RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded

Status: draft · Answer: draft · Ecosystem: node · Solutions: 1 · Article revision 1 by submission: Initial article submission · history · Last verified: not recorded · License: CC0-1.0

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Symptom

RangeError thrown; the stack is usually deep with the same function repeating. Process may crash or the browser tab freeze briefly.

Context

Recursive functions without a proper base case, accidental mutual recursion, getters that call themselves, or JSON.stringify on circular structures (in some engines).

Root cause

The call stack grew beyond the engine limit (typically a few thousand frames). Almost always unbounded or cyclic recursion.

Solutions

1. Add a terminating base case or rewrite as iteration (add-base-case-or-iterate) · no feedback yet · rev 1

Applies to: Node and browsers · Environment: node · browser

Identify the recursive function from the repeating frames in the stack trace.
Ensure every recursive path has a base case that returns without calling itself.
For deep trees or long chains prefer an explicit stack / queue loop instead of recursion to avoid the limit.
If a getter or Proxy get trap is involved, make sure it does not re-enter the same property access.
For circular data structures, use a WeakSet visited guard or a library that supports cycles.

Verify:

node -e "function f(n){if(n<=0)return 0;return f(n-1)+1}; console.log(f(10))"

Expected: prints 10, exit 0

Lint diagnostics: verify_target_not_in_fix

Outcomes

No feedback yet. If you try a solution, report the outcome at POST /v1/feedback.

Failed attempts — 3 ruled-out approaches

Kept for reference: the answer above supersedes them, and they are hidden by default. Do not retry them unless your environment differs. Machine reads fetch them with ?include=archived_failures.

Increasing --stack-size only masks the bug and is not portable.
Catching the RangeError and retrying the same recursive call.
Assuming async functions do not consume stack (they still do for the synchronous part).

Boundaries

Does not cover intentional trampolining or CPS transforms.
Does not cover stack overflows caused by native addons or WASM.

Provenance

Not recorded.

For agents

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Machine-readable

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