Skills: drop the node_type workaround once the DIAL Core fix is released

[andrii-novikov]

Name and Version

aidial-client 0.16.1

What is the problem this feature will solve?

The read side (#136) ships a client-side workaround for a DIAL Core bug in the skill file listing. That bug is now fixed upstream, so the workaround is dead weight — but it cannot be removed yet, because the fix is not in a released Core.

The bug (epam/ai-dial-core#1912, closed): a non-recursive listing of a skill's files reported its subfolders with nodeType: "ITEM" — the same value as the files beside them — so only the trailing / on url distinguished them.

GET /v2/metadata/skills/{bucket}/{path}/files/     # recursive=false

{
  "items": [
    { "name": "SKILL.md", "url": ".../files/SKILL.md", "nodeType": "ITEM" },
    { "name": "agents",   "url": ".../files/agents/",  "nodeType": "ITEM" }   // a directory
  ]
}

The workaround, in aidial_client/types/metadata.py: a field validator on SkillFileItem and SkillFileMetadata that derives node_type from url, so callers of this library never see the discrepancy.

The fix: epam/ai-dial-core#1914, commit 73d28e48 — ComplexResourceService.listFiles now builds folder entries as ResourceFolderMetadata rather than ResourceItemMetadata.

Why this is not done yet: the fix landed on development roughly four minutes after Core 0.47.1 was cut, so it is in no release. Removing the workaround now would break anyone running a released Core — subfolders would silently come back as ITEM again.

What is the feature you are proposing to solve the problem?

Once a DIAL Core release contains 73d28e48, remove the workaround and let node_type pass through exactly as Core sends it.

Steps

1. aidial_client/types/metadata.py — delete _node_type_from_url and both PYDANTIC_V2 / v1 validator pairs on SkillFileItem and SkillFileMetadata. Drop the now-unused Any / validator / field_validator imports.
2. Update the docstrings on SkillItem and SkillFileItem that describe the derivation.
3. README.md — drop the note in the skills file-listing section explaining that node_type is corrected; state that a non-recursive listing distinguishes folders with node_type == "FOLDER".
4. tests/resources/skills/ — remove the two tests covering the derivation, and update the captured non-recursive fixture so its directory entries carry "nodeType": "FOLDER".

Note on the fixture: the post-fix nodeType values were derived by reading the Core patch, not captured from a running Core. Re-capture a real non-recursive listing against a Core that contains the fix before relying on them. The folder branch copies no timestamps, so directory entries should still have no updatedAt.

Preconditions

• A DIAL Core release containing 73d28e48 exists.
• The client's minimum supported Core version is at or above that release, or the project accepts that older deployments lose correct node_type on this one listing.

What alternatives have you considered?

Keep the workaround indefinitely. Rejected. It is a permanent tax on a bug that no longer exists, and it makes the client rewrite data the server sends correctly — which is worse than a no-op, because it hides Core's real response from anyone debugging against it.

Remove it now, before a Core release contains the fix. Rejected. aidial-client is published to PyPI and its users run whatever Core their deployment provides. Breaking them for a fix they cannot yet have is a bad trade for deleting ~25 lines.

Replace the validator with a derived is_folder accessor that leaves node_type untouched and answers node_type == "FOLDER" or url.endswith("/"). Rejected for this issue: it would be correct against both old and new Core, but it adds public API surface to solve a problem that is disappearing on its own, and it was not what the review asked for. Worth revisiting only if the Core fix turns out not to ship.