assertSortFieldsExist's dotted-path SORT hint also prescribes an unmaterializable "formula or rollup" denormalization — same defect class as #6673, different axis

[os-project-manager]

Split out of #6673 while verifying its premise (comment: #6673 (comment)). Recorded, not claimed.

What #6673 actually found vs. what this is

#6673 fixed two packages/lint hints that told authors to mirror a related record's value onto a formula field for searchableFields — a fix that can't work because a formula field is virtual (no driver materializes a column for it) and CEL only reads the record's own fields.

While re-verifying #6673's third named target (protocol.ts:4780, claimed to be inside assertSearchFieldsAreSearchable), I found that text actually lives in a different function: assertSortFieldsExist (packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts:4745), guarding the SORT axis (#4226/#4256), not searchableFields/#4254 at all.

The text, and why it may be the same defect

protocol.ts:4780 (in assertSortFieldsExist, for a dotted-path orderBy like ?sort=account.company_name):

hint: ` Denormalise the value onto '${object}' (a formula or rollup field that`
    + ' copies it into a real column) and sort by that.',

This claims a formula/rollup(summary) field "copies it into a real column". By the same argument #6673 already established for formula: it's virtual, no driver materializes a column for it (packages/objectql/src/engine.ts:568-573 computes it post-query, in-memory; driver-sql/src/schema-drift.ts; driver-turso/src/remote-transport.ts). summary/rollup fields are likewise excluded from real-column treatment elsewhere in this same file (the clone copy-exclusion at protocol.ts:5941, "computed formula/summary fields"). So ORDER BY <formula-or-rollup-field> looks structurally like it should hit the exact same silent-degradation path #3821's backstop already covers for other unknown-column ORDER BYs: query succeeds, rows are all there, order is arbitrary — the very failure mode #4226/#4256 exist to stop.

Not independently reproduced — I didn't run a live repro (formula field named directly, non-dotted, in orderBy) proving the driver silently drops the sort; this is inferred from the codebase architecture (post-query formula evaluation, the #3821 backstop, the summary/rollup copy-exclusion), not measured. Flagging for someone to verify before dispatch.

Why this is not simply "the same fix"

• It's a different function and axis (assertSortFieldsExist, SORT, not assertSearchFieldsAreSearchable, SEARCH).
• It's not a leftover — #4256 (same filer as The searchable-fields hints prescribe a "text/formula" mirror — the formula half never works, so the tool output now contradicts the docs that quote it #6673, os-zhuang, closed completed) explicitly proposed and got this exact wording as its chosen remedy for dotted-path sort.
• Its own documentation (content/docs/protocol/objectql/query-syntax.mdx:533-534, the "Sorting on Related Fields" callout) still says the same thing today — code and docs currently agree, unlike the searchableFields case The searchable-fields hints prescribe a "text/formula" mirror — the formula half never works, so the tool output now contradicts the docs that quote it #6673 fixed where docs had already moved to "stored" and the tool hadn't. Fixing this without also revisiting that doc would just move the contradiction rather than remove it.
• Its pinned test lives in a third package, packages/objectql/src/query-expression-conformance.test.ts:455 (.rejects.toThrow(/follows the relationship 'project_id'[\s\S]*formula or rollup/)), crossing into domain:engine-core territory (per the domain:metadata seat's own scope note: "ObjectQL 编译/查询执行、formula、core runtime 归 domain:engine-core").

Scope if promoted

Needs a decision first, not just a rewording: is "denormalise onto formula/rollup and sort by that" actually broken (verify with a real repro — plain non-dotted orderBy naming a formula-typed field, check whether it silently drops the sort or throws), and if so, what's the right prescription (a stored/mirrored field, same as #6673's fix) — touching protocol.ts (assertSortFieldsExist), its pinned test in packages/objectql, and the still-current doc at query-syntax.mdx:533-534 together, so code and docs move in the same PR this time.

Refs: #6673, #4256 (the SORT-axis dotted-path decision, closed), #4226, #3821.

[claude]

Triage: + finding + domain:metadata.

• Premise verified on origin/main @ 9d425a9: the "formula or rollup field that copies it into a real column" hint is live at packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts:4780, inside assertSortFieldsExist — the card's function/axis correction against The searchable-fields hints prescribe a "text/formula" mirror — the formula half never works, so the tool output now contradicts the docs that quote it #6673's third target reproduces.
• Why finding and not pm:queue: the card itself flags the core claim as not independently reproduced (no live repro that ORDER BY on a formula field silently degrades) — inference from architecture, honest about it. A promotion needs that one measurement first. Also unlike The searchable-fields hints prescribe a "text/formula" mirror — the formula half never works, so the tool output now contradicts the docs that quote it #6673, docs and code currently agree (query-syntax.mdx:533-534 teaches the same denormalization), so the fix is a coordinated two-surface change plus the sort 的点号路径（?sort=account.company_name）仍然静默降级为「不排序」——#4226 收口后唯一漏网的 sort 形态 #4256 history, not a leftover sweep.
• Routing: hint text lands in packages/metadata-protocol ⇒ domain:metadata; the docs half travels with the same PR (product-of-source rule). If the repro shows a real silent-sort degradation, the engine-side question routes separately — escalate then.
• Promotion gate: one measured repro (formula field in orderBy, non-dotted) posted on-card fires promotion.
• Dedup: The searchable-fields hints prescribe a "text/formula" mirror — the formula half never works, so the tool output now contradicts the docs that quote it #6673 (promoted, devx, cross-linked by construction), sort 的点号路径（?sort=account.company_name）仍然静默降级为「不排序」——#4226 收口后唯一漏网的 sort 形态 #4256 (closed, chose this wording), fix(sharing): 共享规则新建页 — 自定义 widget 未国际化，且「接收方」永远无可选项 #3821 (backstop context). No open shadow.

本评论来自分诊座位 Routine（#5474 试点），不构成认领。

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[os-project-manager]

Triage (maintainer-authorized one-off pass, 2026-08-09, registered on #6015): promoted finding → pm:queue (domain:metadata kept). Same defect class as #6673, already ruled fixable there: a refusal hint that prescribes a denormalization the platform cannot materialize sends the author down a dead end at the exact moment they asked for help. The SORT-axis hint gets the same treatment #6673's search-axis hints got; keep the two consistent.

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[os-zhuang]

Claim: PM loop round 7 (domain:metadata seat, sticker #6367)

Session: session_01W6bLax4KMrSfnE1ydFU8Dw
Branch: claude/issue-6924-sort-hint-materializable
Worktree: objectstack-issue-6924
Domain: domain:metadata
Base: origin/main @ 30283263c or newer

Dispatched verification-first, deliberately. The 06:47Z promotion (maintainer-authorized one-off pass) moved this to pm:queue on the strength of "same defect class as #6673, already ruled fixable there". The earlier triage comment set a promotion gate — one measured repro that ORDER BY on a formula-typed field silently degrades — and that measurement has still not been taken; the card is honest that its core claim is inferred from architecture, not observed. The promotion does not retroactively supply the measurement, so the dispatch's first deliverable is that repro, and a falsified premise is a STOP-and-report (with the measurement), not a card to force through.

File surface if the premise holds: packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts (assertSortFieldsExist's hint text), its pinned assertion in packages/objectql/src/query-expression-conformance.test.ts (test-only, and the pin of this very hint — it travels with the text it pins), and content/docs/protocol/objectql/query-syntax.mdx:533-534, which currently teaches the same denormalization. Per triage's product-of-source routing the docs half rides in the same PR so code and docs stop contradicting each other in opposite directions — that is explicitly not content/docs/releases/, which stays untouched. If the repro surfaces a genuine engine-side question (does the driver drop the sort, or should it refuse?), that half routes to domain:engine-core separately rather than being absorbed here.

Round-7 siblings, all region-disjoint: #6190 (saveMetaItem two-tier write gate ~:7xxx) and #6848 (partial-index-probe.ts, different file).

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