Project changed during Element installation. Please try agai

Error message

Project changed during Element installation. Please try again.

What it means

During a multi-step Element installation, the operations controller holds a reference to the project object it started with. After dependencies are added and before applying node-path mutations, it verifies the project reference is unchanged. If getProject() returns a different object, the project was reloaded/replaced concurrently, and applying the mutation would corrupt state — so the install aborts and asks the user to retry.

Source

Thrown at packages/browser-studio/src/browser-studio-operations.ts:2145

									durationInFrames,
									from: request.from,
									name: request.element.displayName,
									position: request.position,
								},
					});
				const projectWithElement = {
					...insertion.project,
					files: {
						...insertion.project.files,
						[plan.elementFilePath]: request.element.sourceCode,
					},
				};
				const nextProject = addDependenciesToProject({
					dependencies: installedDependencies,
					project: projectWithElement,
				});
				if (getProject() !== project) {
					throw new Error(
						'Project changed during Element installation. Please try again.',
					);
				}

				const nodePathMutation = controller.applyMutation({
					timelineSelection: null,
					fileName: insertion.filePath,
					mutate: () => nextProject,
					nodePathMutationFiles: [
						{
							absolutePath: insertion.filePath,
							remappings: insertion.nodePathRemappings,
						},
					],
				});
				if (nodePathMutation === null) {
					throw new Error('Could not insert Element');
				}

View on GitHub (pinned to b2f4e34732)

Solutions

Retry the Element installation once the project state is stable (as the message says)
Ensure operations against the same project are serialized/awaited rather than fired concurrently
Avoid triggering project reloads or navigation while an installation is in flight
Check for duplicated/overlapping invocations of the install operation in your automation code

Example fix

// before
installElement({...}); // not awaited, second call starts immediately
installElement({...});
// after
await installElement({...});
await installElement({...});

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Try / catch

try {
	await installElement({...});
} catch (err) {
	if ((err as Error).message.includes('Project changed during Element installation')) {
		await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 500));
		await installElement({...}); // retry once after state settles
	} else throw err;
}

Prevention

Serialize all project-mutating operations (await each before the next)
Don't navigate or reload the project while an install is running
Queue concurrent user-triggered installs instead of running them in parallel

When it happens

Trigger: Another operation (or the Studio UI) replacing/reloading the project while an Element installation is in progress; two installs running concurrently against the same project; a hot-reload or external mutation that swaps the project object mid-installation.

Common situations: User triggers a second install or project navigation while the first install's async work is still running; an editor or another automation client mutates the project during the install window.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid state transition" errors: "status must be X, actually Y", "already rejected/charging/uninstalled", "cannot ... while running" — what they mean when a library rejects your call — this error's family across 31 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@b2f4e34732 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e76af6dba423d910. Report an issue: GitHub.