diff --git a/helix-term/src/application.rs b/helix-term/src/application.rs
index 1461c68834fe..9653b3733b59 100644
--- a/helix-term/src/application.rs
+++ b/helix-term/src/application.rs
@@ -505,8 +505,13 @@ impl Application {
                             let language_id =
                                 doc.language_id().map(ToOwned::to_owned).unwrap_or_default();
 
+                            let url = match doc.url() {
+                                Some(url) => url,
+                                None => continue, // skip documents with no path
+                            };
+
                             tokio::spawn(language_server.text_document_did_open(
-                                doc.url().unwrap(),
+                                url,
                                 doc.version(),
                                 doc.text(),
                                 language_id,