Core: Add changeDetection feature flag

[valentinpalkovic]

Closes #

What I did

Added changeDetection feature flag

Checklist for Contributors

Testing

The changes in this PR are covered in the following automated tests:

• stories
• unit tests
• integration tests
• end-to-end tests

Manual testing

Caution

This section is mandatory for all contributions. If you believe no manual test is necessary, please state so explicitly. Thanks!

Documentation

• Add or update documentation reflecting your changes
• If you are deprecating/removing a feature, make sure to update
  MIGRATION.MD

Checklist for Maintainers

• When this PR is ready for testing, make sure to add ci:normal, ci:merged or ci:daily GH label to it to run a specific set of sandboxes. The particular set of sandboxes can be found in code/lib/cli-storybook/src/sandbox-templates.ts

• Make sure this PR contains one of the labels below:

  Available labels

  • bug: Internal changes that fixes incorrect behavior.
  • maintenance: User-facing maintenance tasks.
  • dependencies: Upgrading (sometimes downgrading) dependencies.
  • build: Internal-facing build tooling & test updates. Will not show up in release changelog.
  • cleanup: Minor cleanup style change. Will not show up in release changelog.
  • documentation: Documentation only changes. Will not show up in release changelog.
  • feature request: Introducing a new feature.
  • BREAKING CHANGE: Changes that break compatibility in some way with current major version.
  • other: Changes that don't fit in the above categories.

🦋 Canary release

This PR does not have a canary release associated. You can request a canary release of this pull request by mentioning the @storybookjs/core team here.

core team members can create a canary release here or locally with gh workflow run --repo storybookjs/storybook publish.yml --field pr=<PR_NUMBER>

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features

  • Added a new changeDetection configuration option.
  • Several UI-related feature flags are now explicitly enabled: actions, backgrounds, controls, measure, components manifest, viewport, and outline; legacy decorator file ordering explicitly set to false.

• Documentation

  • Updated configuration docs to describe the new changeDetection option and its default.

[github-actions]

	Fails
🚫	The "#### Manual testing" section must be filled in. Please describe how to test the changes you've made, step by step, so that reviewers can confirm your PR works as intended.

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☁️ Nx Cloud last updated this comment at 2026-03-25 13:27:28 UTC

[coderabbitai]

No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 34257938-2c95-4adc-ac28-b66a716057b9

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 5f92309 and 7f4b44e.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• code/core/src/core-server/presets/common-preset.ts

🚧 Files skipped from review as they are similar to previous changes (1)

• code/core/src/core-server/presets/common-preset.ts

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Adds a new optional changeDetection boolean feature flag to Storybook config types, exposes it in the default preset (explicitly set to false), and documents the option across renderer branches.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Types code/core/src/types/modules/core-common.ts	Added optional features.changeDetection?: boolean to StorybookConfigRaw with JSDoc and default note.
Presets / Core server code/core/src/core-server/presets/common-preset.ts	Updated returned features object to explicitly set several flags including changeDetection: false and other boolean feature flags.
Documentation docs/api/main-config/main-config-features.mdx	Documented changeDetection?: boolean option for React, Angular, and other renderer branches and added description/default value.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~10 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• Manifest: Rename experimentalComponentsManifest → componentsManifest, default to true #33974 — touches the same preset componentsManifest / feature-flag area and may overlap with preset/feature-flag changes.

✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

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[coderabbitai]

🧹 Nitpick comments (1)

docs/api/main-config/main-config-features.mdx (1)

141-148: Consider expanding the documentation description.

The description "Enable change detection." is quite vague. Users would benefit from understanding:

• What behavior this feature flag controls
• Which renderers/frameworks it affects
• Why they might want to enable or disable it

Other feature flags in this file include links to more detailed documentation (e.g., [Actions](../../essentials/actions.mdx)). Consider adding similar context or a brief explanation of what "change detection" means in this context.

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents

Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

In `@docs/api/main-config/main-config-features.mdx` around lines 141 - 148, The
`changeDetection` entry has an overly terse description; update it to explain
what behavior the flag controls (e.g., whether the system performs automatic
diffing to detect and apply UI/state changes vs. requiring manual updates), list
which renderers/frameworks it affects (mention any specific renderers or
integrations that honor this flag), and give guidance on when to enable vs.
disable it (performance tradeoffs, debugging, or manual-control scenarios).
Replace "Enable change detection." with a short sentence covering those points
and add a link to the detailed docs or a relevant section (same style as other
flags) for users who need deeper information.

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against the current code and only fix it if needed.

Nitpick comments:
In `@docs/api/main-config/main-config-features.mdx`:
- Around line 141-148: The `changeDetection` entry has an overly terse
description; update it to explain what behavior the flag controls (e.g., whether
the system performs automatic diffing to detect and apply UI/state changes vs.
requiring manual updates), list which renderers/frameworks it affects (mention
any specific renderers or integrations that honor this flag), and give guidance
on when to enable vs. disable it (performance tradeoffs, debugging, or
manual-control scenarios). Replace "Enable change detection." with a short
sentence covering those points and add a link to the detailed docs or a relevant
section (same style as other flags) for users who need deeper information.

---

ℹ️ Review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: 3b795c7a-973a-4f71-8827-5664668c7a6a

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 09a3460 and 5f92309.

📒 Files selected for processing (3)

• code/core/src/core-server/presets/common-preset.ts
• code/core/src/types/modules/core-common.ts
• docs/api/main-config/main-config-features.mdx