feat(spec): make manifestId optional on TemplateManifestSchema and gate every shipped template manifest (#7319)

`TemplateManifestSchema` describes the on-disk `objectstack.manifest.json`, and
the bundled blank template declares it as its `$schema` — but the file did not
satisfy it. The schema inherited `manifestId` from `CreatePackageRequestSchema`
as required, and no template has ever declared one. Measured on main, that was
the only complaint the shipped file produced:

    manifestId: Invalid input: expected string, received undefined (invalid_type)

Nothing broke because nothing parsed the file: `create-objectstack` reads and
rewrites it as raw JSON and does not depend on the spec at all, and
`objectstack package publish` also reads it raw, resolving the id as
`--manifest-id ?? m.manifestId ?? deriveManifestId(artifact, path)`. That
fallback is the measurement — on this file the id is a declarative default, not
a requirement.

Two changes:

1. `manifestId` is relaxed to optional on `TemplateManifestSchema`, declared
   LOCALLY: the inherited field is omitted and re-declared `.optional()`,
   reusing the publish field's value constraints — the same omit-then-extend
   split `namespace` uses (#6861), in the other direction. A malformed id is
   still rejected. `CreatePackageRequestSchema` is untouched: the publish
   request still requires `manifestId`, because a request with no package
   identity is not a request.

2. New gate `check:template-manifests` parses every `objectstack.manifest.json`
   under `packages/create-objectstack/src/templates/` against the schema, wired
   unfiltered into the required `TypeScript Type Check` job and classified in
   the `check:generated` ledger as a source audit. It is the check that would
   have caught both drifts this file has accumulated (#6861's stripped
   `namespace`, this one), so the `$schema` line stops being an unverified
   claim. It walks the tree rather than a file list, and fails rather than
   reporting success when it finds nothing to parse.

Pins in `template-manifest-id.test.ts` hold both halves: optional-but-validated
on the descriptor, still-required on the publish request, distinct field
instances. Reference docs regenerated.

Author: claude

.changeset/template-manifest-optional-manifest-id.md

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/spec": minor
+---
+
+feat(spec): `manifestId` is optional on `TemplateManifestSchema`, and every shipped template manifest is now parsed against it (#7319)
+
+`TemplateManifestSchema` describes the on-disk `objectstack.manifest.json`, and
+the bundled blank template declares it as its `$schema` — but the file did not
+satisfy it. The schema inherited `manifestId` from `CreatePackageRequestSchema`
+as **required**, and no template has ever declared one. Measured on `main`, that
+was the *only* complaint the shipped file produced:
+
+```
+manifestId: Invalid input: expected string, received undefined (invalid_type)
+```
+
+Nothing broke, because nothing parsed the file. `create-objectstack` reads and
+rewrites it as raw JSON and does not depend on `@objectstack/spec` at all;
+`objectstack package publish` also reads it raw, resolving the id as
+`--manifest-id ?? manifest.manifestId ?? deriveManifestId(artifact, path)`. That
+fallback is the measurement: on this file the id is a declarative **default**,
+not a requirement — a template tree that declares none publishes fine, deriving
+`local.<slug>` from the compiled artifact.
+
+**The key is now optional on the on-disk descriptor**, declared locally rather
+than by loosening the shared base:
+
+- `TemplateManifestSchema` omits the inherited field and re-declares it
+  `.optional()`, reusing the publish field's value constraints — the same
+  omit-then-extend split `namespace` uses (#6861), in the other direction. A
+  malformed id is still rejected: optional is not unvalidated.
+- **`CreatePackageRequestSchema` is untouched.** The publish request that reaches
+  the control plane still requires `manifestId` — the package row is addressed
+  by it and it is immutable once set. Widening the base would have made a publish
+  request with no package identity parse, which is the collapse the local
+  override exists to avoid.
+
+Authoring is unchanged in the accepting direction: a manifest that declares a
+`manifestId` still parses exactly as before, and every other required key
+(`displayName`, `name`, `specVersion`) is still required.
+
+**New gate — `check:template-manifests`.** Every `objectstack.manifest.json`
+under `packages/create-objectstack/src/templates/` is parsed against
+`TemplateManifestSchema` on every PR (unfiltered, in the required
+`TypeScript Type Check` job). This is the check that would have caught both
+drifts this file has now accumulated — #6861's silently stripped `namespace` and
+this one — so the `$schema` line those files carry stops being an unverified
+claim. It walks the template tree rather than a hand-kept file list, so a
+template added later is covered on the day it lands, and it fails rather than
+reporting success if it finds nothing to parse.

.github/workflows/lint.yml

@@ -1053,6 +1053,20 @@ jobs:
       - name: Check the react-blocks contract is in sync with the spec
         run: pnpm --filter @objectstack/spec check:react-blocks
 
+      # The shipped `objectstack.manifest.json` files declare TemplateManifestSchema
+      # as their `$schema`, and until #7319 nothing read that claim: both consumers
+      # take the file as raw JSON (create-objectstack does not depend on the spec at
+      # all), so the schema and the artifact drifted twice without a red build —
+      # #6861's silently stripped `namespace`, then a required `manifestId` the blank
+      # template has never carried. One parse per shipped manifest closes the class.
+      #
+      # Reads `src/` and the template trees, so it needs no build and belongs in this
+      # pre-build group with the other source audits. No paths filter and required,
+      # for the standard reason: a filter on packages/create-objectstack/** would go
+      # dormant on exactly the PR that tightens the schema instead.
+      - name: Check every shipped template manifest satisfies TemplateManifestSchema
+        run: pnpm --filter @objectstack/spec check:template-manifests
+
       # Example apps are AI-authoring reference templates; a red typecheck is a
       # bad signal to copy from. tsup transpiles them without a full typecheck,
       # so build alone will not catch type drift — typecheck them explicitly.

content/docs/references/cloud/template-manifest.mdx

@@ -8,7 +8,14 @@ description: Template Manifest protocol schemas
 `objectstack.manifest.json` — on-disk descriptor for a template / package
 source tree. Strict projection of `CreatePackageRequestSchema` (server-
 managed fields excluded) plus scaffold-time extras (name slug,
-specVersion, namespace, skills, preview, scaffold, readmePath).
+specVersion, namespace, skills, preview, scaffold, readmePath), with
+`manifestId` locally relaxed to OPTIONAL — this file is a source tree, not
+a publish request (#7319; the field's own TSDoc carries the measurement).
+
+Every shipped `objectstack.manifest.json` is parsed against this schema by
+`pnpm --filter @objectstack/spec check:template-manifests`, so the
+`$schema` line those files carry is a verified claim rather than an
+assertion nothing reads.
 
 <Callout type="info">
 **Source:** `packages/spec/src/cloud/template-manifest.zod.ts`
@@ -34,7 +41,6 @@ objectstack.manifest.json — template / package source descriptor
 
 | Property | Type | Required | Description |
 | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
-| **manifestId** | `string` | ✅ | Globally unique reverse-domain package identifier (e.g. com.acme.crm) |
 | **displayName** | `string` | ✅ | Display name shown in Studio and Marketplace |
 | **description** | `string` | optional | Short package description |
 | **visibility** | `Enum<'private' \| 'org' \| 'marketplace'>` | optional | Package visibility: private = owner org only; org = all envs in owner org; marketplace = public registry |
@@ -46,6 +52,7 @@ objectstack.manifest.json — template / package source descriptor
 | **publisher** | `Enum<'objectstack' \| 'partner' \| 'community' \| 'private'>` | optional | Package publisher provenance tier |
 | **isStarter** | `boolean` | optional |  |
 | **translations** | `Record<string, { displayName?: string; description?: string; readme?: string; tagline?: string; … }>` | optional | Locale-keyed overrides; missing keys fall back to base columns |
+| **manifestId** | `string` | optional | Optional declarative default for the published package id (reverse-domain, e.g. com.acme.crm). Absent on a template source tree: `objectstack package publish` falls back to --manifest-id and then to a derived `local.<slug>`. NOT optional on the publish request itself |
 | **name** | `string` | ✅ | CLI slug (kebab-case, no namespace prefix) |
 | **specVersion** | `string` | ✅ | Compatible @objectstack/spec semver range |
 | **namespace** | `string` | optional | Scaffold-only: the template’s own metadata namespace, rewritten by create-objectstack at scaffold time and read back as the fallback source for the template’s original namespace. NOT the publish namespace — publish reads that off the compiled artifact’s manifest.namespace (ADR-0048 addendum §A.2) |

packages/spec/package.json

@@ -220,6 +220,7 @@
     "check:react-blocks": "tsx scripts/build-react-blocks-contract.ts --check",
     "check:react-declaration-parity": "tsx scripts/check-react-blocks-declaration-parity.ts",
     "check:skill-examples": "tsx scripts/check-skill-examples.ts --self-test && tsx scripts/check-skill-examples.ts",
+    "check:template-manifests": "tsx scripts/check-template-manifests.ts --self-test && tsx scripts/check-template-manifests.ts",
     "check:test-typecheck": "tsx ../../scripts/check-test-typecheck.mts --self-test && tsx ../../scripts/check-test-typecheck.mts --package packages/spec --project tsconfig.test.json",
     "gen:test-typecheck-debt": "tsx ../../scripts/check-test-typecheck.mts --update --package packages/spec --project tsconfig.test.json",
     "check:scripts-typecheck": "tsc --noEmit -p tsconfig.scripts.json",

packages/spec/scripts/check-generated.ts

@@ -154,6 +154,17 @@ const NO_GENERATOR: ReadonlyArray<{ check: string; why: string }> = [
   { check: 'check:liveness', why: 'audits whether declared spec properties have a reader — no artifact' },
   { check: 'check:empty-state', why: 'audits empty-state coverage — no artifact' },
   { check: 'check:skill-examples', why: 'validates skill examples parse — no artifact' },
+  // #7319. Reads `src/` and the shipped template trees and writes nothing: a
+  // failure is either a manifest to fix or a schema to fix, never a `gen:` to
+  // run. It audits the inverse direction from everything in GATED — those
+  // compare an artifact this package GENERATES against its source, this one
+  // compares a file another package SHIPS against the schema that claims to
+  // describe it. Two drifts had already accumulated in that blind spot (#6861's
+  // stripped `namespace`, #7319's required-but-absent `manifestId`).
+  {
+    check: 'check:template-manifests',
+    why: 'parses every shipped objectstack.manifest.json against TemplateManifestSchema — no artifact',
+  },
   // Landed in #4177 while this ledger landed in #4183 — neither PR could see the
   // other, so `main` carried an unclassified script and this reconciliation was
   // failing on `main` itself. The doc it checks against is hand-written, so there