diff --git a/app/views/api/v1/projects/explore_code/index.json.jbuilder b/app/views/api/v1/projects/explore_code/index.json.jbuilder
index 3dcae5060..3bf8c3e72 100644
--- a/app/views/api/v1/projects/explore_code/index.json.jbuilder
+++ b/app/views/api/v1/projects/explore_code/index.json.jbuilder
@@ -2,7 +2,11 @@ json.total_count @result[:total_count]
 json.results @result[:data]["SearchResults"] do |repo| 
   project = Project.find_by(gpid: repo["RepoID"])
   json.project do 
-    json.partial! "api/v1/projects/detail", project: project
+    if project.present?
+      json.partial! "api/v1/projects/detail", project: project
+    else
+      json.nil!
+    end
   end
   json.filename repo["Filename"]
   json.language repo["Language"]