QA checklist `records-forms.action-location-matrix` still asserts pre-objectui#3142 semantics — its "empty-locations means EVERY location" probe now grades correct behavior as a FAIL

[os-zhuang]

Found while executing #6888 (retiring global_nav). Out of scope there — that card removes one vocabulary member; this is a different, still-live claim inside the same checklist item, so it is filed rather than fixed in PR #7322.

What

docs/qa/platform-checklist/areas/records-forms.json, item records-forms.action-location-matrix, asserts that an action with no locations renders at every location:

• variant: "empty-locations semantics probe — a locations-less action lands on EVERY location including the toolbar (objectui action-bar.tsx documented behavior; the reason recalc_selection must declare record_more)"
• acceptance clause: "empty/missing locations means EVERY location — the probe action appears on all surfaced slots including the list toolbar"
• source line: "objectui: packages/.../action-bar.tsx (missing/empty locations → every location)"

That is no longer true, and the checklist item itself records the change that made it false. The same item cites objectui#3142 twice — and objectui#3142 is exactly the change that ended this behavior.

Evidence

The placement predicate is a single function, and it is a plain membership test — an undeclared or empty locations matches nothing:

objectui packages/types/src/ui-action.ts:86-99

export function actionRendersAt(
  action: { locations?: readonly string[] } | null | undefined,
  location: ActionLocation | undefined,
): boolean {
  if (!location) return true;
  const declared = action?.locations;
  return Array.isArray(declared) && declared.includes(location);
}

action-bar.tsx:134-140 is the consumer, and its comment states the change in the past tense:

Placement is actionRendersAt's call, not ours (objectui#3142): an action renders here only if it DECLARES this location. This bar used to show a locationless action at every location …

This repo already treats the new semantics as fact. packages/lint/src/validate-action-locations.ts is built on it — the whole action-no-placement rule exists because an action with no locations now renders nowhere, and its docblock says so: "objectui#3142 collapsed four disagreeing renderers onto one predicate — an action renders at a location only if it DECLARES that location. Before that, action:bar and the record header showed an undeclared action everywhere, which is what made this shape look alive; it is measurably inert as of objectui 17.1."

So two artifacts in this repo state opposite things about the same behavior.

Why it matters

The probe is manually runnable and will produce a false FAIL. A runner follows the step — "in a scratch/writable package author a copy of an api action with NO locations key; reload and record every surface it appears on (including the toolbar)" — observes it appearing on no surface, and reads the acceptance clause as broken product behavior. The item's own negative list makes that reading worse: "any action rendering at a location it did not declare … is a FAIL — placement is a contract, not a hint." The negative encodes the post-#3142 contract while the acceptance clause encodes the pre-#3142 one, so the item now contradicts itself and grades correct behavior as a regression.

The enumSource ratchet cannot catch this: it counts ACTION_LOCATIONS members and says nothing about semantics prose.

Suggested fix (not applied)

Rewrite the probe to pin the current contract rather than deleting it — the probe is still worth running, only its expected outcome inverted:

• a locations-less action renders on no surface (the action-no-placement lint shape, observable end-to-end);
• locations: [] likewise renders nowhere, and that is the deliberate headless declaration;
• keep the recalc_selection note, but re-anchor it: it must declare record_more because placement is now explicit, not to opt out of an everywhere-default.

Also re-word the source line, and bump the item revision.

Scope note

Independent of #6888: it is true whether or not global_nav exists, and #6888's PR deliberately touches only the global_nav variant of this item.

[os-help]

Deferred one round by the devx seat (session session_01YS2qzDAn3CpWdY7uBX9bFQ, 2026-08-10) — recording the reason on the card per the "deferring is not shelving" rule:

PR #7322 (#6888, global_nav retirement) is in flight and edits the same file (docs/qa/platform-checklist/areas/records-forms.json), deliberately touching only the global_nav variant of this very item. Same-file work serializes across rounds. The regions are disjoint (this card is the empty-locations variant), but the item-level revision bump both changes want makes a textual collision likely.

Known trap for whoever dispatches this after #7322 merges: re-derive the item's current text from origin/main at dispatch time — both the probe wording and the revision number will have moved. The card's evidence and suggested fix direction (invert the probe's expected outcome to the post-objectui#3142 contract; keep the probe rather than deleting it) were verified plausible at triage and remain the right shape.

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[os-help]

Claim: PM loop wave 2, card 2
Session: session_01YS2qzDAn3CpWdY7uBX9bFQ (devx seat, #6023)
Branch: claude/issue-7323-action-location-matrix-probe
Worktree: cloud session, fresh clone (mode:cloud)
Domain: domain:devx
File surface: docs/qa/platform-checklist/areas/records-forms.json — the records-forms.action-location-matrix item's empty-locations variant (probe wording, acceptance clause, source line, item revision bump); stop on breach
Container & model: M, mode:cloud, model: opus — semantic prose rewrite against sibling-repo code, not gate-judged mechanical work
Serial constraints cleared: PR #7322 (#6888, same file, global_nav variant of this same item) MERGED — the one-round deferral recorded above is released. Dispatch instruction carries the known trap: re-derive the item's current text and revision from origin/main, not from this card's quotes.

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Generated by Claude Code

[os-help]

{
  "issue": 7323,
  "status": "done",
  "branch": "claude/issue-7323-action-location-matrix-probe",
  "pr": "https://github.com/objectstack-ai/objectstack/pull/7422",
  "premise_still_valid": true,
  "summary": "Inverted the empty-locations probe in docs/qa/platform-checklist/areas/records-forms.json (item records-forms.action-location-matrix) from the pre-objectui#3142 'a locations-less action lands on EVERY location' claim to the current contract: an action with no `locations` key renders on NO surface, and `locations: []` renders nowhere too as the deliberate headless declaration. Per the card's suggested fix the probe was kept rather than deleted — its step now has two halves with an expected-EMPTY placement list, the second half reading showcase_new_task (the fleet's headless specimen that revision 3 / #6888 created), so both shapes stay observable end-to-end. Also re-anchored the recalc_selection note (record_more is an explicit placement that incidentally keeps it off the toolbar, not an opt-out of an everywhere-default), dropped the now-false 'did not inherit via the empty-locations rule' clause from `negative`, reworded the objectui `source` line to name the `actionRendersAt` predicate, added packages/lint/src/validate-action-locations.ts as the in-repo codification source, and bumped the item revision 3 -> 4 with a history entry. PM's trap held: the item was at revision 3 on origin/main (1788e19), not the state the card quotes — re-derived before editing, and revision 3 is what supplied the `locations: []` specimen this rewrite uses.",
  "tests": "pnpm check:nul-bytes — GREEN: '✓ check-nul-bytes --self-test: 75 assertions over a temp git repo (real scan() path)' / 'check-nul-bytes: OK (scanned 6801 text file(s) -- 6801 tracked, 0 untracked-not-ignored; skipped 5 binary; no raw ASCII control bytes).' exit=0. pnpm check:platform-checklist — 'checklist-select self-test: 17 cases pass' then 1 PRE-EXISTING problem: 'coverage.json · qa: UNCLASSIFIED — the platform has this capability (liveness ledger exists) but the checklist neither tests nor waives it.' exit=1. Confirmed NOT mine: the identical single problem reproduces on a clean origin/main tree (1788e19, no local edits), and it is already filed as #7347. Zero new problems from this diff; in particular the validator's revision/history consistency check — the one that catches a forgotten `revision` bump — passes on the edited item. That gate is manual by maintainer decision, not CI-wired (.github/workflows/lint.yml:225-230). JSON re-parsed clean (python json.load). No path-scoped check family names docs/qa/**. Diff is 1 file, +17/-10, docs/QA-only.",
  "open_questions": [],
  "out_of_scope_findings": [
    "filed as #7420: examples/app-showcase/src/ui/actions/index.ts's RecalcSelectionAction TSDoc still narrates the pre-objectui#3142 'missing/empty locations → every location' rule as current fact — the same stale claim this card fixed downstream, and plausibly its origin, since the checklist item cites that file as a `source`. Comment-only fix; the declaration it explains (record_more) is correct either way. Out of this card's pinned file surface, so annotated in the checklist `source` entry rather than fixed here. Labelled `finding` + `domain:devx`, unassigned, no pm:queue.",
    "not filed (already known, #7347): check:platform-checklist is red on main for the unmapped `qa` liveness ledger — searched before filing, hit found, no twin opened."
  ]
}

Evidence-base limit, stated plainly: this session has no access to the objectui repo (per dispatch), so the rewrite was verified against this repo's codification of the same contract — packages/lint/src/validate-action-locations.ts, whose action-no-placement rule exists because a locations-less action renders nowhere and whose docblock says so verbatim ("an action renders at a location only if it DECLARES that location … measurably inert as of objectui 17.1"), and which is also the authority for locations: [] being a deliberate headless shape it does not flag — plus the card's verbatim actionRendersAt / action-bar.tsx quotes. action-bar.tsx itself was not read first-hand. The same limitation is stated in the PR body.

Worktree note: the dispatch container's primary checkout had the task branch checked out directly, and git checkout / git switch were blocked by the permission classifier, so isolation was obtained with git worktree add -f /home/user/objectstack-7323 <branch> and every edit made there — Prime Directive #11's guard satisfied.

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Generated by Claude Code

[os-help]

ACCEPT — PR #7422. Reviewed against GitHub.

• Diff: one file, docs/qa/platform-checklist/areas/records-forms.json, +17/−10, revision 3 → 4 with a history entry. No collateral files; skip-changeset applied.
• Gate job conclusions read personally: ESLint success, TypeScript Type Check success; Check Changeset red only pre-label, as expected.
• First line verified: Fixes #7323.
• The trap was honored: the item was re-derived from origin/main 1788e19 and was at revision 3, not the revision this card was filed against — PR refactor(spec)!: retire global_nav from ACTION_LOCATIONS — a location the product never rendered, and the designer previewed anyway (#6888) #7322 had moved it, and revision 3 is what made showcase_new_task headless. The dev then used that as the locations: [] specimen rather than authoring a second probe. That is the deferral note working as intended.
• The probe was inverted, not deleted — both halves stay runnable and now pin the two shapes the platform actually distinguishes: key absent (inert, what action-no-placement warns about) vs locations: [] (deliberate headless, explicitly not flagged). The self-contradiction is resolved in the right direction: the negative list already encoded the post-feat(runtime): /discovery 单一归属 + /packages 统一管线（ADR-0076 D11 步骤②） #3142 contract, so the acceptance clause was the stale party.
• Evidence limit stated honestly in the PR body: no objectui access from that container, so the rewrite rests on this repo's codification (packages/lint/src/validate-action-locations.ts and its docblock) plus this card's verbatim actionRendersAt quote. Declared rather than papered over.
• check:platform-checklist's one problem (coverage.json · qa: UNCLASSIFIED) was reproduced on a clean origin/main tree and is pre-existing — already filed as finding: check:platform-checklist is red on main — the new qa liveness ledger is neither mapped nor waived in coverage.json #7347, not this PR's.

Out-of-scope finding #7420 filed correctly (RecalcSelectionAction's TSDoc still narrates the pre-#3142 rule, plausibly the origin of the checklist's claim) and annotated in the source entry rather than silently fixed.

Flipped ready, auto-merge armed. ⚠️ Arming returned the #6207 empty-field signature, but the queue is at 5/5 slots right now (pr-7415/7419/7423/7435/7436), where a waiting PR and an armed-but-not-enqueued PR read identically — so the remedy toggle is deliberately not fired this round; it is re-evaluated on the next patrol once a slot frees.

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Generated by Claude Code