relative params navigation requires a current route.

Error message

relative params navigation requires a current route.

What it means

This is a development-mode warning emitted by normalizeLocation when a location object specifies params (e.g. { params: { id: 1 } }) without a name or explicit path, but no current route is matched. Relative params navigation requires an existing matched route to resolve the params against (either the current route's name/path or its matched record path). Without it, the params cannot be applied and the navigation falls through to path resolution.

Source

Thrown at src/util/location.js:41

    if (params && typeof params === 'object') {
      next.params = extend({}, params)
    }
    return next
  }

  // relative params
  if (!next.path && next.params && current) {
    next = extend({}, next)
    next._normalized = true
    const params: any = extend(extend({}, current.params), next.params)
    if (current.name) {
      next.name = current.name
      next.params = params
    } else if (current.matched.length) {
      const rawPath = current.matched[current.matched.length - 1].path
      next.path = fillParams(rawPath, params, `path ${current.path}`)
    } else if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
      warn(false, `relative params navigation requires a current route.`)
    }
    return next
  }

  const parsedPath = parsePath(next.path || '')
  const basePath = (current && current.path) || '/'
  const path = parsedPath.path
    ? resolvePath(parsedPath.path, basePath, append || next.append)
    : basePath

  const query = resolveQuery(
    parsedPath.query,
    next.query,
    router && router.options.parseQuery
  )

  let hash = next.hash || parsedPath.hash
  if (hash && hash.charAt(0) !== '#') {

View on GitHub (pinned to 680ccc68c5)

Solutions

Add a route `name` to the location object so params resolve to the named route: router.push({ name: 'user', params: { id: 1 } }).
Provide an explicit `path` instead of relative params: router.push({ path: `/user/${id}` }).
Ensure a current route exists before doing relative navigation (await router.isReady() in Vue Router 3.5+ / check this.$route.matched.length).
If using a catch-all route (path: '*'), remember it counts as a matched route; if matched.length is 0, you cannot use relative params at all.

Example fix

// before
router.push({ params: { id: userId } })
// after
router.push({ name: 'user', params: { id: userId } })

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

function canPushRelativeParams (router, params) {
  const current = router.currentRoute
  return Boolean(
    current &&
    (current.name || current.matched.length) &&
    params && Object.keys(params).length > 0
  )
}

Type guard

function hasCurrentRoute (r) {
  return Boolean(r.currentRoute && (r.currentRoute.name || r.currentRoute.matched.length > 0))
}

Prevention

Always include a `name` (or full `path`) when passing `params` to push/replace.
Never rely on relative params at initial navigation; await router.isReady() first.
Add a lint/test rule that locations using `params` also specify `name` or `path`.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling router.push({ params: {...} }) (or router.replace/resolve) with no `name` and no `path` in the location while currentRoute.matched is empty — i.e. no current route (e.g. at initial load before any navigation, or when the current URL matched no route).

Common situations: Redirect guards running on first app load before the initial route is resolved; calling push with only params inside a catch-all/no-match route; code that assumes a default route is active when the user landed on an unmatched URL; forgetting the `name` property in a location object that uses params.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of vuejs/vue-router@680ccc68c5 (2026-09-02). Data as JSON: /api/errors/341d06357254c7fe. Report an issue: GitHub.