0.34.0

Added

• String predicate operators starts_with, ends_with and contains (map form, String and its
  newtypes, byte-wise and case-sensitive) in every predicate position, source format ess/8.
  Synthesis witnesses both branches; suites carrying one take ess-conformance/14/15; Rust and Go
  evaluate them, TypeScript and the browser refuse them by version. entity-core is pinned by rev to
  718a702 (beyond10x/entity-runtime#40). (#95)
• when_subject: {predicate: …} guards an outcome by a predicate over the addressed entity's stored
  fields, source format ess/9; refusals read the sibling subject; conformance arranges the row
  through sets: mappings, adds rows refuting one conjunct at a time and an absent-subject witness.
  {field, equals} keeps ess/6 and its bytes. Timestamp orderings lower to entity-core
  before/after; text orderings are refused at lowering. (#75)
• Aggregate views: group_by: and field aggregate: (count, count_distinct, sum, min, max,
  avg), source format ess/10, ess-conformance/16/17, ess-diff/7, ESS-SYNTH-016/017.
  Empty groups are absent; avg is Optional<Decimal>, 6 places half-even. Models without aggregate
  views keep their IR bytes. (#96)
• Synthesis gives both sides of a presence guard a scenario by omitting the optional; command-input
  lists publish .count and their elements, and .count, exists, forall and positional guards
  are synthesized. (#93, #94)
• website/docs/reference/predicates.md lists every predicate form, where it is accepted and what
  synthesis can witness; a test runs every example on it. (#92)
• A String newtype may declare alphabet:, a command input example:, and .count on a String
  is its length in Unicode scalar values in every predicate position (source format ess/11).
  Synthesis draws text from the alphabet, starts from the example and tries lengths either side of a
  .count literal up to 1024, for text and lists; beyond that ESS-SYNTH-018. ess-diff/8 reports
  alphabet-changed and input-example-changed. (#103, #104)
• outcome_groups: declares one external refusal once for a command list or an actor:/domain:
  selector (with except:), source format ess/12; it expands before validation and compiles to the
  same IR as copying the outcome by hand. A same-named outcome is refused as ESS-COMMAND-006. (#105)
• ess-inputs/2 adds optional requires: ess X.Y[.Z]: an older ess refuses naming the release and
  b10x upgrade, a newer one warns once, --strict-requires refuses. ess-output-state/2 records the
  producer, and a regeneration by another release prints a note. (#106)
• A literal in sets: or payload: may be an unquoted YAML boolean or integer, compiling to the
  quoted form's bytes; over text or an enum it is refused with quote it. (#113)
• An unknown instance has a declared answer: a moves:/updates: command whose instance: names no
  record answers its wrong_state outcome, witnessed once per such command with a fresh identity.
  The generated Rust and Go seams gain <WrongState>UnknownInstance for it, served as 409 without
  a payload; models where the case cannot arise keep their generated bytes. (#113)
• ess verify conform mutate: a mutation audit over nine specification mutant classes against the
  built-in targets, writing ess-mutation-report/1 (ESS-MUTATE-001/003). The TypeScript and Go
  conformance packages carry a seeded random-walk explorer over the IR model, bound to spec_digest
  through ir.json, with shrinking and a hard failure on unreached outcomes. (#114)
• A release note for 0.31–0.33 (website/blog/2026-09-26-1200-a-secret-is-only-present.md): the
  Entity Runtime lowering, OBS-BIND-008 and acknowledged containers, and Secret presence. Without
  it the newest note trails 0.34.0 by four minors and cargo xtask docs refuses the tree.

Changed

• ess specify validate compiles the authored scenarios ess-inputs.yaml lists and fails on their
  ESS-AUTHOR-* refusals, counting them in its summary; ESS-COMMAND-018 refuses an invariant that
  reads a required field a creates: outcome leaves unset. The bundled examples set such fields. (#112)
• Synthesized suites assert the target state of every transition whose view projects state, run a
  multi-source transition from every source, give updates a value different from what the row holds,
  and probe numeric and timestamp guard boundaries on both sides. Committed suites gain scenarios;
  no format change. (#111)
• ess generate --kind openapi|asyncapi names every domain no component owns; --strict refuses. (#102)
• Go and TypeScript runners that write ess-conformance-report/1 with a skipped scenario point once
  at report/2, which carries passed, failed and skipped counts; the guide says where they live. (#110)
• An unquoted x == null / != null (and ~, Null, NULL) is refused with ESS-SPEC-017,
  naming defined(x); a quoted "null" is text. Ordering a Duration and an unquoted compact
  operand containing && or || are refused. Artifacts written by 0.32.x that carry such literals
  must be regenerated. (#93)
• Text orders byte-wise in every evaluator; Timestamps order as instants wherever declared types are
  known. (#94)
• A create's omitted Optional input leaves its mapped field null in generated suites.

Fixed

• The Go conformance runtime compares numbers by value whatever Go type carries them (int…uint64,
  float32, float64, json.Number), with Rust's exact semantics. (#101)
• The ess-mutation-report/1 row of the formats reference sat above the page's front matter; it
  is in the change and conformance records table.