From edfe00516f24d77b625a2e5b1c6557bc710438dd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?UTF-8?q?=C5=A0ar=C5=ABnas=20Nejus?= <snejus@protonmail.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:33:24 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Handle DelimitedString fields as native lists in edit plugin

Treat DelimitedString as a safe YAML-editable type in the edit plugin,
allowing multi-valued fields to be edited as native lists.
---
 beets/dbcore/types.py | 6 ++++--
 beetsplug/edit.py     | 7 ++++++-
 docs/changelog.rst    | 3 +++
 3 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/beets/dbcore/types.py b/beets/dbcore/types.py
index 3f94afd05..8907584a4 100644
--- a/beets/dbcore/types.py
+++ b/beets/dbcore/types.py
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ class Type(ABC, Generic[T, N]):
     """The `Query` subclass to be used when querying the field.
     """
 
+    # For sequence-like types, keep ``model_type`` unsubscripted as it's used
+    # for ``isinstance`` checks. Use ``list`` instead of ``list[str]``
     model_type: type[T]
     """The Python type that is used to represent the value in the model.
 
@@ -287,7 +289,7 @@ class String(BaseString[str, Any]):
     model_type = str
 
 
-class DelimitedString(BaseString[list[str], list[str]]):
+class DelimitedString(BaseString[list, list]):  # type: ignore[type-arg]
     r"""A list of Unicode strings, represented in-database by a single string
     containing delimiter-separated values.
 
@@ -297,7 +299,7 @@ class DelimitedString(BaseString[list[str], list[str]]):
     as it contains a backslash character.
     """
 
-    model_type = list[str]
+    model_type = list
     fmt_delimiter = "; "
 
     def __init__(self, db_delimiter: str):
diff --git a/beetsplug/edit.py b/beetsplug/edit.py
index 46e756122..0f358c9a1 100644
--- a/beetsplug/edit.py
+++ b/beetsplug/edit.py
@@ -30,7 +30,12 @@ from beets.util import PromptChoice
 
 # These "safe" types can avoid the format/parse cycle that most fields go
 # through: they are safe to edit with native YAML types.
-SAFE_TYPES = (types.BaseFloat, types.BaseInteger, types.Boolean)
+SAFE_TYPES = (
+    types.BaseFloat,
+    types.BaseInteger,
+    types.Boolean,
+    types.DelimitedString,
+)
 
 
 class ParseError(Exception):
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 58ad3d58f..9f73a5725 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ Other changes
   Previously, ``\␀`` was used as a separator. This applies to fields such as
   ``artists``, ``albumtypes`` etc.
 - Improve highlighting of multi-valued fields changes.
+- :doc:`plugins/edit`: Editing multi-valued fields now behaves more naturally,
+  with list values handled directly to make metadata edits smoother and more
+  predictable.
 
 2.6.2 (February 22, 2026)
 -------------------------