I'm trying to use the shorthand form for params - specified in the docs here: http://angular-ui.github.io/ui-router/site/#/api/ui.router.state.$stateProvider#state but am getting this error: Error: [$injector:modulerr] Failed to instantiate module app due to: obj is not an object You can see the entire error here. http://plnkr.co/edit/x2bCySuwSl7rg789c8Hv?p=preview Just to note, the longer form works as expected.