diff --git a/src/rules/requests/request-step-impls.ts b/src/rules/requests/request-step-impls.ts
index 4ac122875..54af70222 100644
--- a/src/rules/requests/request-step-impls.ts
+++ b/src/rules/requests/request-step-impls.ts
@@ -1328,14 +1328,18 @@ export class PassThroughStepImpl extends PassThroughStep {
         let beforeRequest: ((req: CompletedRequest) => MaybePromise<CallbackRequestResult | void>) | undefined;
         if (data.hasBeforeRequestCallback) {
             beforeRequest = async (req: CompletedRequest) => {
-                const result = withDeserializedCallbackBuffers<CallbackRequestResult>(
-                    await channel.request<
-                        BeforePassthroughRequestRequest,
-                        WithSerializedCallbackBuffers<CallbackRequestResult>
-                    >('beforeRequest', {
-                        args: [await withSerializedBodyReader(req, bodySerializer)]
-                    })
-                );
+                const callbackResult = await channel.request<
+                    BeforePassthroughRequestRequest,
+                    WithSerializedCallbackBuffers<CallbackRequestResult> | undefined
+                >('beforeRequest', {
+                    args: [await withSerializedBodyReader(req, bodySerializer)]
+                });
+
+                // Inspection-only callbacks return nothing at all, and the client
+                // sends that through as undefined, so there's nothing to deserialize:
+                if (!callbackResult) return callbackResult;
+
+                const result = withDeserializedCallbackBuffers<CallbackRequestResult>(callbackResult);
 
                 if (result.response && typeof result.response !== 'string') {
                     result.response = withDeserializedCallbackBuffers(
diff --git a/test/integration/remote-client.spec.ts b/test/integration/remote-client.spec.ts
index 2c0534ca0..6c2672733 100644
--- a/test/integration/remote-client.spec.ts
+++ b/test/integration/remote-client.spec.ts
@@ -154,6 +154,25 @@ nodeOnly(() => {
                     expect(await targetEndpoint.getSeenRequests()).to.deep.equal([]);
                 });
 
+                it("should successfully pass through requests when beforeRequest returns nothing", async () => {
+                    await targetServer.forGet('/').thenReply(200, 'target response');
+
+                    let seenMethod: string | undefined;
+                    await remoteServer.forGet(targetServer.url).thenPassThrough({
+                        beforeRequest: (req) => {
+                            // Inspection-only callbacks return nothing at all:
+                            seenMethod = req.method;
+                        }
+                    });
+
+                    const response = await request.get(targetServer.url, {
+                        proxy: remoteServer.url
+                    });
+
+                    expect(seenMethod).to.equal('GET');
+                    expect(response).to.equal('target response');
+                });
+
                 it("should successfully replace request & response bodies", async () => {
                     // Echo the incoming request
                     await targetServer.forAnyRequest().thenCallback(async (req) => ({