Editors: Images and videos intermittently get deleted during upload or fail to persist after saving in the Rich Text Editor (RTE)

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Problem Summary

Users are experiencing intermittent failures when uploading images and videos in the Rich Text Editor. Uploaded media either fails to load, disappears after saving, or gets deleted mid-upload due to the editor returning focus to the upload position during active typing. The issue is not limited to tables - it occurs across issue descriptions, MR descriptions, and comments.

Affected Components

• Rich Text Editor (Tiptap)
• Image and video upload functionality
• Editor focus and cursor management during async uploads
• Save/persist mechanism for embedded media

Symptoms

• Uploaded images show a broken/failed state (after saving) and require multiple retry attempts
• Pasting a screenshot and immediately typing deletes the image, the editor re-focuses the cursor to the upload position mid-typing, and keypresses overwrite or remove the uploading media node
• Images that finish uploading get removed by subsequent keypresses when the editor auto-refocuses to the upload area
• Images disappear after saving even when the upload appeared to complete successfully
• Issue occurs when saving before an upload reaches 100%
• Intermittent failures with no consistent reproduction steps - sometimes works on retry without any changes

Observed Scenarios

• Waiting a few seconds after pasting before continuing to type
• Verifying the image has a valid /uploads/... path before proceeding
• Retrying the save a second time without changes
• Using Ctrl/Cmd+Z to attempt to restore a deleted image (not confirmed to work universally)

User Impact

Users are re-uploading the same assets multiple times, losing design feedback context in issues, and adopting manual workarounds just to reliably attach media. This is a consistent source of frustration.

Potential Root Causes to Investigate

• Focus management: After a paste or drop event, the editor re-focuses the cursor at the upload node while the upload is still in progress, causing keypresses to delete the media
• Race condition: Save operation executing before image upload metadata is fully processed
• State management: Rich Text Editor state not properly synchronized with uploaded media
• Backend timing: API calls for save happening before image references are properly stored
• Tiptap limitation: Async upload state handling in Tiptap may not be guarding the upload node from user input during processing

Evidence

Suggested Improvements

• Protect the upload node from deletion or overwrite while an upload is in progress
• Implement upload completion verification before allowing save
• Restore cursor position to where the user was typing rather than re-focusing on the upload node after paste
• Add a clear uploading state indicator so users know not to save yet
• Add retry logic for media persistence
• Improve error reporting when media fails to save