What causes "[Vue Devtools] No routes found in router" in vuejs/devtools-v6?

Pass a `routes` array to the VueRouter constructor so the static options always exist.

[Vue Devtools] No routes found in router

Error message

[Vue Devtools] No routes found in router

What it means

The Vue Router inspector for Vue 2 apps builds its tree from `router.options.routes`. When a router instance has no `routes` in its options (e.g. created with addRoute-only or an unusual config), the inspector logs this warning with the router options and shows an empty tree. It indicates the inspector cannot render the route table.

Solutions

Pass a `routes` array to the VueRouter constructor so the static options always exist.
If routes are dynamic, seed the router with a minimal routes array and keep addRoute entries mirrored in options, or accept an empty inspector tree.
Inspect the logged `router.options` in the console to see what the router actually received and fix the config source.
Update vue-router/devtools packages — newer versions may fall back to router.getRoutes().

Example fix

// before
const router = new VueRouter() // no routes option
router.addRoute({ path: '/a', component: A })

// after
const router = new VueRouter({ routes: [{ path: '/a', component: A }] })

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (!router.options?.routes?.length) {
  console.warn('Router created without static routes; inspector tree will be empty')
}

Type guard

function hasStaticRoutes(router) { return Array.isArray(router.options?.routes) && router.options.routes.length > 0 }

Prevention

Always pass a routes array to new VueRouter(...)
Mirror runtime addRoute calls into the initial routes config
Check the logged router.options in console to debug config wiring

When it happens

Trigger: getInspectorTree with inspectorId ROUTER_INSPECTOR_ID while the connected Vue 2 app's router was created without a `routes` array in `new VueRouter({...})` — routes added exclusively at runtime via addRoute, or options stripped by a custom router wrapper.

Common situations: Apps registering all routes dynamically at runtime; routers built by wrappers/meta-frameworks that omit the static routes array; config migration mistakes where the routes option was renamed or removed.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of vuejs/devtools-v6@dd2ab5d427 (2026-08-31). Data as JSON: /api/errors/490623a8733df77a. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at packages/app-backend-vue2/src/plugin.ts:67

    if (app.$router) {
      const router = app.$router

      // Inspector

      api.addInspector({
        id: ROUTER_INSPECTOR_ID,
        label: 'Routes',
        icon: 'book',
        treeFilterPlaceholder: 'Search routes',
      })

      api.on.getInspectorTree((payload) => {
        if (payload.inspectorId === ROUTER_INSPECTOR_ID) {
          if (router.options.routes) {
            payload.rootNodes = router.options.routes.map(route => formatRouteNode(router, route, '', payload.filter)).filter(Boolean)
          }
          else {
            console.warn(`[Vue Devtools] No routes found in router`, router.options)
          }
        }
      })

      api.on.getInspectorState((payload) => {
        if (payload.inspectorId === ROUTER_INSPECTOR_ID) {
          const route = router.matcher.getRoutes().find(r => getPathId(r) === payload.nodeId)
          if (route) {
            payload.state = {
              options: formatRouteData(route),
            }
          }
        }
      })

      // Timeline

      api.addTimelineLayer({

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