@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/spec': minor
+'@objectstack/metadata-protocol': minor
+'@objectstack/service-datasource': patch
+---
+
+fix(service-datasource): a destructive re-import's refusal names the remedies that work from the import route, instead of a `?force=true` that route never reads (#21841)
+
+Clause-②: yes (widening)
+
+- **What was wrong.** "Import as Object" (`POST /api/v1/datasources/:name/external/tables/:remote/import`) saves through the metadata door's own `saveMetaItem`. A re-import that would drop or retype a field the stored object still carries is refused by that save's destructive-change gate, and the import route relays the refusal as `400 EXTERNAL_IMPORT_ERROR`. The refusal ended `re-submit with ?force=true to proceed.` The import route reads no `force`, so a caller who did exactly that got the identical refusal back.
+- **What the refusal says now.** The import states its own write face, and the refusal ends: this import cannot be forced, because the external-table import route accepts no `force`. Import the table under a new `name`, or save the changed definition through `PUT /api/v1/meta/object/:name?force=true`, which accepts the destructive change on purpose. Both remedies are measured on the showcase: each one answers `201` or `200` where the re-import answered `400`. The same words appear in this package's earlier changeset for the import.
+- **What widens.** `SaveMetaItemRequestSchema.writeFace` (`@objectstack/spec`) and `saveMetaItem`'s `writeFace` parameter (`@objectstack/metadata-protocol`) gain one member, `'external-import'`. The member is stated by the server. No door reads it from a request body, and the import's own options cannot carry it, or a `force`, into the save. Nothing accepted today is refused.
+- **What does not change.** The refusal itself stays: a destructive re-import is still `400 EXTERNAL_IMPORT_ERROR`, and the stored definition does not move. The import route gains no `force`. Acknowledging a destructive change stays on the metadata door. The other faces' wording is unchanged. A `422 INVALID_METADATA` relayed by the import keeps its full findings in the message, because the import route's envelope carries no `issues`.
@@ -2588,7 +2588,7 @@ Installed package with runtime lifecycle state
 | **force** | `boolean` | optional | Destructive-change acknowledgement (`?force=true` on the REST door): skips the safety diff that refuses an `object` save whose body drops fields or narrows types the stored item still carries (409 with the findings otherwise). Only `object` saves reach that diff, so the flag is inert for every other type. Absent = the guard runs. |
 | **mode** | `Enum<'draft' \| 'publish'>` | optional | Per-item lifecycle (ADR-0005 drafts): `draft` stages the body as a pending draft overlay (`?mode=draft` on the REST door; the publish door promotes it later); `publish` or ABSENT writes straight to the live `active` row — the legacy default, kept so callers that predate the draft/publish split keep working. Any value other than `draft` is read as `publish`. |
 | **packageId** | `string \| null` | optional | ADR-0048 — the software package to bind the saved row to (`sys_metadata.package_id`; `?package=<id>` on the REST door, sent only when it names a real package). Set when authoring inside a Studio package workspace; a named read-only base package is refused. On create the row is stamped with this id; on update an existing binding is preserved, never silently re-bound. Absent = env-local overlay (no package stamp); it also scopes which row the unpinned parent-version resolution reads. |
-| **writeFace** | `Enum<'package-duplicate' \| 'meta-envelope' \| 'meta-dispatch'>` | optional | Which write door a refusal is being rendered FOR — stated by the SERVER, never by a remote caller: every door builds this request field by field and never spreads a request body into it, so there is no path for a client to smuggle a face in, and a face arriving in a wire body is simply never read. Two refusals branch on it, for different questions: the 409 destructive-change remedy names the acknowledgement mechanism that actually exists on the refusing door (`?force=true` on the REST doors; the dispatcher and the duplicate-package door have none), and the 422 invalid-metadata message adapts to whether a structured `issues[]` channel reaches the consumer beside it. Absent = the conservative default wording. |
+| **writeFace** | `Enum<'package-duplicate' \| 'meta-envelope' \| 'meta-dispatch' \| 'external-import'>` | optional | Which write door a refusal is being rendered FOR — stated by the SERVER, never by a remote caller: every door builds this request field by field and never spreads a request body into it, so there is no path for a client to smuggle a face in, and a face arriving in a wire body is simply never read. Two refusals branch on it, for different questions: the 409 destructive-change remedy names the acknowledgement mechanism that actually exists on the refusing door (`?force=true` on the REST doors; the dispatcher, the duplicate-package door and the external-table import have none), and the 422 invalid-metadata message adapts to whether a structured `issues[]` channel reaches the consumer beside it. Absent = the conservative default wording. |
 
 
 ---
 
@@ -49,8 +49,9 @@
  * | 5 | `migrateStoredMetadata` (this file's protocol) | any    | **true** | no — `force` | (`rows[].reason`) | n/a |
  * | 6 | {@link ObjectStackProtocolImplementation.duplicatePackage} | `row.type` incl. `object` | no | **yes** | `failed[].error` on a **200** | ⛔ **NO — sole carrier** |
  * | 7 | `plugin-security` permission-set projection ×4 | `'permission'` | no | no — type | n/a | n/a |
+ * | 8 | `@objectstack/service-datasource` external-table import (`persistObject`) | `'object'` | never — the import route reads no `force` | **yes** | the import route's `400 EXTERNAL_IMPORT_ERROR`, message only | ⛔ **NO — sole carrier** |
  *
- * Rows 1-3 and 6 are pinned below. Rows 4, 5 and 7 are eliminated by a
+ * Rows 1-3, 6 and 8 are pinned below. Rows 4, 5 and 7 are eliminated by a
  * constant in the call itself (a literal `type`, or `force: true`), which is
  * why they are argued rather than pinned: there is no runtime state that could
  * make them reach the gate.
@@ -159,6 +160,25 @@
  * by giving the dispatcher a `force` or by taking row 2's back out — is undoing
  * a decision, not tidying an inconsistency.
  *
+ * ## [#21841] Row 8 — the external-table import, a face of its own
+ *
+ * "Import as Object" saves through this very `saveMetaItem` since #21788, so a
+ * re-import that would shrink an object it already created reaches the gate.
+ * The import route relays every throw as `400 EXTERNAL_IMPORT_ERROR` with the
+ * message alone, and it reads no `force`, so the default clause sent a caller
+ * round in a circle exactly as rows 2, 3 and 6 once did. It went row 3's way,
+ * not row 2's: the route has no twin that reads `?force`, and no first-party
+ * caller re-imports through it (the console's import dialog saves its draft
+ * through `PUT /meta/object/:name`), so threading a `force` would be a new
+ * capability with no pull. `'external-import'` names the two remedies that
+ * exist instead — a new `name`, or the metadata door with `?force=true` — and
+ * section 6 below pins it.
+ *
+ * Row 8 is also a second SOLE CARRIER beside row 6: the route's envelope has
+ * no `issues`, so the findings prose reaches the caller through the message
+ * alone. That is one more reason the commit 809e61221 verdict stands, and it is
+ * why `'external-import'` keeps the 422's default, full-prose clause.
+ *
  * ⛔ Never a bare `toThrow()` here. `duplicatePackage` does not throw, it
  * REPORTS, and what the report says IS the defect; and for the throw itself
  * the minimum assertion is `code` + `status` (ADR-0112 envelope), with the
@@ -308,6 +328,14 @@ const DUPLICATE_REMEDY_HEAD = 'this copy cannot be forced';
  * See section 5.
  */
 const DISPATCH_REMEDY_HEAD = 'this save cannot be forced';
+/**
+ * [#21841] …and as the external-table IMPORT renders it — the fourth answer.
+ * Unlike the dispatcher, a door that DOES read `?force` exists for this very
+ * object, so the clause sends the caller there by name. See section 6.
+ */
+const IMPORT_REMEDY_HEAD = 'this import cannot be forced';
+/** The metadata door the import face prescribes, spelled for the fixture's item. */
+const IMPORT_REMEDY_DOOR = 'PUT /api/v1/meta/object/crm_task?force=true';
 /** One finding's prose, as `detectDestructiveObjectChanges` words it. */
 const FINDING_PROSE = "Field 'b' removed — existing data in this column will become inaccessible.";
 
@@ -689,3 +717,110 @@ describe('[#11095] [GUARD] the `meta-dispatch` face prescribes a remedy that doo
         for (const i of dispatch.issues) expect(dispatch.message).not.toContain(i.message);
     });
 });
+
+// ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+// 6. [#21841] [GUARD] Inventory row 8 — the external-table import face, which
+//    names the door that DOES read `force` for this object
+// ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+
+describe('[#21841] [GUARD] the `external-import` face prescribes remedies that exist', () => {
+    it('declares the ADR-0112 envelope — the refusal itself is unchanged', async () => {
+        const err = await destructiveRefusal('external-import');
+
+        // This card moves a SENTENCE. The import route restamps the envelope as
+        // `400 EXTERNAL_IMPORT_ERROR`, but what it relays is this refusal, so the
+        // producer's own code, status and findings must not move under it.
+        expect(err.code).toBe('DESTRUCTIVE_CHANGE');
+        expect(err.status).toBe(409);
+        expect(err.issues).toEqual(expect.arrayContaining([
+            expect.objectContaining({ code: 'field_removed', field: 'b' }),
+        ]));
+    });
+
+    it('⛔ never tells the caller to re-submit the import with `?force=true`', async () => {
+        const err = await destructiveRefusal('external-import');
+
+        // The defect, stated as the assertion that fails without the fix: the
+        // import route reads no `force`, so this sentence sent a caller round.
+        expect(err.message).not.toContain(PUT_REMEDY);
+        expect(err.message).not.toContain('re-submit with ?force=true');
+    });
+
+    it('names the door, denies the mechanism, then prescribes the two remedies that exist', async () => {
+        const err = await destructiveRefusal('external-import');
+
+        expect(err.message).toContain(IMPORT_REMEDY_HEAD);
+        expect(err.message).toContain('accepts no `force`');
+        // Remedy one: the import itself, under a name nothing stores yet.
+        expect(err.message).toContain('under a new `name`');
+        // Remedy two: the metadata door, which reads `?force` for this item.
+        expect(err.message).toContain(IMPORT_REMEDY_DOOR);
+    });
+
+    it('[#10886 non-effect] the per-field findings prose is still there, untrimmed', async () => {
+        const err = await destructiveRefusal('external-import');
+
+        // Row 8 is a sole carrier (the route relays the message alone), so the
+        // findings must stay in the sentence on this face above all.
+        expect(err.message).toContain(FINDING_PROSE);
+        expect(err.message).toContain('would drop or transform existing data');
+    });
+
+    it('⛔ the four faces are a SWITCH — the new one moved none of the others', async () => {
+        const [plain, envelope, dispatch, imported] = await Promise.all([
+            destructiveRefusal(),
+            destructiveRefusal('meta-envelope'),
+            destructiveRefusal('meta-dispatch'),
+            destructiveRefusal('external-import'),
+        ]);
+
+        expect(plain.message).toContain(PUT_REMEDY);
+        expect(envelope.message).toContain(PUT_REMEDY);
+        expect(dispatch.message).toContain(DISPATCH_REMEDY_HEAD);
+        for (const other of [plain, envelope, dispatch]) {
+            expect(other.message).not.toContain(IMPORT_REMEDY_HEAD);
+        }
+        expect(imported.message).not.toContain(DISPATCH_REMEDY_HEAD);
+        expect(imported.message).not.toContain(DUPLICATE_REMEDY_HEAD);
+    });
+
+    /**
+     * ⭐ The coupling, from the other side of section 5's.
+     *
+     * `'meta-dispatch'` had to JOIN the 422's trimming case because its door
+     * carries `issues[]`. The import route does not: it answers
+     * `sendError(res, 400, 'EXTERNAL_IMPORT_ERROR', message)` and nothing else,
+     * so the 422's findings reach that caller through the message alone. The
+     * import face must therefore stay OUT of the trimming case and keep the
+     * full-prose default. Adding it there would delete the author's findings
+     * from that wire with every 409 assertion above still green.
+     */
+    it('⛔ [COUPLING] the new face changes the 409 clause and NOTHING about the 422', async () => {
+        const { protocol } = makeKernel({ seed: [objectRow('crm_task', ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd'])] });
+        const invalid = async (writeFace?: string) => {
+            try {
+                await protocol.saveMetaItem({
+                    type: 'view',
+                    name: 'task_list',
+                    item: {
+                        name: 'task_list', object: 'task', type: 'list', label: 'Tasks',
+                        columns: [{ field: 'title', summary: { type: 'sum', fieldd: 'amount' } }],
+                    },
+                    ...(writeFace ? { writeFace } : {}),
+                });
+            } catch (e: any) { return e; }
+            throw new Error('expected saveMetaItem to refuse the invalid body');
+        };
+
+        const plain = await invalid();
+        const imported = await invalid('external-import');
+
+        expect(imported.code).toBe('INVALID_METADATA');
+        expect(imported.status).toBe(422);
+        // Byte-for-byte the default clause, which restates the findings (its
+        // first three; the fixture has fewer) in the sentence itself.
+        expect(imported.message).toBe(plain.message);
+        expect(imported.issues.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+        for (const i of imported.issues.slice(0, 3)) expect(imported.message).toContain(i.message);
+    });
+});
@@ -4833,6 +4833,24 @@ function detectDestructiveObjectChanges(prev: any, next: any): Array<{
  * field. The compound door's parity argument is a statement about ONE pair of
  * routes that spell one name two ways; it is not a general licence, and the
  * dispatcher is not the third member of that pair.
+ *
+ * ## [#21841] The external-table import, and why it went the dispatcher's way
+ *
+ * "Import as Object" (`@objectstack/service-datasource`) saves through this
+ * gate since #21788, so a re-import that would shrink an object it created is
+ * refused here and relayed as `400 EXTERNAL_IMPORT_ERROR`. The import route
+ * reads no `force`, so the default clause sent that caller round in a circle.
+ * It states `'external-import'` and gets a clause of its own rather than a
+ * `force`, for the reasons the dispatcher did and one more: the route has no
+ * twin that reads `?force`, and no first-party caller re-imports through it
+ * (the console's import dialog saves its draft through
+ * `PUT /api/v1/meta/object/:name`, the very door this clause names), so a
+ * `force` there would be a new capability with nothing pulling on it. Unlike
+ * the dispatcher, a door that DOES read `?force` exists for the same item, so
+ * the clause names it instead of only telling the caller to reconcile.
+ *
+ * ⛔ Same warning as above: the import is not a twin of the `PUT` door, and
+ * giving it a `force` to "match" would be a new surface, not a repair.
  */
 /**
  * [commit 82cb6e849 / commit d806081dd] Which write door a `saveMetaItem` refusal is being
@@ -4865,8 +4883,16 @@ function detectDestructiveObjectChanges(prev: any, next: any): Array<{
  * case rather than a hypothetical — which is why {@link specValidationFindings}
  * lists the two faces on one `case` instead of letting `'meta-dispatch'` fall
  * to a default that was never written for it.
+ *
+ * ⚠️ [#21841] `'external-import'` differs from `'meta-dispatch'` on that SAME
+ * second question, in the other direction: the import route relays a refusal
+ * as `sendError(res, 400, 'EXTERNAL_IMPORT_ERROR', message)` and nothing else,
+ * so no `issues[]` reaches its caller and the message is the sole carrier of
+ * the findings. It therefore stays OUT of {@link specValidationFindings}'
+ * trimming case and keeps the full-prose default — the polarity that comment
+ * defends, working as designed for a door added after it.
  */
-type MetadataWriteFace = 'package-duplicate' | 'meta-envelope' | 'meta-dispatch';
+type MetadataWriteFace = 'package-duplicate' | 'meta-envelope' | 'meta-dispatch' | 'external-import';
 
 function destructiveChangeRemedy(
     face: MetadataWriteFace | undefined,
@@ -4897,6 +4923,20 @@ function destructiveChangeRemedy(
             return `this save cannot be forced: the dispatcher's \`PUT /meta\` accepts no \`force\`. `
                 + `Re-submit '${name}' with a body that keeps the fields and types named above, `
                 + `or reconcile that stored item first.`;
+        case 'external-import':
+            // [#21841] "Import as Object" (`@objectstack/service-datasource`),
+            // relayed by the import route as `400 EXTERNAL_IMPORT_ERROR`. That
+            // route reads no `force` and was deliberately not given one (see the
+            // section above `MetadataWriteFace`). Both remedies are things the
+            // caller can do from where they stand: import the table under a
+            // name nothing stores yet, or save the changed definition through
+            // the metadata door, which reads `?force=true` for this very item
+            // and is where a destructive change is acknowledged on purpose.
+            // Same grammar as the two faces above — name the door, deny the
+            // mechanism, then prescribe.
+            return `this import cannot be forced: the external-table import route accepts no \`force\`. `
+                + `Import the table under a new \`name\`, or save the changed definition of '${name}' `
+                + `through \`PUT /api/v1/meta/object/${name}?force=true\`, which accepts the destructive change on purpose.`;
         default:
             return 're-submit with ?force=true to proceed.';
     }