apify/crawlee · error · NavigationSkippedError

The `body` property is not available - `skipNavigation` was

Error message

The `body` property is not available - `skipNavigation` was used

What it means

NavigationSkippedError thrown by the getter for `body` on the crawling context. `skipNavigation` requests have no downloaded body, so accessing `context.body` throws instead of returning `undefined` and masking the cause.

Source

Thrown at packages/http-crawler/src/internals/http-crawler.ts:562

        request.state = RequestState.AFTER_NAV;

        return { request: request as LoadedRequest<CrawleeRequest>, response: httpResponse };
    }

    private async processHttpResponse(
        crawlingContext: CrawlingContextWithResponse,
    ): Promise<
        Omit<InternalHttpCrawlingContext, keyof CrawlingContextWithResponse> & Partial<InternalHttpCrawlingContext>
    > {
        if (crawlingContext.request.skipNavigation) {
            return {
                get contentType(): InternalHttpCrawlingContext['contentType'] {
                    throw new NavigationSkippedError(
                        'The `contentType` property is not available - `skipNavigation` was used',
                    );
                },
                get body(): InternalHttpCrawlingContext['body'] {
                    throw new NavigationSkippedError(
                        'The `body` property is not available - `skipNavigation` was used',
                    );
                },
                get json(): InternalHttpCrawlingContext['json'] {
                    throw new NavigationSkippedError(
                        'The `json` property is not available - `skipNavigation` was used',
                    );
                },
                get waitForSelector(): InternalHttpCrawlingContext['waitForSelector'] {
                    throw new NavigationSkippedError(
                        'The `waitForSelector` method is not available - `skipNavigation` was used',
                    );
                },
                get parseWithCheerio(): InternalHttpCrawlingContext['parseWithCheerio'] {
                    throw new NavigationSkippedError(
                        'The `parseWithCheerio` method is not available - `skipNavigation` was used',
                    );
                },

View on GitHub (pinned to dbe57fb09c)

Solutions

Guard with `if (!context.request.skipNavigation)` before reading `body`.
Store any needed payload on the request's `userData` when queueing a skipNavigation request.
Split handler logic so skipNavigation requests never reach body-parsing code.

Example fix

// before
const $ = cheerio.load(context.body);
// after
if (!context.request.skipNavigation) { const $ = cheerio.load(context.body); } else { handleSeed(context.request); }

Defensive patterns

Strategy: type-guard

Validate before calling

if (request.skipNavigation) { return; } // never read body

Type guard

function hasBody(ctx: CrawlingContext): boolean { return !(ctx.request as any).skipNavigation; }

Try / catch

try { const body = ctx.body; } catch (err) { if (err instanceof NavigationSkippedError) { /* use userData payload instead */ } else throw err; }

Prevention

Early-return when skipNavigation is set.
Attach payloads via request.userData for skipped requests.
Never pass ctx.body blindly to cheerio/parsers.
Split fetch-handlers from seed-handlers.

When it happens

Trigger: Accessing `context.body` in a request handler for a request queued with `skipNavigation: true`.

Common situations: Handlers that always call `context.body` or pass it to parsers/cheerio; migrating handlers from normal requests to seeded skipNavigation entries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apify/crawlee@dbe57fb09c (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f33b55b4c03dc139. Report an issue: GitHub.