From 03e0a749fc1ea7b4d70823a5c6069bd2bb2f2ac2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Nick the Sick <computers@nickthesick.com>
Date: Wed, 6 May 2026 22:54:48 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix(export): skip placeholder text for empty file blocks
 (#434)

Empty image/video/audio/file blocks (no url set) previously leaked
their "Add image"/"Add video"/etc. UI text into HTML and markdown
exports. Each block's toExternalHTML now emits the bare element
(<img>, <video>, <audio>, <embed>) with no src, so the placeholder
text is gone from exports while the block still round-trips back to
an empty block on re-import via the existing tag-name parsers.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 .../api/exporters/markdown/htmlToMarkdown.ts  | 20 ++++++++++++-------
 packages/core/src/blocks/Audio/block.ts       |  5 +----
 packages/core/src/blocks/File/block.ts        |  5 +----
 packages/core/src/blocks/Image/block.ts       |  5 +----
 packages/core/src/blocks/Video/block.ts       |  5 +----
 .../__snapshots__/text/html/basicBlocks.html  |  2 +-
 .../__snapshots__/html/audio/button.html      |  2 +-
 .../__snapshots__/html/file/button.html       |  2 +-
 .../__snapshots__/html/image/button.html      |  2 +-
 .../__snapshots__/markdown/audio/button.md    |  2 +-
 .../__snapshots__/markdown/file/button.md     |  2 +-
 .../__snapshots__/markdown/image/button.md    |  2 +-
 .../__snapshots__/html/reactFile/button.html  |  2 +-
 .../__snapshots__/html/reactImage/button.html |  2 +-
 14 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 32 deletions(-)

diff --git a/packages/core/src/api/exporters/markdown/htmlToMarkdown.ts b/packages/core/src/api/exporters/markdown/htmlToMarkdown.ts
index 4d3f5f7c8a..da63166851 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/api/exporters/markdown/htmlToMarkdown.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/api/exporters/markdown/htmlToMarkdown.ts
@@ -84,6 +84,8 @@ function serializeNode(node: Node, ctx: SerializeContext): string {
       return serializeVideo(el, ctx);
     case "audio":
       return serializeAudio(el, ctx);
+    case "embed":
+      return serializeEmbed(el, ctx);
     case "figure":
       return serializeFigure(el, ctx);
     case "a":
@@ -501,9 +503,9 @@ function formatSeparatorRow(colWidths: number[], colCount: number): string {
 function serializeImage(el: HTMLElement, ctx: SerializeContext): string {
   const src = el.getAttribute("src") || "";
   const alt = el.getAttribute("alt") || "";
-  if (!src) {
-    return ctx.indent + "Add image\n\n";
-  }
+  // Empty placeholder — preserve the block-level break, matching how
+  // serializeParagraph/serializeHeading emit `\n\n` for empty content.
+  if (!src) {return "\n\n";}
   return ctx.indent + `![${alt}](${src})\n\n`;
 }
 
@@ -511,19 +513,23 @@ function serializeVideo(el: HTMLElement, ctx: SerializeContext): string {
   const src =
     el.getAttribute("src") || el.getAttribute("data-url") || "";
   const name = el.getAttribute("data-name") || el.getAttribute("title") || "";
-  if (!src) {
-    return ctx.indent + "Add video\n\n";
-  }
+  if (!src) {return "\n\n";}
   return ctx.indent + `![${name}](${src})\n\n`;
 }
 
 function serializeAudio(el: HTMLElement, ctx: SerializeContext): string {
   const src = el.getAttribute("src") || "";
-  if (!src) {return "";}
+  if (!src) {return "\n\n";}
   // Audio has no visible representation in markdown; output as link with empty text
   return ctx.indent + `[](${src})\n\n`;
 }
 
+function serializeEmbed(el: HTMLElement, ctx: SerializeContext): string {
+  const src = el.getAttribute("src") || "";
+  if (!src) {return "\n\n";}
+  return ctx.indent + `[](${src})\n\n`;
+}
+
 function serializeFigure(el: HTMLElement, ctx: SerializeContext): string {
   let result = "";
 
diff --git a/packages/core/src/blocks/Audio/block.ts b/packages/core/src/blocks/Audio/block.ts
index f271fcb16a..78722cf988 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/blocks/Audio/block.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/blocks/Audio/block.ts
@@ -129,11 +129,8 @@ export const audioToExternalHTML =
     >,
   ) => {
     if (!block.props.url) {
-      const div = document.createElement("p");
-      div.textContent = "Add audio";
-
       return {
-        dom: div,
+        dom: document.createElement("audio"),
       };
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/core/src/blocks/File/block.ts b/packages/core/src/blocks/File/block.ts
index a506cc45a3..8e1ddf622f 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/blocks/File/block.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/blocks/File/block.ts
@@ -75,11 +75,8 @@ export const createFileBlockSpec = createBlockSpec(createFileBlockConfig, {
   },
   toExternalHTML(block) {
     if (!block.props.url) {
-      const div = document.createElement("p");
-      div.textContent = "Add file";
-
       return {
-        dom: div,
+        dom: document.createElement("embed"),
       };
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/core/src/blocks/Image/block.ts b/packages/core/src/blocks/Image/block.ts
index 83138c8842..503c483527 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/blocks/Image/block.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/blocks/Image/block.ts
@@ -141,11 +141,8 @@ export const imageToExternalHTML =
     >,
   ) => {
     if (!block.props.url) {
-      const div = document.createElement("p");
-      div.textContent = "Add image";
-
       return {
-        dom: div,
+        dom: document.createElement("img"),
       };
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/core/src/blocks/Video/block.ts b/packages/core/src/blocks/Video/block.ts
index 026b333ba5..9d91ddb6f0 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/blocks/Video/block.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/blocks/Video/block.ts
@@ -105,11 +105,8 @@ export const createVideoBlockSpec = createBlockSpec(
     },
     toExternalHTML(block) {
       if (!block.props.url) {
-        const div = document.createElement("p");
-        div.textContent = "Add video";
-
         return {
-          dom: div,
+          dom: document.createElement("video"),
         };
       }
 
diff --git a/tests/src/unit/core/clipboard/copy/__snapshots__/text/html/basicBlocks.html b/tests/src/unit/core/clipboard/copy/__snapshots__/text/html/basicBlocks.html
index 0854870529..b59aa81d46 100644
--- a/tests/src/unit/core/clipboard/copy/__snapshots__/text/html/basicBlocks.html
+++ b/tests/src/unit/core/clipboard/copy/__snapshots__/text/html/basicBlocks.html
@@ -46,6 +46,6 @@ <h1>Heading 1</h1>
     </td>
   </tr>
 </table>
-<p>Add image</p>
+<img />
 <hr />
 <p>Paragraph 2</p>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/audio/button.html b/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/audio/button.html
index 51c429c20a..915743c700 100644
--- a/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/audio/button.html
+++ b/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/audio/button.html
@@ -1 +1 @@
-<p>Add audio</p>
\ No newline at end of file
+<audio></audio>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/file/button.html b/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/file/button.html
index cc675c57a7..90ce06d701 100644
--- a/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/file/button.html
+++ b/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/file/button.html
@@ -1 +1 @@
-<p>Add file</p>
\ No newline at end of file
+<embed />
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/image/button.html b/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/image/button.html
index 8553433aff..df18852143 100644
--- a/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/image/button.html
+++ b/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/image/button.html
@@ -1 +1 @@
-<p>Add image</p>
\ No newline at end of file
+<img />
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/markdown/audio/button.md b/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/markdown/audio/button.md
index 7b4aa9de1b..8b13789179 100644
--- a/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/markdown/audio/button.md
+++ b/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/markdown/audio/button.md
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Add audio
+
diff --git a/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/markdown/file/button.md b/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/markdown/file/button.md
index 8d3fa6a207..8b13789179 100644
--- a/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/markdown/file/button.md
+++ b/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/markdown/file/button.md
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Add file
+
diff --git a/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/markdown/image/button.md b/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/markdown/image/button.md
index 02184caf8a..8b13789179 100644
--- a/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/markdown/image/button.md
+++ b/tests/src/unit/core/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/markdown/image/button.md
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Add image
+
diff --git a/tests/src/unit/react/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/reactFile/button.html b/tests/src/unit/react/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/reactFile/button.html
index cc675c57a7..90ce06d701 100644
--- a/tests/src/unit/react/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/reactFile/button.html
+++ b/tests/src/unit/react/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/reactFile/button.html
@@ -1 +1 @@
-<p>Add file</p>
\ No newline at end of file
+<embed />
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/src/unit/react/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/reactImage/button.html b/tests/src/unit/react/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/reactImage/button.html
index 8553433aff..df18852143 100644
--- a/tests/src/unit/react/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/reactImage/button.html
+++ b/tests/src/unit/react/formatConversion/export/__snapshots__/html/reactImage/button.html
@@ -1 +1 @@
-<p>Add image</p>
\ No newline at end of file
+<img />
\ No newline at end of file