Editor bug (v4 and v5) - initial install from palette or API loads Editor resources in wrong order

TotallyInformation · 10 November 2026 17:05

Editor resources loading in the wrong order

opened 05:02PM - 10 Nov 26 UTC

needs-triage

### Current Behavior On the install of a new Node module from the palette or th…e admin API, Node-RED loads the Editor resources in the wrong order. In UIBUILDER, there are Editor and Runtime plugins as well as multiple nodes. A lot of common Editor functions were moved into the Editor Plugin on the understanding that plugins always run FIRST and so any common code will be available when a module's node Editor resources run. If you reload the Editor, the plugin resource DOES load first. But on installation, it does not. After installation, if you reload the Editor, things are loaded in the correct order. ### Expected Behavior In a custom node package, Editor and Runtime Plugins should always be executed FIRST. ### Steps To Reproduce On a clean install of Node-RED 1. Open the Editor and open the browser dev console 2. Install node-red-contrib-uibuilder from the palette manager 3. Watching the dev console while uibuilder is installed, you will see a series of errors like this: <img width="835" height="300" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/be5cc010-2776-4bc3-9c76-e76f83f546c5" /> These errors are the startup Editor resource code for the nodes attempting to access common resources. I've added more debugging on my local dev setup that clearly shows the resources for the nodes being loaded and executed BEFORE that of the plugin. If UIBUILDER is installed offline and then Node-RED restarted, it does not happen. If you reload the Editor it does not happen. ### Example flow N/A, you only need to install the node-red-contrib-uibuilder package. ### Environment - Node-RED version: v5.0.9 - Note that this happens on all v5 and v4 versions - Node.js version: v24.19.0 - npm version: 11.17.0 - Platform/OS: Windows 11 - Browser: Vivaldi (Chromium) - Latest published version of UIBUILDER, v7.7.4 and on v8 dev

Please note that this impacts any node that tries to rely on an Editor Plugin to deliver common Editor code or settings. That includes UIBUILDER.

The workaround is to make sure that you always reload the Editor page after installing a new Node module. A page reload does run things in the correct order.

knolleary · 10 November 2026 17:08

Is this a new behaviour that has changed or something you've only just spotted?

TotallyInformation · 10 November 2026 17:13

Explained in the raised issue. This happens in v4 as well as v5 so not new.

Seems like my testing for UIBUILDER not quite as robust as I thought! You can only spot it if you monitor a new install from either the admin API or (presumably) from the Palette Manager.

This is also why I've put in a request to allow more flexible installs from the Palette Manager.

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Editor bug (v4 and v5) - initial install from palette or API loads Editor resources in wrong order

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