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ComfyUI_frontend/docs
Christian Byrne 19dc48b69a docs: document PrimitiveNode copy/paste semantics and widgets_values loss (#9119)
## Summary

Documents the PrimitiveNode copy/paste bug mechanism and connection
lifecycle semantics in `WIDGET_SERIALIZATION.md`. This is tribal
knowledge from debugging
[#1757](https://github.com/Comfy-Org/ComfyUI_frontend/issues/1757) and
the related [Slack
discussion](https://comfy-organization.slack.com/archives/C09AQRB49QX/p1771806268469089).

## What's documented

- **The clone→serialize gap**: `_serializeItems()` calls
`item.clone()?.serialize()`. The clone has no `this.widgets`
(PrimitiveNode creates them on connection), so `serialize()` silently
drops `widgets_values`.
- **Why seed survives but control_after_generate doesn't**: Primary
widget value is copied from the target on reconnect; secondary widgets
read from `this.widgets_values` which was lost.
- **Current vs. proposed lifecycle**: Empty-on-copy → morph-on-connect
(current) vs. clone-configured-instance → empty-on-disconnect
(proposed).
- **Design considerations**: `input.widget` override flexibility,
deserialization ordering, and the minimal `serialize()` override fix.

## Related

- Issue: #1757
- Fix PR: #8938
- Companion: #9102 (initial WIDGET_SERIALIZATION.md), #9105 (type/JSDoc
improvements)
- Notion: COM-15282

┆Issue is synchronized with this [Notion
page](https://www.notion.so/PR-9119-docs-document-PrimitiveNode-copy-paste-semantics-and-widgets_values-loss-3106d73d3650816ba7f7d9e6f3bb3868)
by [Unito](https://www.unito.io)
2026-02-23 10:47:11 -08:00
..