greensock/GSAP · warning

${elOrNode} not found

Error message

${elOrNode} not found

What it means

_parseElementState accepts a selector string, Element, ElementState, or FlipState. For a string it calls _getEl; if that returns nothing it warns "<selector> not found" and constructs an ElementState with the null-ish result. It is the element-state resolution entry used by Flip state APIs.

Source

Thrown at src/Flip.js:167

		if (targets !== true) {
			targets = _toArray(targets);
			comps = comps.filter(c => {
				if (targets.indexOf((c.sd < 0 ? c.b : c.a).element) !== -1) {
				    return true;
				} else {
					c.t._gsap.renderTransform(1); // we must force transforms to render on anything that isn't being made position: absolute, otherwise the absolute position happens and then when animation begins it applies transforms which can create a new stacking context, throwing off positioning!
					if (c.b.isVisible) {
						c.t.style.width = c.b.width + "px"; // otherwise things can collapse when contents are made position: absolute.
						c.t.style.height = c.b.height + "px";
					}
				}
			});
		}
		return comps;
	},
	_makeCompsAbsolute = comps => _orderByDOMDepth(comps, true).forEach(c => (c.a.isVisible || c.b.isVisible) && _makeAbsolute(c.sd < 0 ? c.b : c.a, c.b, 1)),
	_findElStateInState = (state, other) => (other && state.idLookup[_parseElementState(other).id]) || state.elementStates[0],
	_parseElementState = (elOrNode, props, simple, other) => elOrNode instanceof ElementState ? elOrNode : elOrNode instanceof FlipState ? _findElStateInState(elOrNode, other) : new ElementState(typeof(elOrNode) === "string" ? _getEl(elOrNode) || console.warn(elOrNode + " not found") : elOrNode, props, simple),
	_recordProps = (elState, props) => {
		let getProp = gsap.getProperty(elState.element, null, "native"),
			obj = elState.props = {},
			i = props.length;
		while (i--) {
			obj[props[i]] = (getProp(props[i]) + "").trim();
		}
		obj.zIndex && (obj.zIndex = parseFloat(obj.zIndex) || 0);
		return elState;
	},
	_applyProps = (element, props) => {
		let style = element.style || element, // could pass in a vars object.
			p;
		for (p in props) {
			style[p] = props[p];
		}
	},
	_getID = el => {

View on GitHub (pinned to 13e2b79054)

Solutions

1. Confirm elements exist before capturing or animating state
2. Re-capture Flip state after DOM updates that add/remove elements
3. Use element references captured from the live DOM
4. Check for typos in the selector string

Example fix

// before
const state = Flip.getState('.item');
list.innerHTML = ...; // items recreated
Flip.from(state); // old selectors no longer resolve
// after
const state = Flip.getState('.item');
list.innerHTML = ...;
const newState = Flip.getState('.item'); // elements exist again
Flip.from(state, {targets: newState});

const el = typeof target === 'string' ? document.querySelector(target) : target;
if (!(el instanceof Element)) throw new Error(`Flip state target not found: ${target}`);
const state = Flip.getState(el);

function resolvableElement(t) {
  return t instanceof Element || t instanceof Element && true || (typeof t === 'string' && !!document.querySelector(t));
}
// simpler:
function flipTargetExists(t) {
  if (typeof t === 'string') return !!document.querySelector(t);
  return t instanceof Element;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a selector string to Flip.getState()/from()/to()/fit() that matches zero elements; passing a FlipState where no element state exists for the target (_findElStateInState path); passing null/undefined mistakenly typed as string vs element.

Common situations: Framework re-render removed the element between state capture and Flip.from(); misspelled selector; capturing state before elements mount; passing stale references after unmount.

Related errors

• Element not found:
• Element not found: ${t}
• ScrollSmoother needs a valid content element.
• scrollTo target doesn't exist. Using 0
• Not a valid state object.

AI-assisted analysis of greensock/GSAP@13e2b79054 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1398c2ab77df9b04. Report an issue: GitHub.