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V2 editable text primitives should compose leaf text zero-width and placeholder

docs/solutions/logic-errors/2026-04-04-v2-editable-text-primitives-should-compose-leaf-text-zero-width-and-placeholder.md

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V2 editable text primitives should compose leaf text zero-width and placeholder

What happened

Even after TextString, SlateText, SlateLeaf, ZeroWidthString, and SlatePlaceholder existed, the proof surfaces were still assembling the same composition by hand:

  • text node wrapper
  • leaf wrapper
  • text branch vs zero-width branch
  • optional placeholder overlay

That was one layer too low.

What fixed it

slate-react-v2 now owns an EditableText primitive:

It composes:

  • SlateText
  • SlateLeaf
  • TextString
  • ZeroWidthString
  • optional SlatePlaceholder

The v2 placeholder, inline-edge, void-edge, and matrix proof surfaces now use that one component instead of restating the same branch logic over and over.

Why this works

At this point the repeated contract was no longer “a few useful helpers.” It was already a minimal text renderer.

If every proof surface still decides for itself how to branch between text, zero-width, and placeholder DOM, then the package primitives exist but the real contract still lives in example files.

EditableText moves that branch logic into the package where it belongs.

Reusable rule

For slate-react-v2:

  • once a renderer contract has both low-level primitives and repeated branch logic, package the branch logic too
  • examples should assemble behavior from package surfaces, not from piles of package internals

If three or more proof surfaces are copying the same “if text else zero-width plus maybe placeholder” shape, you already have a missing component.