diff --git a/src/lib/__tests__/api-handler-safe-request-prop.test.ts b/src/lib/__tests__/api-handler-safe-request-prop.test.ts
index defbf99c8..b15f75192 100644
--- a/src/lib/__tests__/api-handler-safe-request-prop.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/__tests__/api-handler-safe-request-prop.test.ts
@@ -33,47 +33,69 @@ vi.mock("next/headers", () => ({
 
 import { __testables } from "@/lib/api-handler";
 
-const { safeRequestProp, isPrivateFieldAccessError } = __testables;
+const { safeRequestProp, isTolerableRequestProbeError } = __testables;
 
-describe("isPrivateFieldAccessError — narrow-catch classifier", () => {
+describe("isTolerableRequestProbeError — narrow-catch classifier", () => {
   it("returns true for the V8 private-field TypeError", () => {
     const err = new TypeError(
       "Cannot read private member #state from an object whose class did not declare it",
     );
-    expect(isPrivateFieldAccessError(err)).toBe(true);
+    expect(isTolerableRequestProbeError(err)).toBe(true);
   });
 
   it("returns true for the alternative 'private field' wording", () => {
     const err = new TypeError(
       "Cannot read private field #foo from object that was not created from its class",
     );
-    expect(isPrivateFieldAccessError(err)).toBe(true);
+    expect(isTolerableRequestProbeError(err)).toBe(true);
   });
 
   it("returns true for the Bun / older-V8 'private name' wording", () => {
     const err = new TypeError("Cannot read private name #bar from object");
-    expect(isPrivateFieldAccessError(err)).toBe(true);
+    expect(isTolerableRequestProbeError(err)).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it("returns true when the request handed in is undefined or null", () => {
+    expect(
+      isTolerableRequestProbeError(
+        new TypeError("Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'url')"),
+      ),
+    ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      isTolerableRequestProbeError(
+        new TypeError("Cannot read properties of null (reading 'method')"),
+      ),
+    ).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      isTolerableRequestProbeError(
+        new TypeError("Cannot read property 'headers' of undefined"),
+      ),
+    ).toBe(true);
   });
 
   it("returns false for any other TypeError (real bug, must surface)", () => {
     expect(
-      isPrivateFieldAccessError(new TypeError("undefined is not a function")),
+      isTolerableRequestProbeError(
+        new TypeError("undefined is not a function"),
+      ),
     ).toBe(false);
     expect(
-      isPrivateFieldAccessError(new TypeError("Cannot read properties of null")),
+      isTolerableRequestProbeError(
+        new TypeError("Cannot read properties of {} (reading 'parse')"),
+      ),
     ).toBe(false);
   });
 
   it("returns false for non-TypeError exceptions", () => {
-    expect(isPrivateFieldAccessError(new Error("private member #x"))).toBe(
+    expect(isTolerableRequestProbeError(new Error("private member #x"))).toBe(
       false,
     );
-    expect(isPrivateFieldAccessError(new RangeError("private member"))).toBe(
-      false,
-    );
-    expect(isPrivateFieldAccessError("private member string")).toBe(false);
-    expect(isPrivateFieldAccessError(null)).toBe(false);
-    expect(isPrivateFieldAccessError(undefined)).toBe(false);
+    expect(
+      isTolerableRequestProbeError(new RangeError("private member")),
+    ).toBe(false);
+    expect(isTolerableRequestProbeError("private member string")).toBe(false);
+    expect(isTolerableRequestProbeError(null)).toBe(false);
+    expect(isTolerableRequestProbeError(undefined)).toBe(false);
   });
 });
 
diff --git a/src/lib/api-handler.ts b/src/lib/api-handler.ts
index 3683c3c61..cf36d5271 100644
--- a/src/lib/api-handler.ts
+++ b/src/lib/api-handler.ts
@@ -41,18 +41,32 @@ export class HttpError extends Error {
 // and fall back to safe defaults so logging instrumentation never
 // crashes the handler.
 //
-// The catch is narrowed to the V8 private-field TypeError. Any other
+// The catch is narrowed to two well-known shapes: the V8 private-field
+// TypeError, and the `Cannot read properties of undefined/null` shape
+// raised when the wrapper is invoked without a request (vitest tests
+// frequently invoke handlers as `GET()` with no args, mirroring the
+// shape Next.js exercises for the static-export pass). Any other
 // exception is a real bug in the read callback or in a downstream
-// header parser and must surface — swallowing it here would hide
+// header parser and must surface — swallowing it would hide
 // regressions in production instrumentation.
-function isPrivateFieldAccessError(err: unknown): boolean {
+function isTolerableRequestProbeError(err: unknown): boolean {
   if (!(err instanceof TypeError)) return false;
   const msg = err.message ?? "";
   return (
+    // V8 — current
     msg.includes("private member") ||
+    // V8 — alternative
     msg.includes("private field") ||
-    // Bun / older V8 wording variant
-    msg.includes("private name")
+    // Bun / older V8
+    msg.includes("private name") ||
+    // No request handed in at all (vitest direct-invoke or
+    // force-static placeholder reduced to undefined / null).
+    // Covers both modern `Cannot read properties of undefined
+    // (reading 'X')` and the older `Cannot read property 'X' of
+    // undefined` wordings.
+    /Cannot read propert(?:y|ies)\b.*\bof (?:undefined|null)\b/.test(
+      msg,
+    )
   );
 }
 
@@ -64,7 +78,7 @@ function safeRequestProp<R>(
   try {
     return read(request as NextRequest);
   } catch (err) {
-    if (isPrivateFieldAccessError(err)) return fallback;
+    if (isTolerableRequestProbeError(err)) return fallback;
     throw err;
   }
 }
@@ -72,7 +86,7 @@ function safeRequestProp<R>(
 /** @internal — exposed for unit tests of the narrow-catch contract. */
 export const __testables = {
   safeRequestProp,
-  isPrivateFieldAccessError,
+  isTolerableRequestProbeError,
 };
 
 // Next.js route handlers come in two shapes — `(request)` for static routes