@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/cli': patch
+'create-objectstack': patch
+---
+
+fix(cli,create-objectstack): new projects declare vitest `~4.1.12`, outside GHSA-qxg6-89mg-rqv8, and still install on npm 10
+
+Clause-②: no
+Metadata-protocol: none
+
+The vitest range every scaffold declares moves from `~4.0.0` to `~4.1.12`: the `create-objectstack` blank template, `os init -t plugin` and `os create plugin` (in `devDependencies`), and the npm `overrides` block that every standalone scaffold emits, `os init -t app` and `-t empty` included. `~4.0.0` resolved to vitest and `@vitest/mocker` 4.0.18, inside GHSA-qxg6-89mg-rqv8 (`@vitest/mocker` from 2.1.0-beta.7 up to the fix in 4.1.12), which has no 4.0.x fix. A new project now resolves vitest and `@vitest/mocker` 4.1.12 or a later 4.1.x patch, and `npm audit` of a fresh scaffold lists no vitest or `@vitest/*` advisory.
+
+npm 10, the npm Node 22 bundles, still installs every scaffold. The `overrides.vitest` entry, which equals `devDependencies.vitest`, is what makes that hold: it settles vitest 4.1.12's contradictory optional peer (`@vitest/browser-webdriverio`), which npm 10 otherwise crashes on with `Cannot read properties of null (reading 'edgesOut')`. Measured on npm 10.9.4, 10.9.9 and 11.21.1. pnpm ignores npm's `overrides` field.
+
+**An existing project made by an earlier `create-objectstack`, `os init` or `os create plugin`** keeps its own `~4.0.0`. To move it, set `overrides.vitest` to `~4.1.12` in `package.json`, and `devDependencies.vitest` too where the project declares it, then run `npm install`. npm refuses an override that differs from the direct dependency (`EOVERRIDE`), so the two move together.
@@ -12,19 +12,21 @@ Solutions to the most common issues encountered when working with ObjectStack.
 
 ### "Cannot read properties of null (reading 'edgesOut')" from npm install
 
-**Symptom:** npm exits 1 with `npm error Cannot read properties of null (reading 'edgesOut')` while installing `@objectstack/cli` or `@objectstack/plugin-auth`. This includes the install step of `npm create objectstack` and `npm install -g @objectstack/cli`.
+**Symptom:** npm exits 1 with `npm error Cannot read properties of null (reading 'edgesOut')` while installing `@objectstack/cli` or `@objectstack/plugin-auth`. This includes `npm install -g @objectstack/cli`, and `npm install` in a project whose `package.json` has no `vitest` override (fix 2).
 
-**Cause:** npm 10, the npm that Node 22 ships, crashes on an optional `vitest` peer in the auth library's dependency tree: the newest vitest 4 has no matching `@vitest/browser-webdriverio` release. npm 11 and pnpm install the same packages, and `npm ci` from a committed lockfile is not affected.
+**Cause:** npm 10, the npm that Node 22 ships, crashes on the newest vitest 4, 4.1.12. Its optional peer `@vitest/browser-webdriverio ^4.1.11` has one matching release, 4.1.11, and that release requires exactly vitest 4.1.11. npm 10 reaches vitest through an optional `vitest` peer in the auth library's dependency tree, or through your project's own `vitest`. npm 11 and pnpm install the same packages, and `npm ci` from a committed lockfile is not affected.
 
 **Fix** (either one):
 
 1. **Use npm 11** (it needs Node 22.9+): run `npm install -g npm@11`, then repeat the install. This is the only fix for `npm install -g`, because a global install reads no `overrides`. In a Dockerfile, install under a pinned npm 11, as the [self-built runtime recipe](/docs/deployment/self-hosting#docker-official-image--the-standard-path) does.
-2. **Stay on npm 10 and pin vitest** in your project's root `package.json`. Then run `npm install` again and commit the lockfile:
+2. **Stay on npm 10 and pin vitest** in your project's root `package.json`. The override puts every `vitest` in the tree, optional peers included, on one range, and npm 10 installs it. Then run `npm install` again and commit the lockfile:
 
    ```json title="package.json"
-   "overrides": { "vitest": "~4.0.0" }
+   "overrides": { "vitest": "~4.1.12" }
    ```
 
+   If `devDependencies` lists `vitest`, set it to the same `~4.1.12`: npm refuses an override that differs from a direct dependency (`EOVERRIDE`). A project created by `npm create objectstack`, `os init` or `os create plugin` already has this block. If yours reads `~4.0.0`, an earlier scaffold's value, change both to `~4.1.12`: `~4.0.0` installs vitest 4.0.18, which is affected by security advisory GHSA-qxg6-89mg-rqv8.
+
 This entry, the npm 11 steps in [Self-hosting](/docs/deployment/self-hosting), and the npm 10 notes in [Getting Started](/docs/getting-started#prerequisites) and [Your First Project](/docs/getting-started/your-first-project#prerequisites) can be removed once `@vitest/browser-webdriverio` publishes the version that `npm view vitest dist-tags` lists as `V4`, and a plain npm 10 install of `@objectstack/plugin-auth` passes.
 
 ---
 
@@ -344,9 +344,10 @@ export const SCAFFOLD_PNPM_RANGE = '>=10.15';
 // `^4.0.0` over `^4.0.18`: no recorded decision exists for either, both were
 // written in the same 2026-02-07 commit, and `^4.0.18` claims a PATCH-level
 // floor nothing justifies while being strictly the narrower of the two. (The
-// vitest range has since moved to `~4.0.0` because `^4.0.0` stopped
-// installing on npm 10. That was an install failure, not a support decision;
-// the comment on `SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE` holds the reading.)
+// vitest range has since moved twice: to `~4.0.0` when `^4.0.0` stopped
+// installing on npm 10, then to `~4.1.12` for a security advisory on
+// `@vitest/mocker`. Neither was a support decision; the comment on
+// `SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE` holds the reading.)
 //
 // ⚠️ Neither choice changes what a scaffolded project INSTALLS. Measured
 // against the registry: `^5.3.0` and `^5.8.0` both resolve to typescript
@@ -386,39 +387,52 @@ export const SCAFFOLD_TYPESCRIPT_RANGE = '^5.3.0';
 /**
  * The vitest range a scaffolded project declares when its template tests.
  *
- * `~4.0.0`, not `^4.0.0`, because `^4.0.0` does not INSTALL on npm 10, the npm
- * that Node 22 bundles. Measured 2026-10-12, in an empty directory with a fresh
- * `--cache` and a manifest holding only this one devDependency (the full matrix
- * is in the PR that set this value): on npm 10.9.4 and 10.9.9, `npm install`
- * exits 1 with `Cannot read properties of null (reading 'edgesOut')` from
- * arborist's `#loadPeerSet`, and npm 11.21.0 installs it. `~4.0.0` installed on
- * all three (vitest 4.0.18, vite 7.3.7), and so did both CLI-emitted plugin
- * manifests. The cost: a scaffold gets vitest 4.0.18 rather than 4.1.x.
+ * `~4.1.12`: the floor is the first 4.x release outside GHSA-qxg6-89mg-rqv8,
+ * which affects `@vitest/mocker` from 2.1.0-beta.7 up to the fix in 4.1.12.
+ * vitest depends on its own `@vitest/mocker` at the exact same version, so the
+ * vitest floor IS the mocker floor. The tilde admits patch releases only, as
+ * the previous `~4.0.0` did, because both npm 10 failures recorded below
+ * arrived with a new minor's peer graph. ⛔ Never move the floor back below
+ * 4.1.12 to get around a future npm 10 failure: no 4.0.x fix exists, and
+ * `test/scaffold-npm-overrides.test.ts` pins the floor.
  *
- * ⚠️ The range alone stopped being enough, so it is also emitted as an npm
- * OVERRIDE — see {@link SCAFFOLD_NPM_OVERRIDES}, which is built from this
- * constant, so the declared range and the override cannot disagree.
+ * The range installs on npm 10, the npm Node 22 bundles, only TOGETHER with
+ * the npm override — see {@link SCAFFOLD_NPM_OVERRIDES}, built from this
+ * constant, so the declared range and the override cannot disagree. vitest
+ * 4.1.12 itself peers `@vitest/browser-webdriverio ^4.1.11`, whose only match,
+ * 4.1.11, peers `vitest: 4.1.11` exactly, and npm 10's arborist crashes on
+ * that set. Measured 2026-10-22, each manifest in an empty directory with a
+ * fresh `--cache`, the `@objectstack/*` ranges resolving to the published
+ * 18.0.0 (blank template, `os init -t plugin`, `os create plugin`):
  *
- * The cause is upstream, in the peer graph. Every vitest 4.1.x admits vite 8.
- * vite 8 declares an optional `@vitejs/devtools` peer, which reaches
- * `@vitejs/devtools-vitest`, which peers `vitest@*`. npm 10 resolves that peer
- * to vitest's `latest` release, whose exact-version peers then contradict the
- * vitest at the root, and npm 10's arborist crashes on it. vitest 4.0.x admits
- * only vite `^6 || ^7`, and no vite 6 or 7 release declares the devtools peer,
- * so the `vitest@*` peer never enters the graph.
+ *   `~4.1.12` + override   npm 10.9.4, 10.9.9,   exit 0; one vitest and one
+ *                          11.21.1               `@vitest/mocker`, both 4.1.12;
+ *                                                `npm audit` lists no vitest or
+ *                                                `@vitest/*` entry
+ *   `~4.1.12`, no override npm 10.9.9            exit 1, `Cannot read properties
+ *                                                of null (reading 'edgesOut')`
+ *   `~4.0.0` + override    npm 10.9.9, 11.21.1   exit 0 on vitest and
+ *                                                `@vitest/mocker` 4.0.18, which
+ *                                                `npm audit` reports
  *
- * ⛔ Not `^5.0.0`, although it installs today. It installs only because it
- * resolves to exactly the version `latest` names: pinned to 5.0.0 or 5.0.2 it
- * crashes the same way. So it would break again, with no change here, the day
- * `latest` moves past 5.x. ⛔ Not a shipped `.npmrc` with `legacy-peer-deps`
- * either, which changes peer resolution for every npm user of the scaffold.
+ * The install does not depend on where vitest's `latest` tag points: `latest`
+ * is 5.0.5, outside this range, and the range installs. The override routes
+ * every `vitest` edge in the npm graph to this range, the optional peers deep
+ * in the closure included.
  *
- * The re-check that lets this move back: run `npm install` of
- * `{"devDependencies":{"vitest":"^4.0.0"}}` (or the range you want) in an empty
- * directory with a fresh `--cache`, on the newest npm 10 and on npm 11. When
- * both exit 0, widen this.
+ * ⛔ Not the 5.x line, although `^5.0.5` + override installed on the same
+ * matrix and cleared the advisory too. vitest 5 declares `engines.node`
+ * `^22.12.0 || ^24.0.0 || >=26.0.0`, narrower than the `>=22.0.0` the CLI and
+ * `create-objectstack` declare, and this repo's own suites run vitest 4.
+ * Moving a scaffold to a new major is its own change.
+ * ⛔ Not a shipped `.npmrc` with `legacy-peer-deps` either, which changes peer
+ * resolution for every npm user of the scaffold.
+ *
+ * The re-check before moving this: `npm install` of each emitted manifest in
+ * an empty directory with a fresh `--cache`, on the newest npm 10 and on npm
+ * 11, then `npm audit` of the installed tree.
  */
-export const SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE = '~4.0.0';
+export const SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE = '~4.1.12';
 
 /**
  * The npm `overrides` block every STANDALONE scaffold emits: `os init`'s three
@@ -429,11 +443,16 @@ export const SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE = '~4.0.0';
  * Why it exists. vitest 4.1.12 (published 2026-10-15) peers
  * `@vitest/browser-webdriverio ^4.1.11`, and that package's only match, 4.1.11,
  * peers `vitest: 4.1.11` exactly — a peer set that contradicts itself. A
- * scaffold reaches it even with vitest pinned to `~4.0.0` at its root, through
- * OPTIONAL `vitest` peers deeper in the closure (`@objectstack/metadata-core`
- * peers `^4.0.0`, better-auth peers `^2 || ^3 || ^4`), which npm 10 resolves to
- * vitest's newest 4.x. Measured 2026-10-16, each manifest in an empty
- * directory with a fresh `--cache`, against the published `18.0.0-next.2`:
+ * scaffold reaches it through its own root vitest, now that the range is
+ * `~4.1.12`, and, in a template that declares no vitest, through OPTIONAL
+ * `vitest` peers deeper in the closure (better-auth peers vitest optionally),
+ * which npm 10 resolves to vitest's newest 4.x. Re-measured 2026-10-22 against
+ * the published 18.0.0 with the range at `~4.1.12`: WITHOUT this block, `os
+ * init -t app`, `-t plugin` and `os create plugin` each exit 1 on npm 10.9.9
+ * with the crash below; WITH it, those three and `-t empty` exit 0 on npm
+ * 10.9.9 and 11.21.1 (the full matrix is on `SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE`). The
+ * first reading, 2026-10-16, each manifest in an empty directory with a fresh
+ * `--cache`, against the published `18.0.0-next.2`, with the range at `~4.0.0`:
  *
  *   without the override   npm 10.9.9   `os init -t app`, `-t plugin` and
  *                                       `-t empty` all exit 1 with `Cannot
@@ -450,10 +469,10 @@ export const SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE = '~4.0.0';
  * vitest, the override equals that declaration — npm refuses an override that
  * differs from the direct dependency's own spec (`EOVERRIDE`).
  *
- * The cost, measured on an emitted `-t app` (npm 10.9.9): a later bare `npm
- * install -D vitest` is refused with `EOVERRIDE: Override for vitest@*
- * conflicts with direct dependency`; `npm install -D vitest@~4.0.0` (this
- * range) installs. Loud and self-describing, where the alternative was a
+ * The cost, measured on an emitted `-t app` (npm 10.9.9, re-measured with the
+ * range at `~4.1.12`): a later bare `npm install -D vitest` is refused with
+ * `EOVERRIDE: Override for vitest@* conflicts with direct dependency`; `npm
+ * install -D vitest@~4.1.12` (this range) installs. Loud and self-describing, where the alternative was a
  * project that could not install at all. pnpm ignores npm's `overrides` field,
  * so pnpm users see no change.
  *
 
@@ -14,15 +14,20 @@
  * `Cannot read properties of null (reading 'edgesOut')`. Measured 2026-10-16:
  * `os init -t app`, `-t plugin` and `-t empty` all failed `npm install` on npm
  * 10.9.9; with `"overrides": { "vitest": "~4.0.0" }` all of them, and `os
- * create plugin`, installed on npm 10.9.9 and npm 11.21.1. The full reading is
- * on `SCAFFOLD_NPM_OVERRIDES` in `src/commands/init.ts`.
+ * create plugin`, installed on npm 10.9.9 and npm 11.21.1. The range has since
+ * moved to `~4.1.12` (GHSA-qxg6-89mg-rqv8 has no 4.0.x fix), and the override
+ * still decides it: re-measured 2026-10-22, without it `os init -t app`, `-t
+ * plugin` and `os create plugin` each crash npm 10.9.9, and with it the
+ * emissions install on npm 10.9.4, 10.9.9 and 11.21.1. The full readings are on `SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE` and
+ * `SCAFFOLD_NPM_OVERRIDES` in `src/commands/init.ts`.
  *
  * ## What is asserted, and why no range is written down here
  *
- * Every expectation is DERIVED from the exported constants, never a literal:
- * a pin comparing against `'~4.0.0'` would stay green on a tree where the
- * constant moved and one emission was left behind — the drift it exists to
- * catch.
+ * Every equality is DERIVED from the exported constants, never a literal: a
+ * pin comparing against a spelled-out range would stay green on a tree where
+ * the constant moved and one emission was left behind — the drift it exists
+ * to catch. The one literal is a LOWER bound, the advisory's fixed release, in
+ * the floor pin at the end of this file.
  *
  *   1. Each emission's `overrides.vitest` IS `SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE`.
  *   2. Where an emission also declares `vitest` directly, the two are equal —
@@ -108,3 +113,33 @@ describe('npm overrides in every standalone scaffold manifest', () => {
     expect(manifest).not.toHaveProperty('overrides');
   });
 });
+
+/**
+ * The floor every scaffold's vitest range must keep: the first release of each
+ * major outside GHSA-qxg6-89mg-rqv8 (`@vitest/mocker` from 2.1.0-beta.7 up to
+ * the fix in 4.1.12, and from 5.0.0-beta.1 up to the fix in 5.0.3; read from
+ * the npm registry's advisory endpoint, 2026-10-22; the same floors clear
+ * GHSA-xp26-3454-mjgp, GHSA-82fw-gwwq-j7x9 and vitest's own
+ * GHSA-5xrq-8626-4rwp by that reading). vitest depends on its own
+ * `@vitest/mocker` at the exact same version, so a vitest floor is a mocker
+ * floor. A major with no row here is refused rather than passed: moving the
+ * scaffold to it is the moment to read the advisory for that line.
+ */
+const FIXED_FLOOR_BY_MAJOR: Readonly<Record<number, readonly [number, number, number]>> = {
+  4: [4, 1, 12],
+  5: [5, 0, 3],
+};
+
+describe('the scaffold vitest range stays outside GHSA-qxg6-89mg-rqv8', () => {
+  it('its lowest admitted version is at or above the advisory fix for its major', () => {
+    // Only the two spellings the scaffold uses: an unreadable range is a
+    // failure here, never a pass.
+    const match = /^[~^](\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)$/.exec(SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE);
+    expect(match, `SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE "${SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE}" is not a ~X.Y.Z or ^X.Y.Z range`).not.toBeNull();
+    const floor = match!.slice(1).map(Number) as [number, number, number];
+    const fixed = FIXED_FLOOR_BY_MAJOR[floor[0]];
+    expect(fixed, `no advisory floor is recorded for vitest ${floor[0]}.x — read the advisory, then add the row`).toBeDefined();
+    const atOrAbove = floor[1] !== fixed![1] ? floor[1] > fixed![1] : floor[2] >= fixed![2];
+    expect(atOrAbove, `SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE "${SCAFFOLD_VITEST_RANGE}" admits ${floor.join('.')}, below the fix ${fixed!.join('.')}`).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
@@ -208,6 +208,17 @@ describe('bundled template declared version surfaces', () => {
     //   "vitest": "~4.0.0"   npm 10.9.x / 11.21.x exit 0, every one the same tree
     //                                             as npm 11 installs without it
     //
+    // The range has since moved to `~4.1.12`: 4.0.18's `@vitest/mocker` is inside
+    // GHSA-qxg6-89mg-rqv8, which has no 4.0.x fix. Re-measured 2026-10-22 on this
+    // template against the published 18.0.0, each leg with a fresh `--cache`:
+    //
+    //   "~4.1.12", no override npm 10.9.9         exit 1, the crash (vitest 4.1.12
+    //                                             itself peers the contradiction now)
+    //   "~4.1.12" + override  npm 10.9.4 / 10.9.9 exit 0, one vitest and one
+    //                         / 11.21.1           @vitest/mocker, both 4.1.12; `npm
+    //                                             audit` lists no vitest entry, and
+    //                                             `npm test` passes on npm 10.9.9
+    //
     // The override routes every `vitest` edge in the npm graph to the range this
     // project declares, the vitest npm 11 already dedupes the whole tree to. pnpm
     // ignores npm's `overrides` field (measured on 10.28.0): pnpm users see no change.
 
@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@
     "@objectstack/skills": "^18.0.0",
     "@objectstack/verify": "^18.0.0",
     "typescript": "^5.3.0",
-    "vitest": "~4.0.0"
+    "vitest": "~4.1.12"
   },
   "overrides": {
-    "vitest": "~4.0.0"
+    "vitest": "~4.1.12"
   }
 }
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@`
`28`	`28`	`"@objectstack/skills": "^18.0.0",`
`29`	`29`	`"@objectstack/verify": "^18.0.0",`
`30`	`30`	`"typescript": "^5.3.0",`
`31`		`- "vitest": "~4.0.0"`
	`31`	`+ "vitest": "~4.1.12"`
`32`	`32`	`},`
`33`	`33`	`"overrides": {`
`34`		`- "vitest": "~4.0.0"`
	`34`	`+ "vitest": "~4.1.12"`
`35`	`35`	`}`
`36`	`36`	`}`