stablyai/orca · warning · Error

Rich-text selection is unavailable

Error message

Rich-text selection is unavailable

What it means

Thrown by the injected rich-text edit expression when selectAll is requested but typeof window.getSelection !== 'function'. This is an environment capability check: the selection API is unavailable, so a select-all-then-insert operation cannot proceed. Extremely rare in modern Chromium/Electron guests but possible in heavily restricted or non-standard embeds.

Source

Thrown at src/main/browser/agent-browser-bridge.ts:136

}

// Why: rich editors reconcile only real browser edit transactions; a direct-DOM fallback can leave their model stale.
function focusedRichTextEditExpression(
  valueExpression: string,
  options?: { selectAll?: boolean }
): string {
  const selectAll = options?.selectAll ? 'true' : 'false'
  return [
    '(() => {',
    ' const target = document.activeElement;',
    ' const value = ',
    valueExpression,
    ';',
    ` const selectAll = ${selectAll};`,
    " const isEditable = target?.isContentEditable === true || /^(|true|plaintext-only)$/i.test(target?.getAttribute?.('contenteditable') ?? 'false');",
    " if (!target || target === document.body || !isEditable) { throw new Error('Focused rich-text target is unavailable'); }",
    ' if (selectAll) {',
    "   if (typeof window.getSelection !== 'function') { throw new Error('Rich-text selection is unavailable'); }",
    '   const selection = window.getSelection();',
    "   if (!selection) { throw new Error('Rich-text selection is unavailable'); }",
    '   selection.selectAllChildren(target);',
    ' }',
    " const editCommand = selectAll && value.length === 0 ? 'delete' : 'insertText';",
    ' let edited = false;',
    ' try {',
    '   edited = document.execCommand(editCommand, false, value) === true;',
    ' } catch { edited = false; }',
    " if (!edited) { throw new Error('Browser rich-text editing command failed'); }",
    ' })()'
  ].join('')
}

function isExplicitContentEditableResult(result: unknown): boolean {
  const value =
    result && typeof result === 'object' ? (result as { value?: unknown }).value : undefined
  return typeof value === 'string' && /^(|true|plaintext-only)$/i.test(value)

View on GitHub (pinned to 1136503c6a)

Solutions

1. Detect window.getSelection availability before requesting selectAll, and fall back to inserting without selecting all.
2. Avoid selectAll for editors that expose their own select-all API.
3. If the environment is known to lack the Selection API, insert at the cursor instead of replacing all content.
4. Report the environment limitation to the user rather than retrying.

Example fix

// before
await bridge.fill(editorSelector, text, { selectAll: true })

// after
const canSelectAll = await bridge.eval('typeof window.getSelection === "function"')
await bridge.fill(editorSelector, text, { selectAll: canSelectAll === true })

const selectAllSupported = await bridge.eval('typeof window.getSelection === \"function\"')\nawait bridge.fill(selector, text, { selectAll: selectAllSupported === true })

async function selectionApiAvailable(bridge: BrowserBridge): Promise<boolean> {\n  return (await bridge.eval('typeof window.getSelection === \"function\"')) === true\n}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling a rich-text fill with selectAll:true inside a browser context where window.getSelection has been deleted, shadowed, or is otherwise not a function (e.g. a stripped-down or sandboxed guest that removes the Selection API).

Common situations: A page or embedding that deletes/overrides window.getSelection, an unusual webview configuration, or an extension that clobbers the selection API.

Related errors

• Focused rich-text target is unavailable
• Browser rich-text editing command failed
• browser_tab_not_found
• [plain-node-entry-guard] "${entryName}" reaches chunk "${chu
• Electron did not expose GC; keep --js-flags=--expose-gc in t

AI-assisted analysis of stablyai/orca@1136503c6a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ca7be5fab1f98bd3. Report an issue: GitHub.