apify/crawlee · error · NavigationSkippedError

The `response` property is not available - `skipNavigation`

Error message

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

What it means

NavigationSkippedError thrown by the getter for `response` on the crawling context. With `skipNavigation: true` no HTTP response exists, so the property getter throws rather than exposing an undefined response object that could crash user code downstream.

Source

Thrown at packages/http-crawler/src/internals/http-crawler.ts:514

    }

    private async prepareHttpRequest(crawlingContext: CrawlingContext): Promise<Partial<CrawlingContextWithResponse>> {
        const { request } = crawlingContext;

        if (request.skipNavigation) {
            return {
                request: new Proxy(request, {
                    get(target, propertyName, receiver) {
                        if (propertyName === 'loadedUrl') {
                            throw new NavigationSkippedError(
                                'The `request.loadedUrl` property is not available - `skipNavigation` was used',
                            );
                        }
                        return Reflect.get(target, propertyName, receiver);
                    },
                }) as LoadedRequest<CrawleeRequest>,
                get response(): InternalHttpCrawlingContext['response'] {
                    throw new NavigationSkippedError(
                        'The `response` property is not available - `skipNavigation` was used',
                    );
                },
            } as Partial<CrawlingContextWithResponse>;
        }

        request.state = RequestState.BEFORE_NAV;
        return {};
    }

    private async makeHttpRequest(
        crawlingContext: CrawlingContext,
    ): Promise<Omit<CrawlingContextWithResponse, keyof CrawlingContext> & Partial<CrawlingContextWithResponse>> {
        tryCancel();

        const { request, session } = crawlingContext;
        const proxyUrl = crawlingContext.proxyInfo?.url;

View on GitHub (pinned to dbe57fb09c)

Solutions

Guard access with `if (context.request.skipNavigation)` before touching `context.response`.
Use `pushData`/`enqueueLinks` directly from available request data instead of response-derived data for skipped requests.
Route skipNavigation requests to a dedicated handler that never reads `response`.

Example fix

// before
const status = context.response.status;
// after
const status = context.request.skipNavigation ? undefined : context.response.status;

Defensive patterns

Strategy: type-guard

Validate before calling

if (request.skipNavigation) { skipResponseLogic(); return; }

Type guard

function hasResponse(ctx: CrawlingContext): boolean { return !(ctx.request as any).skipNavigation && 'response' in ctx; }

Try / catch

try { const { status } = ctx.response; } catch (err) { if (err instanceof NavigationSkippedError) { /* handle skipped case */ } else throw err; }

Prevention

Early-return in handlers when request.skipNavigation is true.
Do not blindly destructure response from the context.
Keep separate handler functions for seeded vs fetched requests.
Serialize only needed fields, not whole contexts, in logging.

When it happens

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

Common situations: Generic request handlers that inspect `context.response.status` or headers for all requests; handlers shared between fetched and skipNavigation requests; logging helpers that serialize the whole context.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apify/crawlee@dbe57fb09c (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a024ccf650ac8fb1. Report an issue: GitHub.