[Bug] Error when using Webtools URL alias with Draft & Publish enabled

[sarahanzo]

Addon

No specific addon – This bug report is related to Webtools Core

Describe the bug

When enabling Draft & Publish on a collection that uses Webtools URL aliases, the plugin throws an SQL error during bulk URL generation or alias reordering.

The error only appears after activating Draft & Publish, because Strapi duplicates entries with the same document_id (draft + published versions).

Error Log:

error: UPDATE `tests_url_alias_lnk` as a, (
  select `id`, row_number() over (partition by `test_id` order by `url_alias_ord`) as src_order
  from `tests_url_alias_lnk`
  where `test_id` = 25
) AS b
SET `url_alias_ord` = b.src_order
WHERE b.id = a.id
Record has changed since last read in table 'tests_url_alias_lnk'

Database Before Enabling Draft & Publish

tests
id | document_id | title | slug | published_at
22 | f6y...       | Test 1 | test-1 | 2025-10-09
23 | sz5...       | Test 2 | test-2 | 2025-10-09

tests_url_alias_lnk
id | test_id | url_alias_id | url_alias_ord
170 | 22 | 94 | 1
172 | 23 | 95 | 1

After Enabling Draft & Publish

tests
id | document_id | title | slug | published_at
22 | f6y... | Test 1 | test-1 | 2025-10-09
24 | f6y... | Test 1 | test-1 | NULL
23 | sz5... | Test 2 | test-2 | 2025-10-09
25 | sz5... | Test 2 | test-2 | NULL

tests_url_alias_lnk
id | test_id | url_alias_id | url_alias_ord
170 | 22 | 94 | 1
172 | 23 | 95 | 1
174 | 24 | 94 | 1
175 | 25 | 95 | 1

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Create a new collection type (e.g. test) with fields:

title (text)
slug (UID, from title)
parent_page (relation)

2. Configure Webtools URL pattern: [parent_page.slug]/[slug]
3. Create two records
4. Run Bulk Generate → works fine.
5. Enable Draft & Publish on the same collection.
6. Run Bulk Generate again → error appears.

Expected behavior

The plugin should either ignore draft entries when generating aliases, or correctly handle multiple records with the same document_id.

Screenshots

No response

Code snippets

Node.js version

v20.19.5

Package manager

NPM

Strapi version

5.27.0

Plugin version

1.7.0

Database

MariaDB

Operating system

Mac OS 14.3

Additional context

No response

[laurenskling]

I run the plugin with DP enabled just fine. Isn't the issue that you've enabled DP after having created content?

[JensUweB]

I run the plugin with DP enabled just fine. Isn't the issue that you've enabled DP after having created content?

No, this is not the case. I just tested it with my fresh from v4 to v5 migrated app with a clear database.
Adding or editing a page updates the urls as expected, but bulk generate throws this exact error.

This is a major road blocker for me. I can't just publish my update without a sitemap.

[laurenskling]

I'm running sqlite not mariaDB, so could be a DB specific issue. Don't know. Hopefully a core team member can help you

[boazpoolman]

I've just tried to reproduce this with either PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB and SQlite. None of which give me the error as described above.

@JensUweB @sarahanzo can any of you both provide an example repo in which I can witness this issue?

Apart from that it might be helpful if you post which database at what version you're using (e.g. mysql 8) and also which version of the mysql2 package you're using to accommodate the db connection.

[boazpoolman]

I'm breaking my head over this issue so I wanted to follow up on it. @JensUweB @sarahanzo could you help me by providing the information I requested in my previous comment?

[JensUweB]

I'm breaking my head over this issue so I wanted to follow up on it. @JensUweB @sarahanzo could you help me by providing the information I requested in my previous comment?

Sorry for the late reply. You can have a look at my repository if you like.

[boazpoolman]

Hi @JensUweB, thank you. I've pulled your repo and tried to reproduce the issue but I'm unable to. Could you provide a database to go with this repo? I expect there is some issue in the database.

[JensUweB]

I found out that the error occurs as soon as I add content in a second language.

1. Add an example page in EN
2. Translate the page to e.g. DE
3. Go to Webtools page
4. Regenerate all URL aliases for pages

Here is a minimal example mariadb dump. User "admin@example.com", password "Start123".
strapi-v5-webtools-bug.sql

Please make sure that you use the branch feature/strapi-v5. 😄

[boazpoolman]

Thank you @JensUweB! By using your example DB I was able to reproduce and solve the issue in PR #341.

Release will follow soon.

[boazpoolman]

I've just released as fix with version 1.7.1.

Anybody who can confirm that this solves the problem?

[JensUweB]

I've just released as fix with version 1.7.1.

Anybody who can confirm that this solves the problem?

I can confirm, the bug is fixed.
Thanks for the quick fix!

[boazpoolman]

Amazing. Thanks for the help on this one 🙂