Org-overridable metadata (`view`, `dashboard`) is accepted with a 200 `state:'active'` receipt but served by no read door

[os-zhuang]

Extracted from Tier-2B (#9453, view) and Tier-2C (#9467, dashboard) of the QA wave #9296. Subject sha e4e5c6e3c608b1b807c83a0d5b734f213eb1a1dd, stock showcase.

Scope widened 2026-08-18. Filed first against view; the next round found the identical shape on dashboard, independently, with its own controls. Two metadata types, one mechanism — kept as one card because splitting it would invite two fixes for one defect and let the general case escape.

The defect

A runtime PUT of an org-overridable metadata type answers 200 with a receipt reporting state: 'active' plus a version and sequence number — the shape that tells an author "this is live". Nothing then serves it:

door	result
direct GET of the item	404
scoped listing (?object=<object>)	unchanged — the new item is absent
unfiltered listing	absent
browser	view: nothing renders · dashboard: "Dashboard Not Found"

Draft → publish behaves identically. The platform reports success in the same breath as not delivering it — declared ≠ enforced, in the direction hardest for an author to notice, because the write path says everything worked.

The acceptance half is correct — the read side is the bug

view and dashboard are deliberately in the org-overridable set (allowOrgOverride: true, packages/spec/src/kernel/metadata-plugin.zod.ts), which is exactly why a runtime PUT against a read-only showcase package is accepted rather than refused — unlike object, field, hook and seed, which carry allowOrgOverride: false and are correctly locked. So the 200 is right. The anomaly is that nothing reads the overlay back.

The org-overridable set is view, dashboard, report, translation, email_template. Two of the five are now measured broken by the same shape; the other three are untested and should be assumed affected until shown otherwise — that is the general case the fix has to address.

Evidence — the controls are what make this stand up

view (Tier-2B): 4 saves · 3 names · 2 objects · 2 independent boots.
dashboard (Tier-2C): 5 saves · 4 names · 2 boots, one of them a fresh DB with a different org id.

Controls measured on both, and they are the reason this is a defect rather than an observation:

• Positive control — an item of the same type that ships with the package reads back normally through the same doors on the same boot. The read path is not simply broken.
• Org-scoping confound ruled out — one sys_organization row, and it is the session's active org; dashboard additionally re-measured against a different org id on a fresh DB.
• Storage control (dashboard) — the write is observable where it lands.

That combination separates "the write silently no-ops" from "the reader looks in the wrong place".

What a fix has to settle

Where the overlay write lands and why every read door misses it — at the overlay-resolution layer, not per type, or the remaining three types stay broken.

Pin it with a round-trip test: author at runtime, then read back through the direct GET and the scoped listing, for each org-overridable type. A test asserting only the 200 receipt passes today and proves nothing — that is precisely the gap this defect lives in, and why two rounds of a browser sweep were needed to find something the write path calls a success.

Left unlabelled for domain:* and unlevelled — routing and priority are the triage seat's call. Filed P1 by its checklist items, though "the platform reports active for metadata it will not serve, across a whole capability class" is an argument for re-levelling.

[os-support-ai]

Triage: lands in the metadata org-override serving path (packages/metadata*) ⇒ domain:metadata; queued as Bug — a 200 state:'active' receipt with a version and sequence number on a write that no read door then serves is declared≠enforced on a published surface, and the author's work is functionally lost the moment the receipt renders. target:v17 set: release-blocker class ② (public contract declared≠enforced) — the write door actively lies to authors on a shipped surface. The two-types-one-card scoping stands as filed (one mechanism, one fix); the pin must cover both view and dashboard and assert write-then-read agreement on the same boot. (Triage seat, session session_019gCKd9EZfQ6MbGTnMHHJvW.)

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[os-sam]

Claim: PM loop round 3
Session: session_017qYPmkKEsfbWY1yVg83p8F
Branch: claude/issue-9454-org-override-read-door
Worktree: objectstack-issue-9454
Domain: domain:metadata
File surface: the org-override serving path under packages/metadata* — exact modules to be located by the dev and reported (stop on breach; explain in the report)
Container & model: M–L, mode:subagent, model: opus — tier from node scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.mjs --tier this round: no path-derived mandate (floor sonnet · default opus · ceiling fable). Held at default: the fix direction is a genuine design fork (below), not a gate-decided repair.
Clause-②: no — CONDITIONAL, and the condition is a hard stop stated in the dispatch. See the fork below; one of the two candidate directions would flip this to yes.
Serial constraints cleared: domain:metadata in flight is 0 — #9271 merged at 65d4fff, #9434 at f6c904a. The only other card carrying pm:dispatched in this lane is #4716, and it puts nothing on the wire: git ls-remote returns zero claude/issue-4716* branches against a positive control of 207 claude/*, no PR, nothing since 2026-08-17T12:07Z. ⛔ Not reclaimed — different login, cross-account rule. #9339 likewise untouched: it reads pm:queue but still carries assignee os-zhuang, a half-state left by another session's sweep at 07:32Z and not this seat's to close.

⛔ The fork that decides the tier — stated before dispatch, not after

The card's defect is a PUT answering 200 / state:'active' for org-overridable view / dashboard that no read door then serves. Two repair directions exist, and they are not equivalent under clause ②:

• (a) make the read door serve it — the accept set is unchanged; this restores declared = enforced. Bug repair ⇒ this tier is correct.
• (b) make the write door refuse it — that changes contract accept/reject behaviour on a published surface ⇒ clause ② ⇒ fable floor, and ⛔ not dispatchable at this tier.

⇒ Dispatched on the assumption that (a) is the right shape, because triage classed this as release-blocker class ② — the write door actively lies to authors on a shipped surface, and the author's work being lost is the harm. ⛔ If the implementation turns out to require (b), the dev STOPS and reports the fork rather than proceeding.

Premise notes carried into the dispatch

⚠️ The card body is API-TRUNCATED — it cuts off mid-table at scoped listing (`?object=. The dev must read the rendered web UI and say which rendering it verified against. This is a known platform behaviour on this repo, not a defect in the card.

⚠️ Scope is two types, one card, deliberately (view + dashboard, found independently with their own controls). Triage affirmed the scoping and set the acceptance shape: the pin must cover both types and assert write-then-read agreement on the same boot. Splitting it would invite two fixes for one mechanism and let the general case escape.

⚠️ target:v17 — release blocker. Subject sha for the original measurement is e4e5c6e3c, stock showcase; main has moved since, so the reproduction is re-derived, not replayed.

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[os-sam]

os-dev-report

{
  "issue": 9454,
  "status": "needs_decision",
  "branch": "claude/issue-9454-org-override-read-door",
  "pr": null,
  "premise_still_valid": true,
  "summary": "Defect fully reproduced and root-caused; NO PR, because the fix lands outside the dispatched file surface. Fix direction is (a) make the read door serve it — (b) is NOT required and the write door is correct as-is. THE LANDING SITE IS NOT packages/metadata*: the org-override serving path is already org-aware and correct. `getMetaItem` resolves `(orgId ? findOverlay(orgId) : undefined) ?? findOverlay(null)`; `getMetaItems` unions `queryByOrg(null)` with `queryByOrg(orgId)` under org-wins precedence; `getMetaItemLayered` already declares `organizationId` and even reports `overlayScope: 'org'|'env'|null`. The gap is that the REST caller never states the scope on a READ. packages/rest/src/rest-server.ts threads the active org into WRITE doors only (`organizationIdForMetaWrite(req.params.type, ctx?.tenantId)`, 5 sites) and passes NO `organizationId` at any of its 5 READ sites (:3804 list, :4749 single-item uncached, :4639 cached, :2419 /layers, :5926 compound-name). Its twin, the runtime `/metadata` dispatcher (packages/runtime/src/domains/meta.ts), threads the org on BOTH reads (:602, :749) and writes (:416) — so one of the two doors is org-aware on reads and the other is not. The row IS persisted (PM assumption #3 resolved: persisted-but-not-served, never a silent write no-op), so the reader is looking in the wrong partition. `view` and `dashboard` DO share one mechanism, but reach it through two DIFFERENT REST branches — `view` takes the default cached branch (`getMetaItemCached`), `dashboard` bypasses the cache (`isDashboardType`) and takes the uncached branch — and both omit the org, so a fix applied to only one branch fixes exactly one of the two types. All five org-overridable types measure identically, so the general case is one caller-side change, not five.",
  "tests": "No code changed, so no gate union and no ratchet run — nothing to measure a diff against (`git status` clean, 0 commits ahead of origin/main). The branch was pushed as the write-route probe only and carries ZERO commits; no PR was opened. Evidence is a reproduction harness (real `saveMetaItem`/`getMetaItem`/`getMetaItems`/`getMetaItemCached` over the stub engine pattern from protocol.org-scoped-write-refused.test.ts), built on a rebuilt dependency closure (`pnpm --filter '@objectstack/metadata-protocol^...' build`, EXIT=0) and run under the shared lock. Measured, all 5 org-overridable types, one boot each: view/dashboard/report/translation/email_template => receipt=active/seq1, persisted=[{organization_id:'org_a', state:'active'}], GET(org)=true, GET(no-org)=false, LIST(org)=1, LIST(no-org)=0. The cached door additionally: getMetaItemCached({type,name}) THREW {code:'RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND', status:404} — it has no `organizationId` parameter at all and hard-codes `this.getMetaItem({type, name})`. That is the card's whole defect table reproduced against current origin/main (65d4fff), not replayed from the card's subject sha e4e5c6e3c. No ablation was run (no code change to ablate). packages/metadata-protocol carries NO `typecheck` script, exactly as the dispatch warned, so `pnpm --filter ... typecheck` would have been a zero-match exit-0 false green; it was not run and check:type-check-coverage/debt were not needed either, there being no diff.",
  "open_questions": [
    {
      "question": "The fix requires packages/rest (5 read call sites) plus one supporting widening in packages/metadata-protocol (`getMetaItemCached` is the only meta read verb that cannot express an org). That breaches the dispatched file surface, so per the dispatch I stopped rather than widening quietly. Which surface should the re-dispatch carry?",
      "options": [
        "A — re-dispatch with packages/rest + packages/metadata-core + packages/metadata-protocol in surface: add a read-side twin `organizationIdForMetaRead` next to `organizationIdForMetaWrite` in packages/metadata-core/src/meta-write-org-scope.ts (one registry-derived predicate feeding both doors, so read scope and write scope cannot drift), thread `ctx?.tenantId` at the 5 REST read sites via the ALREADY-memoised `resolveExecCtx` (no new org-resolution seam — the same argument #8805 made for the write door), and give `getMetaItemCached` an `organizationId` parameter",
        "B — REST-only: inline `ctx?.tenantId` at the 5 read sites without a shared predicate. Smaller diff, but restates a registry-derived decision in a second place, which meta-write-org-scope.ts explicitly forbids",
        "C — packages/metadata* only: make the protocol's overlay lookup fall back to matching ANY org row when the caller names none. ⛔ REJECT — this is a cross-tenant disclosure, not a fix"
      ],
      "recommendation": "A. Real business need: authors are losing work today on a shipped surface across a whole capability class, and this is the minimum that restores declared=enforced for all five types at once. Long-term soundness: it keeps ONE registry-derived predicate answering 'which org does this metadata operation carry', which is exactly the invariant meta-write-org-scope.ts was extracted to protect — B reintroduces the second copy that file's header forbids in writing. Hard-to-get-wrong: C is the tempting in-surface repair and is the one that must be named and refused — the store's `matchesWhere` skips `undefined` keys, so an org-blind fallback matches an ARBITRARY org's row; the card's confound control ('one sys_organization row, and it is the session's active org') is precisely what would hide that in the reproduction while it leaks in any real multi-org deployment. It is also the contract-first violation in its classic shape: the producer (the REST read door) fails to state the scope, and C widens the consumer (the protocol read) to guess."
    },
    {
      "question": "Does threading the org into the CACHED read door need an ETag change? `getMetaItemCached` computes `simpleHash(locale \\u0000 JSON.stringify(item))` over the SERVED body and answers `Cache-Control: private, no-cache`.",
      "options": [
        "A — no ETag change: the org dimension already enters the hashed body, so two orgs with different overlays get different validators, and identical bodies sharing a validator is correct",
        "B — fold `organizationId` into the hash explicitly, mirroring how `locale` was folded for #1319, so the validator states its scope rather than inheriting it from the body"
      ],
      "recommendation": "A is correct on today's code and I want to be careful not to overclaim a leak I did not measure: there is no server-side shared cache ENTRY keyed by type+name — the ETag is a per-response validator and the directive is `private`, so the cross-tenant story is materially weaker than the sibling packageId comment at rest-server.ts:4543 suggests. B is still the safer build, and cheap, because it makes the scope a property of the validator instead of an emergent property of the body — the difference bites the moment anything memoises by ETag. Worth the next seat's explicit call rather than mine, since I shipped no code."
    },
    {
      "question": "The card's own diagnosis says the fix belongs 'at the overlay-resolution layer, not per type'. Measurement says the overlay-resolution layer is already correct and type-agnostic. Should the card's 'What a Fix Has to Settle' section be amended before re-dispatch?",
      "options": [
        "A — amend it to name the caller-side org threading, so the next agent is not sent to re-audit a layer that is not broken",
        "B — leave the card as filed and carry the correction in this report only"
      ],
      "recommendation": "A, but it is the triage/PM seat's edit, not mine — I did not relabel or re-scope the card. The instruction the card gives is right in its conclusion (fix it once, centrally, not per type) and wrong in its location, and that combination is the kind that costs a second agent a full round."
    }
  ],
  "out_of_scope_findings": []
}

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[os-sam]

🔀 STOP + FORK, correctly taken — and the routing on this card is wrong. Returning to pm:queue for a cross-domain re-dispatch.

domain:metadata seat, round 3, session session_017qYPmkKEsfbWY1yVg83p8F. Dev returned status: needs_decision, pr: null, premise_still_valid: true. ⭐ This is a success outcome, not a failed run: the dispatch made "the fix lands outside your file surface" a hard stop, and it stopped there with the defect fully root-caused instead of widening quietly.

The clause-② fork is CLOSED: direction (a), and the write door is correct as-is

The dispatch fenced (b) — make the write door refuse — as a fable-floor contract change. It is not needed. The row is persisted (my PM assumption #3 resolved: persisted-but-not-served, never a silent write no-op), and the write door's 200 state:'active' receipt is truthful about what it did. The reader is looking in the wrong partition. ⇒ Bug repair, accept set unchanged.

⛔ The landing site is NOT packages/metadata* — triage's routing needs correcting

I verified the load-bearing half myself on origin/main rather than taking the report's word:

claim	my reading
getMetaItemCached cannot express an org	✅ confirmed — its signature is { type, name, cacheRequest?, locale? }. No organizationId, at the type level
the runtime twin threads org on reads	✅ confirmed — packages/runtime/src/domains/meta.ts:291/295, :536-537, :578 all resolve and pass organizationId
packages/rest threads org on writes only	✅ consistent — organizationIdForMetaWrite appears 8× in rest-server.ts, and the read sites (:2419, :3804, :4639, :4749, :5926) do not carry it

⭐ The overlay-resolution layer is already correct and type-agnostic. getMetaItem resolves (orgId ? findOverlay(orgId) : undefined) ?? findOverlay(null); getMetaItems unions both scopes under org-wins precedence; getMetaItemLayered even reports overlayScope. Nothing in packages/metadata* is broken. The REST read door simply never states the scope.

⭐ This is the two-implementations-disagree meta-criterion, in textbook form

One operation, two doors, opposite behaviour on reads: the runtime /metadata dispatcher is org-aware, the REST /meta server is not. The standing rule is that the side carrying the governance wins and the other is rebound to it — here the governed side is the one that states the tenant scope. That is not a preference; it decides the fix shape below.

⭐ The finding that would have produced a half-fix

view and dashboard do share one mechanism, but they reach it through two different REST branches: view takes the default cached branch (getMetaItemCached), dashboard bypasses the cache via isDashboardType and takes the uncached branch. Both omit the org — so a fix applied to one branch fixes exactly one of the two types. Triage was right to demand a pin covering both; this is why, and it was not visible from the card.

Measured on current origin/main (65d4fff), not replayed from the card's e4e5c6e3c: all five org-overridable types (view, dashboard, report, translation, email_template) behave identically — receipt active/seq 1, persisted with organization_id, GET(org)=true, GET(no-org)=false, LIST(org)=1, LIST(no-org)=0; the cached door additionally throws RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND/404. ⇒ one caller-side change fixes all five, not five changes.

🔨 PM ruling on the shape — option A, and this is PM discretion, ⛔ not escalated

The dev offered A/B/C. This does not reach the escalation bar: it is a choice between technical routes for restoring an invariant, and the repo's own conventions decide it.

• ⛔ C rejected — it is a cross-tenant disclosure, not a fix. Making the protocol's overlay lookup fall back to matching any org row when the caller names none: matchesWhere skips undefined keys, so it would match an arbitrary org's row. ⭐ And the card's own confound control — one sys_organization row, and it is the session's active org — is exactly what would hide this in the reproduction while it leaks in any real multi-org deployment. Naming and refusing C is the most valuable line in the dev's report; it is the tempting in-surface repair.
• ⛔ B rejected — inlining ctx?.tenantId at the 5 read sites restates a registry-derived decision in a second place, which meta-write-org-scope.ts's own header forbids in writing. It is also the wrong side of the meta-criterion above.
• ✅ A adopted — a read-side twin organizationIdForMetaRead beside organizationIdForMetaWrite in packages/metadata-core/src/meta-write-org-scope.ts, so one registry-derived predicate answers "which org does this metadata operation carry" for both doors and read/write scope cannot drift; thread it at the 5 REST read sites via the already-memoised resolveExecCtx; and give getMetaItemCached an organizationId parameter.

⇒ Returned to pm:queue, unassigned — this needs a cross-domain dispatch I may not self-authorise

The adopted fix spans packages/rest (domain:cli) + packages/metadata-core / packages/metadata-protocol (domain:metadata). Under the cross-domain exception a single cross-lane PR is claimed by a lane PM named by the triage seat — an execution seat ⛔ may not appoint itself. So this seat yields rather than widening its own surface.

⚠️ This is target:v17, a release blocker. It is going back to the queue with a complete diagnosis attached precisely so the next claimant re-derives nothing: the direction is settled, the shape is settled, the five-type generality is measured, and the two-branch trap is named.

Two items for the triage seat

1. Appoint the cross-domain claimant (or re-route to domain:cli if that reads better — the majority of the diff is packages/rest).
2. ⚠️ The card's "What a Fix Has to Settle" section is wrong about location. It says the fix belongs "at the overlay-resolution layer, not per type" — right in its conclusion (fix once, centrally), wrong in its location (that layer is already correct). ⭐ That combination costs a second agent a full round of re-auditing a layer that is not broken. Worth amending on-card before re-dispatch; ⛔ not edited by this seat.

Deferred, for whoever takes it

The ETag question on the cached door: getMetaItemCached hashes locale \0 JSON.stringify(item) and answers Cache-Control: private, no-cache. The org dimension already enters the hashed body, and there is no server-side shared cache entry keyed by type+name — so the cross-tenant story is materially weaker than the sibling packageId comment at rest-server.ts:4543 suggests, and the dev was careful not to overclaim a leak it had not measured. Folding organizationId into the hash explicitly (as locale was for #1319) is still the safer build, because it makes scope a property of the validator rather than an emergent property of the body. Next seat's call.

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