feat(lint): catch a stale searchableFields entry at authoring time (#4254 follow-up)

.changeset/searchable-fields-stale-declaration.md

@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/lint": minor
+---
+
+feat(lint): a `searchableFields` entry naming no field is caught at authoring
+time, not at request time
+
+`searchableFields` is `z.array(z.string())` in both `object.zod.ts` and the
+list-view schema, so nothing ever checked that an entry resolves to anything.
+Rename a field and the old name stays behind — Zod-valid, shipped, pointing at
+a column that no longer exists.
+
+The engine tolerates it, which is exactly what kept the drift invisible:
+`resolveSearchFields` filters the declaration down to fields that exist
+(`searchableFields?.filter((f) => all[f])`) and says nothing. The tolerance
+fails in the direction nobody expects:
+
+- **some entries stale** → `$search` scans a NARROWER set than the object
+  declares. Records that should match do not, and the response is
+  indistinguishable from "no such record";
+- **every entry stale** → the filtered set is empty, so resolution falls
+  through to the AUTO-DEFAULT (name/title + short-text fields). A declaration
+  whose whole purpose is to CHOOSE the searchable set ends up selecting one the
+  author never wrote — the "asked narrower, answered wider" inversion #4226
+  closed on the projection axis.
+
+It also stops being quiet downstream. Clients echo the declaration verbatim as
+the `$searchFields` override (objectui's list search sends
+`schema.searchableFields`), so once the REST read path validates that override
+against the object (#4254), a stale entry the engine had been silently skipping
+becomes a `400 INVALID_FIELD` on every list search for that object — a
+request-time break whose cause is an authoring typo made long before.
+
+**New rule — `searchable-field-unknown` (gating).** Wired into
+`REFERENCE_INTEGRITY_RULES`, so it runs on `os validate`, `os lint` and
+`os compile` with no CLI edit. It covers the object's own ADR-0061 declaration
+and the list views that narrow it (`objects[].listViews`, a `defineView`
+default `list`, and named `listViews`), resolving each entry against the bound
+object's declared fields.
+
+`error`, not the advisory level the other field-existence rules use
+(`page-field-unknown`, `form-field-unknown`, `semantic-role-field-unknown` are
+all warnings). Those describe a consumer that SKIPS an unknown name and renders
+the rest; this describes a declaration that either selects the wrong set or
+refuses the request outright — the same call `validate-flow-template-paths`
+makes for a filter-position token, where the miss widens the query instead of
+shrinking the page.
+
+Existence only: a field that exists but is an odd search target (a `json`
+column) is NOT flagged — an explicit `searchableFields` is authoritative, so
+declaring one is a choice, not drift. Three skips keep false positives near zero
+(ADR-0072 D1): an object this stack does not define, an object with no authored
+field map (external / datasource-introspected), and registry-injected system
+columns — the last derived from the spec's own `FIELD_GROUP_SYSTEM_FIELDS` and
+`SystemFieldName` rather than hand-copied, since this package already carries
+five slightly-different copies of that list.
+
+Dotted paths are the one place this rule is stricter than its siblings. They
+skip `owner_id.name` because the query engine resolves the traversal; search
+does not — `resolveSearchFields` matches the field map by exact string, so a
+dotted entry is dropped exactly like a typo, and it is the spelling most likely
+borrowed from `select`/`sort`. It is flagged, with its own fix hint.

packages/lint/src/index.ts

@@ -194,6 +194,15 @@ export {
 } from './validate-object-references.js';
 export type { ObjectRefFinding, ObjectRefSeverity } from './validate-object-references.js';
 
+export {
+  validateSearchableFields,
+  SEARCHABLE_FIELD_UNKNOWN,
+} from './validate-searchable-fields.js';
+export type {
+  SearchableFieldFinding,
+  SearchableFieldSeverity,
+} from './validate-searchable-fields.js';
+
 export { validateActionNameRefs, ACTION_NAME_UNDEFINED } from './validate-action-name-refs.js';
 export type { ActionNameRefFinding, ActionNameRefSeverity } from './validate-action-name-refs.js';
 

packages/lint/src/reference-integrity-suite.test.ts

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ describe('reference-integrity suite — membership', () => {
   it('holds exactly the reference-resolution rules, in report order', () => {
     expect(REFERENCE_INTEGRITY_RULES.map((r) => r.name)).toEqual([
       'validateObjectReferences',
+      'validateSearchableFields',
       'validateActionNameRefs',
       'validatePageFieldBindings',
       'validateChartBindings',
@@ -48,6 +49,10 @@ describe('reference-integrity suite — every member actually runs', () => {
       {
         name: 'crm_lead',
         fields: { name: { type: 'text', label: 'Name' } },
+        // validateSearchableFields: `budget` is not a field on crm_lead, so the
+        // ADR-0061 declaration is stale — the engine drops it and searches a
+        // narrower set than the object declares.
+        searchableFields: ['name', 'budget'],
         permissions: {},
       },
     ],
@@ -144,6 +149,7 @@ describe('reference-integrity suite — every member actually runs', () => {
     const rules = new Set(findings.map((f) => f.rule));
 
     expect(rules).toContain('object-reference-unknown');
+    expect(rules).toContain('searchable-field-unknown');
     expect(rules).toContain('action-name-undefined');
     expect(rules).toContain('page-field-unknown');
     expect(rules).toContain('chart-measure-unknown');

packages/lint/src/reference-integrity-suite.ts

@@ -32,6 +32,15 @@
  * severities (see that module: a filter-position miss gates, every other
  * position advises), which is why the suite's contract is severity-agnostic.
  *
+ * `validateSearchableFields` is a member on the same reading, one layer in: an
+ * ADR-0061 `searchableFields` entry is a field name written in metadata,
+ * resolved against the object's own declared fields. It gates (`error`) because
+ * the engine's tolerance for a stale entry — silently filtering it out — either
+ * narrows the searched set below what the object declares or, once every entry
+ * is stale, falls through to the auto-default and searches a set the author
+ * never wrote. See that module for why the other field-existence rules stay
+ * advisory and this one does not.
+ *
  * Rules that check SHAPE rather than reference (view containers, responsive
  * styles, seed replay safety, seed state machines, seed/security posture) stay
  * out — they answer a different question and have their own call sites.
@@ -46,6 +55,7 @@
  */
 
 import { validateObjectReferences } from './validate-object-references.js';
+import { validateSearchableFields } from './validate-searchable-fields.js';
 import { validateActionNameRefs } from './validate-action-name-refs.js';
 import { validatePageFieldBindings } from './validate-page-field-bindings.js';
 import { validateChartBindings } from './validate-chart-bindings.js';
@@ -91,6 +101,7 @@ export interface ReferenceIntegrityRule {
  */
 export const REFERENCE_INTEGRITY_RULES: readonly ReferenceIntegrityRule[] = [
   { name: 'validateObjectReferences', run: validateObjectReferences },
+  { name: 'validateSearchableFields', run: validateSearchableFields },
   { name: 'validateActionNameRefs', run: validateActionNameRefs },
   { name: 'validatePageFieldBindings', run: validatePageFieldBindings },
   { name: 'validateChartBindings', run: validateChartBindings },