feat: add cut cells command (#7423) by charliegiang · Pull Request #8019 · marimo-team/marimo

charliegiang · 2026-01-28T08:27:10Z

📝 Summary

Added the ability to cut cells in command mode

Partially addresses #7423
nits / super nits encouraged 🙂

🔍 Description of Changes

cut.cells.mp4

cutCells function copies cell data (code, name, config) to the clipboard
useDeleteManyCellsSilentCallback hook and deleteCellSilent reducer action to delete cells without pushing to the undo stack.
createNewCell extended to accept optional name and config parameters so that pasted cells retain their original names and configurations.

📋 Checklist

I have read the contributor guidelines.
For large changes, or changes that affect the public API: this change was discussed or approved through an issue, on Discord, or the community discussions (Please provide a link if applicable).
Tests have been added for the changes made.
Documentation has been updated where applicable, including docstrings for API changes.
Pull request title is a good summary of the changes - it will be used in the release notes.

vercel · 2026-01-28T08:27:15Z

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github-actions · 2026-01-28T08:27:20Z

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charliegiang · 2026-01-28T08:29:36Z

-// NOTE: We don't support Cut yet. We can wait for feedback before implementing.
-// It is a bit more complex as will need to:
-// - include id, outputs, and name
-// - delete the existing cell, but don't place on the undo stack


throughout my testing this actually felt a bit unintuitive. should users be able to undo a cut?

charliegiang · 2026-01-28T08:34:33Z

-// It is a bit more complex as will need to:
-// - include id, outputs, and name
-// - delete the existing cell, but don't place on the undo stack
-// - don't want to invalidate downstream cells


I think this is unavoidable in my current implementation.

What might be worth considering though is a "pending" state where we grey out the cell -> paste -> use dropCellOverCell to preserve cellId ? thoughts?

charliegiang · 2026-01-28T08:36:25Z

I have read the CLA Document and I hereby sign the CLA

mscolnick · 2026-01-28T14:18:20Z

we originally held off on cut since deleting cells can be super destructive (and cause re-runs).

what is the use-case? it is solely to move cells to another place?

charliegiang · 2026-01-29T01:48:41Z

we originally held off on cut since deleting cells can be super destructive (and cause re-runs).

what is the use-case? it is solely to move cells to another place?

Yeah i think the main benefit would be for bulk moving cells.

How about something like this?

cut.cells.pending.mp4

non-destructive
doesn't invalidate downstream cells
easy to move cells far apart
can move multiple cells at once

mscolnick · 2026-01-29T02:02:32Z

@charliegiang that is a pretty nice interaction. What do you think @manzt @Light2Dark r.e. UX?

Light2Dark · 2026-01-29T09:59:32Z

That looks pretty good imo @charliegiang, I'm guessing just a styling change to mark the cell as 'cut'. And on refresh or cell runs it would be as normal. I think there should be a way to remove the cut as well (maybe Esc)

charliegiang · 2026-01-30T07:44:17Z

That looks pretty good imo @charliegiang, I'm guessing just a styling change to mark the cell as 'cut'. And on refresh or cell runs it would be as normal. I think there should be a way to remove the cut as well (maybe Esc)

Yeah I agree, how's this?

Unmark cells for cut with esc -> esc

unmark.cell.for.cut.mp4

Undo cut -> paste cells

cut.cells.and.undo.mp4

manzt · 2026-01-30T16:46:59Z

This is a really nice interaction, and I appreciate the thoughtfulness in evolving it to be non-destructive!

Yeah i think the main benefit would be for bulk moving cells.

Since the original use case mentioned is moving cells around, I just wanted to point out that we do have bulk move in "command mode." You can select multiple cells and use move up/down or send to top/bottom.

Screen.Recording.2026-01-30.at.11.38.21.AM.mov

That said, I think cut really shines for moving cells between notebooks or applications, where the clipboard-based approach makes a lot of sense.

github-actions · 2026-03-25T09:21:02Z

This pull request has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had activity in 30 days. It will be closed in 14 days if no further activity occurs. If this PR is still relevant, please leave a comment or push new changes to keep it open. Thank you for your contribution!

Light2Dark · 2026-03-31T01:18:31Z

Hi @charliegiang , sorry we did not get around to this after the review. Would you be up to fix the merge conflict and tests?

charliegiang · 2026-04-01T02:26:08Z

@Light2Dark Yep - thanks for the reminder. I'll make time to work on it this week. 👍

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds a “cut cells” command to command mode, enabling a cut-then-paste workflow that moves cells (and supports undo) while visually marking cells as pending cut.

Changes:

Added cutCells + pending-cut state/service, plus UI styling to indicate “pending cut”.
Extended clipboard payload to include cell name and config, and paste now preserves those fields.
Added multi-cell move + undo support via MultiColumn.moveCellsRelativeTo, MultiColumn.placeCells, and notebook history entries/labels.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 17 out of 17 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
frontend/src/utils/id-tree.tsx	Adds multi-cell move and placement helpers used for cut/paste and undo.
frontend/src/utils/tests/id-tree.test.ts	Adds unit tests for multi-cell move behavior.
frontend/src/css/app/Cell.css	Adds visual treatment for cells marked as pending cut.
frontend/src/core/hotkeys/hotkeys.ts	Introduces the `x` hotkey for “Cut cell” in command mode.
frontend/src/core/codemirror/cells/extensions.ts	Clears pending cut state when editing a cut-marked cell.
frontend/src/core/cells/utils.ts	Adds dynamic undo label based on latest history entry type.
frontend/src/core/cells/pending-cut-service.ts	New service/atoms/hooks for tracking pending cut cells + clipboard payload.
frontend/src/core/cells/cells.ts	Adds history entry typing, move/undo support, and extends `createNewCell` for name/config.
frontend/src/core/cells/tests/pending-cut-service.test.tsx	Adds tests for pending-cut service behavior.
frontend/src/core/cells/tests/cells.test.ts	Adds tests for `createNewCell` name/config and move+undo scenarios.
frontend/src/components/editor/notebook-cell.tsx	Applies `pending-cut` class to cells marked for cut.
frontend/src/components/editor/navigation/navigation.ts	Wires cut hotkey and Escape-to-clear-pending-cut behavior.
frontend/src/components/editor/navigation/clipboard.ts	Implements cut/paste move logic and clipboard schema including name/config.
frontend/src/components/editor/navigation/tests/navigation.test.ts	Adds hotkey tests for cutting single/multiple selected cells.
frontend/src/components/editor/navigation/tests/clipboard.test.ts	Adds tests for cut/copy behavior and pending-cut clearing on copy.
frontend/src/components/editor/controls/Controls.tsx	Uses the new undo label atom for tooltip content.
frontend/src/components/editor/actions/useNotebookActions.tsx	Uses the new undo label atom for the command palette action label.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 18 out of 18 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.

Copilot · 2026-04-14T04:23:06Z

+    if (last.type === "move") {
+      const { cellIds, placements } = last;
+      if (cellIds.length === 0 || placements.length !== cellIds.length) {
+        return { ...state, history: state.history.slice(0, -1) };
+      }
+      const toRestore = cellIds.map((id, i) => ({
+        id,
+        columnId: placements[i].columnId,
+        index: placements[i].index,
+      }));
+      return {
+        ...state,
+        cellIds: state.cellIds.placeCells(toRestore),
+        history: state.history.slice(0, -1),
+        scrollKey: cellIds[0] ?? null,
+      };


In the undoDeleteCell move-undo branch, placeCells() will happily re-insert IDs even if those cells no longer exist in state.cellData (e.g., user moves cells, deletes one of the moved cells, undoes the delete which restores a new ID, then undoes the move). This can leave state.cellIds containing cell IDs that have no corresponding cellData/cellRuntime, corrupting state. Before restoring, verify every cellId still exists in state.cellData (or drop the move history entry if any are missing).

Light2Dark

there's some type errors to fix

for more information, see https://pre-commit.ci

Light2Dark

This is great!

A nice thing to add is if pasting to an empty cell, we just replace it instead of appending below.

The css change and ^ can be followed-up by us or if you'd like to tackle it.

Light2Dark · 2026-04-15T17:48:54Z

+  &.pending-cut {
+    opacity: 0.6;
+    border-style: dashed;
+    border-color: var(--amber-7);
+
+    .output-area,
+    .cm-gutters,
+    .cm {
+      background-color: var(--amber-2);
+    }
+  }


I'm not a huge fan of the amber, doesn't look great in light mode. And the dashed border, since it conflicts with the blue border. Maybe this is better?

&.pending-cut { .output-area, .cm-gutters, .cm { background-color: var(--gray-2); opacity: 0.55; } }

manzt

Thanks for the contribution. Looking really great! just some minor questions re: potentially vestigial code.

manzt · 2026-04-16T17:26:55Z

+function buildClipboardPayload(
+  cells: Array<{ code: string; name?: string; config?: CellConfig }>,
+): { clipboardData: ClipboardCellData; plainText: string } {
+  const clipboardData: ClipboardCellData = {
+    cells: cells.map((cell) => ({
+      code: cell.code,
+      name: cell.name,
+      config: cell.config,
+    })),
+    version: "1.0",
+  };
+  const plainText = cells.map((cell) => cell.code).join("\n\n");
+  return { clipboardData, plainText };
+}
+
+async function writeCellsToClipboard(
+  clipboardData: ClipboardCellData,
+  plainText: string,
+): Promise<void> {
+  const clipboardItem = new ClipboardItemBuilder()
+    .add(MARIMO_CELL_MIMETYPE, clipboardData)
+    .add("text/plain", plainText)
+    .build();
+  await navigator.clipboard.write([clipboardItem]);
+}


I wonder, could this be encapsulated in a single function, so the call site is just:

await writeCellsToClipboard(cells);

That way we don't leak the internals out or require the caller to map these together.

manzt · 2026-04-16T17:29:11Z

+
+    // Check if we have pending cut cells (internal move)
+    if (pendingCutState.cellIds.size > 0) {
+      const pendingCellIds = [...pendingCutState.cellIds];


I only see cellIds used from the pendingCutState. This function re-derives everything from pendingCutState.cellIds. I think this is the right design (just keep track of the pending ids (not the data), so we can probably remove pendingCutState.clipboardData?

manzt · 2026-04-16T17:31:43Z

+
+interface PendingCutState {
+  cellIds: Set<CellId>;
+  clipboardData: ClipboardCellData | null;


I think this is dead state, can we remove this field?

manzt · 2026-04-16T17:36:18Z

+      cellIds: [firstCellId, "1" as CellId],
+      targetCellId: "2" as CellId,


nit: we have a helper made for branding types (instead of typecasts):

// frontend/src/__tests__/branded.ts import { cellId } from "@/__tests__/branded";

Suggested change

cellIds: [firstCellId, "1" as CellId],

targetCellId: "2" as CellId,

cellIds: [firstCellId, cellId("1")],

targetCellId: cellId("2"),

github-actions · 2026-05-14T00:34:02Z

🚀 Development release published. You may be able to view the changes at https://marimo.app?v=0.23.7-dev17

<img width="1055" height="321" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/53ab00ed-4bd5-4fbf-990f-c4029b69541d" /> ## 📝 Summary Follow-up to #8019, which merged before a few unresolved review threads were addressed. This PR addresses the actionable items. Closes # ## 📋 Pre-Review Checklist - [ ] For large changes, or changes that affect the public API: this change was discussed or approved through an issue, on [Discord](https://marimo.io/discord?ref=pr), or the community [discussions](https://github.com/marimo-team/marimo/discussions) (Please provide a link if applicable). - [x] Any AI generated code has been reviewed line-by-line by the human PR author, who stands by it. - [x] Video or media evidence is provided for any visual changes (optional).  ## ✅ Merge Checklist - [x] I have read the [contributor guidelines](https://github.com/marimo-team/marimo/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md). - [x] Documentation has been updated where applicable, including docstrings for API changes. - [x] Tests have been added for the changes made. Made with [Cursor](https://cursor.com)

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feat: add cut/undo cut cells command (marimo-team#7423)

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Comment thread frontend/src/components/editor/cell/code/cell-editor.tsx

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address review comments from #8019 #9549

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		cellIds: [firstCellId, "1" as CellId],
		targetCellId: "2" as CellId,

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