fix(ui): prevent false positive stale data modal on autosave-enabled documents (#15817)

## Summary
Temporarily disable stale data checking for autosave-enabled collections
and globals to prevent false positives from race conditions.

## Problem
When autosave is enabled (collections or globals), rapid edits trigger a
race condition between autosave completion and onChange debounce,
causing the "Document Modified" modal to incorrectly appear for the same
user.

## Approaches Considered

Several approaches were explored to distinguish between a user's own
autosaves and another user's changes:

1. **Track autosave queue status**: Add an `autosaveQueued` flag to skip
stale checks when autosave is processing. This fixes the false positive
(same user seeing their own changes as stale), but creates false
negatives in multi-user scenarios. When User 2 starts typing, their own
autosave could queue before onChange fires, causing the check to skip
even when User 1 has legitimately modified the document.

2. **Grace period after page load**: Skip stale checks for X seconds
after opening a document. This is an arbitrary time-based workaround
that doesn't address the root cause and has unreliable edge cases (what
if autosave takes longer than the grace period?).

3. **Shared queue between Form and Autosave**: Have both components use
the same task queue to coordinate timing. While architecturally sound,
this requires a major refactor and still doesn't solve the fundamental
issue that autosave's potentially shorter debounce causes it to queue
before onChange.

4. **Immediate stale check without debounce**: Perform the stale data
check directly in the Form component on every keystroke instead of
waiting for the debounced onChange. This could work but duplicates
onChange logic, requires watching formState changes without debounce,
and could cause performance issues.

5. **Combined approaches**: Mix multiple approaches (e.g.,
autosaveQueued + grace period). This adds significant complexity without
fully solving the problem - still vulnerable to edge cases and race
conditions.

All approaches were flawed because they tried to work around the timing
issue rather than addressing the fundamental problem: we can't reliably
distinguish between a user's own autosaves and another user's changes
without tracking who made each change.
## Solution
Disable stale data checking when:
- Collections: `versions.drafts.autosave` is configured
- Globals: `versions.drafts.autosave` is configured

Autosave-enabled documents already have frequent saves for conflict
resolution.

## Future Work (v4.0)
Implement proper `updatedBy` tracking to compare current user vs last
editor. This is the correct solution but requires breaking schema
changes.

## Changes
- Skip stale check when `hasAutosaveEnabled(docConfig)` returns true

Fixes #15803

Author: PatrikKozak

packages/ui/src/views/Edit/index.tsx

@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ export function DefaultEditView({
         void refreshCookieAsync()
       }
 
-      setLastUpdateTime(updatedAt)
+      setLastUpdateTime(new Date(updatedAt).getTime())
 
       // Update stale data check refs after successful save
       // This allows detecting if another user modifies the document after this save
@@ -483,8 +483,13 @@ export function DefaultEditView({
       }
 
       // Check for stale data on first edit only
+      // Skip this check entirely for autosave-enabled collections/globals to prevent
+      // false positives from the user's own autosaves
       const checkForStaleData =
-        !hasCheckedForStaleDataRef.current && originalUpdatedAtRef.current && operation === 'update'
+        !hasCheckedForStaleDataRef.current &&
+        originalUpdatedAtRef.current &&
+        operation === 'update' &&
+        !autosaveEnabled
 
       if (checkForStaleData) {
         hasCheckedForStaleDataRef.current = true
@@ -542,6 +547,7 @@ export function DefaultEditView({
       operation,
       schemaPathSegments,
       handleDocumentLocking,
+      autosaveEnabled,
     ],
   )
 

test/locked-documents/collections/Autosave/index.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'
+
+import { autosaveSlug } from '../../slugs.js'
+
+export const AutosaveCollection: CollectionConfig = {
+  slug: autosaveSlug,
+  admin: {
+    useAsTitle: 'fieldA',
+  },
+  fields: [
+    {
+      name: 'fieldA',
+      type: 'text',
+    },
+    {
+      name: 'fieldB',
+      type: 'text',
+    },
+  ],
+  versions: {
+    drafts: {
+      autosave: {
+        interval: 100,
+      },
+    },
+  },
+}

test/locked-documents/config.ts

@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
 import path from 'path'
 
 import { buildConfigWithDefaults } from '../buildConfigWithDefaults.js'
+import { AutosaveCollection } from './collections/Autosave/index.js'
 import { PagesCollection } from './collections/Pages/index.js'
 import { PostsCollection } from './collections/Posts/index.js'
 import { ServerComponentsCollection } from './collections/ServerComponents/index.js'
@@ -10,6 +11,7 @@ import { SimpleWithVersionsCollection } from './collections/SimpleWithVersions/i
 import { TestsCollection } from './collections/Tests/index.js'
 import { Users } from './collections/Users/index.js'
 import { AdminGlobal } from './globals/Admin/index.js'
+import { AutosaveGlobal } from './globals/AutosaveGlobal/index.js'
 import { GlobalWithVersions } from './globals/GlobalWithVersions/index.js'
 import { MenuGlobal } from './globals/Menu/index.js'
 import { seed } from './seed.js'
@@ -24,6 +26,7 @@ export default buildConfigWithDefaults({
     },
   },
   collections: [
+    AutosaveCollection,
     PagesCollection,
     PostsCollection,
     ServerComponentsCollection,
@@ -32,7 +35,7 @@ export default buildConfigWithDefaults({
     TestsCollection,
     Users,
   ],
-  globals: [AdminGlobal, GlobalWithVersions, MenuGlobal],
+  globals: [AdminGlobal, AutosaveGlobal, GlobalWithVersions, MenuGlobal],
   onInit: async (payload) => {
     if (process.env.SEED_IN_CONFIG_ONINIT !== 'false') {
       await seed(payload)

test/locked-documents/e2e.spec.ts

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import { fileURLToPath } from 'url'
 
 import type { PayloadTestSDK } from '../__helpers/shared/sdk/index.js'
 import type {
+  Autosave,
   Config,
   Page as PageType,
   PayloadLockedDocument,
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ let serverComponentsUrl: AdminUrlUtil
 let testsUrl: AdminUrlUtil
 let simpleUrl: AdminUrlUtil
 let simpleWithVersionsUrl: AdminUrlUtil
+let autosaveUrl: AdminUrlUtil
 let payload: PayloadTestSDK<Config>
 let serverURL: string
 
@@ -61,6 +63,7 @@ describe('Locked Documents', () => {
     testsUrl = new AdminUrlUtil(serverURL, 'tests')
     simpleUrl = new AdminUrlUtil(serverURL, 'simple')
     simpleWithVersionsUrl = new AdminUrlUtil(serverURL, 'simple-with-versions')
+    autosaveUrl = new AdminUrlUtil(serverURL, 'autosave')
 
     const context = await browser.newContext()
     page = await context.newPage()
@@ -1733,6 +1736,60 @@ describe('Locked Documents', () => {
         // Modal should still NOT appear
         await expect(modalContainer).toBeHidden()
       })
+
+      test('should not show stale data modal after autosave for same user with rapid edits', async () => {
+        const createdAutosaveIDs: string[] = []
+
+        // Create an autosave document
+        const autosaveDoc = (await payload.create({
+          collection: 'autosave',
+          data: {
+            fieldA: 'Initial Value',
+            fieldB: 'Initial Value B',
+          },
+        })) as unknown as Autosave
+
+        createdAutosaveIDs.push(autosaveDoc.id)
+
+        await page.goto(autosaveUrl.edit(autosaveDoc.id))
+
+        // Simulate very slow CPU to create reliable race condition
+        const client = await page.context().newCDPSession(page)
+        await client.send('Emulation.setCPUThrottlingRate', { rate: 50 })
+
+        const fieldA = page.locator('#field-fieldA')
+        const modalContainer = page.locator('.payload__modal-container')
+
+        // Make many rapid edits to create multiple queued autosaves
+        for (let i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
+          await fieldA.fill(`Edit ${i}`)
+          // eslint-disable-next-line payload/no-wait-function
+          await wait(30)
+        }
+
+        // Wait for all autosaves to process
+        // eslint-disable-next-line payload/no-wait-function
+        await wait(2000)
+
+        // Make one more edit to trigger stale data check
+        await fieldA.fill('Final Edit')
+        // eslint-disable-next-line payload/no-wait-function
+        await wait(500)
+
+        // Modal should NOT appear because it's the same user
+        await expect(modalContainer).toBeHidden()
+
+        // Clean up
+        await client.send('Emulation.setCPUThrottlingRate', { rate: 1 })
+        await client.detach()
+
+        // Clean up created autosave document
+        for (const id of createdAutosaveIDs) {
+          await payload.delete({ collection: 'autosave', id }).catch(() => {
+            // Ignore deletion errors (document might already be deleted)
+          })
+        }
+      })
     })
 
     describe('globals', () => {
@@ -2071,6 +2128,40 @@ describe('Locked Documents', () => {
         modalContainer = page.locator('.payload__modal-container')
         await expect(modalContainer).toBeVisible()
       })
+
+      test('should not show stale data modal for autosave-enabled global with rapid edits', async () => {
+        await page.goto(globalUrl.global('autosave-global'))
+
+        // Simulate very slow CPU to create reliable race condition
+        const client = await page.context().newCDPSession(page)
+        await client.send('Emulation.setCPUThrottlingRate', { rate: 50 })
+
+        const textField = page.locator('#field-text')
+        const modalContainer = page.locator('.payload__modal-container')
+
+        // Make many rapid edits to create multiple queued autosaves
+        for (let i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
+          await textField.fill(`Edit ${i}`)
+          // eslint-disable-next-line payload/no-wait-function
+          await wait(30)
+        }
+
+        // Wait for all autosaves to process
+        // eslint-disable-next-line payload/no-wait-function
+        await wait(2000)
+
+        // Make one more edit to trigger stale data check
+        await textField.fill('Final Edit')
+        // eslint-disable-next-line payload/no-wait-function
+        await wait(500)
+
+        // Modal should NOT appear because stale check is disabled for autosave-enabled globals
+        await expect(modalContainer).toBeHidden()
+
+        // Clean up
+        await client.send('Emulation.setCPUThrottlingRate', { rate: 1 })
+        await client.detach()
+      })
     })
   })
 })

test/locked-documents/globals/AutosaveGlobal/index.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import type { GlobalConfig } from 'payload'
+
+export const autosaveGlobalSlug = 'autosave-global'
+
+export const AutosaveGlobal: GlobalConfig = {
+  slug: autosaveGlobalSlug,
+  fields: [
+    {
+      name: 'text',
+      type: 'text',
+    },
+  ],
+  versions: {
+    drafts: {
+      autosave: {
+        interval: 100,
+      },
+    },
+  },
+}

test/locked-documents/payload-types.ts

@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ export interface Config {
   };
   blocks: {};
   collections: {
+    autosave: Autosave;
     pages: Page;
     posts: Post;
     'server-components': ServerComponent;
@@ -81,6 +82,7 @@ export interface Config {
   };
   collectionsJoins: {};
   collectionsSelect: {
+    autosave: AutosaveSelect<false> | AutosaveSelect<true>;
     pages: PagesSelect<false> | PagesSelect<true>;
     posts: PostsSelect<false> | PostsSelect<true>;
     'server-components': ServerComponentsSelect<false> | ServerComponentsSelect<true>;
@@ -99,15 +101,20 @@ export interface Config {
   fallbackLocale: null;
   globals: {
     admin: Admin;
+    'autosave-global': AutosaveGlobal;
     'global-with-versions': GlobalWithVersion;
     menu: Menu;
   };
   globalsSelect: {
     admin: AdminSelect<false> | AdminSelect<true>;
+    'autosave-global': AutosaveGlobalSelect<false> | AutosaveGlobalSelect<true>;
     'global-with-versions': GlobalWithVersionsSelect<false> | GlobalWithVersionsSelect<true>;
     menu: MenuSelect<false> | MenuSelect<true>;
   };
   locale: null;
+  widgets: {
+    collections: CollectionsWidget;
+  };
   user: User;
   jobs: {
     tasks: unknown;
@@ -132,6 +139,18 @@ export interface UserAuthOperations {
     password: string;
   };
 }
+/**
+ * This interface was referenced by `Config`'s JSON-Schema
+ * via the `definition` "autosave".
+ */
+export interface Autosave {
+  id: string;
+  fieldA?: string | null;
+  fieldB?: string | null;
+  updatedAt: string;
+  createdAt: string;
+  _status?: ('draft' | 'published') | null;
+}
 /**
  * This interface was referenced by `Config`'s JSON-Schema
  * via the `definition` "pages".
@@ -280,6 +299,10 @@ export interface PayloadKv {
 export interface PayloadLockedDocument {
   id: string;
   document?:
+    | ({
+        relationTo: 'autosave';
+        value: string | Autosave;
+      } | null)
     | ({
         relationTo: 'posts';
         value: string | Post;
@@ -346,6 +369,17 @@ export interface PayloadMigration {
   updatedAt: string;
   createdAt: string;
 }
+/**
+ * This interface was referenced by `Config`'s JSON-Schema
+ * via the `definition` "autosave_select".
+ */
+export interface AutosaveSelect<T extends boolean = true> {
+  fieldA?: T;
+  fieldB?: T;
+  updatedAt?: T;
+  createdAt?: T;
+  _status?: T;
+}
 /**
  * This interface was referenced by `Config`'s JSON-Schema
  * via the `definition` "pages_select".
@@ -483,6 +517,17 @@ export interface Admin {
   updatedAt?: string | null;
   createdAt?: string | null;
 }
+/**
+ * This interface was referenced by `Config`'s JSON-Schema
+ * via the `definition` "autosave-global".
+ */
+export interface AutosaveGlobal {
+  id: string;
+  text?: string | null;
+  _status?: ('draft' | 'published') | null;
+  updatedAt?: string | null;
+  createdAt?: string | null;
+}
 /**
  * This interface was referenced by `Config`'s JSON-Schema
  * via the `definition` "global-with-versions".
@@ -514,6 +559,17 @@ export interface AdminSelect<T extends boolean = true> {
   createdAt?: T;
   globalType?: T;
 }
+/**
+ * This interface was referenced by `Config`'s JSON-Schema
+ * via the `definition` "autosave-global_select".
+ */
+export interface AutosaveGlobalSelect<T extends boolean = true> {
+  text?: T;
+  _status?: T;
+  updatedAt?: T;
+  createdAt?: T;
+  globalType?: T;
+}
 /**
  * This interface was referenced by `Config`'s JSON-Schema
  * via the `definition` "global-with-versions_select".
@@ -535,6 +591,16 @@ export interface MenuSelect<T extends boolean = true> {
   createdAt?: T;
   globalType?: T;
 }
+/**
+ * This interface was referenced by `Config`'s JSON-Schema
+ * via the `definition` "collections_widget".
+ */
+export interface CollectionsWidget {
+  data?: {
+    [k: string]: unknown;
+  };
+  width: 'full';
+}
 /**
  * This interface was referenced by `Config`'s JSON-Schema
  * via the `definition` "auth".

test/locked-documents/slugs.ts

@@ -10,4 +10,15 @@ export const usersSlug = 'users'
 
 export const globalWithVersionsSlug = 'global-with-versions'
 
-export const collectionSlugs = [pagesSlug, postsSlug, simpleSlug, simpleWithVersionsSlug, usersSlug]
+export const autosaveSlug = 'autosave'
+
+export const autosaveGlobalSlug = 'autosave-global'
+
+export const collectionSlugs = [
+  autosaveSlug,
+  pagesSlug,
+  postsSlug,
+  simpleSlug,
+  simpleWithVersionsSlug,
+  usersSlug,
+]