From 3de712aca4300d1d7591d06bc66606e074ea4973 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Elian Doran <contact@eliandoran.me>
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2026 18:32:53 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix(server/search): invalid canvas crashing search (closes
 #9004)

---
 ...note_content_fulltext_preprocessor.spec.ts | 22 +++++++++
 .../note_content_fulltext_preprocessor.ts     | 48 +++++++++++--------
 2 files changed, 51 insertions(+), 19 deletions(-)

diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_fulltext_preprocessor.spec.ts b/apps/server/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_fulltext_preprocessor.spec.ts
index e01e7f2aa8..acce9d5f6c 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_fulltext_preprocessor.spec.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_fulltext_preprocessor.spec.ts
@@ -15,4 +15,26 @@ describe("Mind map preprocessing", () => {
         expect(preprocessContent("", type, mime)).toEqual("");
         expect(preprocessContent(`{ "node": " }`, type, mime)).toEqual("");
     });
+
+    it("reads data", () => {
+        expect(preprocessContent(`{ "nodedata": { "topic": "Root", "children": [ { "topic": "Child 1" }, { "topic": "Child 2", "children": [ { "topic": "Grandchild" } ] } ] } }`, type, mime)).toEqual("root, child 1, child 2, grandchild");        
+    });
+});
+
+describe("Canvas preprocessing", () => {
+    const type: NoteType = "canvas";
+    const mime = "application/json";
+
+    it("supports empty JSON", () => {
+        expect(preprocessContent("{}", type, mime)).toEqual("");
+    });
+
+    it("supports blank text / invalid JSON", () => {
+        expect(preprocessContent("", type, mime)).toEqual("");        
+    });
+
+    it("reads elements", () => {
+        expect(preprocessContent(`{ "elements": [ { "type": "text", "text": "Hello" } ] }`, type, mime)).toEqual("hello");
+        expect(preprocessContent(`{ "elements": [ { "type": "text" }, { "type": "text", "text": "World" }, { "type": "rectangle", "text": "Ignored" } ] }`, type, mime)).toEqual("world");
+    });
 });
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/apps/server/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_fulltext_preprocessor.ts b/apps/server/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_fulltext_preprocessor.ts
index ff0893b083..795c0346de 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_fulltext_preprocessor.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/services/search/expressions/note_content_fulltext_preprocessor.ts
@@ -15,25 +15,7 @@ export default function preprocessContent(content: string | Buffer, type: string
     } else if (type === "mindMap" && mime === "application/json") {
         content = processMindmapContent(content);
     } else if (type === "canvas" && mime === "application/json") {
-        interface Element {
-            type: string;
-            text?: string; // Optional since not all objects have a `text` property
-            id: string;
-            [key: string]: any; // Other properties that may exist
-        }
-
-        const canvasContent = JSON.parse(content);
-        const elements = canvasContent.elements;
-
-        if (Array.isArray(elements)) {
-            const texts = elements
-                .filter((element: Element) => element.type === "text" && element.text) // Filter for 'text' type elements with a 'text' property
-                .map((element: Element) => element.text!); // Use `!` to assert `text` is defined after filtering
-
-            content = normalize(texts.join(" "));
-        } else {
-            content = "";
-        }
+        content = processCanvasContent(content);
     }
 
     return content.trim();
@@ -98,6 +80,34 @@ function processMindmapContent(content: string) {
     return normalize(topicsString.toString());
 }
 
+function processCanvasContent(content: string) {
+    interface Element {
+        type: string;
+        text?: string; // Optional since not all objects have a `text` property
+        id: string;
+        [key: string]: any; // Other properties that may exist
+    }
+
+    let canvasContent;
+    try {
+        canvasContent = JSON.parse(content);
+    } catch (e) {
+        return "";
+    }
+    const elements = canvasContent.elements;
+
+    if (Array.isArray(elements)) {
+        const texts = elements
+            .filter((element: Element) => element.type === "text" && element.text) // Filter for 'text' type elements with a 'text' property
+            .map((element: Element) => element.text!); // Use `!` to assert `text` is defined after filtering
+
+        content = normalize(texts.join(" "));
+    } else {
+        content = "";
+    }
+    return content;
+}
+
 function stripTags(content: string) {
     // we want to allow link to preserve URLs: https://github.com/zadam/trilium/issues/2412
     // we want to insert space in place of block tags (because they imply text separation)