diff --git a/runtime/lua/vim/net.lua b/runtime/lua/vim/net.lua
index b678b0bb2c..acf6a44ccc 100644
--- a/runtime/lua/vim/net.lua
+++ b/runtime/lua/vim/net.lua
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ function M.request(url, opts, on_response)
     elseif res.code ~= 0 then
       err = res.stderr ~= '' and res.stderr or ('Request failed with exit code %d'):format(res.code)
     else
-      if not (opts.outpath or opts.outbuf) then
+      if on_response then
         response = {
           body = res.stdout --[[@as string]],
         }