# Nodered workspace freezes when placeholder node appears when only custom nodes are enabled

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [2 November 2023 12:25 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550 "2023-11-02T12:25:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@chiru](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/chiru)\
**Post date:** [2 November 2023 12:25 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/1 "2023-11-02T12:25:09Z")

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Hello,  
When I press on the output port of a node and drag and stop on the workspace, a placeholder node appears. Along with that a search bar and list of nodes appear as below. In the list my custom nodes names also appear.

 ![catch-node](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/c/4/c4731dab47429feee21df15964f19e052146650b.png)

However, when I disabled all the nodes in nodered (except my custom nodes) in settings.js by adding the nodes in nodesExcludes : list, performing same action as above results in the appearance of placeholder node, however, search bar along with my custom nodes doesn't appear as show in below representation purpose only image) and workspace freezes. How can I fix this issue

![custom-node](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/1/1/11a86ad7ece763a58c32f3d829191078641473b2.png)

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**Author:** ![marcus-j-davies](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/marcus-j-davies/32/103435_2.png) [@marcus-j-davies](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/marcus-j-davies)\
**Post date:** [2 November 2023 12:38 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/2 "2023-11-02T12:38:12Z")

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I'm not sure why someone will disable all nodes in Node RED - will make it a pretty dull place to work in if so.

Anyway,  
its likely an edge case - can you document the nodes you have disabled (paste your `nodesExcludes` value)

and someone else will test it, if reproducible, we will need you to raise as bug.

**EDIT:**  
Also your Node & Node RED version & browser

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@chiru](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/chiru)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 05:17 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/3 "2023-11-03T05:17:36Z")

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Hi @marcus-j-davies , thanks for the reply.  
I disabled all the nodes in Node RED so that I can display only my custom nodes.

nodesExcludes: ['05-junction.js', '24-complete.js', '20-inject.js', '21-debug.js', '25-catch.js', '25-status.js', '60-link.js', '90-comment.js', '98-unknown.js', '10-function.js', '10-switch.js', '15-change.js', '16-range.js', '80-template.js', '89-delay.js', '89-trigger.js', '90-exec.js', 'rbe.js', '05-tls.js', '06-httpproxy.js', '31-tcpin.js', '32-udp.js', '10-mqtt.js', '21-httpin.js', '22-websocket.js', '21-httprequest.js', '70-CSV.js', '70-HTML.js',  
'70-JSON.js', '70-XML.js', '70-YAML.js', '17-split.js', '18-sort.js', '19-batch.js', '10-file.js', '23-watch.js']

Node version - v16.17.0  
Node RED version - node-red@3.1.0  
Browser - Chrome

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trying\_to\_learn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/trying_to_learn/32/28400_2.png) [@Trying\_to\_learn](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Trying_to_learn)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 05:25 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/4 "2023-11-03T05:25:20Z")

</div>

I normally put the node before I put the wire.

(If that helps)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@chiru](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/chiru)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 05:26 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/5 "2023-11-03T05:26:51Z")

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@Trying_to_learn ,  
yes, putting the node and then connecting the wire works fine. But this specific case is causing the issue

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trying\_to\_learn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/trying_to_learn/32/28400_2.png) [@Trying\_to\_learn](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Trying_to_learn)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 05:30 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/6 "2023-11-03T05:30:24Z")

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But sorry...

Is it you put the `catch` node and then are putting a wire to..... (??) and let go in _mid air_ and the requestor pops up?

But it doesn't happen with other nodes?

I'm not trying to dismiss what you are saying, I'm trying to understand what's happening.

I know I (a long time ago now) had problems with some program it was doing weird things.  
I started looking at the problem - as are you - and found it was the mouse button faulty.

So I would be dragging the mouse with the LMB down and it would _release_ in _mid flight_ between where it started and where I was going and causing things to happen I wasn't wanting.

So - for me - it was a mouse button causing problems.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@chiru](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/chiru)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 05:35 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/7 "2023-11-03T05:35:05Z")

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> [@Trying\_to\_learn](#):
>
> Is it you put the `catch` node and then are putting a wire to..... (??) and let go in _mid air_ and the requestor pops up?
> 
> But it doesn't happen with other nodes?

yes, you are right. As @marcus-j-davies mentioned, this might be a edge case issue

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trying\_to\_learn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/trying_to_learn/32/28400_2.png) [@Trying\_to\_learn](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Trying_to_learn)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 05:35 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/8 "2023-11-03T05:35:16Z")

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Something else - and sorry to hijack the thread - what version of NR, what version of NODE.JS and what O/S are you using?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@chiru](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/chiru)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 05:37 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/9 "2023-11-03T05:37:27Z")

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Node version - v16.17.0  
Node RED version - node-red@3.1.0  
Browser - Chrome  
OS - Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trying\_to\_learn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/trying_to_learn/32/28400_2.png) [@Trying\_to\_learn](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Trying_to_learn)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 05:38 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/10 "2023-11-03T05:38:06Z")

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Thanks.

And which O/S? 😉

That may be of importance too.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trying\_to\_learn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/trying_to_learn/32/28400_2.png) [@Trying\_to\_learn](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Trying_to_learn)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 05:40 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/11 "2023-11-03T05:40:42Z")

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Just to put it out there.

I'm similar and if I put a `catch` node and do what you say: nothing happens.

But there again, I don't know if have the settings you have for how nodes are put on the work area.

NR 3.0.2  
node.js 16.20.2

O/S Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@chiru](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/chiru)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 05:44 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/12 "2023-11-03T05:44:07Z")

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@Trying_to_learn ,  
Yes, may be due to difference in settings. Yet, it should be easily reproducible.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Trying\_to\_learn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/trying_to_learn/32/28400_2.png) [@Trying\_to\_learn](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Trying_to_learn)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 05:45 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/13 "2023-11-03T05:45:07Z")

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could you specifically say which one you have _set_?

And sorry I just looked you did specify all the stuff I asked for in your first post.

I am having a real bad time reading these days.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@chiru](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/chiru)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 06:18 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/14 "2023-11-03T06:18:44Z")

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@Trying_to_learn , I just checked the same without any changes in settings (apart from nodesExcludes list) too and same issue happens. I think it is better to wait for @marcus-j-davies reply and see if it can be fixed easily.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![marcus-j-davies](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/marcus-j-davies/32/103435_2.png) [@marcus-j-davies](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/marcus-j-davies)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 06:32 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/15 "2023-11-03T06:32:09Z")

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Thanks @chiru

I can reproduce it.

**Browser** : Safari  
**Node RED** : 3.1.0  
**Node** : 18.18.0

![Nov-03-2023 06-29-54](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/d/1/d193421671d50b78893ba05172e7be85a2fed4ae.gif)

Console Error:

 ![Screenshot 2023-11-03 at 06.35.15](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/2/5/259c0bc1069ba9b94c952a6c92fd752722d5a4f4.png)

Can you raise a bug - and make reference to this thread?

> **[Build software better, together](https://github.com/node-red/node-red/issues/new?assignees=&labels=needs-triage&projects=&template=bug_report.yml)**
>
> GitHub is where people build software. More than 100 million people use GitHub to discover, fork, and contribute to over 330 million projects.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@chiru](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/chiru)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 06:38 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/16 "2023-11-03T06:38:18Z")

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@marcus-j-davies. Thanks for checking.  
sure.. I will raise the bug

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@chiru](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/chiru)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 07:19 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/17 "2023-11-03T07:19:39Z")

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@marcus-j-davies  
I have raised the bug on github

> <https://github.com/node-red/node-red/issues/4415>
>
> \### Current Behavior
> 
> When nodes in nodered are disabled (except custom nodes) k…eeping only custom nodes (tested 5 different kinds of custom nodes) by adding the nodes in \_nodesExcludes\_ list in settings.js and then, when I press on the output port of a custom node in workspace and drag and drop on the workspace, a placeholder node appears. However, search bar and list of nodes doesn't appear as shown in below representation purpose only image) and workspace freezes and no more actions can be performed
> 
> !\[custom-node\](https://github.com/node-red/node-red/assets/17933053/dea65265-0aed-487f-a8f0-e0f081938de2)
> 
> \*\*Pleae refer below thread for detailed description :\*\*
> https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550
> 
> \### Expected Behavior
> 
> When I press on the output port of a custom node and drag and drop on the workspace, placeholder node should appear. Along with that a search bar and list of my available custom nodes should appear as shown in below image.
> 
> !\[catch-node\](https://github.com/node-red/node-red/assets/17933053/f52b0051-c03b-4dab-a8b5-7b186eb3a7a1)
> 
> 
> \### Steps To Reproduce
> 
> 1. Add few different types of custom nodes to Node RED.
> 2. Disable default nodes in Node RED by adding them to nodesExcludes list
> nodesExcludes: \['05-junction.js', '24-complete.js', '20-inject.js', '21-debug.js', '25-catch.js', '25-status.js', '60-link.js', '90-comment.js', '98-unknown.js', '10-function.js', '10-switch.js', '15-change.js', '16-range.js', '80-template.js', '89-delay.js', '89-trigger.js', '90-exec.js', 'rbe.js', '05-tls.js', '06-httpproxy.js', '31-tcpin.js', '32-udp.js', '10-mqtt.js', '21-httpin.js', '22-websocket.js', '21-httprequest.js', '70-CSV.js', '70-HTML.js', '70-JSON.js', '70-XML.js', '70-YAML.js', '17-split.js', '18-sort.js', '19-batch.js', '10-file.js', '23-watch.js'\]
> 3. Drag and drop a custom node to workspace.
> 4. Press on the output port of a custom node in workspace and drag and drop on the workspace, a placeholder node appears. However, search bar and list of nodes doesn't appear.
> 
> 
> \### Example flow
> 
> \_No response\_
> 
> \### Environment
> 
> \- Node-RED version: 3.1.0
> \- Node.js version: 16.17.0
> \- npm version: 8.15.0
> \- Platform/OS: Ubuntu 20.04.6
> \- Browser: Chrome

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![marcus-j-davies](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/marcus-j-davies/32/103435_2.png) [@marcus-j-davies](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/marcus-j-davies)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 07:28 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/18 "2023-11-03T07:28:40Z")

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Thanks - I'm not part of the core team, but should get looked at by them.  
I added my gif

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@chiru](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/chiru)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 07:30 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/19 "2023-11-03T07:30:25Z")

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Sure.. @marcus-j-davies Thanks for the quick support. It was very helpful.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![knolleary](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/knolleary/32/3_2.png) [@knolleary](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/knolleary)\
**Post date:** [3 November 2023 11:23 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550/20 "2023-11-03T11:23:21Z")

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I have the fix, but airplane WiFi is getting in the way of pushing it. Rest assured we'll have it in 3.1.1

[Next page](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-workspace-freezes-when-placeholder-node-appears-when-only-custom-nodes-are-enabled/82550.md?page=2)