diff --git a/light9/web/SyncedGraph.ts b/light9/web/SyncedGraph.ts
--- a/light9/web/SyncedGraph.ts
+++ b/light9/web/SyncedGraph.ts
@@ -170,6 +170,7 @@ export class SyncedGraph {
     // In most cases you want applyAndSendPatch.
     //
     // This is the only method that writes to this.graph!
+    if (patch.isEmpty()) throw "dont send empty patches here";
     log("_applyPatch [1] \n", patch.dump());
     this.cachedFloatValues.clear();
     this.cachedUriValues.clear();