← All errors · VercelServerless & Edge Function errors

FUNCTION_INVOCATION_FAILED (500)

Exact error

500: INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR. Code: FUNCTION_INVOCATION_FAILED

What it means

Your serverless function threw an unhandled error or crashed.

Likely causes

• An uncaught exception in an API route or server component.
• Missing env var at runtime (e.g. undefined API key).
• Importing a native/binary module unsupported in the runtime.

How to fix it

1. Open Vercel dashboard → your deployment → Logs, and find the stack trace for the request.

2. Wrap handler logic and return a useful error:

   export async function GET() {
     try {
       const data = await doWork();
       return Response.json(data);
     } catch (err) {
       console.error(err);
       return Response.json({ error: 'Internal error' }, { status: 500 });
     }
   }

3. Verify every runtime env var exists for the environment (Production vs Preview).

Prevent this next time

• Add timeouts to outbound requests and return clear error responses instead of crashing.
• Set up uptime checks and log alerts on critical endpoints so you hear about failures before users do.

Guide: catch outages before your users do.

Related errors

• FUNCTION_INVOCATION_TIMEOUT (504)
• Works locally but fails on Vercel