JetBrains/intellij-community · warning · EvaluateException

Internal exception - invalid stackframe

Error message

Internal exception - invalid stackframe

What it means

NodeDescriptorImpl.updateRepresentationNoNotify catches InvalidStackFrameException — thrown by JDI when an operation references a StackFrame that is no longer valid (the thread resumed or popped its frame) — while computing a node label, and converts it into this EvaluateException. The node's label then shows the 'invalid stackframe' message instead of a value.

Source

Thrown at java/debugger/impl/src/com/intellij/debugger/ui/impl/watch/NodeDescriptorImpl.java:73

    myUserData.put(key, value);
  }

  public void updateRepresentation(EvaluationContextImpl context, DescriptorLabelListener labelListener) {
    updateRepresentationNoNotify(context, labelListener);
    labelListener.labelChanged();
  }

  public void updateRepresentationNoNotify(EvaluationContextImpl context, DescriptorLabelListener labelListener) {
    try {
      try {
        myEvaluateException = null;
        myLabel = calcRepresentation(context, labelListener);
      }
      catch (InconsistentDebugInfoException e) {
        throw new EvaluateException(JavaDebuggerBundle.message("error.inconsistent.debug.info"));
      }
      catch (InvalidStackFrameException e) {
        throw new EvaluateException(JavaDebuggerBundle.message("error.invalid.stackframe"));
      }
      catch (ObjectCollectedException e) {
        throw EvaluateExceptionUtil.OBJECT_WAS_COLLECTED;
      }
      catch (VMDisconnectedException e) {
        throw e;
      }
      catch (RuntimeException e) {
        if (e.getCause() instanceof InterruptedException) {
          throw e;
        }
        if (context != null && context.getVirtualMachineProxy().canBeModified()) { // do not care in read only vms
          LOG.debug(e);
        }
        else {
          LOG.warn(e);
        }
        throw new EvaluateException(JavaDebuggerBundle.message("internal.debugger.error"));

View on GitHub (pinned to be881553f2)

Solutions

1. Refresh the debugger view (click the frame/thread again in the Frames panel) to rebuild the tree against the current, valid frame
2. Avoid evaluate-with-side-effects while the variables tree is updating; pause first, then evaluate
3. If it happens constantly, disable asynchronous labels (Registry: debugger.async.stack.traces / related async label options) or update the IDE — races here have been fixed over versions
4. Restart the debug session if the VM state is fully desynchronized

// check frame validity before triggering label computation
boolean frameValid = threadReference.isSuspended() && frame != null && frame.is_valid();

try {
  descriptor.updateRepresentationNoNotify(context, listener);
} catch (EvaluateException e) {
  // frame went invalid (thread resumed): simply skip — tree refresh will rebuild
}

When it happens

Trigger: The debugged thread resumed (step over/return, resume, evaluate expression with side effects) between the moment the variables tree queued label updates and the moment they ran; or the frame was invalidated by a breakpoint hit or frame pop while the tree was still refreshing.

Common situations: Rapidly stepping while the Variables view is still asynchronously computing labels; evaluating an expression that resumes the thread (method invocation in the debugger); breakpoints that trigger during label evaluation; race after VM resume.

Related errors

• Inconsistent debug information
• Thread has been collected
• Interface method invocation is not supported in JVM {}. Use
• Cannot construct wrapper object for value of type {}: Unable
• Cannot convert to primitive value of type

AI-assisted analysis of JetBrains/intellij-community@be881553f2 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e875469ac0dcf1d1. Report an issue: GitHub.