NEXT_REDIRECT error — What It Means and How to Fix It

The NEXT_REDIRECT error is a thrown control-flow exception in Next.js App Router that signals a redirect, not a real failure. It's an expected internal mechanism, but it can surface as a confusing error in logs or tests if you don't handle it correctly.

What "NEXT_REDIRECT error" Means

This error is Next.js's way of unwinding the React component tree after you call redirect() in a Server Component, Route Handler, or Server Action. The framework throws a special object with digest: 'NEXT_REDIRECT' to stop execution and send a 307/308 response to the browser. You're seeing it in your terminal because unhandled exceptions get logged, but it's not a crash—it's the intended path.

Why It Happens

The most common cause is calling redirect() inside a try/catch block that doesn't rethrow it. Next.js relies on that exception propagating to the top-level handler, so swallowing it breaks the redirect. Another cause is using redirect() in a client component without the use server directive or proper async context—the error gets thrown in the wrong environment. Finally, logging error.digest directly in a custom error boundary can expose this internal value, making it look like a real problem.

Example Code That Triggers It

Here's a minimal Server Component that produces the error in your server logs:

// app/page.tsx
import { redirect } from 'next/navigation';

export default function Page() {
  try {
    redirect('/dashboard');
  } catch (error) {
    // This swallows the NEXT_REDIRECT error
    console.error('Redirect failed:', error);
    return <p>Something went wrong</p>;
  }
}

When you visit /, Next.js throws NEXT_REDIRECT, your catch block logs it, and the redirect never happens—the page renders the fallback instead.

How to Fix It

The fix is to rethrow the redirect error and only handle real errors:

// app/page.tsx
import { redirect } from 'next/navigation';

export default function Page() {
  try {
    redirect('/dashboard');
  } catch (error) {
    // Check if this is a redirect error, and if so, rethrow it
    if (error instanceof Error && error.digest?.startsWith('NEXT_REDIRECT')) {
      throw error;
    }
    console.error('Real error:', error);
    return <p>Something went wrong</p>;
  }
}

This works because the digest property uniquely identifies the redirect. By rethrowing, Next.js's internal handler can process it correctly. For non-redirect errors, you handle them as usual.

Common Mistakes That Cause This

1. Using redirect() inside a try/catch without checking digest — this is the #1 cause. Developers wrap async data fetching in try/catch and forget that redirect() throws too.
2. Calling redirect() in a client component without 'use server' — the function throws in the browser, and since there's no server handler to catch it, you get a raw NEXT_REDIRECT error in the console.

When Should You Worry About This?

You should worry when the error appears in production logs without a corresponding 307/308 response being sent to the client. That means a redirect was attempted but never completed—usually because the error was swallowed or thrown in the wrong environment. If you see it in dev logs during normal navigation, it's harmless noise. If it appears in your monitoring dashboard with a 500 status code, that's a real bug.

Next time you see this, check your try/catch blocks for swallowed redirect() calls first — that's where 90% of these errors come from.