fix: keep ref in props on createElement/cloneElement

[letstri]

Base UI's render prop silently stopped working under redact — <Tooltip.Trigger render={<Button />} /> never opens, same for popovers and menus. No error.

It clones the element with a merged ref:

mergedProps.ref = props.ref;
return React.cloneElement(newElement, mergedProps);

React 19 keeps ref in props (only key/__self/__source are reserved), but redact
follows the React 18 rule and hoists it onto element.ref, so the cloned function
component gets no ref. The trigger element never reaches the tooltip store and the
hover effect bails before attaching its mouseenter listener.

Fix: createElement/cloneElement leave ref in props, and cloneElement skips
it only when config.ref === undefined, like React does.

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes

  • Preserved ref as a regular prop when creating and cloning React elements, aligning with React 19 behavior.
  • Prevented cloning without a new ref from unintentionally replacing an existing ref.
  • Ensured cloned refs are forwarded correctly through function components to the underlying DOM element.

• Tests

  • Added coverage for ref retention, cloning behavior, and end-to-end ref forwarding.

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: defaults

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Advanced

Run ID: 44700401-84ce-4593-bf70-4de6bbbaa3c2

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between aa8730a and 77f0020.

📒 Files selected for processing (3)

• .changeset/ref-as-prop.md
• packages/redact/src/react/element.ts
• tests/element-ref-prop.test.tsx

Included review availability: Your plan provides up to 2 included reviews per hour; 0 remain after this review.

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The React element helpers now preserve refs as regular props. cloneElement avoids replacing an existing ref with undefined. Tests cover creation, cloning, prop merging, and DOM forwarding.

Changes

React ref prop preservation

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Preserve refs in element helpers packages/redact/src/react/element.ts, .changeset/ref-as-prop.md	createElement copies ref into props. cloneElement skips an undefined ref. The changeset documents the patch release.
Validate ref forwarding behavior tests/element-ref-prop.test.tsx	Tests verify ref retention in created and cloned elements, preservation during cloning without a new ref, and forwarding to a rendered <span>.

Priority: ➖ Normal

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

Change: Bug fix

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 77f00

The ref-as-prop behavior is implemented and covered across the affected element creation, cloning, and DOM-forwarding paths; no actionable merge risk remains.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 4 functions across 2 files. (1 skipped: 1 …	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely describes the main change: preserving ref in props for createElement and cloneElement.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

Full details: Docstring Coverage

Explanation

Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 4 functions across 2 files. (1 skipped: 1 unsupported.)

• Fix all pre-merge checks with AI

✨ Finishing Touches

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests

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[tannerlinsley]

Thanks for catching this, Valerii. The ref-as-prop fix is now merged in #29, with your co-author credit, legacy-ref coverage, and size/performance checks. Closing this in favor of the merged PR.