objectstack-ai · hotlong · Sep 4, 2026 · Sep 4, 2026 · Sep 4, 2026 · Sep 4, 2026
diff --git a/.changeset/cli-option-b-config-load-boundaries.md b/.changeset/cli-option-b-config-load-boundaries.md
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/cli": patch
+---
+
+fix(cli): `os serve` / `os dev` / `os build` / `os migrate` resolve `packages[]` when a stack carries no flattened top level
+
+The CLI holds four independent config-load boundaries, and every read of a
+package-owned collection behind them was an inline expression against the
+FLATTENED top level. A multi-package stack that carries each definition once
+under `packages[]` — the shape ADR-0130 D4's option B produces — reached those
+expressions with the key simply absent, and nothing threw:
+
+- `os serve` / `os dev` auto-register the ObjectQL engine and the storage driver
+  when the stack declares objects. Both gates read `config.objects`, so the app
+  booted with **no query engine and no storage driver** and reported healthy.
+  Nothing between the artifact and the gate could notice: the standalone stack
+  omits the `objects` key entirely when the array is absent rather than setting
+  `[]`, and the boot-config merge is a plain spread.
+- `os serve` auto-registers the i18n service plugin when the stack carries
+  translations. `translations` is package-owned while `i18n` is an envelope key a
+  translations-only stack never sets, so the REST i18n routes silently did not
+  exist.
+- `os dev` diffs the artifact's object inventory across recompiles to name a
+  newly added `*.object.ts`. It went permanently empty, so every recompile read
+  as all-green.
+- `os build` runs the author-time rule table twice — once over the union, once
+  per package. The per-package run already read `packages[]`; the union run,
+  which is the only one of the two that can see a finding spanning packages,
+  judged an empty stack and published green.
+
+All of them now resolve through one seam, in the dependency-topological order
+`resolveArtifactPackageOrder` gives. Each answer starts from the expression it
+replaced, so every stack that boots or builds today takes the identical branch —
+including a stack declaring an empty `objects: []`, which stays a stack that gets
+an engine — and `packages[]` is consulted only where the old read returned
+nothing. A malformed `packages` list is refused with its ADR-0112 envelope on
+that leg instead of resolving to the silent empty.
+
+The predicate `os serve` and `os migrate` each carried their own copy of — "does
+this config carry app metadata that needs an `AppPlugin` wrap" — is now one
+function. Measured, it does not lose under the new shape; it is folded in because
+it is the master gate for everything `AppPlugin` then reads.
+
+No command emits anything different: the compiled artifact still carries both
+copies, and the folded stack is a rule INPUT that reaches no writer.
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/compile.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/compile.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import {
 } from '@objectstack/spec';
 import { loadConfig } from '../utils/config.js';
 import { lowerCallables } from '../utils/lower-callables.js';
+import { authoringRuleUnionStack } from '../utils/stack-collections.js';
 import { buildAccessMatrix, diffAccessMatrix } from '@objectstack/lint';
 import { runAuthoringRules, splitBySeverity, authoringRulesFor } from '@objectstack/lint';
 import { resolveSduiManifest } from '../utils/sdui-manifest.js';
@@ -340,9 +341,24 @@ export default class Compile extends Command {
       //     is declared in `lint/authoring-rules.ts`. Do not add a call site here.
       const registered = authoringRulesFor('build');
       if (!flags.json) printStep(`Running author-time rules (${registered.length})...`);
+      //     [ADR-0130 D4 / option B, #15006] The UNION run judges the flattened
+      //     top level. Under option B that top level is gone — `packages[]`
+      //     carries every definition once — so this run's input would be an
+      //     EMPTY stack and `os build` would publish green having judged
+      //     nothing. `authoringRuleUnionStack` folds each absent collection
+      //     back in from `packages[]`, in `resolveArtifactPackageOrder`'s
+      //     dependency order. It changes what the rules JUDGE and nothing this
+      //     command EMITS: the artifact is written from `lowering.lowered` /
+      //     `result.data`, which this does not touch, and a stack that still
+      //     carries its collections is returned by identity.
+      //
+      //     The per-package run below needs no such fold — it already reads
+      //     `packages[]`. The union run is the only one of the two that can see
+      //     a finding spanning packages, which is exactly what an empty input
+      //     silently stops reporting.
       const findings = runAuthoringRules('build', {
-        normalized: normalized as Record<string, unknown>,
-        parsed: result.data as Record<string, unknown>,
+        normalized: authoringRuleUnionStack(normalized as Record<string, unknown>),
+        parsed: authoringRuleUnionStack(result.data as Record<string, unknown>),
         sduiManifest: resolveSduiManifest(),
       });
       const { errors: ruleErrors, advisories } = splitBySeverity(findings);

diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/dev.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/dev.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import {
   formatMtimeGap,
 } from '../utils/dev-restart.js';
 import { childEnvWithResolvedArtifact } from '../utils/internal-artifact-channel.js';
+import { artifactObjectNames } from '../utils/stack-collections.js';
 import { readEnvWithDeprecation, isMcpServerEnabled } from '@objectstack/types';
 // The ONE port contract, shared with `start` and with the `serve` child this
 // command spawns (#12673). ⛔ Nothing about ports is declared in this file —
@@ -650,16 +651,16 @@ export default class Dev extends Command {
       // newly added *.object.ts is called out explicitly (15.1 third-party
       // eval: "recompiled" alone read as all-green while the new object's
       // table/seed sync was invisible to the user).
+      // [ADR-0130 D4 / option B, #15006] The envelope unwrap and the object
+      // read are `artifactObjectNames` — one of this package's four reads of a
+      // PACKAGE-OWNED collection, and the only one whose loss is non-fatal: with
+      // the flattened top level gone this inventory went permanently EMPTY, so
+      // `os dev` stopped naming a newly added *.object.ts and every recompile
+      // read as all-green. The file read and the `null`-on-failure contract stay
+      // here; the seam is what the acceptance probe can call.
       const readArtifactObjects = (): Set<string> | null => {
         try {
-          const raw = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(opts.artifactPath, 'utf8'));
-          const meta = raw?.metadata ?? raw?.data?.metadata ?? raw;
-          const objects = Array.isArray(meta?.objects) ? meta.objects : [];
-          return new Set(
-            objects
-              .map((o: any) => o?.name)
-              .filter((n: any): n is string => typeof n === 'string'),
-          );
+          return new Set(artifactObjectNames(JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(opts.artifactPath, 'utf8'))));
         } catch {
           return null;
         }

diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/serve.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/serve.ts
@@ -63,6 +63,17 @@ import {
 } from '../utils/port-contract.js';
 import { BootLogCapture, isVerboseBootLevel } from '../utils/boot-log-capture.js';
 import { graftAuthoredRuntimeMembers, isAppPluginLike } from '../utils/graft-runtime-hooks.js';
+// [ADR-0130 D4 / option B, #15006] Every read below that keys off a
+// PACKAGE-OWNED collection goes through this seam, so an option-B artifact
+// (flattened top level gone, `packages[]` carrying everything once) reaches
+// the same decision — and so the acceptance probe can CALL the decision
+// instead of re-implementing it.
+import {
+  shouldAutoRegisterObjectQL,
+  shouldAutoRegisterStorageDriver,
+  stackDeclaresMetadata,
+  bundleDeclaresTranslations,
+} from '../utils/stack-collections.js';
 import { redactConnectionUrl, describeDriverConnection } from '../utils/connection-display.js';
 // The posture prose `os serve` and `os doctor` BOTH print, declared once
 // (#12492) — and, since #12579, the multi-org runtime SPELLING those two
@@ -2628,8 +2639,12 @@ export default class Serve extends Command {
       }
 
       // 1. Auto-register ObjectQL Plugin if objects define but plugins missing
-      const hasObjectQL = plugins.some((p: any) => p.name?.includes('objectql') || p.constructor?.name?.includes('ObjectQL'));
-      if (config.objects && !hasObjectQL) {
+      // [#15006] The whole gate — the `objects` read AND the already-composed
+      // check — is `shouldAutoRegisterObjectQL`. It answers exactly as the two
+      // inline expressions did for every stack that boots today, and resolves
+      // `packages[]` when the flattened top level is absent, which is the shape
+      // that used to boot with NO QUERY ENGINE and throw nothing.
+      if (shouldAutoRegisterObjectQL(config, plugins)) {
          try {
            const { ObjectQLPlugin } = await import('@objectstack/objectql');
            await kernel.use(new ObjectQLPlugin());
@@ -2661,12 +2676,9 @@ export default class Serve extends Command {
       // at boot through the datasource connection service, so building a
       // storage driver here would construct a duplicate pool the engine then
       // discards as already-registered.
-      const hasDriver = plugins.some((p: any) =>
-        p.name?.includes('driver') ||
-        p.constructor?.name?.includes('Driver') ||
-        p.name === 'com.objectstack.runtime.default-datasource' ||
-        p.constructor?.name === 'DefaultDatasourcePlugin');
-      if (!hasDriver && config.objects) {
+      // [#15006] Same seam, same reason — see the ObjectQL gate above. The
+      // driver-provider duck-typing moved into it with the read it guards.
+      if (shouldAutoRegisterStorageDriver(config, plugins)) {
          const databaseUrl = process.env.OS_DATABASE_URL;
          const driverType = resolveDriverType(process.env.OS_DATABASE_DRIVER, databaseUrl);
          // libSQL/Turso's credential is the only one that does NOT ride inside the
@@ -2799,9 +2811,10 @@ export default class Serve extends Command {
       // already holds an AppPlugin instance — and never on a named app, so it
       // is checked structurally below.
       const hasAppPluginAlready = plugins.some(isAppPluginLike);
-      const configHasMetadata = !!(
-        config.objects || config.manifest || config.apps || config.flows || config.apis
-      );
+      // [#15006] The same predicate `schema-migration-plugins.ts` runs after its
+      // own second `loadConfig` (B4) — folded into one seam rather than left as
+      // two copies whose comment already said they were the same.
+      const configHasMetadata = stackDeclaresMetadata(config);
 
       // ── Decide the dev-only artifact door BEFORE the wrap (#14397) ────
       // On a HOST config `os dev` composes TWO writers over ONE stack: the
@@ -2973,24 +2986,19 @@ export default class Serve extends Command {
       // `plugins` array — a host/aggregator config may define no translations
       // of its own and instead compose several `new AppPlugin(...)` entries,
       // each carrying its own. Keyed on that shape, not on a named app.
-      const pluginBundleHasTranslations = (bundle: any): boolean => {
-        if (!bundle || typeof bundle !== 'object') return false;
-        if (Array.isArray(bundle.translations) && bundle.translations.length > 0) return true;
-        if (bundle.i18n) return true;
-        if (bundle.manifest && (
-          (Array.isArray(bundle.manifest.translations) && bundle.manifest.translations.length > 0)
-          || bundle.manifest.i18n
-        )) return true;
-        return false;
-      };
+      // [#15006] `bundleDeclaresTranslations` is that same shape-keyed check plus
+      // the `packages[]` leg: `translations` is package-owned and `i18n` is an
+      // envelope key a translations-only stack never sets, so an option-B artifact
+      // reached this gate with neither and the REST i18n routes silently did not
+      // exist. MEASURED on the acceptance probe, not inferred.
       const anyAppPluginHasTranslations = plugins.some((p: any) => {
         if (!p) return false;
         // AppPlugin instances expose their bundle on `.bundle`
-        if (p.bundle && pluginBundleHasTranslations(p.bundle)) return true;
+        if (p.bundle && bundleDeclaresTranslations(p.bundle)) return true;
         return false;
       });
       const configHasTranslations = (
-        pluginBundleHasTranslations(config)
+        bundleDeclaresTranslations(config)
         || anyAppPluginHasTranslations
       );
       if (!hasI18nPlugin && configHasTranslations && tierEnabled('i18n')) {

diff --git a/packages/cli/src/utils/schema-migration-plugins.ts b/packages/cli/src/utils/schema-migration-plugins.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import path from 'node:path';
 import fs from 'node:fs';
 import { isAppPluginLike } from './graft-runtime-hooks.js';
+import { stackDeclaresMetadata } from './stack-collections.js';
 
 /**
  * The object set a SCHEMA migration is planned against (#12938).
@@ -1091,9 +1092,11 @@ export async function buildSchemaMigrationPlugins(opts: {
       // top-level metadata needs the wrap, or its `objects` never reach the
       // registry and this composition would report a set smaller than the one
       // the deployment serves.
-      const configHasMetadata = !!(
-        config?.objects || config?.manifest || config?.apps || config?.flows || config?.apis
-      );
+      // [#15006] `stackDeclaresMetadata` — the SAME seam `serve.ts` step 3 now
+      // calls, which is what the comment above already asserted about these two
+      // copies. B4 is this command's OWN second `loadConfig`, not behind B2, so
+      // it had to be reached separately.
+      const configHasMetadata = stackDeclaresMetadata(config);
       const appAlready = hasArtifactApp || hostPlugins.some(isAppPluginLike);
       if (configHasMetadata && !appAlready) {
         const { AppPlugin } = await import('@objectstack/runtime');