What causes "Failed to extract required data from JSON" in DIYgod/RSSHub?

Inspect the full jsData string to confirm whether AuthorVideoList and AuthorDetailInfo keys exist — if present but missed, the regex is truncating; switch to a balanced-brace extraction or parse the whole script body.

DIYgod/RSSHub · error · Error

Failed to extract required data from JSON

Error message

Failed to extract required data from JSON

What it means

Thrown after the SSR_HYDRATED_DATA script content is parsed into JSON but the expected AuthorVideoList.videoList or AuthorDetailInfo fields are absent. The route destructures these two paths from the parsed object; if either is falsy the feed cannot be built. This indicates the JSON shape changed or the regex captured an incomplete/truncated object.

Source

Thrown at lib/routes/ixigua/user-video.tsx:55

    const url = `${host}/home/${uid}/?wid_try=1`;

    const { data } = await got(url);
    const $ = load(data);
    const jsData = $('#SSR_HYDRATED_DATA').html();

    if (!jsData) {
        throw new Error('Failed to find SSR_HYDRATED_DATA');
    }

    const jsonData = JSON.parse(jsData.match(/var\s+data\s*=\s*(\{.*?\});/s)?.[1].replaceAll('undefined', 'null') || '{}');

    const {
        AuthorVideoList: { videoList: videoInfos },
        AuthorDetailInfo: userInfo,
    } = jsonData;

    if (!videoInfos || !userInfo) {
        throw new Error('Failed to extract required data from JSON');
    }

    return {
        title: `${userInfo.name} 的西瓜视频`,
        link: url,
        description: userInfo.introduce,
        item: videoInfos.map((i) => ({
            title: i.title,
            description: renderToString(<IxiguaVideoDescription i={i} disableEmbed={disableEmbed} />),
            link: `${host}/${i.groupId}`,
            pubDate: parseDate(i.publishTime * 1000),
            author: userInfo.name,
        })),
    };
}

const IxiguaVideoDescription = ({ i, disableEmbed }: { i: any; disableEmbed?: string }) => (
    <>

View on GitHub (pinned to bed535e087)

Solutions

Inspect the full jsData string to confirm whether AuthorVideoList and AuthorDetailInfo keys exist — if present but missed, the regex is truncating; switch to a balanced-brace extraction or parse the whole script body.
If the keys were renamed, update the destructuring to match the new field names.
Differentiate between 'no videos' and 'missing data' — return an empty feed (allowEmpty) for users with no videos instead of throwing.
Log the top-level keys of jsonData when the guard fires to accelerate diagnosis.

Example fix

// before
const jsonData = JSON.parse(jsData.match(/var\s+data\s*=\s*(\{.*?\});/s)?.[1].replaceAll('undefined', 'null') || '{}');

// after — extract the full balanced object instead of a non-greedy truncation
const start = jsData.indexOf('{');
let depth = 0, end = -1;
for (let i = start; i < jsData.length; i++) {
    if (jsData[i] === '{') depth++;
    else if (jsData[i] === '}') { depth--; if (depth === 0) { end = i; break; } }
}
const jsonData = JSON.parse(jsData.slice(start, end + 1).replaceAll('undefined', 'null'));

Defensive patterns

Strategy: type-guard

Validate before calling

// After parsing, verify the expected keys exist before destructuring
const jsonData = JSON.parse(rawJson);
if (!('AuthorVideoList' in jsonData) || !('AuthorDetailInfo' in jsonData)) {
    throw new Error(`Unexpected ixigua JSON shape. Top-level keys: ${Object.keys(jsonData).join(', ')}`);
}

Type guard

interface IxiguaData {
    AuthorVideoList: { videoList: unknown[] };
    AuthorDetailInfo: { name: string; introduce?: string };
}
function isIxiguaData(d: unknown): d is IxiguaData {
    return typeof d === 'object' && d !== null &&
        'AuthorVideoList' in d && 'AuthorDetailInfo' in d &&
        Array.isArray((d as any).AuthorVideoList?.videoList);
}

Try / catch

try {
    const jsonData = JSON.parse(jsData);
    if (!isIxiguaData(jsonData)) {
        throw new Error('Failed to extract required data from JSON');
    }
    // ...use jsonData with full type safety
} catch (e) {
    throw new Error(`ixigua JSON parse failed: ${(e as Error).message}`, { cause: e });
}

Prevention

Use a balanced-brace extractor instead of a non-greedy regex to avoid truncated JSON.
Define a TypeScript interface for the expected payload and type-guard before destructuring.
Log top-level keys on failure to detect upstream schema changes early.
Distinguish 'user has zero videos' (empty array) from 'data missing' (undefined) — the former should not error.

When it happens

Trigger: The regex /var\s+data\s*=\s*(\{.*?\});/s uses a non-greedy match that stops at the first '} ;' sequence, which can truncate a deeply nested object and yield partial JSON missing the AuthorVideoList/AuthorDetailInfo keys. Also fires when the user genuinely has no videos (videoList is empty/undefined in the SSR payload) or when ixigua renames these keys in a frontend version bump.

Common situations: ixigua restructures its SSR data and renames AuthorVideoList to a different key. A user with a brand-new or deactivated account has an empty video list. The regex's non-greedy quantifier captures only the first nested object, losing the rest of the payload.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of DIYgod/RSSHub@bed535e087 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/73daa6318f22ed95. Report an issue: GitHub.