Create a page from a missing URL does not preserve that URL and can create the page elsewhere

[jusabatier]

Environment

• Wiki.js: 3.3.1, official image ghcr.io/requarks/wiki:3.3.1
• Kubernetes deployment using the official Helm chart
• External PostgreSQL database
• Instance migrated from Wiki.js 2.x
• Site primary and only active locale: fr-FR

Description

When opening a URL for a page that does not exist, Wiki.js displays the requested path and offers a Create a page button.

Clicking this button should start creating the page at that exact address. However, the save workflow does not preserve the requested URL and instead proposes a different path derived from the page title.

The original URL can therefore remain missing even after the user has followed its creation workflow and successfully saved a page.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open a URL pointing to a page that does not exist:

   https://wiki.example.org/fr/outils/qgis/methodes/test
   

2. Wiki.js displays the missing-page message, the path /outils/qgis/methodes/test, and a Create a page button.

3. Click Create a page.

4. Set the title to Test creation and enter some Markdown content.

5. Save the page.

6. The Save as dialog proposes test-creation as the Path Name, instead of retaining the address from which creation was started.

In my initial attempt, the page was saved at the site root under a title-derived path, rather than at the requested nested address.

The title-derived path behavior is still reproducible in 3.3.1.

Expected behavior

Starting creation from:

/fr/outils/qgis/methodes/test

should create the page at:

/fr/outils/qgis/methodes/test

The title may be completely different from the URL. Setting or changing the title must not silently change the requested destination.

The locale, parent path and final path segment should all be retained. If intermediate folders do not exist, the workflow should handle that explicitly while preserving the requested destination.

Actual behavior and impact

The workflow behaves like a generic “create a new page somewhere” operation, despite being initiated through a button offering to create a specific missing page.

This can cause:

• The original link to remain broken after successful creation.
• Pages to be saved under unintended names or folders.
• Contributors to create additional pages when they revisit the original URL and are again offered to create it.

[dylanpulver]

I traced this in the 3.3.1 source and it's a bug in the Save As dialog, not in the missing-page button.

The button does pass the right path. It calls pageCreate with the address you opened (Index.vue), and a path given that way is kept as is (page.js). On save, the editor hands that path to the Save As dialog (PageHeader.vue).

The dialog loses it. On open it sets the title and then the path name in the same tick (TreeBrowserDialog.vue). The title watcher runs right after and, because the path field hasn't been touched yet, overwrites the path name with a slug of the title (watcher). So test becomes test-creation. I checked the ordering with a minimal component on Vue 3.5.45, the version 3.3.1 ships, and the path ends up as test-creation. I didn't run a full Wiki.js instance.

The folder comes from the tree. The dialog only opens on outils/qgis/methodes if that folder already exists (L764-L773). If it doesn't, it stays on the root, which matches your first attempt.

Workaround until it's fixed: in Save As, select the methodes folder in the tree (create it there if it's missing), then click into Path Name and type test. Once you've focused that field, changing the title no longer touches it.

[JamesElstone]

Would the Wiki.js maintainers welcome a focused fix and PR, to avoid duplicating work?

[jusabatier]

The dialog only opens on outils/qgis/methodes if that folder already exists (L764-L773). If it doesn't, it stays on the root

In v2, when I wanted to create a new page from its path, I navigate to this path, then click on the create button and it create the page at the location. Even if the directory doesn't exist. It was very practical for quickly redact documentations as I can create links in an article, then click on it and create the related page directly without worry about the path.

Cant't it be the same in v3 ?

[NGPixel]

Fixed via 7d44406. Will land in next release.