---
title: "ADR-199: A copy is a hidden draft, and a page is copied without its branch"
manual: "TYPO3 LLM Extension"
version: "0.36"
permalink: "https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:adr-199@0.36"
source: "Adr/Adr199ACopyIsAHiddenDraftWithoutItsBranch.rst"
rendered: "2026-09-23T23:37:39+00:00"
---

# ADR-199: A copy is a hidden draft, and a page is copied without its branch {#adr-199}

-   *Status:* Accepted
-   *Date:* 2026-09-23
-   *Amends:* [ADR-180](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:adr-180@0.36) (its one-record rule, for the rows core's copy command brings along)
-   *Authors:* Netresearch DTT GmbH

## Context {#adr-199-context}

[ADR-180](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:adr-180@0.36) held that one call creates one record, so an approver
judges one thing. `copy_record` ([ADR-198](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:adr-198@0.36)) runs core's copy
command, and that command is more than one row: it copies the translations of a
default-language record — since 13.4.25 only where the target site carries their
language — the file references and inline children of every copied row, and for
a page the records stored on it — for a non-admin, those of the tables in
`tables_modify`. It can also copy a page's whole branch, and it hides only
what it copies FIRST: `hideAtCopy` applies to the top record, unless the
user's `neverHideAtCopy` preference switches even that off.

## Decision {#adr-199-decision}

1.  **The copy is core's copy.** The rows it brings along are the ones the
    page module's copy would bring; the tool does not pick among them, and
    the approval card counts them — the translations, and for a page the
    content elements on it.
1.  **The copy is hidden, whatever core and the user's preferences say — and
    so is every translation copied with it.** The hidden column is set in the
    paste `update` of the same command, which reaches the copy only; the
    copied translations get it from core's `hideAtCopy`, which the user
    preference `neverHideAtCopy` (pinned to 0 for the call) and page TSconfig
    `disableHideAtCopy` switch off, so the tool sets it on every copied
    translation that came out visible, in a second write of the same call.
    Everything is read back; a copy with a visible translation, on another
    page or in another column is deleted again, together with its
    translations, and the answer says whether that worked. Between the copy
    and the second write a copied translation can be visible for the duration
    of one request. Nothing a writer of this extension brings into being is
    visible before a human looks at it ([ADR-135](https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:adr-135@0.36)).
1.  **A page is copied without its subpages, always.** Core would hide only
    the top page of a copied branch and leave every copied subpage as visible
    as its original — reachable under a hidden parent, with a new URL. The
    depth is pinned to 0 for the call: TYPO3 14 reads it from the acting
    user's `copyLevels` preference, which the tool sets for the call and
    puts back without saving it; TYPO3 13 reads the DataHandler's
    `copyTree`, which is 0 unless set.
1.  **Translations follow core.** A translation is never copied by itself.
    In TYPO3 14 and 13.4.25 or later no translation is copied outside a
    site; inside one, a translation is copied where the site has its
    language (for an element, where the target page is translated into it),
    and one core refuses fails the call and the copy is taken back
    (`DataHandler::copyL10nOverlayRecords()`). Before 13.4.25 core asks
    no site: it copies every page translation, and drops an element
    translation the target page is not translated into without an error. The
    tool adds no rule of its own; the card states the running core's rule,
    and the answer counts the translations that were placed. A page
    translation is no target.

## Consequences {#adr-199-consequences}

✓ The one-record rule becomes "one record the approver named, and what
core copies with it, counted on the card" — the rule a human applies in the
page module.

✕ A branch is copied page by page, one approval each. That is slower than
core's recursive copy and is the price of every copied page being hidden.

## Revisit when {#adr-199-revisit}

A branch copy is wanted often enough that one approval per page is a
burden; the rule then needs every copied page hidden in the same command,
which core's copy does not offer.