Control panel freeze with Replicator → Replicator → Assets

[DutchBugs]

Bug description

Saving an entry that has a nested Replicator → Replicator → Assets field structure causes the Control Panel to freeze after "Save & Publish": the save itself succeeds (200 response), but Inertia navigation is broken afterwards — clicking any other CP navigation link does nothing, and the user is stuck on the same entry-edit page until they do a hard browser refresh.

This only happens on the specific collection that has this nested field structure; other collections without it save and navigate normally.

Root cause (confirmed via browser console): a component instance's meta is null for one of the nested Assets fieldtype instances. AssetsFieldtype.vue accesses this.meta.dynamicFolder in data() without a null-check, which throws, orphaning the Vue component and breaking Inertia's SPA navigation until a hard refresh.

TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'dynamicFolder')
    at Proxy.data (AssetsFieldtype.vue:278)
I checked the latest tagged release (v6.31.0, published 2026-09-01) and the exact same unguarded line is still there:

// resources/js/components/fieldtypes/assets/AssetsFieldtype.vue:278
lockedDynamicFolder: this.meta.dynamicFolder,

This looks like the same class of bug as #13611 (Replicator → Bard → Replicator) and #14929 / PR #15033 (grid min_rows breaking CP navigation) — a nested-fieldtype instance receiving undefined/null meta, which crashes Vue's data() and leaves a broken component tree behind. #14929 is still open, so this looks like another unfixed variant of the same underlying issue rather than something already covered.

How to reproduce

1. Create a blueprint with a top-level Replicator field.
2. Inside that replicator's set, add a second, nested Replicator field.
3. Inside the nested replicator's set, add an Assets field.
4. Create an entry, fill in a few rows at both replicator levels (with an asset selected on some/all of the inner rows).
5. Save & Publish.
6. Try to navigate to any other page in the CP (e.g. click another entry in the sidebar, or a top-level nav item).
7. Nothing happens — no navigation occurs, no visible error in the UI.
8. Open the browser console: TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'dynamicFolder') at AssetsFieldtype.vue inside data().
9. A hard refresh (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+R) restores normal navigation until the next save on that same collection.

Logs

TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'dynamicFolder')
    at Proxy.data (AssetsFieldtype.vue:278:44)
    at callWithErrorHandling (runtime-core.esm-bundler.js:...)
    at ...

Environment

Statamic v6.29.0 (also reproduced against v6.31.0 source, unfixed)
Laravel 12, PHP 8.4.17
Control Panel: Vue 3 + Inertia
Affected fieldtype nesting: Replicator → Replicator → Assets
Reproduces consistently, on every save, for every editor

Installation

Fresh statamic/statamic site via CLI

Additional details

Related issues: #13611 (fixed, same root cause, different nesting) · #14929 (still open, same symptom) · #15033 (fixed one triggering case, not this one)

[duncanmcclean]

I'm struggling to reproduce this. I've attempted to re-create the setup as you described, but it's not freezing after I save...

CleanShot.2026-09-08.at.10.42.05.mp4

Would you be able to provide some additional information:

• Full output of php please support:details
• Contents of the blueprint's YAML file
• Contents of the entry's YAML file (or the JSON if you're using the Eloquent Driver)

[DutchBugs]

Thanks for looking into it! Here's the requested info, plus one detail I suspect is the missing ingredient in the reproduction attempt: the nested Assets field only appears conditionally, behind an if: option: 'equals image_video' on a sibling select field within the same (outer) replicator row. A minimal repro with an always-visible nested Assets field likely doesn't trigger it - the bug seems specific to the nested fieldtype only being revealed once its sibling condition is met, which is exactly our "Content accordion" field: an outer Replicator whose row has a select (option) that conditionally shows one of several field groups, one of which is a second, nested Replicator containing the Assets field.

**Environment**
Laravel Version: 12.68.0
PHP Version: 8.4.17
Composer Version: 2.9.5
Environment: production
Debug Mode: OFF
Maintenance Mode: OFF
Timezone: UTC
Locale: en

**Cache**
Config: NOT CACHED
Events: NOT CACHED
Routes: NOT CACHED
Views: CACHED

**Drivers**
Broadcasting: log
Cache: redis
Database: sqlite
Logs: stack / single
Mail: smtp
Queue: sync
Session: redis

**Storage**
public/storage: NOT LINKED

**Locales**
Installed: cs, da, de, en, nb, nl, nn
Locales Version: 2.10.0
Protected: en

**Livewire**
Livewire: v4.4.2

**Statamic**
Addons: 4
License Key: Not set
Sites: 1
Stache Watcher: Disabled (auto)
Static Caching: half
Version: 6.29.0 PRO

**Statamic Addons**
marcorieser/statamic-live-search: 3.2.0
marcorieser/statamic-livewire: 5.3.1
studio1902/statamic-peak-seo: 11.9.2
studio1902/statamic-peak-tools: 9.2.0

Blueprint

The outer Replicator is defined in a shared fieldset (content_accordion) imported into the products collection's blueprint with a product prefix - that's why the field ends up as productaccordion_items on the entry.

resources/blueprints/collections/products/product.yaml (relevant part):

- display: 'Content accordion'
  fields:
    - import: content_accordion
      prefix: product

resources/fieldsets/content_accordion.yaml (full - note the option select at the row level, and image_video_group, the nested Replicator containing the Assets field, only shown if: option: 'equals image_video'):

title: 'Content accordion'
fields:
  -
    handle: accordion_items
    field:
      type: replicator
      display: Content
      sets:
        new_set_group:
          display: 'New Set Group'
          sets:
            accordion:
              display: Accordion
              fields:
                -
                  handle: title
                  field:
                    type: text
                    display: Title
                    width: 50
                    validate:
                      - required
                -
                  handle: anchor
                  field:
                    type: toggle
                    display: 'Tonen als anchor link'
                    width: 50
                -
                  handle: button_label
                  field:
                    type: text
                    display: 'Button label'
                    if:
                      anchor: 'equals true'
                -
                  handle: content
                  field:
                    type: bard
                    display: Content
                    remove_empty_nodes: false
                    buttons: [h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, small, unorderedlist, orderedlist, removeformat, quote, superscript, subscript, anchor, table, image, code, codeblock, horizontalrule, alignleft, aligncenter, alignright, alignjustify]
                    sets:
                      interactive:
                        display: Knoppen
                        sets:
                          buttons:
                            display: Knoppen
                            fields:
                              - import: buttons
                -
                  handle: option
                  field:
                    type: select
                    display: Optie
                    default: none
                    options:
                      - { key: image_video, value: 'Image of Video' }
                      - { key: product_options, value: 'Opties voor dit model (centraal beheerd)' }
                      - { key: downloads, value: Downloads }
                      - { key: color, value: Kleuren }
                      - { key: none, value: Geen }
                -
                  handle: color_group
                  field:
                    type: group
                    display: Kleuren
                    if_any:
                      option: 'equals color'
                    fields:
                      - import: product_colors
                -
                  handle: downloads_group
                  field:
                    type: group
                    display: Downloads
                    if_any:
                      option: 'equals downloads'
                    fields:
                      - handle: bim_downloads
                        field: { type: section, display: 'Bim downloads' }
                      - handle: downloads_bim
                        field: { type: entries, collections: [downloads], display: Downloads }
                      - handle: technische_downloads
                        field: { type: section, display: 'Technische downloads' }
                      - handle: downloads_technical
                        field: { type: entries, collections: [downloads], display: Downloads }
                -
                  handle: image_video_group
                  field:
                    type: replicator
                    display: Image/video
                    if:
                      option: 'equals image_video'
                    sets:
                      new_set_group:
                        display: 'New Set Group'
                        sets:
                          new_set:
                            display: 'New Set'
                            fields:
                              - handle: image_video
                                field: { type: assets, container: images, display: Image/video }
                              - handle: title
                                field: { type: text, display: Titel }
                -
                  handle: product_options_items
                  field:
                    type: entries
                    display: 'Opties voor dit model'
                    if:
                      option: 'equals product_options'
                    collections: [product_options]
                    create: true

Entry

An entry that reliably freezes CP navigation after Save & Publish (content/collections/products/rond.md, only the relevant field shown - full front matter available if useful):

productaccordion_items:
  -
    id: mmn8xk9m
    title: 'Alle RAL-kleuren mogelijk'
    anchor: true
    option: color
    color_group:
      colors:
        - { id: Og4WeE9c, type: color, color: '#F7F9EF', color_title: RAL9010, enabled: true }
        - { id: DDW6bEkJ, type: color, color: '#FDF4E3', color_title: RAL9001, enabled: true }
        - { id: wA3dtrJY, type: color, color: '#A5A5A5', color_title: RAL9006, enabled: true }
        - { id: nOnUwHou, type: color, color: '#383E42', color_title: RAL7016, enabled: true }
        - { id: z3fQ3ESm, type: color, color: '#7C7C7C', color_title: RAL7036, enabled: true }
    type: accordion
    enabled: true
    button_label: Kleuren
  -
    id: mmn93jtc
    title: 'Downloads en technische tekeningen'
    anchor: true
    content:
      - type: paragraph
        content:
          - type: text
            text: 'Download hieronder alle relevante BIM of technische downloads.'
    option: downloads
    type: accordion
    enabled: true
    button_label: Downloads
    downloads_group:
      downloads_bim:
        - b5409e66-4eeb-4952-908a-29c35fbb03fa
      downloads_technical:
        - 788372bf-c8e7-43f5-856b-69cf6baa6f4b
        - 7695b0b8-1c11-418f-9b83-8b22f4f2d1dc
        - 7400ce70-9dc2-46bc-9b6f-692fab73d759
        - fcf752cd-9e52-4ea0-b8dc-4e2363cb47ab
  -
    id: mt8b9hgu
    title: 'Bochten en verlopen'
    anchor: true
    button_label: 'Bochten en verlopen'
    option: image_video
    image_video_group:
      - id: mt8bc7j8
        image_video: [hwa-bochten-en-verlopen-18_large.png]
        title: 'Bocht X graden'
        type: new_set
        enabled: true
    type: accordion
    enabled: true
  -
    id: mt8ba0e4
    title: 'Bevestiging en accessoires'
    anchor: true
    button_label: 'Bevestiging en accessoires'
    option: image_video
    type: accordion
    enabled: true
    image_video_group:
      - id: mt8bhnhg
        image_video: [hwa-bevestiging-6_zoom.png]
        title: 'PVC HWA beugel rond'
        type: new_set
        enabled: true
      - id: mt8bjkhm
        image_video: [hwa-accessoires-6_zoom.png]
        title: 'Aluminium draaibare bladafscheider rond'
        type: new_set
        enabled: true

Notice this entry has four rows in the outer replicator, each with a different value of option (color, downloads, image_video, image_video again) - so four different conditionally-shown field groups are all resolved simultaneously across the rows, two of which reveal the nested-Replicator-with-Assets group. My guess is the repro needs at least:

1. The nested Assets field to be behind a sibling-field if condition (not just unconditionally nested), and
2. More than one outer-replicator row so multiple conditional field groups are being resolved/hydrated at once (possibly a race in how each row's meta gets assigned when rows have heterogeneous visible field sets).

Happy to try a more targeted minimal reproduction if that's more useful than the full real-world blueprint - let me know what would help most.

[duncanmcclean]

Happy to try a more targeted minimal reproduction if that's more useful than the full real-world blueprint - let me know what would help most.

If possible, that'd be great! 🙂

[DutchBugs]

Found it — and it turns out my earlier hypothesis (conditional nested Assets) was wrong, which is why you couldn't reproduce it. I bisected from our real blueprint down to a minimal case. Here's the actual trigger:

A conditionally-shown field containing a nested Replicator that has a default: value, whose set contains an Assets field.

Minimal reproduction

Blueprint:

title: 'Repro'
tabs:
  main:
    display: Main
    sections:
      -
        fields:
          -
            handle: title
            field: { type: text, required: true }
          -
            handle: items
            field:
              type: replicator
              display: Items
              sets:
                item:
                  display: Item
                  fields:
                    -
                      handle: option
                      field:
                        type: select
                        display: Option
                        default: other
                        options:
                          - { key: colors, value: Colors }
                          - { key: other, value: Other }
                    -
                      handle: nested
                      field:
                        if:
                          option: 'equals colors'
                        type: replicator
                        display: Nested
                        collapse: true
                        default:
                          - { type: row, label: 'Default one' }
                          - { type: row, label: 'Default two' }
                        sets:
                          row:
                            display: Row
                            fields:
                              -
                                handle: label
                                field: { type: text, display: Label }
                              -
                                handle: picture
                                field: { type: assets, container: images, max_files: 1, display: Picture }

Entry — the important part is a row where the condition hides the nested field:

items:
  -
    id: r1
    option: other      # <- nested is hidden here; this row is what breaks it
    type: item
    enabled: true
  -
    id: r2
    option: colors
    type: item
    enabled: true

Steps: open the entry → Save & Publish → click any other CP nav item. Nothing happens, console shows Cannot read properties of null (reading 'dynamicFolder') at AssetsFieldtype.vue, and navigation stays dead until a hard refresh.

What I could narrow down

Setup | Freezes -- | -- Nested Replicator + Assets, with stored data, no default: | no Nested Replicator with default: + Assets, always visible | no Same, wrapped in a group fieldtype | no Same, but conditionally shown via if: | yes Same, conditional and in a group | yes

So the group wrapper is irrelevant; the combination of default: + conditional visibility + an Assets field in the nested set is what does it.

Server-side observation that probably explains it

For a row where the conditional field is hidden, the entry has no stored value for the nested Replicator, so its default: rows get materialised on every request — with freshly generated _ids each time:

request 1: WjBvp4Lh, ckspDIwU, VM5y0kif
request 2: 4UwDNonx, XSpwFlx7, 9F4iaCnZ
request 3: yFh4BGPV, A91W3oSy, DjzaHtby

The save (PATCH) response returns those same default rows again under new ids, and contains no meta at all (data.values + data.extraValues only). So the Assets components belonging to those rows end up looking up meta that no longer matches any id → this.meta is null → the crash in data().

Consistent with that: after a successful save, the row where the field was visible gets its defaults persisted (stable ids from then on), but the hidden row never does — so it keeps regenerating phantom rows on every load.

Happy to test a patch against our real project if that helps.

[duncanmcclean]

I believe your issue should be fixed by #15427

[DutchBugs]

Thanks for digging into this, and for #15427 — your description of the
mechanism matches exactly what we were seeing.

While waiting for the release I went looking for a local workaround, and
that turned up two things you might find useful.

The unstable row IDs are the whole trigger

I dumped the row IDs coming out of extractFromFields() across three
separate PHP processes for one of our product entries. The outer replicator
(accordion_items) has one row per accordion section, and each row has a
color_group (a group with if_any: option: 'equals color') importing a
fieldset whose colors replicator has a 5-row default: and an assets
field inside its set:

option=color iCjohPoB,VqBc0jP0,B6DyOLlF,RDmHkFUy,ku2jnBuc ← identical every run
option=downloads oQFO0D7k… → qRnfxFr6… → l4OMsKu9… ← different every run
option=product_options x8FdLf64… → xXUYJIVw… → wdJNEdI6… ← different every run

So it is specifically the rows where the field is hidden and therefore has
no stored value: those fall back to default:, and Replicator::preProcessRow()
calls RowId::generate() for them on every single request. Rows with a real
stored value keep stable IDs.

Because preProcessRow() does Arr::pull($row, RowId::handle()) ?? RowId::generate(),
giving each default: row an explicit id: in the fieldset makes them stable:

yaml
default:
  - { id: defcolor1, type: color, color: '#F7F9EF', color_title: RAL9010 }
  - { id: defcolor2, type: color, color: '#FDF4E3', color_title: RAL9001 }

That alone completely fixes the freeze for us on 6.29.0, with no core changes.
It's a decent workaround for anyone else who lands here before the release.

It also raises a question: would it be worth having Statamic derive
deterministic IDs for default: rows (from the field path + row index, say)
rather than random ones? That would kill this class of bug at the source,
independently of the meta plumbing.

A note on backporting the fix (may well be our fault)

Before finding the above I tried backporting just the meta half of #15427 onto
6.29.0 — 'meta' => $meta in EntriesController::update() and
TermsController::update(), plus the setMeta call injected into the prebuilt
CP bundle. I deliberately left out the Arr::removeNullValues change in
ExtractsFromEntryFields, since that looked unrelated to this issue.

Result: the freeze was not resolved, and it introduced a new symptom — a
top-level Bard field rendered completely empty after saving (visible when
navigating away). Reverted.

Big caveat: we're on 6.29.0 and your PR targets 6.x, so this may simply be a
version-gap artifact and say nothing about the PR itself. But if the meta half
genuinely depends on the removeNullValues half to produce a coherent payload,
that might be worth a line in the PR description — otherwise people on older
6.x releases will try the same partial backport and hit the same wall.

Happy to test a release candidate against our real blueprint whenever it's
convenient — the entry reproduces reliably.