From 0e8073f8d52395868903a64a86e020627fd8d520 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ido Shamun <1993245+idoshamun@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:48:10 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix: prevent empty image object from being sent in freeform
 post creation

When creating a freeform post without a thumbnail image, the image field
could be sent as an empty/invalid object ({}) to the API. This happens
because the form's file input produces a value that isn't a valid File
but is still truthy, so graphql-request serializes it as {} in the JSON
payload. The API then tries to process it as a file upload and crashes
with 'Unexpected error'.

Fix: strip the image field from the GraphQL variables unless it is a
valid File instance with non-zero size. Applied both at the call site
(create.tsx) and defensively in the shared createPostInMultipleSources
function.

Closes dailydotdev/daily#2095
---
 packages/shared/src/graphql/posts.ts    | 7 ++++++-
 packages/webapp/pages/squads/create.tsx | 3 ++-
 2 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/packages/shared/src/graphql/posts.ts b/packages/shared/src/graphql/posts.ts
index 937a04e1952..5871afd723e 100644
--- a/packages/shared/src/graphql/posts.ts
+++ b/packages/shared/src/graphql/posts.ts
@@ -960,12 +960,17 @@ export type CreatePostInMultipleSourcesResponse = Array<{
 export const createPostInMultipleSources = async (
   variables: CreatePostInMultipleSourcesArgs,
 ) => {
+  const { image, ...rest } = variables;
+  const sanitized = {
+    ...rest,
+    ...(image instanceof File && image.size > 0 ? { image } : {}),
+  };
   const res = await gqlClient.request<
     {
       createPostInMultipleSources: CreatePostInMultipleSourcesResponse;
     },
     CreatePostInMultipleSourcesArgs
-  >(CREATE_POST_IN_MULTIPLE_SOURCES, variables);
+  >(CREATE_POST_IN_MULTIPLE_SOURCES, sanitized);
   return res.createPostInMultipleSources;
 };
 
diff --git a/packages/webapp/pages/squads/create.tsx b/packages/webapp/pages/squads/create.tsx
index 558bf9d91c0..cbf8d94701f 100644
--- a/packages/webapp/pages/squads/create.tsx
+++ b/packages/webapp/pages/squads/create.tsx
@@ -182,10 +182,11 @@ function CreatePost(): ReactElement {
       return;
     }
 
-    const { options, ...args } = params;
+    const { options, image, ...args } = params;
 
     await onCreate({
       ...args,
+      ...(image instanceof File && image.size > 0 && { image }),
       ...(options?.length && {
         options: options.map((text, order) => ({
           text,