStackTrace(myObject); myObject.stack; // Similar to `new Error().stack`
The first line of the trace will be prefixed with
${myObject.name}: ${myObject.message}
.
The optional constructorOpt
argument accepts a function. If given, all frames
above constructorOpt
, including constructorOpt
, will be omitted from the
generated stack trace.
The constructorOpt
argument is useful for hiding implementation
details of error generation from the user. For instance:
function MyError() { Error.captureStackTrace(this, MyError); } // Without passing MyError to captureStackTrace, the MyError // frame would show up in the .stack property. By passing // the constructor, we omit that frame, and retain all frames below it. new MyError().stack;
Error.stackTraceLimit
- {number}
The Error.stackTraceLimit
property specifies the number of stack frames
collected by a stack trace (whether generated by new Error().stack
or
Error.captureStackTrace(obj)
).
The default value is 10
but may be set to any valid JavaScript number. Changes
will affect any stack trace captured after the value has been changed.
If set to a non-number value, or set to a negative number, stack traces will
not capture any frames.
error.cause
- {any}
If present, the error.cause
property is the underlying cause of the Error
.
It is used when catching an error and throwing a new one with a different
message or code in order to still have access to the original error.
The error.cause
property is typically set by calling
new Error(message, { cause })
. It is not set by the constructor if the
cause
option is not provided.
This property allows errors to be chained. When serializing Error
objects,
util.inspect()
recursively serializes error.cause
if it is set.
const cause = new Error('The remote HTTP server responded with a 500 status'); const symptom = new Error('The message failed to send', { cause }); console.log(symptom); // Prints: // Error: The message failed to send // at REPL2:1:17 // at Script.runInThisContext (node:vm:130:12) // ... 7 lines matching cause stack trace ... // at [_line] [as _line] (node:internal/readline/interface:886:18) { // [cause]: Error: The remote HTTP server responded with a 500 status // at REPL1:1:15 // at Script.runInThisContext (node:vm:130:12) // at REPLServer.defaultEval (node:repl:574:29) // at bound (node:domain:426:15) // at REPLServer.runBound [as eval] (node:domain:437:12) // at REPLServer.onLine (node:repl:902:10) // at REPLServer.emit (node:events:549:35) // at REPLServer.emit (node:domain:482:12) // at [_onLine] [as _onLine] (node:internal/readline/interface:425:12) // at [_line] [as _line] (node:internal/readline/interface:886:18)
error.code
- {string}
The error.code
property is a string label that identifies the kind of error.
error.code
is the most stable way to identify an error. It will only change
between major versions of Node.js. In contrast, error.message
strings may
change between any versions of Node.js. See Node.js error codes for details
about specific codes.
error.message
- {string}
The error.message
property is the string description of the error as set by
calling new Error(message)
. The message
passed to the constructor will also
appear in the first line of the stack trace of the Error
, however changing
this property after the Error
object is created may not change the first
line of the stack trace (for example, when error.stack
is read before this
property is changed).
const err = new Error('The message'); console.error(err.message); // Prints: The message
error.stack
- {string}
The error.stack
property is a string describing the point in the code at which
the Error
was instantiated.
Error: Things keep happening! at /home/gbusey/file.js:525:2 at Frobnicator.refrobulate (/home/gbusey/business-logic.js:424:21) at Actor.<anonymous> (/home/gbusey/actors.js:400:8) at increaseSynergy (/home/gbusey/actors.js:701:6)
The first line is formatted as <error class name>: <error message>
, and
is followed by a series of stack frames (each line beginning with «at «).
Each frame describes a call site within the code that lead to the error being
generated. V8 attempts to display a name for each function (by variable name,
function name, or object method name), but occasionally it will not be able to
find a suitable name. If V8 cannot determine a name for the function, only
location information will be displayed for that frame. Otherwise, the
determined function name will be displayed with location information appended
in parentheses.
Frames are only generated for JavaScript functions. If, for example, execution
synchronously passes through a C++ addon function called cheetahify
which
itself calls a JavaScript function, the frame representing the cheetahify
call
will not be present in the stack traces:
const cheetahify = require('./native-binding.node'); function makeFaster() { // `cheetahify()` *synchronously* calls speedy. cheetahify(function speedy() { throw new Error('oh no!'); }); } makeFaster(); // will throw: // /home/gbusey/file.js:6 // throw new Error('oh no!'); // ^ // Error: oh no! // at speedy (/home/gbusey/file.js:6:11) // at makeFaster (/home/gbusey/file.js:5:3) // at Object.<anonymous> (/home/gbusey/file.js:10:1) // at Module._compile (module.js:456:26) // at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10) // at Module.load (module.js:356:32) // at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12) // at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:497:10) // at startup (node.js:119:16) // at node.js:906:3
The location information will be one of:
native
, if the frame represents a call internal to V8 (as in[].forEach
).plain-filename.js:line:column
, if the frame represents a call internal
to Node.js./absolute/path/to/file.js:line:column
, if the frame represents a call in
a user program (using CommonJS module system), or its dependencies.<transport-protocol>:///url/to/module/file.mjs:line:column
, if the frame
represents a call in a user program (using ES module system), or
its dependencies.
The string representing the stack trace is lazily generated when the
error.stack
property is accessed.
The number of frames captured by the stack trace is bounded by the smaller of
Error.stackTraceLimit
or the number of available frames on the current event
loop tick.
Class: AssertionError
- Extends: {errors.Error}
Indicates the failure of an assertion. For details, see
Class: assert.AssertionError
.
Class: RangeError
- Extends: {errors.Error}
Indicates that a provided argument was not within the set or range of
acceptable values for a function; whether that is a numeric range, or
outside the set of options for a given function parameter.
require('node:net').connect(-1); // Throws "RangeError: "port" option should be >= 0 and < 65536: -1"
Node.js will generate and throw RangeError
instances immediately as a form
of argument validation.
Class: ReferenceError
- Extends: {errors.Error}
Indicates that an attempt is being made to access a variable that is not
defined. Such errors commonly indicate typos in code, or an otherwise broken
program.
While client code may generate and propagate these errors, in practice, only V8
will do so.
doesNotExist; // Throws ReferenceError, doesNotExist is not a variable in this program.
Unless an application is dynamically generating and running code,
ReferenceError
instances indicate a bug in the code or its dependencies.
Class: SyntaxError
- Extends: {errors.Error}
Indicates that a program is not valid JavaScript. These errors may only be
generated and propagated as a result of code evaluation. Code evaluation may
happen as a result of eval
, Function
, require
, or vm. These errors
are almost always indicative of a broken program.
try { require('node:vm').runInThisContext('binary ! isNotOk'); } catch (err) { // 'err' will be a SyntaxError. }
SyntaxError
instances are unrecoverable in the context that created them –
they may only be caught by other contexts.
Class: SystemError
- Extends: {errors.Error}
Node.js generates system errors when exceptions occur within its runtime
environment. These usually occur when an application violates an operating
system constraint. For example, a system error will occur if an application
attempts to read a file that does not exist.
address
{string} If present, the address to which a network connection
failedcode
{string} The string error codedest
{string} If present, the file path destination when reporting a file
system errorerrno
{number} The system-provided error numberinfo
{Object} If present, extra details about the error conditionmessage
{string} A system-provided human-readable description of the errorpath
{string} If present, the file path when reporting a file system errorport
{number} If present, the network connection port that is not availablesyscall
{string} The name of the system call that triggered the error
error.address
- {string}
If present, error.address
is a string describing the address to which a
network connection failed.
error.code
- {string}
The error.code
property is a string representing the error code.
error.dest
- {string}
If present, error.dest
is the file path destination when reporting a file
system error.
error.errno
- {number}
The error.errno
property is a negative number which corresponds
to the error code defined in libuv Error handling
.
On Windows the error number provided by the system will be normalized by libuv.
To get the string representation of the error code, use
util.getSystemErrorName(error.errno)
.
error.info
- {Object}
If present, error.info
is an object with details about the error condition.
error.message
- {string}
error.message
is a system-provided human-readable description of the error.
error.path
- {string}
If present, error.path
is a string containing a relevant invalid pathname.
error.port
- {number}
If present, error.port
is the network connection port that is not available.
error.syscall
- {string}
The error.syscall
property is a string describing the syscall that failed.
Common system errors
This is a list of system errors commonly-encountered when writing a Node.js
program. For a comprehensive list, see the errno
(3) man page.
-
EACCES
(Permission denied): An attempt was made to access a file in a way
forbidden by its file access permissions. -
EADDRINUSE
(Address already in use): An attempt to bind a server
(net
,http
, orhttps
) to a local address failed due to
another server on the local system already occupying that address. -
ECONNREFUSED
(Connection refused): No connection could be made because the
target machine actively refused it. This usually results from trying to
connect to a service that is inactive on the foreign host. -
ECONNRESET
(Connection reset by peer): A connection was forcibly closed by
a peer. This normally results from a loss of the connection on the remote
socket due to a timeout or reboot. Commonly encountered via thehttp
andnet
modules. -
EEXIST
(File exists): An existing file was the target of an operation that
required that the target not exist. -
EISDIR
(Is a directory): An operation expected a file, but the given
pathname was a directory. -
EMFILE
(Too many open files in system): Maximum number of
file descriptors allowable on the system has been reached, and
requests for another descriptor cannot be fulfilled until at least one
has been closed. This is encountered when opening many files at once in
parallel, especially on systems (in particular, macOS) where there is a low
file descriptor limit for processes. To remedy a low limit, run
ulimit -n 2048
in the same shell that will run the Node.js process. -
ENOENT
(No such file or directory): Commonly raised byfs
operations
to indicate that a component of the specified pathname does not exist. No
entity (file or directory) could be found by the given path. -
ENOTDIR
(Not a directory): A component of the given pathname existed, but
was not a directory as expected. Commonly raised byfs.readdir
. -
ENOTEMPTY
(Directory not empty): A directory with entries was the target
of an operation that requires an empty directory, usuallyfs.unlink
. -
ENOTFOUND
(DNS lookup failed): Indicates a DNS failure of either
EAI_NODATA
orEAI_NONAME
. This is not a standard POSIX error. -
EPERM
(Operation not permitted): An attempt was made to perform an
operation that requires elevated privileges. -
EPIPE
(Broken pipe): A write on a pipe, socket, or FIFO for which there is
no process to read the data. Commonly encountered at thenet
and
http
layers, indicative that the remote side of the stream being
written to has been closed. -
ETIMEDOUT
(Operation timed out): A connect or send request failed because
the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time. Usually
encountered byhttp
ornet
. Often a sign that asocket.end()
was not properly called.
Class: TypeError
- Extends {errors.Error}
Indicates that a provided argument is not an allowable type. For example,
passing a function to a parameter which expects a string would be a TypeError
.
require('node:url').parse(() => { }); // Throws TypeError, since it expected a string.
Node.js will generate and throw TypeError
instances immediately as a form
of argument validation.
Exceptions vs. errors
A JavaScript exception is a value that is thrown as a result of an invalid
operation or as the target of a throw
statement. While it is not required
that these values are instances of Error
or classes which inherit from
Error
, all exceptions thrown by Node.js or the JavaScript runtime will be
instances of Error
.
Some exceptions are unrecoverable at the JavaScript layer. Such exceptions
will always cause the Node.js process to crash. Examples include assert()
checks or abort()
calls in the C++ layer.
OpenSSL errors
Errors originating in crypto
or tls
are of class Error
, and in addition to
the standard .code
and .message
properties, may have some additional
OpenSSL-specific properties.
error.opensslErrorStack
An array of errors that can give context to where in the OpenSSL library an
error originates from.
error.function
The OpenSSL function the error originates in.
error.library
The OpenSSL library the error originates in.
error.reason
A human-readable string describing the reason for the error.
Node.js error codes
ABORT_ERR
Used when an operation has been aborted (typically using an AbortController
).
APIs not using AbortSignal
s typically do not raise an error with this code.
This code does not use the regular ERR_*
convention Node.js errors use in
order to be compatible with the web platform’s AbortError
.
ERR_AMBIGUOUS_ARGUMENT
A function argument is being used in a way that suggests that the function
signature may be misunderstood. This is thrown by the node:assert
module when
the message
parameter in assert.throws(block, message)
matches the error
message thrown by block
because that usage suggests that the user believes
message
is the expected message rather than the message the AssertionError
will display if block
does not throw.
ERR_ARG_NOT_ITERABLE
An iterable argument (i.e. a value that works with for...of
loops) was
required, but not provided to a Node.js API.
ERR_ASSERTION
A special type of error that can be triggered whenever Node.js detects an
exceptional logic violation that should never occur. These are raised typically
by the node:assert
module.
ERR_ASYNC_CALLBACK
An attempt was made to register something that is not a function as an
AsyncHooks
callback.
ERR_ASYNC_TYPE
The type of an asynchronous resource was invalid. Users are also able
to define their own types if using the public embedder API.
ERR_BROTLI_COMPRESSION_FAILED
Data passed to a Brotli stream was not successfully compressed.
ERR_BROTLI_INVALID_PARAM
An invalid parameter key was passed during construction of a Brotli stream.
ERR_BUFFER_CONTEXT_NOT_AVAILABLE
An attempt was made to create a Node.js Buffer
instance from addon or embedder
code, while in a JS engine Context that is not associated with a Node.js
instance. The data passed to the Buffer
method will have been released
by the time the method returns.
When encountering this error, a possible alternative to creating a Buffer
instance is to create a normal Uint8Array
, which only differs in the
prototype of the resulting object. Uint8Array
s are generally accepted in all
Node.js core APIs where Buffer
s are; they are available in all Contexts.
ERR_BUFFER_OUT_OF_BOUNDS
An operation outside the bounds of a Buffer
was attempted.
ERR_BUFFER_TOO_LARGE
An attempt has been made to create a Buffer
larger than the maximum allowed
size.
ERR_CANNOT_WATCH_SIGINT
Node.js was unable to watch for the SIGINT
signal.
ERR_CHILD_CLOSED_BEFORE_REPLY
A child process was closed before the parent received a reply.
ERR_CHILD_PROCESS_IPC_REQUIRED
Used when a child process is being forked without specifying an IPC channel.
ERR_CHILD_PROCESS_STDIO_MAXBUFFER
Used when the main process is trying to read data from the child process’s
STDERR/STDOUT, and the data’s length is longer than the maxBuffer
option.
ERR_CLOSED_MESSAGE_PORT
There was an attempt to use a MessagePort
instance in a closed
state, usually after .close()
has been called.
ERR_CONSOLE_WRITABLE_STREAM
Console
was instantiated without stdout
stream, or Console
has a
non-writable stdout
or stderr
stream.
ERR_CONSTRUCT_CALL_INVALID
A class constructor was called that is not callable.
ERR_CONSTRUCT_CALL_REQUIRED
A constructor for a class was called without new
.
ERR_CONTEXT_NOT_INITIALIZED
The vm context passed into the API is not yet initialized. This could happen
when an error occurs (and is caught) during the creation of the
context, for example, when the allocation fails or the maximum call stack
size is reached when the context is created.
ERR_CRYPTO_CUSTOM_ENGINE_NOT_SUPPORTED
A client certificate engine was requested that is not supported by the version
of OpenSSL being used.
ERR_CRYPTO_ECDH_INVALID_FORMAT
An invalid value for the format
argument was passed to the crypto.ECDH()
class getPublicKey()
method.
ERR_CRYPTO_ECDH_INVALID_PUBLIC_KEY
An invalid value for the key
argument has been passed to the
crypto.ECDH()
class computeSecret()
method. It means that the public
key lies outside of the elliptic curve.
ERR_CRYPTO_ENGINE_UNKNOWN
An invalid crypto engine identifier was passed to
require('node:crypto').setEngine()
.
ERR_CRYPTO_FIPS_FORCED
The --force-fips
command-line argument was used but there was an attempt
to enable or disable FIPS mode in the node:crypto
module.
ERR_CRYPTO_FIPS_UNAVAILABLE
An attempt was made to enable or disable FIPS mode, but FIPS mode was not
available.
ERR_CRYPTO_HASH_FINALIZED
hash.digest()
was called multiple times. The hash.digest()
method must
be called no more than one time per instance of a Hash
object.
ERR_CRYPTO_HASH_UPDATE_FAILED
hash.update()
failed for any reason. This should rarely, if ever, happen.
ERR_CRYPTO_INCOMPATIBLE_KEY
The given crypto keys are incompatible with the attempted operation.
ERR_CRYPTO_INCOMPATIBLE_KEY_OPTIONS
The selected public or private key encoding is incompatible with other options.
ERR_CRYPTO_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
Initialization of the crypto subsystem failed.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_AUTH_TAG
An invalid authentication tag was provided.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_COUNTER
An invalid counter was provided for a counter-mode cipher.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_CURVE
An invalid elliptic-curve was provided.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_DIGEST
An invalid crypto digest algorithm was specified.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_IV
An invalid initialization vector was provided.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_JWK
An invalid JSON Web Key was provided.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_KEY_OBJECT_TYPE
The given crypto key object’s type is invalid for the attempted operation.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_KEYLEN
An invalid key length was provided.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_KEYPAIR
An invalid key pair was provided.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_KEYTYPE
An invalid key type was provided.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_MESSAGELEN
An invalid message length was provided.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_SCRYPT_PARAMS
Invalid scrypt algorithm parameters were provided.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_STATE
A crypto method was used on an object that was in an invalid state. For
instance, calling cipher.getAuthTag()
before calling cipher.final()
.
ERR_CRYPTO_INVALID_TAG_LENGTH
An invalid authentication tag length was provided.
ERR_CRYPTO_JOB_INIT_FAILED
Initialization of an asynchronous crypto operation failed.
ERR_CRYPTO_JWK_UNSUPPORTED_CURVE
Key’s Elliptic Curve is not registered for use in the
JSON Web Key Elliptic Curve Registry.
ERR_CRYPTO_JWK_UNSUPPORTED_KEY_TYPE
Key’s Asymmetric Key Type is not registered for use in the
JSON Web Key Types Registry.
ERR_CRYPTO_OPERATION_FAILED
A crypto operation failed for an otherwise unspecified reason.
ERR_CRYPTO_PBKDF2_ERROR
The PBKDF2 algorithm failed for unspecified reasons. OpenSSL does not provide
more details and therefore neither does Node.js.
ERR_CRYPTO_SCRYPT_INVALID_PARAMETER
One or more crypto.scrypt()
or crypto.scryptSync()
parameters are
outside their legal range.
ERR_CRYPTO_SCRYPT_NOT_SUPPORTED
Node.js was compiled without scrypt
support. Not possible with the official
release binaries but can happen with custom builds, including distro builds.
ERR_CRYPTO_SIGN_KEY_REQUIRED
A signing key
was not provided to the sign.sign()
method.
ERR_CRYPTO_TIMING_SAFE_EQUAL_LENGTH
crypto.timingSafeEqual()
was called with Buffer
, TypedArray
, or
DataView
arguments of different lengths.
ERR_CRYPTO_UNKNOWN_CIPHER
An unknown cipher was specified.
ERR_CRYPTO_UNKNOWN_DH_GROUP
An unknown Diffie-Hellman group name was given. See
crypto.getDiffieHellman()
for a list of valid group names.
ERR_CRYPTO_UNSUPPORTED_OPERATION
An attempt to invoke an unsupported crypto operation was made.
ERR_DEBUGGER_ERROR
An error occurred with the debugger.
ERR_DEBUGGER_STARTUP_ERROR
The debugger timed out waiting for the required host/port to be free.
ERR_DLOPEN_DISABLED
Loading native addons has been disabled using --no-addons
.
ERR_DLOPEN_FAILED
A call to process.dlopen()
failed.
ERR_DIR_CLOSED
The fs.Dir
was previously closed.
ERR_DIR_CONCURRENT_OPERATION
A synchronous read or close call was attempted on an fs.Dir
which has
ongoing asynchronous operations.
ERR_DNS_SET_SERVERS_FAILED
c-ares
failed to set the DNS server.
ERR_DOMAIN_CALLBACK_NOT_AVAILABLE
The node:domain
module was not usable since it could not establish the
required error handling hooks, because
process.setUncaughtExceptionCaptureCallback()
had been called at an
earlier point in time.
ERR_DOMAIN_CANNOT_SET_UNCAUGHT_EXCEPTION_CAPTURE
process.setUncaughtExceptionCaptureCallback()
could not be called
because the node:domain
module has been loaded at an earlier point in time.
The stack trace is extended to include the point in time at which the
node:domain
module had been loaded.
ERR_DUPLICATE_STARTUP_SNAPSHOT_MAIN_FUNCTION
v8.startupSnapshot.setDeserializeMainFunction()
could not be called
because it had already been called before.
ERR_ENCODING_INVALID_ENCODED_DATA
Data provided to TextDecoder()
API was invalid according to the encoding
provided.
ERR_ENCODING_NOT_SUPPORTED
Encoding provided to TextDecoder()
API was not one of the
WHATWG Supported Encodings.
ERR_EVAL_ESM_CANNOT_PRINT
--print
cannot be used with ESM input.
ERR_EVENT_RECURSION
Thrown when an attempt is made to recursively dispatch an event on EventTarget
.
ERR_EXECUTION_ENVIRONMENT_NOT_AVAILABLE
The JS execution context is not associated with a Node.js environment.
This may occur when Node.js is used as an embedded library and some hooks
for the JS engine are not set up properly.
ERR_FALSY_VALUE_REJECTION
A Promise
that was callbackified via util.callbackify()
was rejected with a
falsy value.
ERR_FEATURE_UNAVAILABLE_ON_PLATFORM
Used when a feature that is not available
to the current platform which is running Node.js is used.
ERR_FS_CP_DIR_TO_NON_DIR
An attempt was made to copy a directory to a non-directory (file, symlink,
etc.) using fs.cp()
.
ERR_FS_CP_EEXIST
An attempt was made to copy over a file that already existed with
fs.cp()
, with the force
and errorOnExist
set to true
.
ERR_FS_CP_EINVAL
When using fs.cp()
, src
or dest
pointed to an invalid path.
ERR_HTTP_CONTENT_LENGTH_MISMATCH
Response body size doesn’t match with the specified content-length header value.
ERR_FS_CP_FIFO_PIPE
An attempt was made to copy a named pipe with fs.cp()
.
ERR_FS_CP_NON_DIR_TO_DIR
An attempt was made to copy a non-directory (file, symlink, etc.) to a directory
using fs.cp()
.
ERR_FS_CP_SOCKET
An attempt was made to copy to a socket with fs.cp()
.
ERR_FS_CP_SYMLINK_TO_SUBDIRECTORY
When using fs.cp()
, a symlink in dest
pointed to a subdirectory
of src
.
ERR_FS_CP_UNKNOWN
An attempt was made to copy to an unknown file type with fs.cp()
.
ERR_FS_EISDIR
Path is a directory.
ERR_FS_FILE_TOO_LARGE
An attempt has been made to read a file whose size is larger than the maximum
allowed size for a Buffer
.
ERR_FS_INVALID_SYMLINK_TYPE
An invalid symlink type was passed to the fs.symlink()
or
fs.symlinkSync()
methods.
ERR_HTTP_HEADERS_SENT
An attempt was made to add more headers after the headers had already been sent.
ERR_HTTP_INVALID_HEADER_VALUE
An invalid HTTP header value was specified.
ERR_HTTP_INVALID_STATUS_CODE
Status code was outside the regular status code range (100-999).
ERR_HTTP_REQUEST_TIMEOUT
The client has not sent the entire request within the allowed time.
ERR_HTTP_SOCKET_ENCODING
Changing the socket encoding is not allowed per RFC 7230 Section 3.
ERR_HTTP_TRAILER_INVALID
The Trailer
header was set even though the transfer encoding does not support
that.
ERR_HTTP2_ALTSVC_INVALID_ORIGIN
HTTP/2 ALTSVC frames require a valid origin.
ERR_HTTP2_ALTSVC_LENGTH
HTTP/2 ALTSVC frames are limited to a maximum of 16,382 payload bytes.
ERR_HTTP2_CONNECT_AUTHORITY
For HTTP/2 requests using the CONNECT
method, the :authority
pseudo-header
is required.
ERR_HTTP2_CONNECT_PATH
For HTTP/2 requests using the CONNECT
method, the :path
pseudo-header is
forbidden.
ERR_HTTP2_CONNECT_SCHEME
For HTTP/2 requests using the CONNECT
method, the :scheme
pseudo-header is
forbidden.
ERR_HTTP2_ERROR
A non-specific HTTP/2 error has occurred.
ERR_HTTP2_GOAWAY_SESSION
New HTTP/2 Streams may not be opened after the Http2Session
has received a
GOAWAY
frame from the connected peer.
ERR_HTTP2_HEADER_SINGLE_VALUE
Multiple values were provided for an HTTP/2 header field that was required to
have only a single value.
ERR_HTTP2_HEADERS_AFTER_RESPOND
An additional headers was specified after an HTTP/2 response was initiated.
ERR_HTTP2_HEADERS_SENT
An attempt was made to send multiple response headers.
ERR_HTTP2_INFO_STATUS_NOT_ALLOWED
Informational HTTP status codes (1xx
) may not be set as the response status
code on HTTP/2 responses.
ERR_HTTP2_INVALID_CONNECTION_HEADERS
HTTP/1 connection specific headers are forbidden to be used in HTTP/2
requests and responses.
ERR_HTTP2_INVALID_HEADER_VALUE
An invalid HTTP/2 header value was specified.
ERR_HTTP2_INVALID_INFO_STATUS
An invalid HTTP informational status code has been specified. Informational
status codes must be an integer between 100
and 199
(inclusive).
ERR_HTTP2_INVALID_ORIGIN
HTTP/2 ORIGIN
frames require a valid origin.
ERR_HTTP2_INVALID_PACKED_SETTINGS_LENGTH
Input Buffer
and Uint8Array
instances passed to the
http2.getUnpackedSettings()
API must have a length that is a multiple of
six.
ERR_HTTP2_INVALID_PSEUDOHEADER
Only valid HTTP/2 pseudoheaders (:status
, :path
, :authority
, :scheme
,
and :method
) may be used.
ERR_HTTP2_INVALID_SESSION
An action was performed on an Http2Session
object that had already been
destroyed.
ERR_HTTP2_INVALID_SETTING_VALUE
An invalid value has been specified for an HTTP/2 setting.
ERR_HTTP2_INVALID_STREAM
An operation was performed on a stream that had already been destroyed.
ERR_HTTP2_MAX_PENDING_SETTINGS_ACK
Whenever an HTTP/2 SETTINGS
frame is sent to a connected peer, the peer is
required to send an acknowledgment that it has received and applied the new
SETTINGS
. By default, a maximum number of unacknowledged SETTINGS
frames may
be sent at any given time. This error code is used when that limit has been
reached.
ERR_HTTP2_NESTED_PUSH
An attempt was made to initiate a new push stream from within a push stream.
Nested push streams are not permitted.
ERR_HTTP2_NO_MEM
Out of memory when using the http2session.setLocalWindowSize(windowSize)
API.
ERR_HTTP2_NO_SOCKET_MANIPULATION
An attempt was made to directly manipulate (read, write, pause, resume, etc.) a
socket attached to an Http2Session
.
ERR_HTTP2_ORIGIN_LENGTH
HTTP/2 ORIGIN
frames are limited to a length of 16382 bytes.
ERR_HTTP2_OUT_OF_STREAMS
The number of streams created on a single HTTP/2 session reached the maximum
limit.
ERR_HTTP2_PAYLOAD_FORBIDDEN
A message payload was specified for an HTTP response code for which a payload is
forbidden.
ERR_HTTP2_PING_CANCEL
An HTTP/2 ping was canceled.
ERR_HTTP2_PING_LENGTH
HTTP/2 ping payloads must be exactly 8 bytes in length.
ERR_HTTP2_PSEUDOHEADER_NOT_ALLOWED
An HTTP/2 pseudo-header has been used inappropriately. Pseudo-headers are header
key names that begin with the :
prefix.
ERR_HTTP2_PUSH_DISABLED
An attempt was made to create a push stream, which had been disabled by the
client.
ERR_HTTP2_SEND_FILE
An attempt was made to use the Http2Stream.prototype.responseWithFile()
API to
send a directory.
ERR_HTTP2_SEND_FILE_NOSEEK
An attempt was made to use the Http2Stream.prototype.responseWithFile()
API to
send something other than a regular file, but offset
or length
options were
provided.
ERR_HTTP2_SESSION_ERROR
The Http2Session
closed with a non-zero error code.
ERR_HTTP2_SETTINGS_CANCEL
The Http2Session
settings canceled.
ERR_HTTP2_SOCKET_BOUND
An attempt was made to connect a Http2Session
object to a net.Socket
or
tls.TLSSocket
that had already been bound to another Http2Session
object.
ERR_HTTP2_SOCKET_UNBOUND
An attempt was made to use the socket
property of an Http2Session
that
has already been closed.
ERR_HTTP2_STATUS_101
Use of the 101
Informational status code is forbidden in HTTP/2.
ERR_HTTP2_STATUS_INVALID
An invalid HTTP status code has been specified. Status codes must be an integer
between 100
and 599
(inclusive).
ERR_HTTP2_STREAM_CANCEL
An Http2Stream
was destroyed before any data was transmitted to the connected
peer.
ERR_HTTP2_STREAM_ERROR
A non-zero error code was been specified in an RST_STREAM
frame.
ERR_HTTP2_STREAM_SELF_DEPENDENCY
When setting the priority for an HTTP/2 stream, the stream may be marked as
a dependency for a parent stream. This error code is used when an attempt is
made to mark a stream and dependent of itself.
ERR_HTTP2_TOO_MANY_INVALID_FRAMES
The limit of acceptable invalid HTTP/2 protocol frames sent by the peer,
as specified through the maxSessionInvalidFrames
option, has been exceeded.
ERR_HTTP2_TRAILERS_ALREADY_SENT
Trailing headers have already been sent on the Http2Stream
.
ERR_HTTP2_TRAILERS_NOT_READY
The http2stream.sendTrailers()
method cannot be called until after the
'wantTrailers'
event is emitted on an Http2Stream
object. The
'wantTrailers'
event will only be emitted if the waitForTrailers
option
is set for the Http2Stream
.
ERR_HTTP2_UNSUPPORTED_PROTOCOL
http2.connect()
was passed a URL that uses any protocol other than http:
or
https:
.
ERR_ILLEGAL_CONSTRUCTOR
An attempt was made to construct an object using a non-public constructor.
ERR_IMPORT_ASSERTION_TYPE_FAILED
An import assertion has failed, preventing the specified module to be imported.
ERR_IMPORT_ASSERTION_TYPE_MISSING
An import assertion is missing, preventing the specified module to be imported.
ERR_IMPORT_ASSERTION_TYPE_UNSUPPORTED
An import assertion is not supported by this version of Node.js.
ERR_INCOMPATIBLE_OPTION_PAIR
An option pair is incompatible with each other and cannot be used at the same
time.
ERR_INPUT_TYPE_NOT_ALLOWED
Stability: 1 — Experimental
The --input-type
flag was used to attempt to execute a file. This flag can
only be used with input via --eval
, --print
, or STDIN
.
ERR_INSPECTOR_ALREADY_ACTIVATED
While using the node:inspector
module, an attempt was made to activate the
inspector when it already started to listen on a port. Use inspector.close()
before activating it on a different address.
ERR_INSPECTOR_ALREADY_CONNECTED
While using the node:inspector
module, an attempt was made to connect when the
inspector was already connected.
ERR_INSPECTOR_CLOSED
While using the node:inspector
module, an attempt was made to use the
inspector after the session had already closed.
ERR_INSPECTOR_COMMAND
An error occurred while issuing a command via the node:inspector
module.
ERR_INSPECTOR_NOT_ACTIVE
The inspector
is not active when inspector.waitForDebugger()
is called.
ERR_INSPECTOR_NOT_AVAILABLE
The node:inspector
module is not available for use.
ERR_INSPECTOR_NOT_CONNECTED
While using the node:inspector
module, an attempt was made to use the
inspector before it was connected.
ERR_INSPECTOR_NOT_WORKER
An API was called on the main thread that can only be used from
the worker thread.
ERR_INTERNAL_ASSERTION
There was a bug in Node.js or incorrect usage of Node.js internals.
To fix the error, open an issue at https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues.
ERR_INVALID_ADDRESS_FAMILY
The provided address family is not understood by the Node.js API.
ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE
An argument of the wrong type was passed to a Node.js API.
ERR_INVALID_ARG_VALUE
An invalid or unsupported value was passed for a given argument.
ERR_INVALID_ASYNC_ID
An invalid asyncId
or triggerAsyncId
was passed using AsyncHooks
. An id
less than -1 should never happen.
ERR_INVALID_BUFFER_SIZE
A swap was performed on a Buffer
but its size was not compatible with the
operation.
ERR_INVALID_CHAR
Invalid characters were detected in headers.
ERR_INVALID_CURSOR_POS
A cursor on a given stream cannot be moved to a specified row without a
specified column.
ERR_INVALID_FD
A file descriptor (‘fd’) was not valid (e.g. it was a negative value).
ERR_INVALID_FD_TYPE
A file descriptor (‘fd’) type was not valid.
ERR_INVALID_FILE_URL_HOST
A Node.js API that consumes file:
URLs (such as certain functions in the
fs
module) encountered a file URL with an incompatible host. This
situation can only occur on Unix-like systems where only localhost
or an empty
host is supported.
ERR_INVALID_FILE_URL_PATH
A Node.js API that consumes file:
URLs (such as certain functions in the
fs
module) encountered a file URL with an incompatible path. The exact
semantics for determining whether a path can be used is platform-dependent.
ERR_INVALID_HANDLE_TYPE
An attempt was made to send an unsupported «handle» over an IPC communication
channel to a child process. See subprocess.send()
and process.send()
for more information.
ERR_INVALID_HTTP_TOKEN
An invalid HTTP token was supplied.
ERR_INVALID_IP_ADDRESS
An IP address is not valid.
ERR_INVALID_MIME_SYNTAX
The syntax of a MIME is not valid.
ERR_INVALID_MODULE
An attempt was made to load a module that does not exist or was otherwise not
valid.
ERR_INVALID_MODULE_SPECIFIER
The imported module string is an invalid URL, package name, or package subpath
specifier.
ERR_INVALID_OBJECT_DEFINE_PROPERTY
An error occurred while setting an invalid attribute on the property of
an object.
ERR_INVALID_PACKAGE_CONFIG
An invalid package.json
file failed parsing.
ERR_INVALID_PACKAGE_TARGET
The package.json
"exports"
field contains an invalid target mapping
value for the attempted module resolution.
ERR_INVALID_PERFORMANCE_MARK
While using the Performance Timing API (perf_hooks
), a performance mark is
invalid.
ERR_INVALID_PROTOCOL
An invalid options.protocol
was passed to http.request()
.
ERR_INVALID_REPL_EVAL_CONFIG
Both breakEvalOnSigint
and eval
options were set in the REPL
config,
which is not supported.
ERR_INVALID_REPL_INPUT
The input may not be used in the REPL
. The conditions under which this
error is used are described in the REPL
documentation.
ERR_INVALID_RETURN_PROPERTY
Thrown in case a function option does not provide a valid value for one of its
returned object properties on execution.
ERR_INVALID_RETURN_PROPERTY_VALUE
Thrown in case a function option does not provide an expected value
type for one of its returned object properties on execution.
ERR_INVALID_RETURN_VALUE
Thrown in case a function option does not return an expected value
type on execution, such as when a function is expected to return a promise.
ERR_INVALID_STATE
Indicates that an operation cannot be completed due to an invalid state.
For instance, an object may have already been destroyed, or may be
performing another operation.
ERR_INVALID_SYNC_FORK_INPUT
A Buffer
, TypedArray
, DataView
, or string
was provided as stdio input to
an asynchronous fork. See the documentation for the child_process
module
for more information.
ERR_INVALID_THIS
A Node.js API function was called with an incompatible this
value.
const urlSearchParams = new URLSearchParams('foo=bar&baz=new'); const buf = Buffer.alloc(1); urlSearchParams.has.call(buf, 'foo'); // Throws a TypeError with code 'ERR_INVALID_THIS'
ERR_INVALID_TRANSFER_OBJECT
An invalid transfer object was passed to postMessage()
.
ERR_INVALID_TUPLE
An element in the iterable
provided to the WHATWG
URLSearchParams
constructor did not
represent a [name, value]
tuple – that is, if an element is not iterable, or
does not consist of exactly two elements.
ERR_INVALID_URI
An invalid URI was passed.
ERR_INVALID_URL
An invalid URL was passed to the WHATWG URL
constructor or the legacy url.parse()
to be parsed.
The thrown error object typically has an additional property 'input'
that
contains the URL that failed to parse.
ERR_INVALID_URL_SCHEME
An attempt was made to use a URL of an incompatible scheme (protocol) for a
specific purpose. It is only used in the WHATWG URL API support in the
fs
module (which only accepts URLs with 'file'
scheme), but may be used
in other Node.js APIs as well in the future.
ERR_IPC_CHANNEL_CLOSED
An attempt was made to use an IPC communication channel that was already closed.
ERR_IPC_DISCONNECTED
An attempt was made to disconnect an IPC communication channel that was already
disconnected. See the documentation for the child_process
module
for more information.
ERR_IPC_ONE_PIPE
An attempt was made to create a child Node.js process using more than one IPC
communication channel. See the documentation for the child_process
module
for more information.
ERR_IPC_SYNC_FORK
An attempt was made to open an IPC communication channel with a synchronously
forked Node.js process. See the documentation for the child_process
module
for more information.
ERR_LOADER_CHAIN_INCOMPLETE
An ESM loader hook returned without calling next()
and without explicitly
signaling a short circuit.
ERR_MANIFEST_ASSERT_INTEGRITY
An attempt was made to load a resource, but the resource did not match the
integrity defined by the policy manifest. See the documentation for policy
manifests for more information.
ERR_MANIFEST_DEPENDENCY_MISSING
An attempt was made to load a resource, but the resource was not listed as a
dependency from the location that attempted to load it. See the documentation
for policy manifests for more information.
ERR_MANIFEST_INTEGRITY_MISMATCH
An attempt was made to load a policy manifest, but the manifest had multiple
entries for a resource which did not match each other. Update the manifest
entries to match in order to resolve this error. See the documentation for
policy manifests for more information.
ERR_MANIFEST_INVALID_RESOURCE_FIELD
A policy manifest resource had an invalid value for one of its fields. Update
the manifest entry to match in order to resolve this error. See the
documentation for policy manifests for more information.
ERR_MANIFEST_INVALID_SPECIFIER
A policy manifest resource had an invalid value for one of its dependency
mappings. Update the manifest entry to match to resolve this error. See the
documentation for policy manifests for more information.
ERR_MANIFEST_PARSE_POLICY
An attempt was made to load a policy manifest, but the manifest was unable to
be parsed. See the documentation for policy manifests for more information.
ERR_MANIFEST_TDZ
An attempt was made to read from a policy manifest, but the manifest
initialization has not yet taken place. This is likely a bug in Node.js.
ERR_MANIFEST_UNKNOWN_ONERROR
A policy manifest was loaded, but had an unknown value for its «onerror»
behavior. See the documentation for policy manifests for more information.
ERR_MEMORY_ALLOCATION_FAILED
An attempt was made to allocate memory (usually in the C++ layer) but it
failed.
ERR_MESSAGE_TARGET_CONTEXT_UNAVAILABLE
A message posted to a MessagePort
could not be deserialized in the target
vm Context
. Not all Node.js objects can be successfully instantiated in
any context at this time, and attempting to transfer them using postMessage()
can fail on the receiving side in that case.
ERR_METHOD_NOT_IMPLEMENTED
A method is required but not implemented.
ERR_MISSING_ARGS
A required argument of a Node.js API was not passed. This is only used for
strict compliance with the API specification (which in some cases may accept
func(undefined)
but not func()
). In most native Node.js APIs,
func(undefined)
and func()
are treated identically, and the
ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE
error code may be used instead.
ERR_MISSING_OPTION
For APIs that accept options objects, some options might be mandatory. This code
is thrown if a required option is missing.
ERR_MISSING_PASSPHRASE
An attempt was made to read an encrypted key without specifying a passphrase.
ERR_MISSING_PLATFORM_FOR_WORKER
The V8 platform used by this instance of Node.js does not support creating
Workers. This is caused by lack of embedder support for Workers. In particular,
this error will not occur with standard builds of Node.js.
ERR_MISSING_TRANSFERABLE_IN_TRANSFER_LIST
An object that needs to be explicitly listed in the transferList
argument
is in the object passed to a postMessage()
call, but is not provided
in the transferList
for that call. Usually, this is a MessagePort
.
In Node.js versions prior to v15.0.0, the error code being used here was
ERR_MISSING_MESSAGE_PORT_IN_TRANSFER_LIST
. However, the set of
transferable object types has been expanded to cover more types than
MessagePort
.
ERR_MODULE_NOT_FOUND
A module file could not be resolved by the ECMAScript modules loader while
attempting an import
operation or when loading the program entry point.
ERR_MULTIPLE_CALLBACK
A callback was called more than once.
A callback is almost always meant to only be called once as the query
can either be fulfilled or rejected but not both at the same time. The latter
would be possible by calling a callback more than once.
ERR_NAPI_CONS_FUNCTION
While using Node-API
, a constructor passed was not a function.
ERR_NAPI_INVALID_DATAVIEW_ARGS
While calling napi_create_dataview()
, a given offset
was outside the bounds
of the dataview or offset + length
was larger than a length of given buffer
.
ERR_NAPI_INVALID_TYPEDARRAY_ALIGNMENT
While calling napi_create_typedarray()
, the provided offset
was not a
multiple of the element size.
ERR_NAPI_INVALID_TYPEDARRAY_LENGTH
While calling napi_create_typedarray()
, (length * size_of_element) + byte_offset
was larger than the length of given buffer
.
ERR_NAPI_TSFN_CALL_JS
An error occurred while invoking the JavaScript portion of the thread-safe
function.
ERR_NAPI_TSFN_GET_UNDEFINED
An error occurred while attempting to retrieve the JavaScript undefined
value.
ERR_NAPI_TSFN_START_IDLE_LOOP
On the main thread, values are removed from the queue associated with the
thread-safe function in an idle loop. This error indicates that an error
has occurred when attempting to start the loop.
ERR_NAPI_TSFN_STOP_IDLE_LOOP
Once no more items are left in the queue, the idle loop must be suspended. This
error indicates that the idle loop has failed to stop.
ERR_NOT_BUILDING_SNAPSHOT
An attempt was made to use operations that can only be used when building
V8 startup snapshot even though Node.js isn’t building one.
ERR_NO_CRYPTO
An attempt was made to use crypto features while Node.js was not compiled with
OpenSSL crypto support.
ERR_NO_ICU
An attempt was made to use features that require ICU, but Node.js was not
compiled with ICU support.
ERR_NON_CONTEXT_AWARE_DISABLED
A non-context-aware native addon was loaded in a process that disallows them.
ERR_OUT_OF_RANGE
A given value is out of the accepted range.
ERR_PACKAGE_IMPORT_NOT_DEFINED
The package.json
"imports"
field does not define the given internal
package specifier mapping.
ERR_PACKAGE_PATH_NOT_EXPORTED
The package.json
"exports"
field does not export the requested subpath.
Because exports are encapsulated, private internal modules that are not exported
cannot be imported through the package resolution, unless using an absolute URL.
ERR_PARSE_ARGS_INVALID_OPTION_VALUE
When strict
set to true
, thrown by util.parseArgs()
if a {boolean}
value is provided for an option of type {string}, or if a {string}
value is provided for an option of type {boolean}.
ERR_PARSE_ARGS_UNEXPECTED_POSITIONAL
Thrown by util.parseArgs()
, when a positional argument is provided and
allowPositionals
is set to false
.
ERR_PARSE_ARGS_UNKNOWN_OPTION
When strict
set to true
, thrown by util.parseArgs()
if an argument
is not configured in options
.
ERR_PERFORMANCE_INVALID_TIMESTAMP
An invalid timestamp value was provided for a performance mark or measure.
ERR_PERFORMANCE_MEASURE_INVALID_OPTIONS
Invalid options were provided for a performance measure.
ERR_PROTO_ACCESS
Accessing Object.prototype.__proto__
has been forbidden using
--disable-proto=throw
. Object.getPrototypeOf
and
Object.setPrototypeOf
should be used to get and set the prototype of an
object.
ERR_REQUIRE_ESM
Stability: 1 — Experimental
An attempt was made to require()
an ES Module.
ERR_SCRIPT_EXECUTION_INTERRUPTED
Script execution was interrupted by SIGINT
(For
example, Ctrl+C was pressed.)
ERR_SCRIPT_EXECUTION_TIMEOUT
Script execution timed out, possibly due to bugs in the script being executed.
ERR_SERVER_ALREADY_LISTEN
The server.listen()
method was called while a net.Server
was already
listening. This applies to all instances of net.Server
, including HTTP, HTTPS,
and HTTP/2 Server
instances.
ERR_SERVER_NOT_RUNNING
The server.close()
method was called when a net.Server
was not
running. This applies to all instances of net.Server
, including HTTP, HTTPS,
and HTTP/2 Server
instances.
ERR_SOCKET_ALREADY_BOUND
An attempt was made to bind a socket that has already been bound.
ERR_SOCKET_BAD_BUFFER_SIZE
An invalid (negative) size was passed for either the recvBufferSize
or
sendBufferSize
options in dgram.createSocket()
.
ERR_SOCKET_BAD_PORT
An API function expecting a port >= 0 and < 65536 received an invalid value.
ERR_SOCKET_BAD_TYPE
An API function expecting a socket type (udp4
or udp6
) received an invalid
value.
ERR_SOCKET_BUFFER_SIZE
While using dgram.createSocket()
, the size of the receive or send Buffer
could not be determined.
ERR_SOCKET_CLOSED
An attempt was made to operate on an already closed socket.
ERR_SOCKET_CLOSED_BEFORE_CONNECTION
When calling net.Socket.write()
on a connecting socket and the socket was
closed before the connection was established.
ERR_SOCKET_DGRAM_IS_CONNECTED
A dgram.connect()
call was made on an already connected socket.
ERR_SOCKET_DGRAM_NOT_CONNECTED
A dgram.disconnect()
or dgram.remoteAddress()
call was made on a
disconnected socket.
ERR_SOCKET_DGRAM_NOT_RUNNING
A call was made and the UDP subsystem was not running.
ERR_SRI_PARSE
A string was provided for a Subresource Integrity check, but was unable to be
parsed. Check the format of integrity attributes by looking at the
Subresource Integrity specification.
ERR_STREAM_ALREADY_FINISHED
A stream method was called that cannot complete because the stream was
finished.
ERR_STREAM_CANNOT_PIPE
An attempt was made to call stream.pipe()
on a Writable
stream.
ERR_STREAM_DESTROYED
A stream method was called that cannot complete because the stream was
destroyed using stream.destroy()
.
ERR_STREAM_NULL_VALUES
An attempt was made to call stream.write()
with a null
chunk.
ERR_STREAM_PREMATURE_CLOSE
An error returned by stream.finished()
and stream.pipeline()
, when a stream
or a pipeline ends non gracefully with no explicit error.
ERR_STREAM_PUSH_AFTER_EOF
An attempt was made to call stream.push()
after a null
(EOF) had been
pushed to the stream.
ERR_STREAM_UNSHIFT_AFTER_END_EVENT
An attempt was made to call stream.unshift()
after the 'end'
event was
emitted.
ERR_STREAM_WRAP
Prevents an abort if a string decoder was set on the Socket or if the decoder
is in objectMode
.
const Socket = require('node:net').Socket; const instance = new Socket(); instance.setEncoding('utf8');
ERR_STREAM_WRITE_AFTER_END
An attempt was made to call stream.write()
after stream.end()
has been
called.
ERR_STRING_TOO_LONG
An attempt has been made to create a string longer than the maximum allowed
length.
ERR_SYNTHETIC
An artificial error object used to capture the call stack for diagnostic
reports.
ERR_SYSTEM_ERROR
An unspecified or non-specific system error has occurred within the Node.js
process. The error object will have an err.info
object property with
additional details.
ERR_TAP_LEXER_ERROR
An error representing a failing lexer state.
ERR_TAP_PARSER_ERROR
An error representing a failing parser state. Additional information about
the token causing the error is available via the cause
property.
ERR_TAP_VALIDATION_ERROR
This error represents a failed TAP validation.
ERR_TEST_FAILURE
This error represents a failed test. Additional information about the failure
is available via the cause
property. The failureType
property specifies
what the test was doing when the failure occurred.
ERR_TLS_CERT_ALTNAME_FORMAT
This error is thrown by checkServerIdentity
if a user-supplied
subjectaltname
property violates encoding rules. Certificate objects produced
by Node.js itself always comply with encoding rules and will never cause
this error.
ERR_TLS_CERT_ALTNAME_INVALID
While using TLS, the host name/IP of the peer did not match any of the
subjectAltNames
in its certificate.
ERR_TLS_DH_PARAM_SIZE
While using TLS, the parameter offered for the Diffie-Hellman (DH
)
key-agreement protocol is too small. By default, the key length must be greater
than or equal to 1024 bits to avoid vulnerabilities, even though it is strongly
recommended to use 2048 bits or larger for stronger security.
ERR_TLS_HANDSHAKE_TIMEOUT
A TLS/SSL handshake timed out. In this case, the server must also abort the
connection.
ERR_TLS_INVALID_CONTEXT
The context must be a SecureContext
.
ERR_TLS_INVALID_PROTOCOL_METHOD
The specified secureProtocol
method is invalid. It is either unknown, or
disabled because it is insecure.
ERR_TLS_INVALID_PROTOCOL_VERSION
Valid TLS protocol versions are 'TLSv1'
, 'TLSv1.1'
, or 'TLSv1.2'
.
ERR_TLS_INVALID_STATE
The TLS socket must be connected and securely established. Ensure the ‘secure’
event is emitted before continuing.
ERR_TLS_PROTOCOL_VERSION_CONFLICT
Attempting to set a TLS protocol minVersion
or maxVersion
conflicts with an
attempt to set the secureProtocol
explicitly. Use one mechanism or the other.
ERR_TLS_PSK_SET_IDENTIY_HINT_FAILED
Failed to set PSK identity hint. Hint may be too long.
ERR_TLS_RENEGOTIATION_DISABLED
An attempt was made to renegotiate TLS on a socket instance with renegotiation
disabled.
ERR_TLS_REQUIRED_SERVER_NAME
While using TLS, the server.addContext()
method was called without providing
a host name in the first parameter.
ERR_TLS_SESSION_ATTACK
An excessive amount of TLS renegotiations is detected, which is a potential
vector for denial-of-service attacks.
ERR_TLS_SNI_FROM_SERVER
An attempt was made to issue Server Name Indication from a TLS server-side
socket, which is only valid from a client.
ERR_TRACE_EVENTS_CATEGORY_REQUIRED
The trace_events.createTracing()
method requires at least one trace event
category.
ERR_TRACE_EVENTS_UNAVAILABLE
The node:trace_events
module could not be loaded because Node.js was compiled
with the --without-v8-platform
flag.
ERR_TRANSFORM_ALREADY_TRANSFORMING
A Transform
stream finished while it was still transforming.
ERR_TRANSFORM_WITH_LENGTH_0
A Transform
stream finished with data still in the write buffer.
ERR_TTY_INIT_FAILED
The initialization of a TTY failed due to a system error.
ERR_UNAVAILABLE_DURING_EXIT
Function was called within a process.on('exit')
handler that shouldn’t be
called within process.on('exit')
handler.
ERR_UNCAUGHT_EXCEPTION_CAPTURE_ALREADY_SET
process.setUncaughtExceptionCaptureCallback()
was called twice,
without first resetting the callback to null
.
This error is designed to prevent accidentally overwriting a callback registered
from another module.
ERR_UNESCAPED_CHARACTERS
A string that contained unescaped characters was received.
ERR_UNHANDLED_ERROR
An unhandled error occurred (for instance, when an 'error'
event is emitted
by an EventEmitter
but an 'error'
handler is not registered).
ERR_UNKNOWN_BUILTIN_MODULE
Used to identify a specific kind of internal Node.js error that should not
typically be triggered by user code. Instances of this error point to an
internal bug within the Node.js binary itself.
ERR_UNKNOWN_CREDENTIAL
A Unix group or user identifier that does not exist was passed.
ERR_UNKNOWN_ENCODING
An invalid or unknown encoding option was passed to an API.
ERR_UNKNOWN_FILE_EXTENSION
Stability: 1 — Experimental
An attempt was made to load a module with an unknown or unsupported file
extension.
ERR_UNKNOWN_MODULE_FORMAT
Stability: 1 — Experimental
An attempt was made to load a module with an unknown or unsupported format.
ERR_UNKNOWN_SIGNAL
An invalid or unknown process signal was passed to an API expecting a valid
signal (such as subprocess.kill()
).
ERR_UNSUPPORTED_DIR_IMPORT
import
a directory URL is unsupported. Instead,
self-reference a package using its name and define a custom subpath in
the "exports"
field of the package.json
file.
import './'; // unsupported import './index.js'; // supported import 'package-name'; // supported
ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME
import
with URL schemes other than file
and data
is unsupported.
ERR_USE_AFTER_CLOSE
Stability: 1 — Experimental
An attempt was made to use something that was already closed.
ERR_VALID_PERFORMANCE_ENTRY_TYPE
While using the Performance Timing API (perf_hooks
), no valid performance
entry types are found.
ERR_VM_DYNAMIC_IMPORT_CALLBACK_MISSING
A dynamic import callback was not specified.
ERR_VM_MODULE_ALREADY_LINKED
The module attempted to be linked is not eligible for linking, because of one of
the following reasons:
- It has already been linked (
linkingStatus
is'linked'
) - It is being linked (
linkingStatus
is'linking'
) - Linking has failed for this module (
linkingStatus
is'errored'
)
ERR_VM_MODULE_CACHED_DATA_REJECTED
The cachedData
option passed to a module constructor is invalid.
ERR_VM_MODULE_CANNOT_CREATE_CACHED_DATA
Cached data cannot be created for modules which have already been evaluated.
ERR_VM_MODULE_DIFFERENT_CONTEXT
The module being returned from the linker function is from a different context
than the parent module. Linked modules must share the same context.
ERR_VM_MODULE_LINK_FAILURE
The module was unable to be linked due to a failure.
ERR_VM_MODULE_NOT_MODULE
The fulfilled value of a linking promise is not a vm.Module
object.
ERR_VM_MODULE_STATUS
The current module’s status does not allow for this operation. The specific
meaning of the error depends on the specific function.
ERR_WASI_ALREADY_STARTED
The WASI instance has already started.
ERR_WASI_NOT_STARTED
The WASI instance has not been started.
ERR_WEBASSEMBLY_RESPONSE
The Response
that has been passed to WebAssembly.compileStreaming
or to
WebAssembly.instantiateStreaming
is not a valid WebAssembly response.
ERR_WORKER_INIT_FAILED
The Worker
initialization failed.
ERR_WORKER_INVALID_EXEC_ARGV
The execArgv
option passed to the Worker
constructor contains
invalid flags.
ERR_WORKER_NOT_RUNNING
An operation failed because the Worker
instance is not currently running.
ERR_WORKER_OUT_OF_MEMORY
The Worker
instance terminated because it reached its memory limit.
ERR_WORKER_PATH
The path for the main script of a worker is neither an absolute path
nor a relative path starting with ./
or ../
.
ERR_WORKER_UNSERIALIZABLE_ERROR
All attempts at serializing an uncaught exception from a worker thread failed.
ERR_WORKER_UNSUPPORTED_OPERATION
The requested functionality is not supported in worker threads.
ERR_ZLIB_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
Creation of a zlib
object failed due to incorrect configuration.
HPE_HEADER_OVERFLOW
Too much HTTP header data was received. In order to protect against malicious or
malconfigured clients, if more than 8 KiB of HTTP header data is received then
HTTP parsing will abort without a request or response object being created, and
an Error
with this code will be emitted.
HPE_UNEXPECTED_CONTENT_LENGTH
Server is sending both a Content-Length
header and Transfer-Encoding: chunked
.
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
allows the server to maintain an HTTP persistent
connection for dynamically generated content.
In this case, the Content-Length
HTTP header cannot be used.
Use Content-Length
or Transfer-Encoding: chunked
.
MODULE_NOT_FOUND
A module file could not be resolved by the CommonJS modules loader while
attempting a require()
operation or when loading the program entry point.
Legacy Node.js error codes
Stability: 0 — Deprecated. These error codes are either inconsistent, or have
been removed.
ERR_CANNOT_TRANSFER_OBJECT
The value passed to postMessage()
contained an object that is not supported
for transferring.
ERR_CRYPTO_HASH_DIGEST_NO_UTF16
The UTF-16 encoding was used with hash.digest()
. While the
hash.digest()
method does allow an encoding
argument to be passed in,
causing the method to return a string rather than a Buffer
, the UTF-16
encoding (e.g. ucs
or utf16le
) is not supported.
ERR_HTTP2_FRAME_ERROR
Used when a failure occurs sending an individual frame on the HTTP/2
session.
ERR_HTTP2_HEADERS_OBJECT
Used when an HTTP/2 Headers Object is expected.
ERR_HTTP2_HEADER_REQUIRED
Used when a required header is missing in an HTTP/2 message.
ERR_HTTP2_INFO_HEADERS_AFTER_RESPOND
HTTP/2 informational headers must only be sent prior to calling the
Http2Stream.prototype.respond()
method.
ERR_HTTP2_STREAM_CLOSED
Used when an action has been performed on an HTTP/2 Stream that has already
been closed.
ERR_HTTP_INVALID_CHAR
Used when an invalid character is found in an HTTP response status message
(reason phrase).
ERR_INDEX_OUT_OF_RANGE
A given index was out of the accepted range (e.g. negative offsets).
ERR_INVALID_OPT_VALUE
An invalid or unexpected value was passed in an options object.
ERR_INVALID_OPT_VALUE_ENCODING
An invalid or unknown file encoding was passed.
ERR_MISSING_MESSAGE_PORT_IN_TRANSFER_LIST
This error code was replaced by ERR_MISSING_TRANSFERABLE_IN_TRANSFER_LIST
in Node.js v15.0.0, because it is no longer accurate as other types of
transferable objects also exist now.
ERR_NAPI_CONS_PROTOTYPE_OBJECT
Used by the Node-API
when Constructor.prototype
is not an object.
ERR_NETWORK_IMPORT_BAD_RESPONSE
Stability: 1 — Experimental
Response was received but was invalid when importing a module over the network.
ERR_NETWORK_IMPORT_DISALLOWED
Stability: 1 — Experimental
A network module attempted to load another module that it is not allowed to
load. Likely this restriction is for security reasons.
ERR_NO_LONGER_SUPPORTED
A Node.js API was called in an unsupported manner, such as
Buffer.write(string, encoding, offset[, length])
.
ERR_OPERATION_FAILED
An operation failed. This is typically used to signal the general failure
of an asynchronous operation.
ERR_OUTOFMEMORY
Used generically to identify that an operation caused an out of memory
condition.
ERR_PARSE_HISTORY_DATA
The node:repl
module was unable to parse data from the REPL history file.
ERR_SOCKET_CANNOT_SEND
Data could not be sent on a socket.
ERR_STDERR_CLOSE
An attempt was made to close the process.stderr
stream. By design, Node.js
does not allow stdout
or stderr
streams to be closed by user code.
ERR_STDOUT_CLOSE
An attempt was made to close the process.stdout
stream. By design, Node.js
does not allow stdout
or stderr
streams to be closed by user code.
ERR_STREAM_READ_NOT_IMPLEMENTED
Used when an attempt is made to use a readable stream that has not implemented
readable._read()
.
ERR_TLS_RENEGOTIATION_FAILED
Used when a TLS renegotiation request has failed in a non-specific way.
ERR_TRANSFERRING_EXTERNALIZED_SHAREDARRAYBUFFER
A SharedArrayBuffer
whose memory is not managed by the JavaScript engine
or by Node.js was encountered during serialization. Such a SharedArrayBuffer
cannot be serialized.
This can only happen when native addons create SharedArrayBuffer
s in
«externalized» mode, or put existing SharedArrayBuffer
into externalized mode.
ERR_UNKNOWN_STDIN_TYPE
An attempt was made to launch a Node.js process with an unknown stdin
file
type. This error is usually an indication of a bug within Node.js itself,
although it is possible for user code to trigger it.
ERR_UNKNOWN_STREAM_TYPE
An attempt was made to launch a Node.js process with an unknown stdout
or
stderr
file type. This error is usually an indication of a bug within Node.js
itself, although it is possible for user code to trigger it.
ERR_V8BREAKITERATOR
The V8 BreakIterator
API was used but the full ICU data set is not installed.
ERR_VALUE_OUT_OF_RANGE
Used when a given value is out of the accepted range.
ERR_VM_MODULE_NOT_LINKED
The module must be successfully linked before instantiation.
ERR_VM_MODULE_LINKING_ERRORED
The linker function returned a module for which linking has failed.
ERR_WORKER_UNSUPPORTED_EXTENSION
The pathname used for the main script of a worker has an
unknown file extension.
ERR_ZLIB_BINDING_CLOSED
Used when an attempt is made to use a zlib
object after it has already been
closed.
ERR_CPU_USAGE
The native call from process.cpuUsage
could not be processed.
Don’t you hate it when you see an uncaughtException
error pop up and crash your Node.js app?
Yeah… I feel you. Can anything be worse? Oh yeah, sorry, unhandledRejection
I didn’t see you there. What a nightmare you are. 😬
I maintain all Node.js open-source repos at Sematext. A few of them can help you out with error handling, but more about that further down.
Here at Sematext, we take error handling seriously! I want to share a bit of that today.
I want to guide you through what I’ve learned so far about error handling in Node.js while working on open-source projects. Hopefully, it’ll help you improve your code, make it more robust, and ultimately help you step up your bug hunting, and help improve your general developer experience.
I don’t want you to have to stay up late and burn the midnight oil troubleshooting bugs. Ah! About that, here’s an epic song I really like!
What Is Error Handling in Node.js
I’ve heard a ton of my fellow developers say error handling in Node.js is way too hard. Well, I can’t lie. It’s not easy. But, I have to be fair and say it’s not that hard either once you set up centralized error handling.
What is an error anyhow? It’s a way to see bugs in your code. Following this logic, error handling is a way to find these bugs and solve them as quickly as humanly possible.
From this explanation, it’s obvious the hard part is setting up a good base for your error handling. It’s all about keeping you sane at the end of the day. Handling errors properly means developing a robust codebase and reducing development time by finding bugs and errors easily.
Why Do You Need Error Handling
Why? For your own sanity. You want to make bug fixing less painful. It helps you write cleaner code. It centralizes all errors and lets you enable alerting and notifications so you know when and how your code breaks.
Types of Errors: Operational vs. Programmer Errors
Would you believe me when I said not all errors are caused by humans? Don’t get me wrong, most still are, but not all of them! Errors can be Operational and Programmer errors.
Operational Errors
Operational errors represent runtime problems. These errors are expected in the Node.js runtime and should be dealt with in a proper way. This does not mean the application itself has bugs. It means they need to be handled properly. Here’s a list of common operational errors:
- failed to connect to server
- failed to resolve hostname
- invalid user input
- request timeout
- server returned a 500 response
- socket hang-up
- system is out of memory
Programmer Errors
Programmer errors are what we call bugs. They represent issues in the code itself. Here’s a common one for Node.js, when you try reading a property of an undefined object. It’s a classic case of programmer error. Here are a few more:
- called an asynchronous function without a callback
- did not resolve a promise
- did not catch a rejected promise
- passed a string where an object was expected
- passed an object where a string was expected
- passed incorrect parameters in a function
Now you understand what types of errors you’ll be facing, and how they are different. Operational errors are part of the runtime and application while programmer errors are bugs you introduce in your codebase.
Now you’re thinking, why do we divide them into two categories? It’s simple really.
Do you want to restart your app if there’s a user not found error? Absolutely not. Other users are still enjoying your app. This is an example of an operational error.
What about failing to catch a rejected promise? Does it make sense to keep the app running even when a bug threatens your app? No! Restart it.
What Is an Error Object?
The error object is a built-in object in the Node.js runtime. It gives you a set of info about an error when it happens. The Node.js docs have a more in-depth explanation.
A basic error looks like this:
const error = new Error("An error message") console.log(error.stack)
It has an error.stack
field that gives you a stack trace showing where the error came from. It also lists all functions that were called before the error occurred. The error.stack field is optimal to use while debugging as it prints the error.message
as well.
How Do You Handle Errors in Node.js: Best Practices You Should Follow
From my experience, there are a few best practices that will make it easier to handle errors in Node.js.
You can handle errors in callbacks. There are some serious drawbacks to using callbacks because it creates a nested “callback hell”. It’s notoriously hard to debug and fix errors if you need to look for them in nested functions.
A better way is to use async/await and try-catch statements, or .catch() errors in promises.
Let me show you what I mean.
1. Use Custom Errors to Handle Operational Errors
With the async/await pattern you can write code that looks synchronous, but actually is asynchronous.
const anAsyncTask = async () => { try { const user = await getUser() const cart = await getCart(user) return cart } catch (error) { console.error(error) } finally { await cleanUp() } }
This pattern will clean up your code and avoid the dreaded callback hell.
You can use the built-in Error object in Node.js as I mentioned above, as it gives you detailed info about stack traces.
However, I also want to show you how to create custom Error objects with more meaningful properties like HTTP status codes and more detailed descriptions.
Here’s a file called baseError.js where you set the base for every custom error you’ll use.
// baseError.js class BaseError extends Error { constructor (name, statusCode, isOperational, description) { super(description) Object.setPrototypeOf(this, new.target.prototype) this.name = name this.statusCode = statusCode this.isOperational = isOperational Error.captureStackTrace(this) } } module.exports = BaseError
Also create an httpStatusCodes.js file to keep a map of all status codes you want to handle.
// httpStatusCodes.js const httpStatusCodes = { OK: 200, BAD_REQUEST: 400, NOT_FOUND: 404, INTERNAL_SERVER: 500 } module.exports = httpStatusCodes
Then, you can create an api404Error.js file, and extend the BaseError with a custom error for handling 404s.
// api404Error.js const httpStatusCodes = require('./httpStatusCodes') const BaseError = require('./baseError') class Api404Error extends BaseError { constructor ( name, statusCode = httpStatusCodes.NOT_FOUND, description = 'Not found.', isOperational = true ) { super(name, statusCode, isOperational, description) } } module.exports = Api404Error
How do you use it? Throw it in your code when you want to handle 404 errors.
const Api404Error = require('./api404Error') ... const user = await User.getUserById(req.params.id) if (user === null) { throw new Api404Error(`User with id: ${req.params.id} not found.`) } ...
You can duplicate this code for any custom error, 500, 400, and any other you want to handle.
2. Use a Middleware
Once you have a set of custom errors, you can configure centralized error handling. You want to have a middleware that catches all errors. There you can decide what to do with them and where to send them if they need to notify you via an alert notification.
In your API routes you’ll end up using the next() function to forward errors to the error handler middleware.
Let me show you.
... app.post('/user', async (req, res, next) => { try { const newUser = User.create(req.body) } catch (error) { next(error) } }) ...
The next() function is a special function in Express.js middlewares that sends values down the middleware chain. At the bottom of your routes files you should have a .use() method that uses the error handler middleware function.
const { logError, returnError } = require('./errorHandler') app.use(logError) app.use(returnError)
The error handler middleware should have a few key parts. You should check if the error is operational, and decide which errors to send as alert notifications so you can debug them in more detail. Here’s what I suggest you add to your error handler.
function logError (err) { console.error(err) } function logErrorMiddleware (err, req, res, next) { logError(err) next(err) } function returnError (err, req, res, next) { res.status(err.statusCode || 500).send(err.message) } function isOperationalError(error) { if (error instanceof BaseError) { return error.isOperational } return false } module.exports = { logError, logErrorMiddleware, returnError, isOperationalError }
3. Restart Your App Gracefully to Handle Programmer Errors
Everything I’ve explained so far has been related to operational errors. I’ve shown how to gracefully handle expected errors and how to send them down the middleware chain to a custom error handling middleware.
Let’s jump into programmer errors now. These errors can often cause issues in your apps like memory leaks and high CPU usage. The best thing to do is to crash the app and restart it gracefully by using the Node.js cluster mode or a tool like PM2. I wrote another article where I describe in detail how to detect Node.js memory leaks using various solutions.
4. Catch All Uncaught Exceptions
When unexpected errors like these happen, you want to handle it immediately by sending a notification and restarting the app to avoid unexpected behavior.
const { logError, isOperationalError } = require('./errorHandler') ... process.on('uncaughtException', error => { logError(error) if (!isOperationalError(error)) { process.exit(1) } }) ...
5. Catch All Unhandled Promise Rejections
Promise rejections in Node.js only cause warnings. You want them to throw errors, so you can handle them properly.
It’s good practice to use fallback and subscribe to:
process.on('unhandledRejection', callback)
This lets you throw an error properly.
Here’s what the error handling flow should look like.
... const user = User.getUserById(req.params.id) .then(user => user) // missing a .catch() block ... // if the Promise is rejected this will catch it process.on('unhandledRejection', error => { throw error }) process.on('uncaughtException', error => { logError(error) if (!isOperationalError(error)) { process.exit(1) } })
6. Use a Centralized Location for Logs and Error Alerting
I recently wrote a detailed tutorial about Node.js logging best practices you should check out.
The gist of it is to use structured logging to print errors in a formatted way and send them for safekeeping to a central location, like Sematext Logs, our log management tool.
It’ll help with your sanity and persist the logs over time, so you can go back and troubleshoot issues whenever things break.
To do this, you should use loggers like winston and morgan. Additionally, you can add winston-logsene to send the logs to Sematext right away.
First, create a setup for winston and winston-logsene. Create a loggers directory and a logger.js file. Paste this into the file.
// logger.js const winston = require('winston') const Logsene = require('winston-logsene') const options = { console: { level: 'debug', handleExceptions: true, json: false, colorize: true }, logsene: { token: process.env.LOGS_TOKEN, level: 'debug', type: 'app_logs', url: 'https://logsene-receiver.sematext.com/_bulk' } } const logger = winston.createLogger({ levels: winston.config.npm.levels, transports: [ new winston.transports.Console(options.console), new Logsene(options.logsene) ], exitOnError: false }) module.exports = logger
The good thing with this is that you get JSON formatted logs you can analyze to get more useful information about your app. You’ll also get all logs forwarded to Sematext. This will alert you whenever errors occur. That’s pretty awesome!
Furthermore, you should add an httpLogger.js file in the loggers directory and add morgan and morgan-json to print out access logs. Paste this into the httpLogger.js:
const morgan = require('morgan') const json = require('morgan-json') const format = json({ method: ':method', url: ':url', status: ':status', contentLength: ':res[content-length]', responseTime: ':response-time' }) const logger = require('./logger') const httpLogger = morgan(format, { stream: { write: (message) => { const { method, url, status, contentLength, responseTime } = JSON.parse(message) logger.info('HTTP Access Log', { timestamp: new Date().toString(), method, url, status: Number(status), contentLength, responseTime: Number(responseTime) }) } } }) module.exports = httpLogger
In your app.js file you can now require both the logger.js and httpLogger.js, and use the logger instead of console.log().
// app.js const logger = require('./loggers/logger') const httpLogger = require('./loggers/httpLogger') ... app.use(httpLogger) ...
In your errorHandler.js you can now replace all console.error() statements with logger.error() to persist the logs in Sematext.
// errorHandler.js const logger = require('../loggers/logger') const BaseError = require('./baseError') function logError (err) { logger.error(err) } function logErrorMiddleware (err, req, res, next) { logError(err) next(err) } function returnError (err, req, res, next) { res.status(err.statusCode || 500).send(err.message) } function isOperationalError(error) { if (error instanceof BaseError) { return error.isOperational } return false } module.exports = { logError, logErrorMiddleware, returnError, isOperationalError }
That’s it. You now know how to properly handle errors!
However, I do want to cover how to deliver errors. Should you be throwing them, passing errors in callback functions or promise rejections, or emit an “error” event via an EventEmitter.
How to Deliver Errors: Function Patterns
Let’s go over the four main ways to deliver an error in Node.js:
- throw the error (making it an exception).
- pass the error to a callback, a function provided specifically for handling errors and the results of asynchronous operations
- pass the error to a reject Promise function
- emit an “error” event on an EventEmitter
We’ve talked about how to handle errors, but when you’re writing a new function, how do you deliver errors to the code that called your function?
Throwing Errors
When you throw an error it unwinds the entire function call stack ignoring any functions you have on the stack. It gets delivered synchronously, in the same context where the function was called.
If you use a try-catch block you can handle the error gracefully. Otherwise, the app usually crashes, unless you have a fallback for catching Uncaught Exceptions as I explained above.
Here’s an example of throwing an error and handling it in a try-catch block:
const getUserWithAsyncAwait = async (id) => { try { const user = await getUser(id) if (!user) { throw new 404ApiError('No user found.') } return user } catch (error) { // handle the error logError(error) } } const user = await getUserWithAsyncAwait(1) ...
Using Callback
Callbacks are the most basic way of delivering an error asynchronously. The user passes you a function – the callback, and you invoke it sometime later when the asynchronous operation completes. The usual pattern is that the callback is invoked as callback(err, result), where only one of err and result is non-null, depending on whether the operation succeeded or failed.
Callbacks have been around for ages. It’s the oldest way of writing asynchronous JavaScript code. It’s also the oldest way of delivering errors asynchronously.
You pass a callback function as a parameter to the calling function, which you later invoke when the asynchronous function completes executing.
The usual pattern looks like this:
callback(err, result)
The first parameter in the callback is always the error.
Inside the callback function, you’ll then first check if the error exists and only if it’s a non-null value you continue executing the callback function.
function getUserWithCallback(id, callback) { getUser(id, function(user) { if (!user) { return callback(new 404ApiError('No user found.')) } callback(null, user) }) } getUserWithCallback(1, function(err, user) { if (err) { // handle the error logError(error) } const user = user ... })
Using Promises
Promises have replaced callbacks as the new and improved way of writing asynchronous code.
This pattern has become the new norm since Node.js version 8 that included async/await out of the box. Asynchronous code can be written to look like synchronous code. Catch errors can be done by using try-catch.
function getUserWithPromise(id) { return new Promise((resolve, reject) => { getUser(id, function(user) { if (!user) { return reject(new 404ApiError('No user found.')) } resolve(user) }) }) } getUserWithPromise(1) .then(user => { const user = user ... }) .catch(err => { logError(error) })
Using EventEmitter
Ready for some more complicated use cases?
In some cases, you can’t rely on promise rejection or callbacks. What if you’re reading files from a stream. Or, fetching rows from a database and reading them as they arrive. A use case I see on a daily basis is streaming log lines and handling them as they’re coming in.
You can’t rely on one error because you need to listen for error events on the EventEmitter object.
In this case, instead of returning a Promise, your function would return an EventEmitter and emit row events for each result, an end event when all results have been reported, and an error event if any error is encountered.
Here’s a code sample from Logagent, an open-source log shipper I maintain. The socket value is an EventEmitter object.
net.createServer(socket => { ... socket .on('data', data => { ... }) .on('end', result => { … }) .on('error', console.error) // handle multiple errors }
Throw, Callback, Promises, or EventEmitter: Which Pattern Is the Best?
Now, we’ve finally come to the verdict, when should you throw errors, and when do you use promise rejections or EventEmitters?
For operational errors, you should use Promise rejections or a try-catch block with async/await. You want to handle these errors asynchronously. It works well and is widely used.
If you have a more complicated case like I explained above, you should use an event emitter instead.
You want to explicitly throw errors if unwinding the whole call stack is needed. This can mean when handling programmer errors and you want the app to restart.
How to Write Functions for Efficient Error Handling
Whatever you do, choose one way to deliver operational errors. You can throw errors and deliver them synchronously, or asynchronously by using Promise rejections, passing them in callbacks, or emitting errors on an EventEmitter.
After setting up centralized error handling, the next logical step is to use a central location for your logs that also gives you error alerting.
Sematext Logs provides log management and error alerting to help analyze logs and debug and fix errors and exceptions. Definitely check it out and try it yourself. But you can also take a look at the lists where we compare the best log management tools, log analysis software, and cloud logging services available today.
Closing Thoughts
In this tutorial, I wanted to give you a way to handle the dreaded unhandledException and unhandledRejection errors in Node.js apps. I hope it was useful to you and that you’ll use what you learned today in your own apps.
Alongside this, I also explained a few best practices about error handling, like how to set up centralized error handling with middlewares and use a central location for your error logs. Don’t forget that logging frameworks like winston and morgan are crucial for this to work.
Lastly, I explained a few different ways of delivering errors, either with throw or with Promise .reject(), callback functions or the .on(‘error’) event on an EventEmitter.
I’ve tried to share all the knowledge I’ve gained over the last few years while maintaining open-source repos to keep you from making the same mistakes I’ve made in the past. Best of luck!
If you ever need alerting, error handling, and log management for your production apps, check us out.