fix(db-mongodb): virtual fields within blocks

[jacobsfletch]

Virtual fields within blocks are persisting to the database unexpectedly.

For example, consider the following config:

import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'

export const Customers: CollectionConfig = {
  slug: 'posts',
  fields: [
    {
      name: 'blockWithVirtual',
      type: 'blocks',
      blocks: [
        {
          slug: 'blockWithVirtual',
          fields: [
            {
              name: 'text',
              type: 'text',
            },
            {
              name: 'virtualField',
              type: 'text',
              virtual: true,
            },
          ],
        },
      ],
    },
  ]
}

When posting a document containing a value on the virtual field, the virtual field is saved to the database.

For example:

const doc = await payload.create({
  collection: 'posts',
  data: {
    blockWithVirtual: [
      {
        blockType: 'blockWithVirtual',
        text: 'some text',
        virtualField: 'should not be saved',
      },
    ],
  },
})

const docFromDB = await payload.db.findOne({
  collection: 'posts',
  where: {
    id: {
      equals: created.id
    }
  },
})

// {
//   "createdAt": "2026-03-30T20:55:43.551Z",
//   "updatedAt": "2026-03-30T20:55:43.551Z",
//   "blockWithVirtual": [
//     {
//       "blockType": "blockWithVirtual",
//       "text": "some text",
//       "id": "69cae34f92d21769bbb7ab83",
//       "virtualField": "should not be saved" // THIS SHOULD NOT BE SAVED TO THE DB
//     }
//   ],
//   "id": "69cae34fc960c2d4d84f220a"
// }

[github-actions]

📦 esbuild Bundle Analysis for payload

This analysis was generated by esbuild-bundle-analyzer. 🤖

Meta File	Out File	Size (raw)	Note
packages/next/meta_index.json	esbuild/index.js	984.97 KB	🆕 Added
packages/payload/meta_index.json	esbuild/index.js	1.34 MB	🆕 Added
packages/payload/meta_shared.json	esbuild/exports/shared.js	190.93 KB	🆕 Added
packages/richtext-lexical/meta_client.json	esbuild/exports/client_optimized/index.js	280.56 KB	🆕 Added
packages/ui/meta_client.json	esbuild/exports/client_optimized/index.js	1.18 MB	🆕 Added
packages/ui/meta_shared.json	esbuild/exports/shared_optimized/index.js	16.32 KB	🆕 Added

Largest paths

These visualization shows top 20 largest paths in the bundle.

Meta file: packages/next/meta_index.json, Out file: esbuild/index.js

Path	Size
../../node_modules	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ████████████████████▋ }}}$ 82.5%, 808.32 KB
dist/views/Version	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ █▎ }}}$ 5.3%, 51.49 KB
dist/views/Dashboard	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▌ }}}$ 2.2%, 21.37 KB
dist/views/Document	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▍ }}}$ 1.7%, 16.59 KB
dist/views/List	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.2%, 11.38 KB
dist/views/Root	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.9%, 9.03 KB
dist/views/Versions	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 6.17 KB
dist/views/API	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 6.13 KB
dist/elements/Nav	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 5.96 KB
dist/views/Account	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 5.55 KB
dist/elements/DocumentHeader	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.5%, 4.81 KB
dist/views/Login	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.4%, 4.40 KB
dist/layouts/Root	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.3%, 3.18 KB
dist/views/ForgotPassword	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.3%, 3.13 KB
dist/views/CreateFirstUser	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.3%, 2.81 KB
dist/templates/Default	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.3%, 2.64 KB
dist/views/BrowseByFolder	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.3%, 2.61 KB
dist/views/CollectionFolders	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.2%, 2.44 KB
dist/views/ResetPassword	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.2%, 2.40 KB
dist/views/Logout	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.2%, 1.94 KB
(other)	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ████▍ }}}$ 17.5%, 171.97 KB

Meta file: packages/payload/meta_index.json, Out file: esbuild/index.js

Path	Size
../../node_modules	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ████████████████▉ }}}$ 67.9%, 908.32 KB
dist/fields/hooks	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▊ }}}$ 3.3%, 44.01 KB
dist/collections/operations	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▊ }}}$ 3.0%, 39.92 KB
dist/versions/migrations	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.4%, 18.50 KB
dist/auth/operations	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.2%, 15.63 KB
dist/globals/operations	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.0%, 13.19 KB
dist/utilities/configToJSONSchema.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.0%, 13.13 KB
dist/fields/config	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.0%, 12.90 KB
dist/queues/operations	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.0%, 12.80 KB
dist/fields/validations.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.8%, 10.54 KB
dist/bin/generateImportMap	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.7%, 8.87 KB
dist/config/orderable	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 8.65 KB
dist/collections/config	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 8.35 KB
dist/index.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 7.69 KB
dist/uploads/fetchAPI-multipart	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 7.67 KB
dist/database/migrations	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 7.54 KB
dist/collections/endpoints	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.5%, 6.23 KB
dist/config/sanitize.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.4%, 5.80 KB
dist/auth/strategies	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.4%, 5.50 KB
dist/queues/config	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.4%, 5.34 KB
(other)	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ████████ }}}$ 32.1%, 428.78 KB

Meta file: packages/payload/meta_shared.json, Out file: esbuild/exports/shared.js

Path	Size
../../node_modules	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ███████████████████▊ }}}$ 79.3%, 148.51 KB
dist/fields/validations.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ █▍ }}}$ 5.6%, 10.54 KB
dist/config/orderable	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▍ }}}$ 1.7%, 3.13 KB
dist/fields/baseFields	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▍ }}}$ 1.5%, 2.79 KB
dist/utilities/deepCopyObject.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.4%, 2.54 KB
dist/auth/cookies.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.8%, 1.55 KB
dist/utilities/flattenTopLevelFields.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.8%, 1.42 KB
dist/fields/config	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.7%, 1.28 KB
dist/utilities/getVersionsConfig.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 1.04 KB
dist/utilities/flattenAllFields.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.5%, 943 B
dist/folders/utils	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.5%, 916 B
dist/utilities/unflatten.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.4%, 779 B
dist/utilities/sanitizeUserDataForEmail.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.4%, 713 B
dist/utilities/getFieldPermissions.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.3%, 651 B
dist/collections/config	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.3%, 570 B
dist/bin/generateImportMap	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.3%, 561 B
dist/auth/sessions.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.3%, 525 B
dist/fields/getFieldPaths.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.3%, 485 B
dist/errors/APIError.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.2%, 438 B
dist/utilities/getSafeRedirect.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ }}}$ 0.2%, 423 B
(other)	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ █████▏ }}}$ 20.7%, 38.75 KB

Meta file: packages/richtext-lexical/meta_client.json, Out file: esbuild/exports/client_optimized/index.js

Path	Size
dist/features/blocks	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ███▏ }}}$ 12.8%, 35.38 KB
dist/lexical/plugins	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ██▉ }}}$ 11.5%, 32.00 KB
dist/lexical/ui	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ██▏ }}}$ 8.8%, 24.36 KB
dist/features/experimental_table	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ██▏ }}}$ 8.5%, 23.70 KB
dist/packages/@lexical	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ █▋ }}}$ 6.8%, 18.99 KB
dist/features/link	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ █▋ }}}$ 6.6%, 18.24 KB
dist/features/toolbars	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ █▍ }}}$ 5.8%, 16.08 KB
dist/features/upload	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ █▎ }}}$ 5.0%, 13.77 KB
dist/features/textState	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ █ }}}$ 4.0%, 11.08 KB
dist/features/relationship	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▊ }}}$ 3.3%, 9.03 KB
dist/lexical/utils	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▊ }}}$ 3.1%, 8.49 KB
dist/features/debug	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▋ }}}$ 2.7%, 7.39 KB
dist/utilities/fieldsDrawer	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▋ }}}$ 2.6%, 7.15 KB
dist/features/converters	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▋ }}}$ 2.5%, 7.05 KB
dist/lexical/config	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▍ }}}$ 1.8%, 5.08 KB
dist/features/lists	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▍ }}}$ 1.8%, 5.00 KB
dist/features/format	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.2%, 3.46 KB
dist/lexical/LexicalEditor.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.2%, 3.22 KB
dist/lexical/theme	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.9%, 2.62 KB
dist/field/Field.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.9%, 2.59 KB
(other)	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ █████████████████████▊ }}}$ 87.2%, 241.93 KB

Meta file: packages/ui/meta_client.json, Out file: esbuild/exports/client_optimized/index.js

Path	Size
../../node_modules	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ████████████▎ }}}$ 49.3%, 579.02 KB
dist/elements/FolderView	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▋ }}}$ 2.5%, 29.37 KB
dist/elements/BulkUpload	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▌ }}}$ 2.4%, 27.80 KB
dist/elements/WhereBuilder	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▍ }}}$ 1.5%, 17.38 KB
dist/views/Edit	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▍ }}}$ 1.5%, 17.30 KB
dist/forms/Form	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.4%, 15.85 KB
dist/fields/Relationship	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.3%, 15.78 KB
dist/elements/Table	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.3%, 15.77 KB
dist/fields/Upload	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.2%, 14.24 KB
dist/fields/Blocks	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.2%, 13.89 KB
dist/elements/QueryPresets	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.9%, 10.36 KB
dist/elements/PublishButton	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.8%, 9.09 KB
dist/providers/Folders	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.7%, 8.47 KB
dist/elements/HTMLDiff	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.7%, 8.38 KB
dist/elements/ListHeader	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.7%, 7.99 KB
dist/fields/Array	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.7%, 7.73 KB
dist/views/CollectionFolder	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 7.50 KB
dist/views/List	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 7.35 KB
dist/elements/ReactSelect	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 7.33 KB
dist/elements/LivePreview	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.6%, 7.02 KB
(other)	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ████████████▋ }}}$ 50.7%, 594.89 KB

Meta file: packages/ui/meta_shared.json, Out file: esbuild/exports/shared_optimized/index.js

Path	Size
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../../node_modules	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ████▎ }}}$ 17.0%, 2.65 KB
dist/graphics/Icon	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ██▍ }}}$ 9.8%, 1.52 KB
dist/utilities/formatDocTitle	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ██▏ }}}$ 8.5%, 1.32 KB
dist/providers/TableColumns	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ █▍ }}}$ 5.5%, 862 B
dist/utilities/groupNavItems.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ █▎ }}}$ 5.2%, 814 B
dist/utilities/getGlobalData.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ █▏ }}}$ 4.9%, 762 B
dist/utilities/api.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ █▏ }}}$ 4.8%, 756 B
dist/elements/Translation	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▊ }}}$ 3.2%, 493 B
dist/utilities/handleTakeOver.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▋ }}}$ 2.8%, 440 B
dist/utilities/traverseForLocalizedFields.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▋ }}}$ 2.6%, 399 B
dist/elements/withMergedProps	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▌ }}}$ 2.2%, 339 B
dist/utilities/getVisibleEntities.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▌ }}}$ 2.1%, 329 B
dist/utilities/getNavGroups.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▍ }}}$ 1.9%, 301 B
dist/elements/WithServerSideProps	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▍ }}}$ 1.5%, 232 B
dist/utilities/handleGoBack.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.2%, 180 B
dist/fields/mergeFieldStyles.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.0%, 159 B
dist/utilities/handleBackToDashboard.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▎ }}}$ 1.0%, 152 B
dist/forms/Form	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.9%, 147 B
dist/utilities/abortAndIgnore.js	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ▏ }}}$ 0.9%, 146 B
(other)	${{\color{Goldenrod}{ ████████████████████ }}}$ 80.0%, 12.51 KB

Details

Next to the size is how much the size has increased or decreased compared with the base branch of this PR.

• ‼️: Size increased by 20% or more. Special attention should be given to this.
• ⚠️: Size increased in acceptable range (lower than 20%).
• ✅: No change or even downsized.
• 🗑️: The out file is deleted: not found in base branch.
• 🆕: The out file is newly found: will be added to base branch.

[github-actions]

🚀 This is included in version v3.81.0