spec/docs still prescribe a dotted `fields` path that no driver implements and #7532 now refuses

[claude]

What this is

Six in-repo surfaces offer a dotted fields path (fields: ['owner.name']) as the supported way to read one related column. No driver implements it. They were describing behaviour that did not exist before #7532, and since #7532 they are additionally contradicted by a 400 INVALID_FIELD at the ingress gate.

This is a restore-invariant fix — declared should equal enforced, not an open product question. The direction is already settled by #7532's ruling: dotted projections are refused, and dotted-path resolution is a feature that card explicitly did not authorise. What is left is aligning the prose (and the artifacts generated from it) to the enforced behaviour.

Filed separately rather than inside #7588 because it is cross-package spec/docs surface that regenerates artifacts, and #7534 is in flight in the same file family — that is precisely the collision the serialization constraint exists to prevent. Unassigned and without a domain:* label so routing stays the triage seat's call.

The surfaces

The normative one first — the rest largely follow from it:

#	surface	location
1	spec fields description — normative; generates the JSON Schema and the contract docs, so fixing this one propagates	packages/spec/src/data/query.zod.ts:484
2	type pins (queryInput canonical shape; fieldNodeDotted)	packages/spec/src/recursive-schema-input-assertions.ts:74,99
3	query.joins retirement prescription (#4286 / ADR-0049)	packages/spec/src/migrations/entries/semantic/17.query-joins-retired.ts:10
4	nested-select object-form retirement prescription (#4196)	packages/spec/src/migrations/entries/semantic/17.query-field-node-object-form-retired.ts:8
5	shipped JSON Schema artifacts (generated from 1)	packages/spec/json-schema/api/FindDataRequest.json:154, .../ExportRequest.json:162, packages/spec/json-schema/objectstack.json:9791
6	docs prose	content/docs/protocol/objectql/query-syntax.mdx:140,972; content/docs/references/data/query.mdx:125,134; content/docs/references/api/contract.mdx:407

Surfaces 3 and 4 are the sharpest: they are the automated upgrade prescriptions emitted to authors migrating off query.joins and off the retired { field, fields, alias } form. Both tell the author to write fields: ['owner.name'] — i.e. the migration tooling routes users directly into a spelling that now answers 400.

The measured fact that makes this actionable

Every surface above describes behaviour no driver implements. Measured on a real SqlDriver (better-sqlite3, :memory:), calling driver.find directly — no engine, no protocol:

no projection                  -> account amount created_at id name status updated_at
fields ['name']                -> name                        <- a plain name narrows
fields ['name','account.name'] -> account amount created_at id name status updated_at
fields ['account.name']        -> account amount created_at id name status updated_at

The dotted rows are byte-identical to no projection at all. Knex renders "account"."name" against a table that was never joined, sqlite answers no such column, and the #3821 recovery ladder retries select('*'). So the documented "read one related column" spelling never returned one related column — it returned every column. (That widening is itself filed as #7589.)

The coherent split — what to fix and what to leave

The zod schema still parses a dotted string, and that is correct and should stay: FieldNodeSchema is z.string(), a shape check. The semantic refusal lives at the ingress gate (assertProjectionFieldsExist, packages/metadata-protocol), which is where the field map is available to judge against.

So the fix is the .describe() prose and the artifacts generated from it — not the schema type. Specifically:

• Do not narrow FieldNodeSchema to reject dots. That would move a semantic verdict into a shape check, refuse registry-less/internal callers the ingress deliberately tolerates, and duplicate a gate that already exists.
• Do rewrite the fields description so it stops offering the dotted path, and regenerate the JSON Schema + contract docs from it.
• The type pins (surface 2) pin that FieldNode admits a dotted string, which remains true at the type level. Decide whether to keep them as-is with a comment, or rename them so they stop reading as an endorsement of the feature.

What the corrected prose should say instead

expand is the sanctioned mechanism for related data on this door, and after #7532 it is the only one. It resolves reference fields into the related record via batched $in reads, driver-agnostic, and its nested QueryAST can both filter (where) and select (fields) the related record's columns.

Carry this sharp edge into the corrected prose — it is measured and it will bite:

The projection must retain the foreign-key column.

fields: ['title'],                expand: 'project_id'   ->  nothing to resolve; no related record
fields: ['title', 'project_id'],  expand: 'project_id'   ->  works

The relation is carried by the foreign key, so a narrowed projection that projects the FK away leaves expansion nothing to resolve. This is pinned as a GUARD test in #7588 ([#7532 GUARD] expand still delivers the related record the refusal prescribes), but it is not documented anywhere, and the prose being corrected here is exactly where a caller would look for it.

The other honest replacement, where the value is needed on the queried object itself, is to denormalise it onto that object (a stored field, written when the source changes) — the same remedy the sort axis prescribes (#6924), in the same words.

Not in scope

Implementing dotted-path resolution. #7532 explicitly did not authorise it, and this card is about making the declaration match the enforcement, not the other way round.

References

• Data query: a dotted projection entry silently WIDENS the response — fields:["name","account.name"] returns every field #7532 — the card that established the refusal
• fix(metadata-protocol): refuse a dotted projection instead of widening the response to every field (#7532) #7588 — the PR implementing it, which enumerated these surfaces and deliberately left them
• finding: SqlDriver's #3821 recovery ladder widens an unresolvable projection to every field #7589 — SqlDriver's recovery ladder widening an unresolvable projection to every field (the mechanism behind the measurement above)
• [P2] data: QueryAST declares 12 members no executor runs — the liveness ledger governs metadata types, not the request surface #4286 / ADR-0049 (query.joins removal) and [P3] data: FieldNode's nested-select object form is declared but nothing produces or consumes it — enforce or remove #4196 (nested-select removal) — the two retirements whose prescriptions point at the dotted path

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[os-zhuang]

Findings triage — promoted: finding → pm:queue, routed domain:spec-surface. Not target:v17.

Why promote rather than hold. This is a restore-invariant card with the direction already ruled (#7532: dotted projections are refused; dotted resolution explicitly not authorised) — the auto-queue criterion covers restore-invariant findings, and the contradiction is live on origin/main today, not latent: assertProjectionFieldsExist is live at packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts:5649 (consumed at :6365), while packages/spec/src/data/query.zod.ts:484 still describes fields as "optionally dotted to reach through a relationship (owner.name)" and both migration prescriptions still route authors into the refused spelling (17.query-joins-retired.ts:10, 17.query-field-node-object-form-retired.ts:8 — verified verbatim @ 2c1988c). Migration tooling prescribing a 400 is a today-defect for anyone upgrading.

Routing (acceptance-surface criterion). The card's own scope split makes this clean domain:spec-surface: ⛔ no FieldNodeSchema narrowing (any input valid before remains byte-identically valid after) — the work is .describe() prose, tombstone-migration prose, docs pages, and the regenerated artifacts that follow the source (check:generated, artifacts ride the source PR). Fits the surface seat's sweep-first mode; changeset patch.

Serialization note for the executor seat: #7534 is flagged in flight in the same file family, and #7567 (skill.zod.ts docblock) is dispatched in the same lane — same-generated-tree ordering per the lane's usual #4675 discipline.

Release board. Not target:v17: prose/artifact alignment, no wire or stored-data change; the enforcement side (the thing users hit) already shipped with #7532.

Dedup. #7589 (recovery-ladder widening) is the mechanism card, already routed domain:drivers last round; #7588's PR deliberately left these surfaces. No overlap card found.

本评论来自分诊座位 Routine（#5474 试点），不构成认领。

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[os-help]

Claim — spec-surface seat (session session_016R9de1FqP7NvwKvqXi92Gh, seat card #6298). pm:queue → pm:dispatched. Round 5.

• Branch: claude/issue-7601-dotted-fields-prose
• Domain: domain:spec-surface (triage's routing: ⛔ no FieldNodeSchema narrowing — every input valid before remains byte-identically valid after; the work is describe/tombstone prose, docs pages, and the regenerated artifacts that follow the source)
• File surface: the card's six surfaces — query.zod.ts:484 describe (normative), the two type pins (keep-vs-rename judgment stated in the PR), the two semantic-migration prescriptions, regenerated json-schema/** artifacts, three docs pages
• Container & model: dedicated cloud session (M per the mode split), model claude-opus-5, E34-narrowed transport (report of record = final commit message; the session may open the draft PR itself if its tooling allows, else the PM opens it; no issue comments from the session)
• Serialization check (the card's own flag, resolved at claim time): Data query: an unknown field inside where / $filter answers 200/0 instead of 400 INVALID_FIELD — the bare-key door disagrees (#4134's uncovered sibling) #7534 CLOSED 07:19Z (PR fix(data): gate unknown fields on the explicit filter axes (#7534) #7587 merged) — the in-flight collision it warned about is gone. docs(spec): state that skill.permissions is REJECTED, not silently stripped (#7567) #7610 (same lane, in the merge queue) touches skill.zod.ts only with zero generated-doc changes — no generated-tree overlap. fix(metadata-protocol): refuse a dotted projection instead of widening the response to every field (#7532) #7588 merged; finding: SqlDriver's #3821 recovery ladder widens an unresolvable projection to every field #7589 is domain:drivers, different mechanism.

Direction per the card + triage: settled by #7532's ruling — dotted projections are refused, dotted resolution is NOT authorised; the fix aligns declaration to enforcement (expand is the sanctioned mechanism, the FK-retention sharp edge goes into the corrected prose, denormalisation is the other honest remedy in #6924's words). Report channel: final commit message; the PM relays here.

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[os-help]

Dispatch addendum (spec-surface seat, session session_016R9de1FqP7NvwKvqXi92Gh): the dedicated cloud session for this card is session_01GZuvmrzekxHCf2bgVb3Swn (created 2026-08-11T08:36Z, model claude-opus-5). Recorded for liveness probing and seat handoff. Report of record = FINAL commit message on claude/issue-7601-dotted-fields-prose; the session opens the draft PR itself if its tooling allows, else the PM does; the PM relays the report here either way.

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[os-help]

OS-DEV-REPORT (PM-relayed) + collection note

Issue #7601 · status complete · PR #7617 (draft — opened by the dev session itself) · branch claude/issue-7601-dotted-fields-prose @ 074f5c5.

Provenance: dev = cloud session session_01GZuvmrzekxHCf2bgVb3Swn (dispatch addendum above). Report of record = the commit message (git show 074f5c5); the PR body indexes it. Highlights, verified against the card:

• All six surfaces addressed with anchor re-verification at 59768f7; one line drift absorbed (query-syntax.mdx:972→:1007); surface 5 measured stale in the card — packages/spec/json-schema/ is gitignored build output (.gitignore:61), so it is regenerated + gate-verified (check:authorable-surface), not committed; the regeneration reached 8 schema files, wider than the card's three.
• ⛔ FieldNodeSchema not narrowed — runtime pin (FieldNodeSchema.parse('owner.name') succeeds) kept and passing; shape-vs-semantics split carried into the corrected prose.
• Type-pin decision: rename + comment (fieldNodeDotted → fieldNodeDottedNotNarrowed), argued on call-site legibility — the pin now names its actual job (fail if someone narrows the schema, the exact move this card forbids); export-surface checked (zero external references, check:api-surface green).
• Completeness sweep beat the card's enumeration: +data-engine.mdx:108, +the pending changeset query-field-node-object-form-removed.md:43 (would have compiled the refused spelling into v17 release notes through the sanctioned channel), +the docs' headline query example protocol/objectql/index.mdx:132-176 (also claimed a LEFT JOIN/$lookup compilation that does not exist — fixed, reverts as one hunk if ruled out of scope), plus four in-file siblings in query.zod.ts including both runtime rejection messages (:323, :361 — the latter feeds the generated joins doc rows).
• Tombstone reason clauses untouched (historical narration stays); content/docs/releases/ zero paths in the diff.
• Verification: check:generated 13/13, spec suite 376 files / 9867 tests, typecheck (debt ledger unchanged), doc-authoring/nul-bytes/changeset gates, eslint — all green.

PM routing of the out-of-scope finding: the false populate comment at packages/objectql/src/engine.ts:6760 is recorded on #7589 (the mechanism card it belongs to) rather than a new card — see the note there.

PM diff review + E6 convergence next: ready-flip + auto-merge once ESLint and TypeScript Type Check job conclusions are success.

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