fix(ai): loosen serialization of blocks in columns (#2716) by nperez0111 · Pull Request #2718 · TypeCellOS/BlockNote

nperez0111 · 2026-05-06T17:48:57Z

Summary

Using AI inside a column (within a columnList) crashed with Unexpected Error calling LLM RangeError: Invalid content for node columnList: <>.

Rationale

xl-ai's flattenBlocks strips children from every block before piping each one through editor.blocksToHTMLLossy for the LLM. columnList (schema: column column+) and column (schema: blockContainer+) then hit createChecked in blockToNode with empty content and threw.

Changes

blockToNode: bnBlock branch now uses Node.create (lenient) so partial container blocks can flow through HTML serialization.
insertBlocks / replaceBlocks / updateBlock: each calls node.check() after blockToNode, so doc-mutating callers still reject invalid structures at the right boundary.
Added @blocknote/xl-multi-column as a devDep of xl-ai plus a vite alias, so the regression test exercises the real schema.

Testing

New packages/xl-ai/src/api/formats/html-blocks/columnContainerDocumentState.test.ts reproduces the issue's flow through htmlBlockLLMFormat.defaultDocumentStateBuilder; fails on main, passes here.
core (422), xl-multi-column (62) and xl-ai (225) suites all green; the existing Insert empty column list etc. tests still throw, now via node.check().

Summary by CodeRabbit

Bug Fixes
- Added validation checks during block insertion, replacement, and updates to ensure data integrity before applying changes to the document.
Tests
- Added comprehensive tests for multi-column layout functionality to verify proper behavior in document state generation.

xl-ai's flattenBlocks strips children before serializing each block to HTML, which made columnList/column nodes hit createChecked with empty content and throw "Invalid content for node columnList: <>". blockToNode now uses Node.create for the bnBlock branch; insertBlocks / replaceBlocks / updateBlock validate via node.check() before mutating the doc.

vercel · 2026-05-06T17:49:02Z

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coderabbitai · 2026-05-06T17:49:12Z

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

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Configuration used: Organization UI

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Run ID: 84ecfaf2-8a9b-41b8-a761-db4fa66556a5

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between b0d0985 and a7ceeef.

⛔ Files ignored due to path filters (1)

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📒 Files selected for processing (7)

packages/core/src/api/blockManipulation/commands/insertBlocks/insertBlocks.ts
packages/core/src/api/blockManipulation/commands/replaceBlocks/replaceBlocks.ts
packages/core/src/api/blockManipulation/commands/updateBlock/updateBlock.ts
packages/core/src/api/nodeConversions/blockToNode.ts
packages/xl-ai/package.json
packages/xl-ai/src/api/formats/html-blocks/columnContainerDocumentState.test.ts
packages/xl-ai/vite.config.ts

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

This pull request refactors block validation from eager to deferred validation by changing blockToNode to use create() instead of createChecked(), delegating validation responsibility to callers. Concurrently, it integrates multi-column support into the xl-ai package with new test coverage for document state building with column layouts.

Changes

Block Validation Refactoring

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Core Validation Strategy `packages/core/src/api/nodeConversions/blockToNode.ts`	Switches from `createChecked()` to `create()` for bnBlock nodes, allowing partial/incomplete blocks to be constructed; validation is delegated to callers via `node.check()` with explanatory comments.
Caller-Side Validation `packages/core/src/api/blockManipulation/commands/insertBlocks/insertBlocks.ts`, `packages/core/src/api/blockManipulation/commands/replaceBlocks/replaceBlocks.ts`	Node insertion and replacement now explicitly call `node.check()` immediately after constructing each node via `blockToNode()`, ensuring validation before document mutation.
Block Update Validation `packages/core/src/api/blockManipulation/commands/updateBlock/updateBlock.ts`	Block replacement and child mapping both validate nodes by calling `node.check()` after construction; a `CellAnchor` type and JSDoc comment clarify the `captureCellAnchor` function's purpose.

Multi-Column Support in xl-ai

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Dependency Configuration `packages/xl-ai/package.json`	Adds `@blocknote/xl-multi-column` version 0.50.0 as a dev dependency.
Development Tooling `packages/xl-ai/vite.config.ts`	Introduces a Vite alias mapping `@blocknote/xl-multi-column` to its source path, enabling live-reload during development.
Integration Testing `packages/xl-ai/src/api/formats/html-blocks/columnContainerDocumentState.test.ts`	New test suite validates that `htmlBlockLLMFormat.defaultDocumentStateBuilder` correctly handles multi-column layouts with column-list blocks and paired columns, both with and without selected blocks.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~12 minutes

Poem

🐰 Validation deferred, not too quick to fail,
Now multi-column blocks tell their tale.
Check them later, when they're complete and whole,
The rabbit hops through columns toward the goal! 🌻

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 20.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and specifically describes the fix: allowing AI serialization inside column containers, directly addressing the core issue.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description comprehensively covers Summary, Rationale, Changes, and Testing sections with specific technical details and test results, though Screenshots and full Checklist are absent.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The PR fully addresses issue `#2716` by fixing AI serialization with multi-column layouts through blockToNode modifications, validation additions, and regression testing.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes (blockToNode refactoring, validation in mutations, dependency addition, and regression test) are directly scoped to fixing the AI+column container compatibility issue.

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✨ Finishing Touches

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Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

Create PR with unit tests
Commit unit tests in branch feat/columnlist-ai-invalid-content

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pkg-pr-new · 2026-05-06T17:55:10Z

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commit: a7ceeef

vercel Bot deployed to Preview – blocknote May 6, 2026 17:50 View deployment

vercel Bot deployed to Preview – blocknote-website May 6, 2026 17:52 View deployment

nperez0111 changed the title ~~fix(xl-ai): allow AI serialization inside column containers (#2716)~~ fix(ai): loosen serialization of blocks in columns (#2716) May 7, 2026

nperez0111 merged commit 1b53232 into main May 7, 2026
22 of 23 checks passed

nperez0111 deleted the feat/columnlist-ai-invalid-content branch May 7, 2026 10:50

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fix(ai): loosen serialization of blocks in columns (#2716)#2718

fix(ai): loosen serialization of blocks in columns (#2716)#2718
nperez0111 merged 1 commit intomainfrom
feat/columnlist-ai-invalid-content

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