Error

A generic JavaScript Error object that does not denote any specific circumstance of why the error occurred. Error objects capture a "stack trace" detailing the point in the code at which the Error was instantiated, and may provide a text description of the error.

All errors generated by Node.js, including all system and JavaScript errors, will either be instances of, or inherit from, the Error class.

new Error(message, options?): Error

Creates a new Error object and sets the error.message property to the provided text message. If an object is passed as message, the text message is generated by calling String(message). If the cause option is provided, it is assigned to the error.cause property. The error.stack property will represent the point in the code at which new Error() was called. Stack traces are dependent on V8's stack trace API. Stack traces extend only to either (a) the beginning of synchronous code execution, or (b) the number of frames given by the property Error.stackTraceLimit, whichever is smaller.

Error.captureStackTrace(targetObject, constructorOpt?): void

Creates a .stack property on targetObject, which when accessed returns a string representing the location in the code at which Error.captureStackTrace() was called.

const myObject = {};
Error.captureStackTrace(myObject);
myObject.stack;  // Similar to `new Error().stack`

The first line of the trace will be prefixed with ${myObject.name}: ${myObject.message}.

The optional constructorOpt argument accepts a function. If given, all frames above constructorOpt, including constructorOpt, will be omitted from the generated stack trace.

The constructorOpt argument is useful for hiding implementation details of error generation from the user. For instance:

function a() {
  b();
}

function b() {
  c();
}

function c() {
  // Create an error without stack trace to avoid calculating the stack trace twice.
  const { stackTraceLimit } = Error;
  Error.stackTraceLimit = 0;
  const error = new Error();
  Error.stackTraceLimit = stackTraceLimit;

  // Capture the stack trace above function b
  Error.captureStackTrace(error, b); // Neither function c, nor b is included in the stack trace
  throw error;
}

a();

The Error.stackTraceLimit property specifies the number of stack frames collected by a stack trace (whether generated by new Error().stack or Error.captureStackTrace(obj)).

The default value is 10 but may be set to any valid JavaScript number. Changes will affect any stack trace captured after the value has been changed.

If set to a non-number value, or set to a negative number, stack traces will not capture any frames.

If present, the error.cause property is the underlying cause of the Error. It is used when catching an error and throwing a new one with a different message or code in order to still have access to the original error.

The error.cause property is typically set by calling new Error(message, { cause }). It is not set by the constructor if the cause option is not provided.

This property allows errors to be chained. When serializing Error objects, util.inspect() recursively serializes error.cause if it is set.

const cause = new Error('The remote HTTP server responded with a 500 status');
const symptom = new Error('The message failed to send', { cause });

console.log(symptom);
// Prints:
//   Error: The message failed to send
//       at REPL2:1:17
//       at Script.runInThisContext (node:vm:130:12)
//       ... 7 lines matching cause stack trace ...
//       at [_line] [as _line] (node:internal/readline/interface:886:18) {
//     [cause]: Error: The remote HTTP server responded with a 500 status
//         at REPL1:1:15
//         at Script.runInThisContext (node:vm:130:12)
//         at REPLServer.defaultEval (node:repl:574:29)
//         at bound (node:domain:426:15)
//         at REPLServer.runBound [as eval] (node:domain:437:12)
//         at REPLServer.onLine (node:repl:902:10)
//         at REPLServer.emit (node:events:549:35)
//         at REPLServer.emit (node:domain:482:12)
//         at [_onLine] [as _onLine] (node:internal/readline/interface:425:12)
//         at [_line] [as _line] (node:internal/readline/interface:886:18)

The error.code property is a string label that identifies the kind of error. error.code is the most stable way to identify an error. It will only change between major versions of Node.js. In contrast, error.message strings may change between any versions of Node.js. See Node.js error codes for details about specific codes.

The error.message property is the string description of the error as set by calling new Error(message). The message passed to the constructor will also appear in the first line of the stack trace of the Error, however changing this property after the Error object is created may not change the first line of the stack trace (for example, when error.stack is read before this property is changed).

const err = new Error('The message');
console.error(err.message);
// Prints: The message

The error.stack property is a string describing the point in the code at which the Error was instantiated.

Error: Things keep happening!
   at /home/gbusey/file.js:525:2
   at Frobnicator.refrobulate (/home/gbusey/business-logic.js:424:21)
   at Actor.<anonymous> (/home/gbusey/actors.js:400:8)
   at increaseSynergy (/home/gbusey/actors.js:701:6)

The first line is formatted as <error class name>: <error message>, and is followed by a series of stack frames (each line beginning with "at "). Each frame describes a call site within the code that lead to the error being generated. V8 attempts to display a name for each function (by variable name, function name, or object method name), but occasionally it will not be able to find a suitable name. If V8 cannot determine a name for the function, only location information will be displayed for that frame. Otherwise, the determined function name will be displayed with location information appended in parentheses.

Frames are only generated for JavaScript functions. If, for example, execution synchronously passes through a C++ addon function called cheetahify which itself calls a JavaScript function, the frame representing the cheetahify call will not be present in the stack traces:

const cheetahify = require('./native-binding.node');

function makeFaster() {
  // `cheetahify()` *synchronously* calls speedy.
  cheetahify(function speedy() {
    throw new Error('oh no!');
  });
}

makeFaster();
// will throw:
//   /home/gbusey/file.js:6
//       throw new Error('oh no!');
//           ^
//   Error: oh no!
//       at speedy (/home/gbusey/file.js:6:11)
//       at makeFaster (/home/gbusey/file.js:5:3)
//       at Object.<anonymous> (/home/gbusey/file.js:10:1)
//       at Module._compile (module.js:456:26)
//       at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:474:10)
//       at Module.load (module.js:356:32)
//       at Function.Module._load (module.js:312:12)
//       at Function.Module.runMain (module.js:497:10)
//       at startup (node.js:119:16)
//       at node.js:906:3

The location information will be one of:

• native, if the frame represents a call internal to V8 (as in [].forEach).
• plain-filename.js:line:column, if the frame represents a call internal to Node.js.
• /absolute/path/to/file.js:line:column, if the frame represents a call in a user program (using CommonJS module system), or its dependencies.
• <transport-protocol>:///url/to/module/file.mjs:line:column, if the frame represents a call in a user program (using ES module system), or its dependencies.

The number of frames captured by the stack trace is bounded by the smaller of Error.stackTraceLimit or the number of available frames on the current event loop tick.

error.stack is a getter/setter for a hidden internal property which is only present on builtin Error objects (those for which Error.isError returns true). If error is not a builtin error object, then the error.stack getter will always return undefined, and the setter will do nothing. This can occur if the accessor is manually invoked with a this value that is not a builtin error object, such as a Proxy.