📌 fix: Populate userMessage.files Before First DB Save (#11939)

* fix: populate userMessage.files before first DB save

* fix: ESLint error fixed

* fix: deduplicate file-population logic and add test coverage

Extract `buildMessageFiles` helper into `packages/api/src/utils/message`
to replace three near-identical loops in BaseClient and both agent
controllers. Fixes set poisoning from undefined file_id entries, moves
file population inside the skipSaveUserMessage guard to avoid wasted
work, and adds full unit test coverage for the new behavior.

* chore: reorder import statements in openIdJwtStrategy.js for consistency

---------

Co-authored-by: Danny Avila <danny@librechat.ai>

api/app/clients/BaseClient.js

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ const { logger } = require('@librechat/data-schemas');
 const {
   countTokens,
   getBalanceConfig,
+  buildMessageFiles,
   extractFileContext,
   encodeAndFormatAudios,
   encodeAndFormatVideos,
@@ -670,6 +671,14 @@ class BaseClient {
     }
 
     if (!isEdited && !this.skipSaveUserMessage) {
+      const reqFiles = this.options.req?.body?.files;
+      if (reqFiles && Array.isArray(this.options.attachments)) {
+        const files = buildMessageFiles(reqFiles, this.options.attachments);
+        if (files.length > 0) {
+          userMessage.files = files;
+        }
+        delete userMessage.image_urls;
+      }
       userMessagePromise = this.saveMessageToDatabase(userMessage, saveOptions, user);
       this.savedMessageIds.add(userMessage.messageId);
       if (typeof opts?.getReqData === 'function') {

api/app/clients/specs/BaseClient.test.js

@@ -928,4 +928,123 @@ describe('BaseClient', () => {
       expect(result.remainingContextTokens).toBe(2); // 25 - 20 - 3(assistant label)
     });
   });
+
+  describe('sendMessage file population', () => {
+    const attachment = {
+      file_id: 'file-abc',
+      filename: 'image.png',
+      filepath: '/uploads/image.png',
+      type: 'image/png',
+      bytes: 1024,
+      object: 'file',
+      user: 'user-1',
+      embedded: false,
+      usage: 0,
+      text: 'large ocr blob that should be stripped',
+      _id: 'mongo-id-1',
+    };
+
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      TestClient.options.req = { body: { files: [{ file_id: 'file-abc' }] } };
+      TestClient.options.attachments = [attachment];
+    });
+
+    test('populates userMessage.files before saveMessageToDatabase is called', async () => {
+      TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase = jest.fn().mockImplementation((msg) => {
+        return Promise.resolve({ message: msg });
+      });
+
+      await TestClient.sendMessage('Hello');
+
+      const userSave = TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase.mock.calls.find(
+        ([msg]) => msg.isCreatedByUser,
+      );
+      expect(userSave).toBeDefined();
+      expect(userSave[0].files).toBeDefined();
+      expect(userSave[0].files).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(userSave[0].files[0].file_id).toBe('file-abc');
+    });
+
+    test('strips text and _id from files before saving', async () => {
+      TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ message: {} });
+
+      await TestClient.sendMessage('Hello');
+
+      const userSave = TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase.mock.calls.find(
+        ([msg]) => msg.isCreatedByUser,
+      );
+      expect(userSave[0].files[0].text).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(userSave[0].files[0]._id).toBeUndefined();
+      expect(userSave[0].files[0].filename).toBe('image.png');
+    });
+
+    test('deletes image_urls from userMessage when files are present', async () => {
+      TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ message: {} });
+      TestClient.options.attachments = [
+        { ...attachment, image_urls: ['data:image/png;base64,...'] },
+      ];
+
+      await TestClient.sendMessage('Hello');
+
+      const userSave = TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase.mock.calls.find(
+        ([msg]) => msg.isCreatedByUser,
+      );
+      expect(userSave[0].image_urls).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+
+    test('does not set files when no attachments match request file IDs', async () => {
+      TestClient.options.req = { body: { files: [{ file_id: 'file-nomatch' }] } };
+      TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ message: {} });
+
+      await TestClient.sendMessage('Hello');
+
+      const userSave = TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase.mock.calls.find(
+        ([msg]) => msg.isCreatedByUser,
+      );
+      expect(userSave[0].files).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+
+    test('skips file population when attachments is not an array (Promise case)', async () => {
+      TestClient.options.attachments = Promise.resolve([attachment]);
+      TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ message: {} });
+
+      await TestClient.sendMessage('Hello');
+
+      const userSave = TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase.mock.calls.find(
+        ([msg]) => msg.isCreatedByUser,
+      );
+      expect(userSave[0].files).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+
+    test('skips file population when skipSaveUserMessage is true', async () => {
+      TestClient.skipSaveUserMessage = true;
+      TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ message: {} });
+
+      await TestClient.sendMessage('Hello');
+
+      const userSave = TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase.mock.calls.find(
+        ([msg]) => msg?.isCreatedByUser,
+      );
+      expect(userSave).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+
+    test('ignores file_id: undefined entries in req.body.files (no set poisoning)', async () => {
+      TestClient.options.req = {
+        body: { files: [{ file_id: undefined }, { file_id: 'file-abc' }] },
+      };
+      TestClient.options.attachments = [
+        { ...attachment, file_id: undefined },
+        { ...attachment, file_id: 'file-abc' },
+      ];
+      TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase = jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({ message: {} });
+
+      await TestClient.sendMessage('Hello');
+
+      const userSave = TestClient.saveMessageToDatabase.mock.calls.find(
+        ([msg]) => msg.isCreatedByUser,
+      );
+      expect(userSave[0].files).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(userSave[0].files[0].file_id).toBe('file-abc');
+    });
+  });
 });

api/server/controllers/agents/request.js

@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@ const { Constants, ViolationTypes } = require('librechat-data-provider');
 const {
   sendEvent,
   getViolationInfo,
+  buildMessageFiles,
   GenerationJobManager,
   decrementPendingRequest,
-  sanitizeFileForTransmit,
   sanitizeMessageForTransmit,
   checkAndIncrementPendingRequest,
 } = require('@librechat/api');
@@ -252,13 +252,10 @@ const ResumableAgentController = async (req, res, next, initializeClient, addTit
         conversation.title =
           conversation && !conversation.title ? null : conversation?.title || 'New Chat';
 
-        if (req.body.files && client.options?.attachments) {
-          userMessage.files = [];
-          const messageFiles = new Set(req.body.files.map((file) => file.file_id));
-          for (const attachment of client.options.attachments) {
-            if (messageFiles.has(attachment.file_id)) {
-              userMessage.files.push(sanitizeFileForTransmit(attachment));
-            }
+        if (req.body.files && Array.isArray(client.options.attachments)) {
+          const files = buildMessageFiles(req.body.files, client.options.attachments);
+          if (files.length > 0) {
+            userMessage.files = files;
           }
           delete userMessage.image_urls;
         }
@@ -639,14 +636,10 @@ const _LegacyAgentController = async (req, res, next, initializeClient, addTitle
     conversation.title =
       conversation && !conversation.title ? null : conversation?.title || 'New Chat';
 
-    // Process files if needed (sanitize to remove large text fields before transmission)
-    if (req.body.files && client.options?.attachments) {
-      userMessage.files = [];
-      const messageFiles = new Set(req.body.files.map((file) => file.file_id));
-      for (const attachment of client.options.attachments) {
-        if (messageFiles.has(attachment.file_id)) {
-          userMessage.files.push(sanitizeFileForTransmit(attachment));
-        }
+    if (req.body.files && Array.isArray(client.options.attachments)) {
+      const files = buildMessageFiles(req.body.files, client.options.attachments);
+      if (files.length > 0) {
+        userMessage.files = files;
       }
       delete userMessage.image_urls;
     }

api/strategies/openIdJwtStrategy.js

@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ const { logger } = require('@librechat/data-schemas');
 const { HttpsProxyAgent } = require('https-proxy-agent');
 const { SystemRoles } = require('librechat-data-provider');
 const { isEnabled, findOpenIDUser, math } = require('@librechat/api');
-const { getOpenIdEmail } = require('./openidStrategy');
 const { Strategy: JwtStrategy, ExtractJwt } = require('passport-jwt');
+const { getOpenIdEmail } = require('./openidStrategy');
 const { updateUser, findUser } = require('~/models');
 
 /**