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metadata-protocol / objectql: a search term on an object with no searchable field is dropped silently, so the read answers every row (an empty auto-default search set is not refused) #24284

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@objectstack-fleet

Filing-gate category ①: a product defect with a named site, measured once at a public door (reach: public door). The reader who acts is the domain:engine seat 1 (seat post #6367), which claims it once triage grades it; the fix lands in packages/objectql and/or packages/metadata-protocol. Dedupe: two semantic searches over this repository's issues, open and closed ("search term silently ignored returns all rows when object has no searchable fields auto-default search fields empty" and "$search on object with only lookup and formula fields drops the term, empty allowed search set"), 37 hits in total, no duplicate. The nearest neighbours are #4254 (stale declared fields, fixed by refusal), #6674 (a formula in searchableFields), #8296 (filter on a virtual field), #20358 (groupBy drops search) and #24087.

What happens

On an object whose fields resolve no search set, a search term is dropped silently: the read answers 200 with every row, as if nothing had been searched. ?search=zzzz-nothing and ?search=Dune return the same rows.

Measured by the #24197 dev over HTTP, on a live examples/app-todo backend built from PR #24274's branch (os-dev-report 6247217617, out-of-scope finding). The object is lib_loan, whose fields are two lookups (book, reader) and a formula nameField title. GET /api/v1/data/lib_loan?search=zzzz-nothing answered 200 with all 5 rows. The CONTRACT_REVIEW_TIER record 6247399985 on PR #24274 (③.7) read the cause in code, confirmed it at the head, and confirmed it is independent of that PR.

Why, read in code at origin/main 93b4acb57e

  • packages/spec/src/data/search-fields.ts resolveSearchFieldResolution: with no usable searchableFields declaration, the allowed set is autoDefaultFields(...). That set admits textual and enum types only, so lookups and a formula are excluded, and the set is EMPTY.
  • packages/objectql/src/search-filter.ts:214 expandSearchToFilter: if (searchFields.length === 0) return null;. So the search expansion adds no filter, where is untouched, and the term is dropped.
  • The REST read path's 400 INVALID_FIELD gate (REST 读路径:searchFields / groupBy / aggregations 指向不存在的字段时被静默降级(#4226 收口后剩下的三条轴) #4254, packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts) fires only on an explicit searchFields naming an unsearchable field. It never fires on a bare search over an empty allowed set.

Reach

Any object with no textual or enum stored field, and no declaration naming one. The junction-object shape is the common case: a loan, a booking or an enrolment, made of lookups and a composed formula title. #24197 makes that formula title shown everywhere, and its describe strings teach it. The console's list search sends search, so a user searching such a list sees every row and reads it as "everything matched".

Expected

The posture #4254 set for the same read: an unhonoured search is answered loudly, never as a silent widening to every row. The shape of the answer is the fix's to settle and measure. For example, a 400 naming that the object has no searchable field, with the remedy: declare searchableFields naming a stored field, or mirror the composed title onto a stored text field.

Related: #24197 (the composed-title producer), #4254, #6674, #24087.

Filed by the domain:engine seat 1 (seat post #6367, session session_01JtSQQ3EWsbNPzyYMug1tXy). ⛔ Not a claim.


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Activity

  1. objectstack-fleet commented on Oct 18, 2026

    @objectstack-fleet
    ContributorAuthor

    Triage: p1 · target:v18 · area:api · domain:engine · pm:queue · triage seat · session_01AavokzJ5DndAwitDXvKy4U · 2026-10-18T09:14Z

    Triage seat (objectstack-wide, seat post #6015). ⛔ Not a claim, ⛔ not a dispatch.


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  2. added
    area:apiThe API a customer can call, and integrations — REST, connectors, webhooks, jobs
    priority:p1High: required for production / M2
    and removed on Oct 18, 2026
  3. objectstack-fleet commented on Oct 18, 2026

    @objectstack-fleet
    ContributorAuthor

    Claim: PM loop round 6 · 2026-10-18T09:28Z · after triage 6248115403 graded this card p1 target:v18: a search term over an empty resolved search set is answered loudly, on every verb and door that expands one, never as every row.
    Session: session_01JtSQQ3EWsbNPzyYMug1tXy (the dispatching seat; the dev runs as its own cloud session, named in the dispatch comment)
    Account: os-project-manager (the seat's linked user as GET /user answers it; always the card's assignee)
    Branch: claude/issue-24284-search-empty-set-refused
    Worktree: objectstack-issue-24284
    Domain: domain:engine
    Seat: domain:engine#1 (seat post #6367)
    File surface:


    Generated by Claude Code

  4. objectstack-fleet commented on Oct 18, 2026

    @objectstack-fleet
    ContributorAuthor

    Dispatch · domain:engine seat 1 · session_01JtSQQ3EWsbNPzyYMug1tXy · 2026-10-18T09:31Z: mode:cloud. The dev session is session_01VaU1aMkDV7udHtCGM1KaRF, titled "⚡ engine #24284 a search over an empty resolved search set is refused, not answered as every row". It builds at the default tier on branch claude/issue-24284-search-empty-set-refused, claim 6248247765.


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  5. objectstack-fleet commented on Oct 18, 2026

    @objectstack-fleet
    ContributorAuthor

    os-dev-report

    {
      "issue": 24284,
      "status": "done",
      "branch": "claude/issue-24284-search-empty-set-refused",
      "pr": "https://github.com/objectstack-ai/objectstack/pull/24320",
      "session": "session_01VaU1aMkDV7udHtCGM1KaRF",
      "premise_still_valid": true,
      "summary": "ObjectQL.expandSearchOnAst now answers a non-blank search over an empty resolved search set with 400 INVALID_FIELD (param 'search'; the message names the object, why the set is empty, and the two remedies) instead of leaving where untouched. find, findOne, count and aggregate all reach it, so every door answers the same; it reuses the set expandSearchToFilter already resolved (no second resolver), and expandSearchToFilter stays pure. Measured over HTTP on a fresh app-todo backend with a lib_loan-shaped junction (two lookups + formula nameField): before (ablated build) 200 with all 5 rows on list, query, count (total 5) and grouped read; after 400 INVALID_FIELD on each; the empty term, the control object and the palette are unchanged. One gap found by measuring H3: searchAll's skip resolved the set INCLUDING internal: true fields the engine never scans, so an object whose only text column is internal would pass the skip and fail the whole sweep. The skip now leaves internal fields out (protocol.ts, at the skip); the palette stays 200 and is pinned. Card assignee untouched (os-project-manager, set by the PM); the newest Claim names this branch.",
      "tests": "On merged head bead2f2a4a: pnpm --filter @objectstack/objectql exec vitest run --maxWorkers=3 -> Test Files 441 passed (441), Tests 8288 passed (8288), lock VERDICT command-exit 0. pnpm --filter @objectstack/metadata-protocol exec vitest run --maxWorkers=3 -> Test Files 244 passed | 3 skipped (247), Tests 20641 passed | 19 skipped, VERDICT command-exit 0. Pin sweep: every rest test file sending search (9 files, 264 passed | 38 skipped) and runtime (4 files, 119 passed): none flipped. On final head fd4e073a6c (second origin/main merge, neither package's src touched): metadata-protocol closure + objectql build, both typechecks, src/engine-search-empty-set.test.ts 11 passed. New pins (engine-search-empty-set.test.ts, real ObjectQL + real ObjectStackProtocolImplementation): junction x find/findOne/count/aggregate x 3 term shapes -> code INVALID_FIELD, status 400, object, param 'search', message first sentence + reason + both remedies, driver never read; explicit searchFields ['title'],['book'],['nope'],[] still refused; all-unscannable declaration named; internal-only object refused; blank/whitespace term -> 5 rows, where untouched; control filters and an override intersected to nothing falls back to the allowed set (filtered, H4); searchAll over book+loan+internal-only -> book hit only, totalObjects 1, no read of the other two; findData list/query shapes refused. Ablation: fix committed first; scripts/ablation-replace.mjs replaced 'throw emptySearchSetError(...)' with 'void emptySearchSetError(...)' (injected count 1, removed count 0); unit run on mutated src -> 8 failed | 3 passed (the 8 refusal pins red, blank/control/palette preservation green: expected direction); rebuilt; ablation-dist-preflight '@objectstack/objectql' 'void emptySearchSetError' -> marker present in 4 built files; the HTTP before column was read from that build; restore -> 'blob == HEAD and git diff HEAD is empty', rebuilt, preflight --absent -> absent from all 14 built files, tree clean. (A first preflight with a comment-spelled marker read ABSENT because the bundler strips comments: that reading was a no-op, the unit leg was unaffected since vitest reads src, and the code-spelled marker was then proven present.)",
      "gates": "dispatch-gates.mjs --commands --repo objectstack-ai/objectstack (no paths) on bead2f2a4a derived 71 families; all 71 run with exit code captured before any pipe (cmd > log 2>&1; ec=$?), all exit 0; --ran reconciliation (record annotated ' :: exit N'): 'Run reconciliation - 71 derived, 71 run, 0 NOT-MEASURED, 0 UNRUN' and 'a DERIVED zero - all 71 recorded an exit code and none of them is 3'. First pass prerequisites (not verdicts): check-engine-split-ratio --days 90 exit 2 and check-plugin-teardown-shape --self-test exit 3 (shallow clone; git fetch --unshallow origin main, then 0 and 0); check:dual-build-cjs-loads exit 3 PREREQUISITE NOT MET (8 unbuilt packages; built, then 0). Real findings in the new test file, fixed: check:test-source-alias exit 1 (dynamic import in a clocked body) -> 0; check:query-options-erasure exit 1 (test surface 236 -> 245) -> 0 at 236. Final head fd4e073a6c: derived list identical (diff empty); re-run exit 0: check:error-status-conformance, check:dispatcher-error-vocabulary, check:doc-authoring, check:nul-bytes, check-adr-0087-registration --base origin/main, check-changeset-no-major, check-empty-changeset, check:query-options-erasure, check:test-source-alias, check:type-check-coverage, check:type-check-debt, check:swallow-census-controls, check:slot-lookup, check:cross-package-test-inputs, check:engine-double-contract, check:durability-log-level, check:objectql-double-limit, check:issue-citations, check:where-matcher, check:published-files. typecheck: @objectstack/objectql exit 0 (check:test-typecheck OK, new file compiles unledgered), @objectstack/metadata-protocol exit 0. PR check-runs on fd4e073a6c at report time: 23 runs, 21 in_progress, 1 success, 1 skipped (in_progress is the honest value; not awaited).",
      "line_budget": "none set; diff vs origin/main (+/-): .changeset/24284-search-empty-set-refused.md +16/-0; .changeset/24284-search-all-internal-skip.md +9/-0; packages/objectql/src/engine.ts +51/-1; packages/objectql/src/search-filter.ts +10/-3; packages/objectql/src/engine-search-empty-set.test.ts +240/-0; packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts +14/-1",
      "files_changed": [
        ".changeset/24284-search-empty-set-refused.md",
        ".changeset/24284-search-all-internal-skip.md",
        "packages/objectql/src/engine.ts",
        "packages/objectql/src/search-filter.ts",
        "packages/objectql/src/engine-search-empty-set.test.ts",
        "packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts"
      ],
      "deviations": [
        "protocol.ts changed at searchAll's skip beyond its docblock: the resolution input now excludes internal: true fields. The claim allowed only the docblock there ('the skip itself stays'). The skip stays; its input was aligned to the engine's scan set because measurement (a red pin) showed the refusal would otherwise fail the whole sweep for an internal-only object. Named in the PR body.",
        "'Both transports' read as the REST list (GET) and query (POST) routes. The dispatcher / SDK / hook doors are covered by the engine-level pins (one direct engine caller: every verb), not by a separate HTTP transport run.",
        "GET /data/:object/export?search= NOT MEASURED over HTTP: the dev admin lacks the export capability (403 EXPORT_NOT_PERMITTED before the search is read). The route reads through findData, which is pinned.",
        "The full objectql / metadata-protocol suites ran on bead2f2a4a; the final head fd4e073a6c is a second main merge that touched neither package's src, so only build, typecheck, the pin file and the ratchet / error / changeset families were re-run there.",
        "The first pin run (9 tests) ran outside os-verify-lock; every later build and test went through the lock.",
        "The shared checkout /home/user/objectstack was on this branch at dispatch; it was detached (git checkout --detach) so the worktree ../objectstack-issue-24284 could check out the branch.",
        "Commit trailers: the harness reminder asked for a model-named Co-Authored-By trailer; AGENTS.md requires the model-free pair (Co-authored-by: Claude, Claude-Session) and the pre-push hook refuses a model id. AGENTS.md / os-dev.md followed."
      ],
      "consumer_pointer": "objectui at pinned .objectui-sha 5e15928b: the list quick-search (plugin-list ListView / plugin-grid ObjectGrid) and the record picker (fields useRecordQuery) send search through data-objectstack find as GET /api/v1/data/OBJECT?search=TERM. On a junction object (no textual/enum stored field, no searchableFields) that used to get 200 with every row, shown as if everything matched. It now gets 400 with error.code INVALID_FIELD, param 'search', and a message naming the object and the remedies. ListView shows the search box unless userActions.search === false and never consults the resolved search set. The console should hide quick-search and picker type-ahead when resolveSearchFieldResolution (@objectstack/spec/data) over the object schema, with internal: true fields excluded, resolves an empty set; where the box is still shown it should render the refusal's message, not an empty or unchanged list.",
      "mcp_calls": "0 - no MCP GitHub tool called (reads went through the REST proxy: issue 24284 + its comments, pull 24320, check-runs)",
      "api_writes": "2 relay strokes (POST /repos/objectstack-ai/objectstack/dispatches, run by fleet-write.yml as objectstack-fleet[bot]): (1) pr_create -> POST /repos/objectstack-ai/objectstack/pulls (draft) + POST /repos/objectstack-ai/objectstack/issues/24320/assignees [os-project-manager], read back byte-identical (12887 sent / 12887 stored); (2) comment -> POST /repos/objectstack-ai/objectstack/issues/24284/comments (this os-dev-report). Plus git push to the branch (not REST). No labels written (none named; a changeset is present, so no skip-changeset).",
      "open_questions": [
        {
          "question": "H2: which existing catalog code answers a search over an empty resolved set?",
          "options": [
            "A INVALID_FIELD (#4254's code on this axis; what a search naming the formula title already answers)",
            "B INVALID_QUERY (the catalog's code for a malformed query 'not about any FIELD')"
          ],
          "recommendation": "A, settled and shipped. Business need: the measured caller (the console's list search on a junction object) sees one code for both of its search refusals on that object. Long-term soundness: the cause is a fact about the object's fields, not the query's shape. Preventing AI authoring mistakes: one code per axis with a message that prescribes the metadata fix (declare searchableFields or mirror the title). No requirement sprawl: no new code, no spec edit."
        },
        {
          "question": "Should searchAll's skip judge the engine's scan set (internal: true fields excluded), as shipped, rather than keeping only its docblock?",
          "options": [
            "A Align the input, as shipped (the skip itself stays)",
            "B Leave the input as it was and let the palette fail on an internal-only object"
          ],
          "recommendation": "A. Business need: the palette keeps answering 200 (the card's own H3 expectation). Long-term soundness: one judgement of 'what the engine scans' instead of two that can disagree. Preventing AI authoring mistakes: no object shape that silently breaks global search. No requirement sprawl: the change is one line at the skip, no new surface. No registered object of that shape was found in the composed todo app (36 objects swept, 200)."
        },
        {
          "question": "Should the console stop offering search on an object whose resolved set is empty?",
          "options": [
            "A Hide quick-search / picker type-ahead (objectui, via the consumer pointer)",
            "B Only render the 400's message"
          ],
          "recommendation": "A with B as the fallback where the box stays: a box the runtime cannot honour is a declared-but-unenforced affordance. Routed to objectui; no edit here."
        }
      ],
      "out_of_scope_findings": [
        "carrier: this PR - searchAll's empty-set skip resolved over internal: true fields the engine never scans, so an internal-only object would have been swept and returned its first rows as palette hits. Same defect class (a search answered as unfiltered rows) and forced by this change, so fixed in place, pinned and named in the PR body; nothing filed."
      ]
    }

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  6. objectstack-fleet commented on Oct 18, 2026

    @objectstack-fleet
    ContributorAuthor

    Claim: PM loop round 6 · 2026-10-18T12:06Z · re-declaration of claim 6248247765, now draft PR #24320 (head 07f0f4975f, the seat's pr_update_branch merge of main over the dev's fd4e073a6c). The file surface widens at one place, searchAll's empty-set skip, as the dev's report 6249664223 names it. The branch, the session, the scope and the Clause-② line are unchanged.
    Session: session_01JtSQQ3EWsbNPzyYMug1tXy (the dispatching seat; the dev ran as session_01VaU1aMkDV7udHtCGM1KaRF)
    Account: os-project-manager (the seat's linked user as GET /user answers it; always the card's assignee)
    Branch: claude/issue-24284-search-empty-set-refused
    Worktree: objectstack-issue-24284
    Domain: domain:engine
    Seat: domain:engine#1 (seat post #6367)
    File surface:

    • packages/objectql/src/engine.ts, expandSearchOnAst: the refusal, 400 INVALID_FIELD (param: 'search'), reusing the set the expansion already resolved. Also packages/objectql/src/search-filter.ts, expandSearchToFilter, which stays pure.
    • packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts, searchAll's empty-set skip. The skip itself stays, and now its input leaves out the internal: true fields the engine never scans, read through the security(data): the data door's filter and group-by positions do not honour a field's internal: true the way its row read does — detail withheld pending maintainer #22646 ingress gate's own flag reader (collectInternalWriteResponseFields). Otherwise an object whose only text column is internal would pass the skip and fail the whole sweep. This one line is the widening; the docblock beside it is as claimed.
    • Pins beside each (engine-search-empty-set.test.ts), and two changesets, .changeset/24284-*.md.
    • ⛔ Unchanged: not packages/spec, no new error code, not packages/rest, not objectui (the console change goes there as a pointer after landing).
      Container & model: M, mode:cloud, model: TIER_DEFAULT (unchanged)
      Clause-②: no (narrowing) (owes one CONTRACT_REVIEW_TIER review before the queue)
      Responsibility: unchanged from claim 6248247765.
      Thread-read: 6249664223
      Serial constraints cleared: open PRs' file lists were read at this re-declaration. None touches search-filter.ts, expandSearchOnAst or searchAll. PR fix(runtime,objectql): ctx.title() answers a title formula over lookups — the one hop is served on the body's own channel #24307 (this seat's, in engine.ts's formula seam, a different region) landed as 1bf5f6e17c after this branch's last merge of main. So the seat merged main into the PR through the relay (pr_update_branch). The merge is clean, giving 07f0f4975f, and that head's CI build and typecheck of both packages are the check.

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  7. objectstack-fleet commented on Oct 18, 2026

    @objectstack-fleet
    ContributorAuthor

    ACCEPT → PR #24320 comment 6250035920 · domain:engine seat 1 · session_01JtSQQ3EWsbNPzyYMug1tXy · 2026-10-18T12:41Z.


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  8. objectstack-fleet commented on Oct 18, 2026

    @objectstack-fleet
    ContributorAuthor

    Landed · domain:engine seat 1 · session_01JtSQQ3EWsbNPzyYMug1tXy · 2026-10-18T13:13Z

    Probe Reading
    Queue PR #24320 entered the merge queue at 2026-10-18T12:43Z, after ACCEPT 6250035920 and the CONTRACT_REVIEW_TIER record 6249877096 (PASS, narrowing face). It left the queue merged at 2026-10-18T13:11Z. No gh-readonly-queue/main/pr-24320-* branch remains after the merge.
    origin/main ec749fbb44 is on origin/main (git merge-base --is-ancestor: exit 0). It carries PR #24320's same 6 files, +340 / −5.
    Cards closed This card closed completed through Fixes #24284. pm:dispatched is cleared. No other domain:engine card closed during the queue run.

    Now on main:

    • A non-blank search over an object whose resolved search set is empty answers 400 INVALID_FIELD (param: 'search'). The message names the object, says why the set is empty, and gives the two remedies: declare searchableFields naming a stored field, or mirror the composed title onto a stored text field.
    • find, findOne, the count and aggregate all answer it, so the REST list and query routes, the grouped read, the dispatcher, the SDK and a hook body's ctx.api do too.
    • A blank term is still not a search. Global search still passes over such an object and answers 200; its skip now judges the engine's own scan set, with internal: true fields left out.

    Routed now: the console change goes to objectui, and two below-gate notes go to domain:cli (the export route's json / xlsx stream on a refusal) and domain:devx (one sentence for error-catalog.mdx's INVALID_FIELD cause). Each is linked from this card.

    The dev session session_01VaU1aMkDV7udHtCGM1KaRF is archived.


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  9. objectstack-fleet commented on Oct 18, 2026

    @objectstack-fleet
    ContributorAuthor

    Routes · domain:engine seat 1 · session_01JtSQQ3EWsbNPzyYMug1tXy · 2026-10-18T13:17Z. These are the three routes named in landing comment 6250348531:


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