From 545daed5065e703ab57c74d0a82752114c7944b2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: delchev <delchevn@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2026 15:35:11 +0300
Subject: [PATCH] spec: notify link placeholders - {recordUrl}, {inboxUrl},
 {appUrl}

A notification that cannot be acted on gets ignored, and the notify block had no
way to carry the way back into the application: an author could only paste a
route into the body - the layout the intent does not own, correct until whatever
renders the application changes it.

Add the three reserved link placeholders to the notify block: {recordUrl} (the
record the message is about), {inboxUrl} (the recipient's task inbox) and
{appUrl} (the origin alone). Normative: the names are reserved at every call
site and MUST NOT be shadowed by an entity field; the first two MUST be resolved
by the implementation to a complete address, and an intent MUST NOT be required
to spell a route. Inside a forEach fan-out {recordUrl} links the ROW, like every
other bare path in the block.

Appendix A gains its index row.
---
 versions/1.2.md | 35 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 35 insertions(+)

diff --git a/versions/1.2.md b/versions/1.2.md
index f321557..b858cb3 100644
--- a/versions/1.2.md
+++ b/versions/1.2.md
@@ -1120,6 +1120,40 @@ An optional **`attach: print`** makes the message carry the record's **own docum
 
 > **Normative.** A block whose recipient resolves to no address is a **no-op**: the send is skipped and recorded, never an error — a record with nobody to notify must not stall a flow. A `transitions[].notify` MUST NOT be able to fail its transition: the status flip is the transition's contract and is already applied when the message is attempted, so a delivery failure is recorded and the transition still reports success. At the other call sites a delivery failure MAY fail the activity so the platform's own retry applies; a sending process step SHOULD, since the message is that step's whole purpose.
 
+#### Links back to the application: `{recordUrl}`, `{inboxUrl}`, `{appUrl}`
+
+A notification that cannot be acted on is a notification that gets ignored. "You have an approval
+waiting" is only useful if it carries the way back to the record, so `subject` and `body` accept three
+reserved link placeholders alongside the field ones:
+
+| Placeholder | Resolves to |
+| --- | --- |
+| `{recordUrl}` | the record the message is about, opened in the application |
+| `{inboxUrl}` | the recipient's task inbox |
+| `{appUrl}` | the application's external base URL - the origin only |
+
+```yaml
+    notify:
+      to: Approver.email
+      subject: "Approval needed: invoice {number}"
+      body: "Open it here: {recordUrl}\nEverything waiting on you: {inboxUrl}"
+```
+
+> **Normative.** The three names are RESERVED at every notify call site: an entity field of the same
+> name MUST NOT shadow them. `{recordUrl}` and `{inboxUrl}` MUST be resolved by the implementation to
+> a complete address; an intent MUST NOT be required to spell a route, and a conforming implementation
+> MUST NOT require one. `{appUrl}` yields the origin alone - it is the escape hatch for addresses the
+> other two cannot express, and everything appended to it is authored text.
+
+Why the intent never writes the path: the routes belong to whatever renders the application, and an
+intent that named one would encode a layout it does not own - correct only until that layout changes,
+and silently wrong afterwards. `{recordUrl}` states the destination; the implementation states the
+address.
+
+> **Normative.** Inside a [`forEach`](#one-message-per-related-row-foreach) fan-out `{recordUrl}` links
+> the ROW, like every other bare path in the block - the row is what that message is about. The anchor
+> record is addressable for VALUES only.
+
 #### One message per related row: `forEach`
 
 Some sends are per-row rather than per-record: a payroll run mails every payslip to its own employee,
@@ -1643,6 +1677,7 @@ One line per construct, linking into the chapters above.
 | [`widgets`](#widgets--custom-dashboard-tiles) | custom KPI / embedded-page dashboard tiles |
 | [`notifications`](#notifications) | email on create / update / delete |
 | [the notify block / `attach: print`](#the-notify-block--and-attach-print-sending-the-document-itself) | send a message about a record - with the record's own document attached - from a process step, a transition or a schedule |
+| [notify link placeholders](#links-back-to-the-application-recordurl-inboxurl-appurl) | `{recordUrl}` / `{inboxUrl}` / `{appUrl}` - a message that carries the way back into the application |
 | [`notify.forEach`](#one-message-per-related-row-foreach) | fan the block out over a related collection: one message per row, every path resolved against the row |
 | [`schedules`](#schedules) | cron: notify or generate records per matching row |
 | [`integrations`](#integrations--outbound-http) | outbound HTTP on a data change |