remotion-dev/remotion · error · Error

Could not insert JSX element

Error message

Could not insert JSX element

What it means

Returned as `{success: false, reason}` by insertJsxElement (also exposed as insertSolid) in @remotion/browser-studio. Dependency resolution and the JSX insertion codemod succeeded and produced a new project, but `controller.applyMutation(...)` with node-path remappings returned null, so the change was not committed. Usually the file the insertion targeted is out of sync with the controller's tracked node-path state.

Source

Thrown at packages/browser-studio/src/browser-studio-operations.ts:1976

				timelineSelection:
					result.insertedNodePath === null
						? null
						: {
								absolutePath: result.filePath,
								compositionId: request.compositionId,
								nodePath: result.insertedNodePath,
							},
				fileName: result.filePath,
				mutate: () => result.project,
				nodePathMutationFiles: [
					{
						absolutePath: result.filePath,
						remappings: result.nodePathRemappings,
					},
				],
			});
			if (nodePathMutation === null) {
				throw new Error('Could not insert JSX element');
			}

			return {
				success: true,
				insertedNodePath:
					result.insertedNodePath === null
						? null
						: {
								absolutePath: result.filePath,
								nodePath: result.insertedNodePath,
							},
				nodePathMutation,
			};
		} catch (error) {
			return {
				success: false,
				reason: error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error),
				stack: error instanceof Error && error.stack ? error.stack : '',

View on GitHub (pinned to b2f4e34732)

Solutions

1. Await every mutation before computing inputs for the next one, then retry the insertion once
2. Re-derive the insertion target (file + position node) from current state
3. Check the response.success field and surface the reason to the user instead of assuming insertion happened
4. If reproducible on a fresh project, report it as a bug with the element payload

Example fix

// before
const res = await operations.insertJsxElement(request);

// after
const res = await operations.insertJsxElement({
  ...request,
  fileName: await getCurrentFileName(), // fresh target
});
if (!res.success) {
  showToast(res.reason); // 'Could not insert JSX element'
  await resyncFromProject();
}

const res = await operations.insertJsxElement(request);
if (!res.success) {
  await resyncFromProject();
  showToast(res.reason);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `insertJsxElement({element, fileName, position, ...})` while prior mutations have not been applied; passing a target file whose node-path tracking diverged; running insertions concurrently from two places.

Common situations: Inserting shapes/solids from a toolbar in an embedded editor; rapid double-insert where the second call computes state before the first is committed; project reloaded underneath a stale session.

Related errors

• Could not insert Element
• Could not reorder sequence
• Could not split video from audio
• Could not delete JSX nodes
• Could not split JSX sequence

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@b2f4e34732 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e35475ce22d00b17. Report an issue: GitHub.