fix(lint): chart-field-unknown warns on the chartConfig binding keys the pinned renderer refuses (#15463) (#15571)

The rule id covers exactly three positions — `chartConfig.xAxis.field`,
`chartConfig.yAxis[].field` and `chartConfig.series[].name` — and the
`@object-ui` revision this repo pins (`.objectui-sha`) refuses all three as
bindings, so the data failure the messages named ("the query result will not
contain it") never happens. `axisPresentation` builds an axis's presentation
minus its `field`, structurally rather than by a guard, so the x-axis stays
`buildChartSeries`' `xAxisKey` (the widget's `dimensions[0]`) and a y-axis
entry keeps only its slot, scale and chrome. `mergeAuthoredSeries` matches an
authored entry BY NAME against one derived series per entry of `values`, and
an entry matching none is ignored whole — the mark, colour, stack and axis
side hung on it land on nothing.

That is an ignored key, which is `widget-legacy-analytics-shape`'s class in
this same file, reported there at `warning` ("the dashboard renderer ignores
them ... a silent no-op"). All three positions drop to `warning`, suppressible
per widget, and each message states its own consequence: the axis positions
and the series position are refused for different reasons and had been sharing
one sentence. The finding is KEPT — unlike the #14436 over-reach this
measurement came from, the metadata really is wrong.

The tier drop is a behaviour change on the `sys_metadata` publish door. The
2026-08-15 ruling put the rule's whole error set there as one "this board
cannot render" class; that set was six ids and is now five. The demoted id
still RUNS at the door and still reaches the author, on the advisory channel —
pinned as its own case in runtime-gate.test.ts so "demoted" cannot decay into
"dropped".

`packages/platform-objects` is untouched: the shipped `system_overview`
dashboard declares no `chartConfig` at all and stays at zero findings.


Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_012zGPuVVX3deAx9LdjK8jCk

Co-authored-by: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: claude[bot]

.changeset/chart-field-unknown-refused-binding-tier.md

@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/lint': minor
+---
+
+`chart-field-unknown` drops to `warning` on the three `chartConfig` binding keys the pinned renderer refuses, and says what actually happens
+
+The rule id covers exactly three positions, and the `@object-ui` revision this repo pins (`.objectui-sha`) refuses all three as bindings, so none of them can produce the data failure the messages described:
+
+- `chartConfig.xAxis.field` — `axisPresentation` (`@object-ui/core` `src/utils/chart-presentation.ts`) builds the axis presentation **minus** its `field`. The x-axis key is `buildChartSeries`' `xAxisKey`, i.e. the widget's `dimensions[0]`; an authored `field` re-points nothing.
+- `chartConfig.yAxis[].field` — the same call, per entry. The entry keeps its slot (the count is what turns on a secondary axis) and its scale and chrome; only the binding is dropped.
+- `chartConfig.series[].name` — `mergeAuthoredSeries` pairs an authored entry with the derived series whose `dataKey` it equals, one per entry of `values`. An entry naming no derived series is ignored whole, so the presentation hung on it — the mark, the colour, the stack, the axis side — lands on nothing.
+
+The renderer pins this by name in `DatasetWidget.chartConfig.test.tsx` ("ignores an authored axis `field` and keeps the derived axis binding", "ignores an authored series and keeps one derived series per measure").
+
+So the old message — "the query result will not contain it" — named a query failure that never happens, and `error` blocked a build and a Studio publish for a key that changes nothing at runtime. That is the class `widget-legacy-analytics-shape` reports at `warning` in the same file ("the dashboard renderer ignores them … a silent no-op"), and this id now carries the same tier, the same suppressibility (`suppressWarnings: ['chart-field-unknown']` per widget) and the same kind of sentence. Each message states its own consequence, because the axis positions and the series position are refused for different reasons.
+
+The finding is **kept**, not deleted: unlike the `chart-config-missing` over-reach this measurement came from, the metadata really is wrong — the author wrote a binding and believes it is in force.
+
+## Migration
+
+**A publish that used to be refused now succeeds.** Ruled 2026-08-15, `validateWidgetBindings` put its whole error set on the `sys_metadata` publish door (Studio / REST `/meta` / MCP) as one "this board cannot render" reference-integrity class. That class was six ids and is now five — `chart-field-unknown` has left it. A dashboard write whose only reference-integrity problem is a refused `chartConfig` binding key is no longer a 422 `INVALID_METADATA`; it publishes, and the finding rides the non-blocking `advisories` channel on the 2xx response instead. The other five (`widget-dataset-unknown`, `widget-dimension-unknown`, `widget-measure-unknown`, `widget-legacy-analytics-unrenderable`, `dashboard-filter-field-unknown`) are unchanged.
+
+Same direction on the CLI: `os validate` / `os build` / `os lint` report the finding at `warning`, so a stack that used to fail the build over one of these keys now exits 0 with an advisory. If you were relying on the build to stop on it, add the key to your own gate, or fix the binding — the fix has not changed:
+
+- point `xAxis.field` at a dimension the widget selects (or drop the key — `xAxis` carries presentation only);
+- point `yAxis[].field` at a selected measure (or drop it — `yAxis[]` carries presentation only);
+- name a selected measure in `series[].name`, remembering that post-cutover (ADR-0021) result rows are keyed by the dataset's measure **name** (`sum_amount`), not the base column (`amount`).
+
+A deliberately inert key can be silenced per widget with `suppressWarnings: ['chart-field-unknown']`.

packages/lint/src/authoring-rules.ts

@@ -547,15 +547,22 @@ export const AUTHORING_RULES: readonly AuthoringRule[] = [
   // hold a forward reference; publishing refuses it with the key path named.
   // The snapshot carries `datasets` for exactly this rule (`RuntimeStackContext`
   // — without it every legitimate board reads as dangling, the 3-phantom
-  // measurement). `surfaces` is per-RULE, so this flip puts all SIX of the
-  // rule's error ids on the publish gate, not just `widget-dataset-unknown` —
+  // measurement). `surfaces` is per-RULE, so this flip puts the rule's error
+  // ids on the publish gate, not just `widget-dataset-unknown` —
   // ruled 2026-08-15: they are one coherent "this board cannot render"
   // reference-integrity class, and the ~6× wider accept-set narrowing was
   // accepted knowingly rather than splitting the dataset limb into its own
   // rule (traversal-duplication drift) or adding a per-finding-id surface
   // filter (registry machinery that weakens "delete a rule from the table and
   // enforcement stops in the same commit"). Warning-tier ids ride along on the
   // advisory channel and never block (#4463 P1).
+  //
+  // [#15463] That accepted class was SIX ids and is now FIVE:
+  // `chart-field-unknown` dropped to `warning`, because the pinned `@object-ui`
+  // renderer refuses its three `chartConfig` binding keys outright — the board
+  // renders identically with or without them, so the id describes an ignored
+  // key rather than a binding the analytics service cannot satisfy. It still
+  // runs at the door and still reaches the author, on the advisory channel.
   {
     name: 'validateWidgetBindings',
     tier: 'gating',

packages/lint/src/runtime-gate.test.ts

@@ -697,9 +697,14 @@ describe('the publish gate judges a schema-bound form at its own layer (#7815)',
 // a runtime-gated type, so the gate returned empty before building a snapshot.
 // Ruled 2026-08-12 (option B): a DRAFT may hold a forward reference;
 // publishing refuses with the key path named. Ruled 2026-08-15: `surfaces` is
-// per-RULE, so the flip puts all SIX of the rule's error ids on the door as
-// one "this board cannot render" reference-integrity class — pinned below as
-// reachable, not merely declared.
+// per-RULE, so the flip puts the rule's error ids on the door as one "this
+// board cannot render" reference-integrity class — pinned below as reachable,
+// not merely declared. That class was SIX ids until #15463 demoted
+// `chart-field-unknown` to `warning` (the pinned renderer refuses those three
+// `chartConfig` binding keys outright, so the board renders correctly either
+// way); it is FIVE now, and the demoted id is pinned on the advisory channel
+// immediately after, so leaving the accept-set is a measured departure rather
+// than an absence.
 // ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
 /** A resolution universe with one real object and one real dataset. */
@@ -824,13 +829,19 @@ describe('dashboard widget dataset bindings at the runtime publish gate (#7529)'
     expect(dangling.errors).toHaveLength(1);
   });
 
-  it('ALL SIX error ids are reachable at the door — the class the 2026-08-15 ruling accepted', () => {
+  it('ALL FIVE error ids are reachable at the door — the class the 2026-08-15 ruling accepted', () => {
     // `surfaces` is per-rule, so the flip enforces the rule's whole error set,
-    // not just `widget-dataset-unknown`. The ruling accepted the six as one
-    // coherent "this board cannot render" class — this test makes that
+    // not just `widget-dataset-unknown`. The ruling accepted the class as one
+    // coherent "this board cannot render" set — this test makes that
     // acceptance REACHABLE rather than declared, and its exact error sets keep
     // the boundary honest: a case gaining or losing an id is a scope change
     // that must go through this line rather than around it.
+    //
+    // [#15463] It went through this line: the set was SIX until
+    // `chart-field-unknown` dropped to `warning`. Its case moves to the
+    // advisory test below rather than being deleted — an id that leaves the
+    // accept-set must still be shown to REACH the door, or "no longer gating"
+    // and "no longer running" become indistinguishable here.
     const cases: Array<[string, unknown, string[]]> = [
       [
         'dangling dataset',
@@ -847,11 +858,6 @@ describe('dashboard widget dataset bindings at the runtime publish gate (#7529)'
         dashboard([cleanWidget({ values: ['no_such_measure'], chartConfig: { xAxis: { field: 'status' } } })]),
         ['widget-measure-unknown'],
       ],
-      [
-        'chartConfig field off the selection',
-        dashboard([cleanWidget({ chartConfig: { xAxis: { field: 'not_a_dim' } } })]),
-        ['chart-field-unknown'],
-      ],
       [
         'legacy analytics shape as the only (dead) data wiring',
         dashboard([{ id: 'w9', type: 'bar', categoryField: 'status' }]),
@@ -876,15 +882,35 @@ describe('dashboard widget dataset bindings at the runtime publish gate (#7529)'
       for (const e of errors) seen.add(e.rule);
     }
 
-    // Non-vacuous, and the ruling's whole accept-set: exactly the six.
+    // Non-vacuous, and the ruling's whole accept-set as #15463 left it:
+    // exactly the five. `chart-field-unknown` is deliberately absent.
     expect([...seen].sort()).toEqual([
-      'chart-field-unknown',
       'dashboard-filter-field-unknown',
       'widget-dataset-unknown',
       'widget-dimension-unknown',
       'widget-legacy-analytics-unrenderable',
       'widget-measure-unknown',
     ]);
+    expect(seen.has('chart-field-unknown')).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('the demoted `chart-field-unknown` still RUNS at the door — on the advisory channel (#15463)', () => {
+    // The other half of the accept-set narrowing: the exact body that used to
+    // 422 now publishes, and the finding reaches the author on the 2xx response
+    // instead. Pinned as one case so "demoted" cannot decay into "dropped".
+    const board = dashboard([cleanWidget({ chartConfig: { xAxis: { field: 'not_a_dim' } } })]);
+    const result = gateDashboard(board);
+    expect(result.errors, JSON.stringify(result.errors)).toEqual([]);
+    const f = result.advisories.find((a) => a.rule === 'chart-field-unknown');
+    expect(f, 'the advisory must still reach the author').toBeDefined();
+    expect(f!.severity).toBe('warning');
+    expect(f!.path).toBe('dashboards[0].widgets[0]');
+    expect(f!.message).toMatch(/not_a_dim/);
+    // The message names the refusal, not a query that never runs.
+    expect(f!.message).toContain('ignores an authored axis `field`');
+    expect(f!.message).not.toContain('will not contain');
+    // And the rule genuinely ran, rather than the door skipping the type.
+    expect(result.rulesRun).toContain('validateWidgetBindings');
   });
 
   it('warning-tier ids ride the ADVISORY channel and never block (#4463 P1)', () => {

packages/lint/src/validate-widget-bindings.test.ts

@@ -142,7 +142,13 @@ describe('validateWidgetBindings (reference integrity, issue #1721)', () => {
     expect(findings[0].hint).toContain('Did you mean "sum_amount"?');
   });
 
-  it('(d) errors on the issue repro: yAxis.field naming the stale base column', () => {
+  // [#15463] The three positions below are the WHOLE of what `chart-field-unknown`
+  // covers, and all three are WARNING tier: the pinned `@object-ui` revision
+  // (`.objectui-sha`) refuses every one of them as a binding, so the authored key
+  // is ignored rather than mis-queried. The `error`-tier assertions these four
+  // cases used to carry are inverted below — the tier itself is the finding this
+  // card changed, so a silent flip back must red here rather than anywhere else.
+  it('(d) warns on the issue repro: yAxis.field naming the stale base column', () => {
     const findings = validateWidgetBindings(chartStack({
       chartConfig: {
         type: 'bar',
@@ -151,15 +157,21 @@ describe('validateWidgetBindings (reference integrity, issue #1721)', () => {
       },
     }));
     expect(findings).toHaveLength(1);
-    expect(findings[0].severity).toBe('error');
+    expect(findings[0].severity).toBe('warning');
+    expect(findings[0].severity).not.toBe('error');
     expect(findings[0].rule).toBe(CHART_FIELD_UNKNOWN);
     expect(findings[0].where).toContain('spend_by_category');
     expect(findings[0].message).toContain('chartConfig.yAxis[0].field "amount"');
     expect(findings[0].message).toContain('declared measures: sum_amount, ticket_count');
+    // The TRUE consequence: the axis `field` is stripped, not queried and missed.
+    expect(findings[0].message).toContain('ignores an authored axis `field`');
+    expect(findings[0].message).toContain('silent no-op');
+    expect(findings[0].message).not.toContain('will not contain');
     expect(findings[0].hint).toContain('Did you mean "sum_amount"?');
+    expect(findings[0].hint).toContain(`suppressWarnings: ['${CHART_FIELD_UNKNOWN}']`);
   });
 
-  it('(d) errors on xAxis.field that is not a dataset dimension', () => {
+  it('(d) warns on xAxis.field that is not a dataset dimension', () => {
     const findings = validateWidgetBindings(chartStack({
       chartConfig: {
         type: 'bar',
@@ -168,21 +180,37 @@ describe('validateWidgetBindings (reference integrity, issue #1721)', () => {
       },
     }));
     expect(findings).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(findings[0].severity).toBe('warning');
+    expect(findings[0].severity).not.toBe('error');
     expect(findings[0].rule).toBe(CHART_FIELD_UNKNOWN);
     expect(findings[0].message).toContain('chartConfig.xAxis.field "categories"');
+    // The derived binding the renderer keeps is NAMED, so the author can see
+    // what the chart is actually plotting.
+    expect(findings[0].message).toContain('x-axis stays bound to this widget\'s first dimension (category)');
+    expect(findings[0].message).not.toContain('will not contain');
     expect(findings[0].hint).toContain('Did you mean "category"?');
+    expect(findings[0].hint).toContain(`suppressWarnings: ['${CHART_FIELD_UNKNOWN}']`);
   });
 
-  it('(d) errors on series[].name that resolves to no selected measure', () => {
+  it('(d) warns on series[].name that resolves to no selected measure', () => {
     const findings = validateWidgetBindings(chartStack({
       chartConfig: {
         type: 'bar',
         series: [{ name: 'value' }],
       },
     }));
     expect(findings).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(findings[0].severity).toBe('warning');
+    expect(findings[0].severity).not.toBe('error');
     expect(findings[0].rule).toBe(CHART_FIELD_UNKNOWN);
     expect(findings[0].message).toContain('chartConfig.series[0].name "value"');
+    // A series entry is matched BY NAME, so an unmatched entry is dropped
+    // WHOLE — its presentation lands on nothing. That is a different sentence
+    // from the axis positions, and the difference is the point.
+    expect(findings[0].message).toContain('matches an authored entry BY NAME');
+    expect(findings[0].message).toContain('lands on nothing');
+    expect(findings[0].message).not.toContain('will not contain');
+    expect(findings[0].hint).toContain('`series[].name` selects WHICH derived series');
   });
 
   it('(d) a declared-but-unselected measure gets the targeted message', () => {
@@ -194,11 +222,35 @@ describe('validateWidgetBindings (reference integrity, issue #1721)', () => {
       },
     }));
     expect(findings).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(findings[0].severity).toBe('warning');
     expect(findings[0].rule).toBe(CHART_FIELD_UNKNOWN);
     expect(findings[0].message).toContain('not selected in the widget\'s values');
+    expect(findings[0].message).not.toContain('will not contain');
     expect(findings[0].hint).toContain('Add "ticket_count" to the widget\'s values');
   });
 
+  it('(d) all three refused keys are suppressible per widget (#15463)', () => {
+    // Suppressibility is what the tier BUYS, and it is per widget rather than
+    // global — pinned on one widget carrying all three positions at once so a
+    // half-applied suppression (one position still shouting) reds here.
+    const allThree = {
+      type: 'bar',
+      xAxis: { field: 'categories' },
+      yAxis: [{ field: 'amount' }],
+      series: [{ name: 'value' }],
+    };
+    const loud = validateWidgetBindings(chartStack({ chartConfig: allThree }));
+    expect(loud.map((f) => f.rule)).toEqual([
+      CHART_FIELD_UNKNOWN, CHART_FIELD_UNKNOWN, CHART_FIELD_UNKNOWN,
+    ]);
+    expect(loud.every((f) => f.severity === 'warning')).toBe(true);
+    const quiet = validateWidgetBindings(chartStack({
+      chartConfig: allThree,
+      suppressWarnings: [CHART_FIELD_UNKNOWN],
+    }));
+    expect(quiet).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
   it('(d) warns when a `combo` widget has no chartConfig at all', () => {
     const findings = validateWidgetBindings(chartStack({ type: 'combo', chartConfig: undefined }));
     expect(findings).toHaveLength(1);
@@ -1673,3 +1725,24 @@ describe('#15462 acceptance — both ids are advisory on `validate` and `build`'
     });
   }
 });
+
+/**
+ * [#15463] The same end-to-end tier pin for `chart-field-unknown`, which USED to
+ * gate. It is the sharper of the two: this id did not arrive as a warning, it
+ * was demoted, and the demotion is visible on the publish door as well as on the
+ * CLI (`runtime-gate.test.ts` re-pins the door's accept-set). Nothing else in
+ * this file would notice a later flip back.
+ */
+describe('#15463 acceptance — the refused chartConfig binding keys advise, never gate', () => {
+  const refusedKey = chartStack({
+    chartConfig: { type: 'bar', xAxis: { field: 'categories' }, yAxis: [{ field: 'sum_amount' }] },
+  });
+
+  for (const command of ['validate', 'build'] as const) {
+    it(`chart-field-unknown advises (never gates) \`${command}\``, () => {
+      const { errors, advisories } = splitBySeverity(runAuthoringRules(command, { normalized: refusedKey }));
+      expect(errors.map((f) => f.rule)).not.toContain(CHART_FIELD_UNKNOWN);
+      expect(advisories.map((f) => f.rule)).toContain(CHART_FIELD_UNKNOWN);
+    });
+  }
+});