@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/cli": patch
+---
+
+**When a `defineStack` or `composeStacks` call converts a deprecated spelling and then refuses the config, `objectstack validate --json`, `objectstack build --json` and `objectstack lint --json` now report both the refusal and the ADR-0087 conversions it applied.**
+
+`defineStack` rewrites a deprecated metadata spelling to its canonical shape when the config loads, such as `description` on a `page:header` component (canonical `subtitle`). When the same call then refused the config, for example on an unknown `requires` token (`STACK_CAPABILITY_UNKNOWN`), each of the three commands exited 1 with the refusal's `error` and `code` and with `conversions: []`. The conversion reached stderr only, as a warn-once line.
+
+The refusal now carries the conversions the producer applied before it refused (`stackConversionsOf(error)` in `@objectstack/spec`), and each command adds them to the `conversions` list of its failure payload, beside the refusal. Each conversion is listed once. A refusal whose source needed no conversion, and any other failure at load, still answers `conversions: []`.
+
+Nothing is accepted or refused differently: the exit code, `error`, `code` and every other key of each payload are unchanged, and no key is added. The text face is unchanged.
+
+Clause-②: no
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import {
   lintUnknownAuthoringKeys,
   lintUnknownStackKeys,
   formatUnknownAuthoringKey,
+  stackConversionsOf,
   type ConversionNotice,
 } from '@objectstack/spec';
 import { loadConfig, namedExportRejectionHints } from '../utils/config.js';
@@ -239,7 +240,10 @@ export default class Compile extends Command {
     // the same `const` array the `onConversionNotice` sink pushes into, moved
     // above the `try` only so the catch-all exit can read it. `normalizeStackInput`
     // still runs at exactly step 2, so a run that throws in `loadConfig` — above
-    // it — reports `[]` honestly, exactly as `warningsSoFar()` does there.
+    // it — reports `[]` honestly, exactly as `warningsSoFar()` does there,
+    // unless what it threw is a stack producer's refusal: that carries the
+    // conversions the producer applied before refusing, and the catch-all
+    // folds them (#20583) — step 1b's fold for the run whose load threw.
     //
     // ⛔ NOT FOLDED INTO `warningsSoFar()`, in either direction. The success
     // payload keeps these separate deliberately (see its note at `conversions:`
@@ -1135,6 +1139,16 @@ export default class Compile extends Command {
     } catch (error: any) {
       if (isExitSignal(error)) throw error;
       if (flags.json) {
+        // [#20583] The ADR-0087 D2 conversions a stack PRODUCER applied before
+        // it REFUSED — `os validate`'s catch-all fold, one door over, for the
+        // same reason: a refusing `defineStack` / `composeStacks` returns no
+        // stack, so step 1b never ran, and the producer stamps what it had
+        // applied on the ADR-0112 refusal it throws. `stackConversionsOf`
+        // answers `[]` for any other throw. ⛔ Folded, never recomputed, never
+        // read off stderr. Cannot double-count: this command calls no producer
+        // itself, so only the config module's load can raise a stamped
+        // refusal, and a throwing load precedes both other fillers of this list.
+        conversionNotices.push(...stackConversionsOf(error));
         await emitJson({ success: false, error: error.message, ...errorCodeFields(error), warnings: warningsSoFar(), conversions: conversionNotices }, 0, { compact: true });
         this.exit(1);
       }
 
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { dirname } from 'node:path';
 import { Args, Command, Flags } from '@oclif/core';
 import chalk from 'chalk';
 import { bundleRequire } from 'bundle-require';
-import { normalizeStackInput, type ConversionNotice } from '@objectstack/spec';
+import { normalizeStackInput, stackConversionsOf, type ConversionNotice } from '@objectstack/spec';
 import { PROTOCOL_MAJOR } from '@objectstack/spec/kernel';
 import { GLOBAL_ACTION_OBJECT_KEY } from '@objectstack/objectql';
 import { loadConfig, BUNDLE_REQUIRE_EXTERNALS } from '../utils/config.js';
@@ -931,7 +931,9 @@ export default class Lint extends Command {
     // commit 79cf692b0): every failure exit carries the lists the run has ALREADY
     // COMPUTED, so the field means the same thing on every exit. The CALL that
     // fills it stays below, at the step that owns it — a throw in `loadConfig`,
-    // above it, reports `[]` honestly.
+    // above it, reports `[]` honestly, unless what it threw is a stack
+    // producer's refusal: that carries the conversions the producer applied
+    // before refusing, and the catch-all folds them (#20583).
     //
     // ⛔ NOT FOLDED INTO `issues`. Whether an auto-converted key should become
     // a `LintIssue` — or, on the sibling commands, whether `warnings` and
@@ -1170,9 +1172,23 @@ export default class Lint extends Command {
     } catch (error: any) {
       if (isExitSignal(error)) throw error;
       if (flags.json) {
+        // [#20583] The ADR-0087 D2 conversions a stack PRODUCER applied before
+        // it REFUSED — the fold right after `loadConfig` above, for the run
+        // whose load threw, and the same catch-all fold `os validate` /
+        // `os build` make. A refusing `defineStack` / `composeStacks` returns
+        // no stack, so that fold never ran; the producer stamps what it had
+        // applied on the ADR-0112 refusal it throws. `stackConversionsOf`
+        // answers `[]` for any other throw, so nothing moves for an unbuilt
+        // default export, which no producer built and none refused (the
+        // one-authoring-shape rule stays off this command). ⛔ Folded, never
+        // recomputed, never read off stderr. Cannot double-count: this command
+        // calls no producer itself, so only the config module's load can raise
+        // a stamped refusal, and a throwing load precedes both other fillers.
+        conversionNotices.push(...stackConversionsOf(error));
         // [commit 9fd45a952] Whatever the run had reached before the throw, under the
         // same 2026-08-25 ruling: `[]` for a throw in `loadConfig` — the
-        // normalize step never ran — and the notices in hand for any later one.
+        // normalize step never ran — except a producer's refusal, folded just
+        // above, and the notices in hand for any later one.
         // Wiring the producer without this exit would ship a fresh instance of
         // the defect commit 79cf692b0 fixed, one command over, on the day it was closed.
         await emitJson(
 
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import {
   lintUnknownAuthoringKeys,
   lintUnknownStackKeys,
   formatUnknownAuthoringKey,
+  stackConversionsOf,
   type ConversionNotice,
 } from '@objectstack/spec';
 import { loadConfig, namedExportRejectionHints } from '../utils/config.js';
@@ -193,7 +194,10 @@ export default class Validate extends Command {
     // the same `const` array the `onConversionNotice` sink pushes into, moved
     // above the `try` only so the catch-all exit can read it. `normalizeStackInput`
     // still runs at exactly step 2, so a run that throws in `loadConfig` — above
-    // it — reports `[]` honestly, exactly as `warningsSoFar()` does there.
+    // it — reports `[]` honestly, exactly as `warningsSoFar()` does there,
+    // unless what it threw is a stack producer's refusal: that carries the
+    // conversions the producer applied before refusing, which the run HAS
+    // already computed, and the catch-all folds them (#20583).
     //
     // ⛔ NOT FOLDED INTO `warningsSoFar()`, in either direction. The two fields
     // are separate on the success payload by an explicit decision recorded at
@@ -205,13 +209,14 @@ export default class Validate extends Command {
     // authority to settle, so the shape is mirrored, not merged.
     //
     // No `conversionsSoFar()` wrapper: `warningsSoFar()` exists because five
-    // producers had to be concatenated in ONE stated order. This list has two
-    // fillers, and both push into this ONE array in the order the run reaches
-    // them — step 1b folds the record the stack producer left on the default
+    // producers had to be concatenated in ONE stated order. This list has three
+    // fillers, and each pushes into this ONE array in the order the run reaches
+    // it — step 1b folds the record the stack producer left on the default
     // export (`loaded.stackConversions`), step 2's own pass appends what it
-    // converts on the merged stack — so reading the binding directly already
-    // is the "a list cannot drift from itself" idiom the wrapper was built to
-    // buy.
+    // converts on the merged stack, and the catch-all folds the record a
+    // producer's REFUSAL carries when the load threw one (so on that run the
+    // other two never ran) — so reading the binding directly already is the
+    // "a list cannot drift from itself" idiom the wrapper was built to buy.
     const conversionNotices: ConversionNotice[] = [];
 
     try {
@@ -905,6 +910,19 @@ export default class Validate extends Command {
     } catch (error: any) {
       if (isExitSignal(error)) throw error;
       if (flags.json) {
+        // [#20583] The ADR-0087 D2 conversions a stack PRODUCER applied before
+        // it REFUSED — step 1b's fold, for the run whose load threw. A refusing
+        // `defineStack` / `composeStacks` returns no stack, so step 1b never
+        // ran; the producer stamps what it had applied on the ADR-0112 refusal
+        // it throws instead, and `stackConversionsOf` reads it off the caught
+        // error — `[]` for any other throw (a plain `Error`, this command's own
+        // refusals). ⛔ Folded, never recomputed: no second conversion pass
+        // over the authored source, no reading of the producer's stderr line
+        // (warn-once per process, so it can be missing). Cannot double-count:
+        // this command calls no producer itself, so only the config module's
+        // load can raise a stamped refusal, and a throwing load precedes both
+        // other fillers of this list.
+        conversionNotices.push(...stackConversionsOf(error));
         await emitJson({
           valid: false,
           error: error.message,
@@ -916,7 +934,9 @@ export default class Validate extends Command {
           // the three lists already in hand.
           warnings: warningsSoFar(),
           // [commit 79cf692b0] Same reading, one field over: `[]` for a throw at load —
-          // step 2 had not run — and the notices in hand for any later throw.
+          // step 2 had not run — except a producer's refusal, which carries the
+          // conversions it applied (folded just above); the notices in hand for
+          // any later throw.
           conversions: conversionNotices,
           duration: timer.elapsed(),
         });
 
@@ -41,6 +41,24 @@
  * unbuilt default export still lints and still converts through the command's
  * own pass (`lint-conversion-notices.e2e.test.ts` pins that half).
  *
+ * ## Convert, then REFUSE — the refusal carries the record, on all three doors (#20583)
+ *
+ * A strict `defineStack` that converts the retiring spelling and then refuses
+ * (`requires: ['no-such-capability']`, `STACK_CAPABILITY_UNKNOWN`) returns no
+ * stack, so there is no record on a default export to fold. The producer stamps
+ * the notices it applied on the refusal it throws instead, and each door's
+ * catch-all folds `stackConversionsOf(error)` into `conversions` beside the
+ * refusal. Before that fold all three answered `conversions: []` and the notice
+ * reached stderr alone.
+ *
+ * | door (`--json`)          | converts, then refuses       | canonical, then refuses (control) |
+ * |:-------------------------|:-----------------------------|:----------------------------------|
+ * | `os validate` / `build` / `lint` | exit 1, the refusal's `code`, the one notice | exit 1, the refusal's `code`, `[]` |
+ *
+ * The control holds the other direction: the same refusal from a source that
+ * needed no conversion answers `[]`, so an exit that reports the notice without
+ * reading it off the refusal it caught is red there.
+ *
  * `page-header-subtitle-alias` is the live conversion driven here (`description`
  * on a `page:header` component, canonical `subtitle`). The day it retires from
  * the load path the non-empty rows go red; re-point the fixture at a live entry
@@ -131,10 +149,10 @@ const page = (ns: string, headerKey: 'description' | 'subtitle') => `{
     ] }],
   }`;
 
-const stackBody = (ns: string, headerKey: 'description' | 'subtitle' | null) => `{
+const stackBody = (ns: string, headerKey: 'description' | 'subtitle' | null, requires?: string) => `{
   manifest: ${manifest(ns)},
   objects: [{ name: '${ns}_thing', label: 'Thing', sharingModel: 'private', fields: { title: { type: 'text', label: 'Title' } } }],
-  apps: [{ name: '${ns}_app', label: 'App' }],${headerKey ? `\n  pages: [${page(ns, headerKey)}],` : ''}
+  apps: [{ name: '${ns}_app', label: 'App' }],${headerKey ? `\n  pages: [${page(ns, headerKey)}],` : ''}${requires ? `\n  requires: ['${requires}'],` : ''}
 }`;
 
 const IMPORT = `import { composeStacks, defineStack } from '@objectstack/spec';\n\n`;
@@ -160,6 +178,13 @@ const FIXTURES: Record<string, string> = {
     `export default defineStack(${stackBody('nep', null)});\n`,
   // The control: the canonical spelling.
   canonical: IMPORT + `export default defineStack(${stackBody('can', 'subtitle')});\n`,
+  // Convert, then refuse: the strict (default) `defineStack` converts the
+  // retiring spelling, then refuses an unknown capability token.
+  convertThenRefuse:
+    IMPORT + `export default defineStack(${stackBody('ctr', 'description', 'no-such-capability')});\n`,
+  // Its control: the same refusal from a source that needed no conversion.
+  canonicalThenRefuse:
+    IMPORT + `export default defineStack(${stackBody('ctc', 'subtitle', 'no-such-capability')});\n`,
 };
 
 let root = '';
@@ -265,6 +290,43 @@ describe("os lint --json — the producer's conversion record reaches `conversio
   }, 180_000);
 });
 
+describe("convert, then REFUSE — the refusal carries the conversions into each door's `--json` (#20583)", () => {
+  // The catch-all exit on every door: the load threw the producer's refusal, so
+  // the record rides on the error, not on a returned stack.
+  type Door = 'validate' | 'build' | 'lint';
+  const DOORS: Record<Door, (label: string) => string[]> = {
+    validate: () => ['validate', '--json'],
+    build: (label) => ['build', '--json', '-o', join(dirs[label], 'out', 'objectstack.json')],
+    lint: () => ['lint', '--json'],
+  };
+  const REFUSAL_CODE = 'STACK_CAPABILITY_UNKNOWN';
+
+  /** The catch-all payload's own verdict, per door (`os lint`'s is the `error` string alone). */
+  function expectCatchAll(command: Door, run: Run, p: Payload & { error?: unknown; code?: unknown }, label: string): void {
+    expect(run.code, `${label}: the refusal fails the run\n${run.stdout}${run.stderr}`).toBe(1);
+    expect(p.code, `${label}: the producer's refusal, unwrapped`).toBe(REFUSAL_CODE);
+    expect(typeof p.error, `${label}: the catch-all exit`).toBe('string');
+    if (command === 'validate') expect(p.valid).toBe(false);
+    if (command === 'build') expect(p.success).toBe(false);
+  }
+
+  for (const command of Object.keys(DOORS) as Door[]) {
+    it(`os ${command} --json: exit 1, the refusal, and the one notice the producer applied before refusing`, async () => {
+      const run = await runCli(DOORS[command]('convertThenRefuse'), dirs.convertThenRefuse);
+      const p = payloadOf(run, `${command} convertThenRefuse`);
+      expectCatchAll(command, run, p, `${command} convertThenRefuse`);
+      expectExactly(p, [THE_NOTICE], `${command} convertThenRefuse`);
+    }, 180_000);
+
+    it(`os ${command} --json control: the same refusal from a source that needed no conversion — \`[]\``, async () => {
+      const run = await runCli(DOORS[command]('canonicalThenRefuse'), dirs.canonicalThenRefuse);
+      const p = payloadOf(run, `${command} canonicalThenRefuse`);
+      expectCatchAll(command, run, p, `${command} canonicalThenRefuse`);
+      expectExactly(p, [], `${command} canonicalThenRefuse`);
+    }, 180_000);
+  }
+});
+
 describe('os validate --strict — a conversion the producer applied fails it, on both faces', () => {
   it('the retiring spelling: exit 1 on the text face and under --json', async () => {
     const text = await runCli(['validate', '--strict'], dirs.recordAcrossSpread);
 
@@ -242,6 +242,15 @@ const NOT_A_GATE: Readonly<Record<string, readonly string[]>> = {
   // `test/rls-policy-authoring-admission.test.ts`.
   'The engine judge handed to the authoring-rule registry as an input — the rule that reads it is the gate':
     ['stackFilterJudge'],
+  // [#20583] The catch-all's fold: it reads the ADR-0087 conversion record a
+  // stack PRODUCER stamped on the refusal it threw at load — the refusing half
+  // of step 1b's `loaded.stackConversions`, which is a property read and so
+  // never reached this scan. It raises no finding and refuses nothing: the
+  // refusal was already thrown, the conversions were already applied by the
+  // producer, and the exit is 1 whether it answers the record or `[]`. Both
+  // commands call it (and `lint.ts`), so no parity gap sits behind it either.
+  'Carries the conversion record a stack producer stamped on the refusal it threw — the producer judged; this reads, and refuses nothing':
+    ['stackConversionsOf'],
   // [#18431] Artifact ASSEMBLY, and deliberately not a `BUILD_ONLY_GATES` row.
   // That ledger's entries are gates that cannot run read-only (they rewrite a
   // committed snapshot, or emit a sibling module); filing this one there would