ianstormtaylor/slate · error · Error

Cannot enter empty chunk

Error message

Cannot enter empty chunk

What it means

Internal invariant of slate-react's chunk tree helper: enterChunk() refuses to descend into a chunk with zero children because there would be no valid pointer position inside it. The branch is marked 'istanbul ignore next' — it guards against internal state corruption, since normal invariants prevent empty chunks from being entered.

Source

Thrown at packages/slate-react/src/chunking/chunk-tree-helper.ts:432

   *
   * @param end If true, place the pointer on the last node of the chunk.
   * Otherwise, place the pointer on the first node.
   */
  private enterChunk(end: boolean) {
    // istanbul ignore next
    if (this.pointerNode?.type !== 'chunk') {
      throw new Error('Cannot enter non-chunk')
    }

    this.pointerIndexStack.push(this.pointerIndex)
    this.pointerChunk = this.pointerNode
    this.pointerIndex = end ? this.pointerSiblings.length - 1 : 0
    this.cachedPointerNode = undefined
    this.validateState()

    // istanbul ignore next
    if (this.pointerChunk.children.length === 0) {
      throw new Error('Cannot enter empty chunk')
    }
  }

  /**
   * Assuming the current node is a chunk, move the pointer into that chunk
   * repeatedly until the current node is a leaf
   *
   * @param end If true, place the pointer on the last node of the chunk.
   * Otherwise, place the pointer on the first node.
   */
  private enterChunkUntilLeaf(end: boolean) {
    while (this.pointerNode?.type === 'chunk') {
      this.enterChunk(end)
    }
  }

  /**
   * Move the pointer to the parent chunk

View on GitHub (pinned to 72a37c701e)

Solutions

1. Update slate-react
2. Report an upstream issue with a reproduction
3. Check fork code that empties chunk children arrays

try {
  edit()
} catch (e) {
  if (e.message === 'Cannot enter empty chunk') {
    // internal bug: trigger a full reconciliation pass
  } else throw e
}

When it happens

Trigger: Internal bug or corrupted state leading to an empty chunk being entered during chunked rendering; not reachable via public APIs.

Common situations: Slate-react chunking regressions; forks that splice chunk children without maintaining invariants.

Related errors

• Cannot save pointer when pointerNode is null
• Cannot restore point because saved node is no longer in save
• Cannot restore point because saved chunk is no longer connec
• Cannot enter non-chunk
• Cannot exit root

AI-assisted analysis of ianstormtaylor/slate@72a37c701e (2026-08-27). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f2304a3826cf3bb6. Report an issue: GitHub.