Slate React cut proof must use real shortcut transport and assert selection

Problem

Cut behavior can look correct if tests only assert clipboard payload or model text deletion.

That is not enough for Slate browser editing. After cutting selected content, the model selection and visible DOM selection must land at the cut start.

Symptoms

A synthetic ClipboardEvent('cut') copied the right fragment data and deleted the selected text.
Slate selection then became null.
A later version of the test used editor.clipboard.assert.types(...) after the cut, but that helper performs another copy and changed the collapsed selection again.

What Didn't Work

Dispatching a synthetic cut event and treating it as equivalent to user cut. It exercises the React onCut path, but it does not prove the real browser shortcut lifecycle.
Restoring only model text or clipboard payload. The actual regression was selection/caret state.
Re-copying after the cut to inspect clipboard types. That made the test flaky because it interacted with the already-mutated selection.

Solution

Use the real browser shortcut path for the browser proof:

await editor.selection.select({
  anchor: { path: [0, 0], offset: 1 },
  focus: { path: [0, 0], offset: 9 },
})

await editor.root.press('ControlOrMeta+X')

expect(await editor.clipboard.readText()).toBe('lpha bet')
expect(await editor.clipboard.readHtml()).toContain('data-slate-fragment')
await editor.assert.text('aa')
await editor.assert.selection({
  anchor: { path: [0, 0], offset: 1 },
  focus: { path: [0, 0], offset: 1 },
})

Fix the product path by preserving the cut-start point, deleting the fragment, restoring a collapsed selection, and syncing DOM focus/selection:

const collapsePointRef = Editor.pointRef(editor, Range.start(selection))
Editor.deleteFragment(editor)
const collapsePoint = collapsePointRef.unref()

if (collapsePoint) {
  Transforms.select(editor, {
    anchor: collapsePoint,
    focus: collapsePoint,
  })
  ReactEditor.focus(editor)
}

For selected block voids, also assert the React cut handler returns the same model-owned repair contract as expanded cuts. Deleting the void node is not enough; the runtime needs a command trace and repair request so the DOM caret does not depend on browser luck:

const result = applyEditableCut({ editor, event, readOnly: false })

expect(result.command).toEqual({ kind: 'delete-fragment' })
expect(result.repair).toEqual({
  focus: true,
  kind: 'repair-caret',
  selectionSourceTransition: {
    preferModelSelection: true,
    reason: 'model-command',
    selectionSource: 'model-owned',
  },
})

Why This Works

The user-facing cut contract is not just "clipboard got data" or "text was deleted".

The full contract is:

selected fragment serializes correctly
selected content is removed from model and DOM
model selection collapses at the cut start
DOM focus/selection is repaired so the caret is visually honest
the event runtime returns a non-null command trace and repair request when it performs the model mutation itself

Editor.pointRef(...) tracks the intended collapsed point through the deletion. ReactEditor.focus(...) then syncs the browser selection back to that model selection.

Prevention

Browser cut tests should use ControlOrMeta+X when the claim is user-path editing behavior.
Avoid clipboard helper calls after a cut if those helpers trigger another copy from the editor.
Cut tests should assert clipboard payload, model/visible text, and collapsed Slate selection.
Handler-level cut tests should also assert the returned command and repair request when the handler performs model-owned deletion directly.
Treat synthetic ClipboardEvent('cut') as a narrow React handler diagnostic, not full browser editing proof.

Slate React cut proof must use real shortcut transport and assert selection

Slate React cut proof must use real shortcut transport and assert selection

Problem

Symptoms

What Didn't Work

Solution

Why This Works

Prevention

Related