[BUG] Previous step state is getting reset to the initialState() values in later steps

[NankoPrinzhorn]

Hi all, I was unable to create a issue, so here I am in the Q&A section

We have just upgraded from Livewire "^v3.6" to "^v4" and also patched this Laravel Wizard package from "^v2.4" to "^3.1".

Since this upgrade we are experiencing issues with the wizard. It seems that in later steps, the state of earlier steps are getting reset to the initial state values defined in the wizard component. It could be that the implementation is incorrect, but the scenario has worked before we upgraded.

Reproduction

Repository:

https://github.com/NankoPrinzhorn/LaravelWizardInitialStateIssue

Demo screen recording:

Screen.Recording.2026-02-18.at.11.58.37.mov

Code:

// Welcome.blade.php
<div>
    <livewire:example-wizard.product-wizard :$number />
</div

// ProductWizard.php
class ProductWizard extends WizardComponent
{
    public int $number;

    public function steps(): array
    {
        return [
            Step1::class,
            Step2::class,
            Step3::class,
        ];
    }

    public function stateClass(): string
    {
        return ProductState::class;
    }

    public function initialState(): ?array
    {
        return [
            'example-wizard.steps.step1' => [
                'number' => $this->number,
                // 'stepText' => 'fake text to simulate it resets', // Uncomment this line to see it is getting reset on Step3.
            ],
        ];
    }
}

// ProductState.php
class ProductState extends State
{
    public function getStep1Data()
    {
        $data = $this->forStepClass(Step1::class);
        $data = $this->forStep('example-wizard.steps.step1');

        return [
            'number' => $data['number'],
            'stepText' => $data['stepText'], // This will throw an error in on the third step
        ];
    }
}

// Step1.php
class Step1 extends StepComponent
{
    public int $number;

    #[Validate('required')]
    public string $stepText;

    public function render()
    {
        return view('checkout-wizard.steps.step-1');
    }

    public function nextStep()
    {
        $this->validate();

        parent::nextStep();
    }
}

// step-2.blade.php, step-3.blade.php
<div>
    Data from step 1: {{ json_encode($this->state()->getStep1Data()) }}
</div>

Scenario

In Step1, two values are defined:

• A number, coming from the URL (mocking a model ID), which is passed down to the step.
• A text input, entered within the step, which should persist across all following steps.

Both Step2 and Step3 dump the data returned from the custom state method: $this->state()->getStep1Data().

Expected behaviour

It is expected that the data entered in Step1, is persistent in all following steps.

Actual behaviour

• Step2 shows the data correctly, with all expected information
• Step3 show an error, Undefined array key "stepText"

Weird Observation

After the error is shown to the user, if the user would click the error away and manually goes back to the first step. The whole process is working again as expected without errors. See below

Screen.Recording.2026-02-18.at.12.18.45.mov

[ju5t]

We have the same issue.

[ju5t]

I haven't verified if the root cause is correct, as I'm a bit under the weather and my head hurts, but according to Claude it's because of changes in Livewire 4's JS methods how they handle dotted values. Instead of it using app.wizard.steps.step-one as a key, it gets stored as'app': ['wizard'...] which corrupts things.

This trait was cooked up by Claude and goes in the wizard itself. If it works I can create a PR.

trait NestsStepState
{
    public function setStepState(string $step, array $state = []): void
    {
        if (! $this->stepNames()->contains($step)) {
            throw StepDoesNotExist::doesNotHaveState($step);
        }

        Arr::set($this->allStepState, $step, $state);
    }

    public function getCurrentStepState(?string $step = null): array
    {
        $stepName = $step ?? $this->currentStepName;

        $stepName = class_exists($stepName)
            ? $this->componentName($stepName)
            : $stepName;

        throw_if(
            ! $this->stepNames()->contains($stepName),
            StepDoesNotExist::stepNotFound($stepName)
        );

        $allStepsState = [];

        foreach ($this->stepNames() as $name) {
            $data = Arr::get($this->allStepState, $name);

            if (is_array($data)) {
                $allStepsState[$name] = $data;
            }
        }

        return array_merge(
            Arr::get($this->allStepState, $stepName, []),
            [
                'allStepNames' => $this->stepNames()->toArray(),
                'allStepsState' => $allStepsState,
                'stateClassName' => $this->stateClass(),
                'wizardClassName' => static::class,
            ],
        );
    }
}

[NankoPrinzhorn]

Cloud did cook, I tested it with replacing both functions (setStepState & getCurrentStepState) in WizardComponent class in the package, and the demo works again. I'll make a quick PR and see if all the tests work

[NankoPrinzhorn]

PR created #145. If you want to change anything, let me know. Thanks for the help!