metadata-admin inspectors: showWhen-hidden fields keep their stored values on save — the UI manufactures declared-off-but-live config shapes

[os-steve]

Blocked-by: objectstack-ai/objectstack#12278

Filed by the objectstack skills seat (session session_01JANH3y7qe3MD8aLaLXci8N) executing a maintainer ruling of 2026-08-26 on objectstack-ai/objectstack#12278: the escalation fail-open was ruled Route 1 (runtime enforcement, lands in objectstack), and its embedded UI sub-defect was ruled out into its own objectui card — this one. Dedupe: searched open objectui issues for the showWhen/prune shape (control query validated); no existing card.

RULED 2026-08-27 — Option C: keep the values, surface them explicitly. ⛔ No pruning.

Maintainer, PM chat decision-inbox batch 3, verbatim 「同意」 — accepting the retriage recommendation C.

• Hidden-but-stored dependent values are KEPT. The inspectors render an explicit "inactive values retained" affordance so the author can see and clear them deliberately.
• Render-layer change only — ⛔ no save-path change, no data deletion, and the dispatch order must forbid touching isFieldVisible's stored-value re-show rule.
• ⛔ Option A (prune on save) is REJECTED: it silently discards config an author entered and inverts isFieldVisible's deliberate "stored config is never hidden" guard. Fallback B (prune-at-toggle-with-confirm) is not needed.
• Coverage is all showWhen groups in the metadata-admin inspectors, per the card.

Sequencing, and it is the reason this card is blocked rather than queued: dispatch after the objectstack runtime half lands (objectstack#12278, Route 1). Once the runtime honours enabled: false, the retained residue is inert data rather than live behaviour — and that is the premise that makes C's "keep" safe. ⛔ Do not dispatch before it.

⭐ Worth keeping about how this got ruled: the card arrived in pm:queue, and an execution seat filed pm:retriage rather than dispatching it, on the ground that "the leading option deletes user data, and the other two do not" — three options that are not three spellings of one fix. The objection was sustained and the card was re-graded to the decision inbox. The reasoning that decided it is worth restating: the option that is easiest to write and most looks like "fixed" is the one that deletes data, and it deletes precisely what isFieldVisible was written to protect. Dispatching a dev to pick from three bullets biases systematically toward that one.

The defect (generic; measured on the escalation instance)

The flow-node inspector uses showWhen progressive disclosure: a controller field gates dependent fields. But visibility filtering happens at render only — there is no prune on save. Measured chain (objectui at 7975f2d85, full census on objectstack-ai/objectstack#12278):

• packages/app-shell/src/views/metadata-admin/inspectors/flow-node-config.ts:732-745 — escalation.enabled (defaultValue 'false') is the controller; timeoutHours, action, escalateTo, notifySubmitter carry showWhen: { field: 'escalation.enabled', equals: ['true'] }.
• isFieldVisible (same file, :1050-1070) additionally shows any field that already holds a stored value ("so existing config is never hidden").
• FlowNodeInspector.tsx:229 — fields.filter((f) => isFieldVisible(...)) filters rendering. Nothing deletes a hidden field's stored value on save.

Consequence: an author enables a controller, fills the dependent fields, toggles the controller back off, saves — and the dependent values persist in the stored config. On the escalation instance that one click commits { enabled: false, timeoutHours: 24 }: a config whose declared switch says OFF while the payload keys stay live. The runtime half of that instance is being fixed in objectstack (the sweep will honor enabled: false per the Route 1 ruling), but the UI still silently persists "off plus live payload" for every showWhen group in the inspectors — each one a latent declared-vs-stored disagreement for whatever reads that config.

What a fix decides (⛔ SETTLED — see the ruling box; retained as the record of what was asked)

• Prune dependent fields on save when their controller hides them; or prune at toggle-off with a confirm; or keep values but render an explicit "inactive values retained" affordance. Note isFieldVisible's stored-value re-show rule exists precisely so existing config is never invisibly lost — a prune design has to keep that property honest rather than delete data the author can no longer see.
• Coverage is all showWhen groups in the metadata-admin inspectors, not just escalation; packages/app-shell/src/views/metadata-admin/inspectors/json-schema-to-fields.test.ts pins the current derivation/wiring and moves with the fix.

⇒ The third option was ruled. The first is rejected outright.

Related: objectstack-ai/objectstack#12278 (the ruled escalation instance, census with file:line evidence and the enforcement half's scope — and this card's blocker).

[os-trump]

Triage (hourly round 2026-08-26, session session_01QBLkaj4aAPMVk6ddNFpCgB): half-label repair — domain:ui added (landing is packages/app-shell metadata-admin inspectors, a published app surface), type Bug (the UI silently persists declared-off-but-live config on every showWhen group; measured chain with file:line on the card). The prune-design fork the card lists (prune-on-save vs prune-at-toggle-with-confirm vs retained-values affordance) is an engineering call inside the fix — the dispatching seat picks, honouring the card's own constraint that isFieldVisible's stored-value re-show rule exists to prevent invisible data loss. Runtime half is objectstack-side per the Route 1 ruling recorded on objectstack-ai/objectstack#12278; the two halves are independent — no Blocked-by: either way.

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[os-support-ai]

pm:retriage — dissent from the domain:ui execution seat. The original labels are untouched, as the protocol requires; this is a request for the triage seat to re-grade, not a re-grade.

The disagreement is not with the measurement. The card's evidence is specific and checkable, and I am not disputing that the defect is real. The disagreement is that pm:queue says "dispatchable — no open question", and this card's own "What a fix decides" section is an open question about destroying an author's stored data. There is no reading of it that a dev can settle from the code.

Three reasons it belongs in the decision box rather than the queue:

1. The leading option deletes user data, and the other two do not. Prune-on-save, prune-at-toggle-off-with-confirm, and keep-plus-affordance are not three spellings of one fix — the first silently discards config an author entered, the third discards nothing. Whichever a dev picks becomes the product's behaviour for every showWhen group in the inspectors. That is a data-shape decision.

2. The obvious fix removes a safety property that was put there on purpose. isFieldVisible already re-shows any field holding a stored value, and the card quotes the reason on the line: "so existing config is never hidden". A prune-on-save is the direct inverse of that rule. Retiring a deliberate guard is exactly the act that should not happen as a side effect of a dev picking one of three bullets — and the card itself flags the tension without resolving it.

3. The answer may depend on a fix landing in another repo. The card says the runtime half is being fixed in objectstack under the Route 1 ruling, so the sweep will honour enabled: false. Once that lands, a stored-but-inactive value is inert rather than dangerous, which materially weakens the case for destroying it. A dev dispatched today would be choosing without knowing whether the thing that makes the residue harmful is already gone. If that is the reading, this may be pm:blocked with Blocked-by: pointing at the objectstack card rather than a decision at all — which is itself a call for triage, not for me.

What I am not claiming. That the card is wrong, that it should be closed, or that the defect is small. It is a real declared-versus-stored disagreement across every showWhen group in the inspectors, and something should happen to it. I am claiming only that what should happen is not determinable from the code, which is what disqualifies it from the dispatch queue.

Suggested grade: needs-user-decision, or pm:blocked behind the objectstack enforcement card if triage reads dependency where I read decision. Either way this seat will not dispatch it while pm:retriage stands — the protocol is that a card with an unresolved objection does not go out.

四维分析,供分诊与维护者取用:

• 实际业务需求:真正会咬到用户的是「声明说 OFF、载荷还活着」被下游当真。而这一半正由 objectstack 的运行时修复接手 —— 运行时一旦认 enabled: false,残留值就只是脏数据,不再是错误行为。UI 侧的紧迫性因此取决于那张卡,不能在本仓独立判断。
• 平台长远合理性:showWhen 是渲染期能力,存储期没有对应的裁剪契约 —— 这是缺一层声明,不是缺一个 delete。长远正确的形状可能是让配置形状自己声明「受控字段在控制器关闭时的归宿」,那样每个 showWhen 组都由声明决定而不是由每个 inspector 各自实现。这已经超出一次缺陷修复。
• 避免 AI 写代码犯错:三个选项里最容易写、最像「修好了」的那个,恰好是会删数据的那个,而且它删掉的正是 isFieldVisible 特意保留的东西。派一个 dev 去在三条里挑,系统性地偏向最危险的一条 —— 这正是人工地板存在的理由。
• 创业阶段不扩散需求:范围写的是「metadata-admin inspectors 的全部 showWhen 组」,不是升级那一个实例。以「顺手把整族做掉」的形状进队列,是最容易悄悄膨胀的一类。先裁定形状,再决定一次做多宽。

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[os-support-ai]

Retriage ruling (triage seat, hourly round 2026-08-26, session session_01DoScS7Ei3iWc39AgGN36wU): objection sustained — re-graded pm:queue → needs-user-decision, pm:retriage removed in the same label write.

Grounds: the fix fork is not three spellings of one repair. Option A silently discards config an author entered (destructive to stored data), and it inverts isFieldVisible's deliberate "stored config is never hidden" guard — retiring a purposeful safety property is a product decision, not an implementation detail a dev settles from the code. This sits on the manual floor (destructive/data-shape), independent of the four-facet direction. The pm:blocked alternative was considered and rejected as the state: the ruling is needed regardless of whether the objectstack runtime half (objectstack-ai/objectstack#12278, Route 1) has landed — that landing changes the weight of the options (residue becomes inert), which is context for the decision, not a mechanical unlock. The original domain:ui routing and type Bug stand.

os-decision-facets

• 项目长远合理性:C/B 保持「渲染期隐藏 ≠ 存储期删除」的清晰分层,把「受控字段在控制器关闭后的归宿」留给未来在配置契约里声明(一处声明管全部 showWhen 组);A 让每个 inspector 各自做删除决定,特例增生。
• 实际业务拉动:今天真正咬人的是「开关写 OFF、载荷还被当真」,那一半已由 objectstack 运行时修复接手(#12278 Route 1);运行时认 OFF 之后,残留值只是看不见的惰性数据 —— 客户可感知的风险从「错误行为」降为「重开开关时旧值还在」(多数产品的预期行为)。
• 防 AI 犯错:三个选项里最好写、最像「修干净了」的 A,恰是删客户数据且无提示的那个 —— 客户丢配置时什么都看不到;C 出错的方向是「多显示一行提示」,响亮且无损。派 dev 自选会系统性偏向 A,这正是本卡进决策箱的原因。
• 创业阶段不扩散:卡面范围是全部 showWhen 组的行为定形。C 是最小改动(渲染层加一个标识,不动保存路径、不删数据);A/B 都要设计裁剪语义并为每组回归验证,面更宽。
• 推荐:C(保留值 + 显式「未生效值已保留」标识),回退项 B(关闭控制器时确认后裁剪);拒绝 A。附带条件:待 objectstack#12278 运行时半边落地后派发,派发令点名「不得改动 isFieldVisible 的 stored-value re-show 规则」。
• 置信缺口:本分析未实测有多少存量配置已携带「OFF + 残值」形状,也看不见是否有下游消费方在运行时修复之外仍读残值键;若有,选项权重需重估。

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[os-zhuang]

Maintainer ruling recorded — Option C: keep the values, surface them explicitly; ⛔ no pruning

Provenance: maintainer, 2026-08-27, PM chat decision-inbox batch 3 (adjudication session session_01DKWDdUJ2XNRESVVWUvcpnh), verbatim: 「同意」 — accepting the retriage recommendation C (2026-08-26T07:10Z facet block). Fallback B (prune-at-toggle-with-confirm) not needed; ⛔ A (prune on save) is rejected — it silently discards config an author entered and inverts isFieldVisible's deliberate "stored config is never hidden" guard.

Ruled: hidden-but-stored dependent values are KEPT; the inspectors render an explicit "inactive values retained" affordance so the author can see and clear them deliberately. Render-layer change only — ⛔ no save-path change, no data deletion, and the dispatch order must forbid touching isFieldVisible's stored-value re-show rule. Coverage is all showWhen groups in the metadata-admin inspectors, per the card.

Sequencing, per the retriage condition: dispatch AFTER the objectstack runtime half lands (objectstack-ai/objectstack#12278, Route 1) — once the runtime honours enabled: false, the retained residue is inert data rather than live behaviour, which is the premise that makes C's "keep" safe.

State: needs-user-decision → pm:blocked, Blocked-by: objectstack-ai/objectstack#12278.

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