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+---
+'@objectstack/runtime': minor
+---
+
+fix(runtime)!: the /automation create and update doors save the flow as a tenant row, so what they answer 200 for survives a restart, and the removal door deletes that row too (#20862)
+
+Clause-②: no (narrowing)
+
+<!-- adr-0087: not-required (no-migration-prescription) No metadata changes shape and nothing an author wrote is renamed or removed, so `objectstack migrate meta` has nothing to rewrite. What moves is which definition writes and removals the /automation doors accept: the ones the metadata store refuses are now refused there too. -->
+
+**BREAKING**: shipped as `minor` under the launch-window convention. `POST /api/v1/automation` and `PUT /api/v1/automation/:name` now refuse a definition the metadata store refuses, which they used to register and answer `200` for. `DELETE /api/v1/automation/:name` now relays a store's refusal to delete the flow's row.
+
+**What changed.** The create and update doors registered a flow in the automation engine and wrote no metadata row. The next boot binds flows from the stored metadata, so a flow created through `POST /automation` was gone after a restart, and an update through `PUT /automation/:name` to a flow stored through `/meta` lost to the stored definition. Both doors now save the definition through the metadata protocol's own `saveMetaItem`: the save `PUT /api/v1/meta/flow/:name` uses, and the one the clone door (`POST /automation/:name/clone`) already used. The row is env-wide and live (`active`), so the flow reads back on `/meta` and survives a cold boot. The three doors share one path.
+
+- **Engine first, store second.** The engine's registration is still the first check. Its refusal is answered as before (`400 VALIDATION_FAILED`), and nothing is saved.
+- **A save the store refuses is relayed with its own code and status, and leaves no registration behind.** A create is withdrawn from the engine. An update puts back the definition the engine held, so a refused update does not take the flow down.
+- **`DELETE /automation/:name` deletes the tenant row too**, through `deleteMetaItem`, so a flow created through the door does not come back at the next boot. The engine's own removal refusal (`DELETE_RESTRICTED` / `409`) is still raised before the store is touched. A name with no stored row is removed as before. A delete the store refuses puts the definition back and relays the refusal.
+- **Unchanged:** the locked-base refusal on a packaged flow's name (`403 NOT_OVERRIDABLE`) and the refusal of a definition claiming a package's provenance (`422 INVALID_METADATA`) still answer first. A composition with no metadata protocol keeps the engine-only registration and removal it always had.
+
+**Newly refused, because the metadata store refuses them** (measured on the showcase):
+
+- A flow name with a leading underscore. `FlowSchema` admits it and the metadata item-name grammar does not, so the door answers `400 INVALID_REQUEST`. Rename the flow to a name that starts with a letter.
+- A definition a gating runtime publish rule refuses, such as a default edge that also carries a condition (`flow-default-edge-with-condition`). The door answers `422 INVALID_METADATA` with the rule's finding. Fix the definition as the finding says.
+
+Such a flow could never be stored, so before this change it ran only until the next restart.
@@ -0,0 +1,221 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+//
+// [#20862, ADR-0126 §2, ADR-0131 D6] The `/automation` definition doors keep
+// what they answer `200` for — over the real showcase composition, across a
+// cold boot on one database file.
+//
+// ## What was broken
+//
+// `POST /automation` and `PUT /automation/:name` registered the definition in
+// the engine and wrote no metadata row. The next boot binds flows from the
+// stored metadata, so a created flow was gone after a restart, and an update
+// to a flow stored through `/meta` was overwritten by the stored definition.
+// Measured on `origin/main` before the fix, through this file's own cases:
+// the created flow answered `404` after the cold boot, and the updated flow
+// served its stored label again.
+//
+// ## Why a booted stack
+//
+// The door-level pins sit beside the domain
+// (`packages/runtime/src/domains/automation-authoring-doors-durable.test.ts`).
+// What they cannot answer is whether, on the stack an operator runs, the door
+// reaches a protocol whose save lands a row the next boot binds. Only a
+// restart on the same file shows that.
+//
+// ## What each case pins
+//
+//   - a created flow reads back on the metadata door and survives a cold boot;
+//   - an update to a `/meta`-stored flow reads back there and survives it;
+//   - a save the store refuses leaves no engine registration: a create is
+//     withdrawn, and an update puts back the definition the engine held;
+//   - a flow created and then removed through the door stays removed after the
+//     cold boot (the removal door keeps pace with the create door);
+//   - a packaged flow's name is still refused as a locked base (the control).
+
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeAll, afterAll } from 'vitest';
+import showcaseStack from '@objectstack/example-showcase';
+import { bootStack, type VerifyStack } from '@objectstack/verify';
+import { ConnectorRestPlugin } from '@objectstack/connector-rest';
+import { ConnectorOpenApiPlugin } from '@objectstack/connector-openapi';
+import { ConnectorMcpPlugin } from '@objectstack/connector-mcp';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+import { mkdtempSync, rmSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+
+/** Package-relative connector refs resolve against the cwd — see the sibling boots. */
+const SHOWCASE_DIR = fileURLToPath(new URL('../../../../examples/app-showcase/', import.meta.url));
+
+/** A flow the showcase package ships (`com.example.showcase`). */
+const SHIPPED = 'showcase_urgent_task_alert';
+/** Names no package ships, each used by one case. */
+const CREATED = 'dogfood_created_flow_20862';
+const META_STORED = 'dogfood_meta_stored_flow_20862';
+const REMOVED = 'dogfood_removed_flow_20862';
+/**
+ * A name the engine registers and the store refuses: `FlowSchema.name` admits a
+ * leading underscore, the metadata item-name grammar does not. So the engine's
+ * registration succeeds and the save fails — a real store refusal, reached
+ * through the public door.
+ */
+const UNSAVABLE = '_dogfood_unsavable_flow_20862';
+
+const UPDATED_LABEL = 'Updated through the automation door';
+
+const definition = (name: string, label = `Dogfood ${name}`) => ({
+    name,
+    label,
+    type: 'autolaunched',
+    nodes: [
+        { id: 'start', type: 'start', label: 'Start', config: {} },
+        { id: 'end', type: 'end', label: 'End' },
+    ],
+    edges: [{ id: 'e1', source: 'start', target: 'end' }],
+});
+
+/**
+ * A definition the engine registers and the store's publish gate refuses: a
+ * default edge carrying a condition (`flow-default-edge-with-condition`, a
+ * gating authoring rule the engine does not run).
+ */
+const gateRefused = (name: string) => ({
+    ...definition(name, 'Refused by the publish gate'),
+    edges: [{ id: 'e1', source: 'start', target: 'end', isDefault: true, condition: 'true' }],
+});
+
+interface DispatcherEnvelope {
+    success?: boolean;
+    data?: Record<string, unknown>;
+    error?: { code?: string; message?: string };
+}
+const dataOf = (json: unknown) => (json as DispatcherEnvelope).data;
+const dispatcherCode = (json: unknown) => (json as DispatcherEnvelope).error?.code;
+
+const plugins = () => [
+    new ConnectorRestPlugin(),
+    new ConnectorOpenApiPlugin(),
+    new ConnectorMcpPlugin({ declarativeStdio: ['node'] }),
+];
+
+async function boot(databaseFile: string): Promise<VerifyStack> {
+    return bootStack(showcaseStack, { automation: true, databaseFile, extraPlugins: plugins() });
+}
+
+describe('the /automation definition doors persist what they register (showcase, cold boot)', () => {
+    let stack: VerifyStack;
+    let token: string;
+    let prevCwd: string;
+    let dir: string;
+    let dbFile: string;
+
+    const call = async (method: string, path: string, body?: unknown) => {
+        const res = await stack.apiAs(token, method, path, body);
+        const json: unknown = await res.json().catch(() => ({}));
+        return { status: res.status, json };
+    };
+    /** `GET /meta/flow/:name` — the served document, unwrapped from whichever envelope carries it. */
+    const metaRead = async (name: string) => {
+        const read = await call('GET', `/meta/flow/${name}`);
+        const json = read.json as Record<string, unknown>;
+        const doc = (json?.data ?? json?.item ?? json) as Record<string, unknown>;
+        return { status: read.status, doc: (doc?.item ?? doc) as Record<string, unknown> };
+    };
+    const engineLabel = async (name: string) => {
+        const read = await call('GET', `/automation/${name}`);
+        return { status: read.status, label: dataOf(read.json)?.label };
+    };
+
+    beforeAll(async () => {
+        prevCwd = process.cwd();
+        process.chdir(SHOWCASE_DIR);
+        dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'dogfood-20862-'));
+        dbFile = join(dir, 'showcase.db');
+        stack = await boot(dbFile);
+        token = await stack.signIn();
+    }, 180_000);
+
+    afterAll(async () => {
+        await stack?.stop();
+        if (prevCwd) process.chdir(prevCwd);
+        if (dir) rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    });
+
+    it('a flow created through the automation door reads back on the metadata door', async () => {
+        const created = await call('POST', '/automation', definition(CREATED));
+        expect(created.status, JSON.stringify(created.json)).toBe(200);
+
+        const served = await metaRead(CREATED);
+        expect(served.status, JSON.stringify(served.doc)).toBe(200);
+        expect(served.doc.label).toBe(`Dogfood ${CREATED}`);
+    });
+
+    it('an update through the automation door to a /meta-stored flow reads back on the metadata door', async () => {
+        const stored = await call('PUT', `/meta/flow/${META_STORED}`, definition(META_STORED, 'Stored through /meta'));
+        expect(stored.status, JSON.stringify(stored.json)).toBe(200);
+
+        const updated = await call('PUT', `/automation/${META_STORED}`, definition(META_STORED, UPDATED_LABEL));
+        expect(updated.status, JSON.stringify(updated.json)).toBe(200);
+
+        expect((await metaRead(META_STORED)).doc.label).toBe(UPDATED_LABEL);
+        expect((await engineLabel(META_STORED)).label).toBe(UPDATED_LABEL);
+    });
+
+    it('a create whose save the store refuses answers the store\'s refusal and leaves no engine registration', async () => {
+        const created = await call('POST', '/automation', definition(UNSAVABLE));
+
+        expect(created.status, JSON.stringify(created.json)).toBe(400);
+        expect(dispatcherCode(created.json)).toBe('INVALID_REQUEST');
+        expect((await call('GET', `/automation/${UNSAVABLE}`)).status).toBe(404);
+    });
+
+    it('an update whose save the store refuses answers the refusal and the engine keeps the definition it held', async () => {
+        const updated = await call('PUT', `/automation/${META_STORED}`, gateRefused(META_STORED));
+
+        expect(updated.status, JSON.stringify(updated.json)).toBe(422);
+        expect(dispatcherCode(updated.json)).toBe('INVALID_METADATA');
+        expect(await engineLabel(META_STORED)).toEqual({ status: 200, label: UPDATED_LABEL });
+        expect((await metaRead(META_STORED)).doc.label).toBe(UPDATED_LABEL);
+    });
+
+    it('a flow created and then removed through the automation door is gone from the metadata door too', async () => {
+        const created = await call('POST', '/automation', definition(REMOVED));
+        expect(created.status, JSON.stringify(created.json)).toBe(200);
+
+        const removed = await call('DELETE', `/automation/${REMOVED}`);
+        expect(removed.status, JSON.stringify(removed.json)).toBe(200);
+
+        expect((await call('GET', `/automation/${REMOVED}`)).status).toBe(404);
+        expect((await metaRead(REMOVED)).status).toBe(404);
+    });
+
+    it('control: a packaged flow\'s name is still refused as a locked base, on the update door and on a create onto it', async () => {
+        const before = dataOf((await call('GET', `/automation/${SHIPPED}`)).json)!;
+
+        const put = await call('PUT', `/automation/${SHIPPED}`, { ...before, label: 'Edited in place' });
+        expect(put.status, JSON.stringify(put.json)).toBe(403);
+        expect(dispatcherCode(put.json)).toBe('NOT_OVERRIDABLE');
+
+        const post = await call('POST', '/automation', { ...before, label: 'Overwritten via create' });
+        expect(post.status, JSON.stringify(post.json)).toBe(403);
+        expect(dispatcherCode(post.json)).toBe('NOT_OVERRIDABLE');
+
+        expect(dataOf((await call('GET', `/automation/${SHIPPED}`)).json)).toEqual(before);
+    });
+
+    it('after a cold boot on the same database file, every door\'s outcome is what it answered', async () => {
+        await stack.stop();
+        stack = await boot(dbFile);
+        token = await stack.signIn();
+
+        // Independent facts about one restart, so each is reported on its own.
+        // The created flow survives.
+        expect.soft(await engineLabel(CREATED)).toEqual({ status: 200, label: `Dogfood ${CREATED}` });
+        // The update survives: the stored definition no longer wins over it.
+        expect.soft(await engineLabel(META_STORED)).toEqual({ status: 200, label: UPDATED_LABEL });
+        // The refused create left nothing to bind, and the removed flow stays removed.
+        expect.soft((await call('GET', `/automation/${UNSAVABLE}`)).status).toBe(404);
+        expect.soft((await call('GET', `/automation/${REMOVED}`)).status).toBe(404);
+        // The packaged flow is the one its package ships.
+        expect.soft((await engineLabel(SHIPPED)).status).toBe(200);
+    }, 180_000);
+});