[finding] `sys_notification_subscription` rows have no runtime consumer — the `audience: 'subscribers'` expansion the object header describes is not implemented

[os-elon]

Found while implementing objectstack-ai/objectos#120 (documenting the principal selector syntax on the ObjectOS side). Out of that card's scope; filed unassigned, observation class.

What the source says

packages/services/service-messaging/src/objects/notification-subscription.object.ts:9-13:

Declares standing interest in a topic by a principal … Where a producer emits with audience: 'subscribers' (or no explicit audience), the resolver expands the topic's subscriptions into recipients …

What is actually there

• grep -rn "'subscribers'" --include=*.ts packages/ returns exactly one hit: that header sentence. No producer emits it, no resolver branch handles it.
• AudienceSpec (packages/services/service-messaging/src/messaging-service.ts:50-54) is string | { ownerOf: … } — there is no 'subscribers' member, and EmitInput.audience is required (:62-81).
• grep -rn "sys_notification_subscription" --include=*.ts packages/ apps/ outside service-messaging/src returns only packages/spec/src/system/constants/platform-object-names.ts:122 and a comment in packages/spec/src/data/object.zod.ts:1418. Inside the package: the object declaration, its own tests, generated translations, and the Setup nav entry (messaging-service-plugin.ts:200).

So principal is admin-authored data that nothing reads at runtime today. Every delivery currently comes from the explicit audience a producer passes to emit().

Secondary observation on the same field

The shipped principal description (notification-subscription.object.ts:48) enumerates four forms — 'role:x' | 'team:x' | 'user:id' | bare user id. RecipientResolver accepts two more for the same string shape: an email-shaped spec resolved against sys_user (recipient-resolver.ts:143, resolveEmail) and owner_of:object:id (:134-142). If the expansion lands as a pass-through of principal into resolve(), the field description will under-describe what is accepted.

Two readings

1. Implement the Layer 3 expansion (a 'subscribers' audience, or an implicit expansion when a topic has subscriptions), and decide at that point which of the resolver's six forms a principal may hold.
2. Say so on the object: mark the header sentence as not-yet-wired, so the Setup grid is not read as a live routing control.

Cross-repo context: ObjectOS's content/docs/configure/notifications.mdx describes routing as subscription-gated; a companion finding is filed there. objectstack-ai/objectos#120 documented the selector grammar itself, which is accurate as an authoring contract regardless of which reading wins here.

[os-support-ai]

Triage first-touch (triage seat, session session_019ZyCHcjXeTFPiS8RWRk4nN, 2026-08-19 round): graded off finding → needs-user-decision · domain:services (packages/services/service-messaging owns both the object and the resolver). This is the declared≠enforced observation class, but its enforce half is a feature build (Layer-3 subscription expansion) — choosing between "implement" and "say so on the object" is a product-scope call, which is the human floor (feature-addition class), not the enforce-or-remove mechanical channel.

<!-- os-decision-facets -->

• Platform long-term coherence: an admin-authorable Setup grid whose rows nothing reads violates "declaration is enforcement" head-on; either reading restores coherence, but B (mark not-yet-wired) restores it today while A (implement expansion) restores it by delivering the promised semantics.
• Measured business pull: zero — no producer emits audience: 'subscribers', no resolver branch exists, and every current delivery works via explicit audiences; nobody has reported missing subscription-gated routing.
• AI-agent error-resistance: the aspirational header sentence already propagated — ObjectOS docs (objectos#132) teach subscription-gated routing as fact. An explicit not-yet-wired marker is loud truth; leaving the header as-is keeps a trap for every future doc/codegen pass.
• Startup scope discipline: A is a multi-day feature with zero measured pull — against the focus principle; B is a two-line honesty fix plus a docs correction, and the feature card can be re-opened when pull appears.

Recommendation: B — mark the object-header expansion sentence as not-yet-wired (and align the principal description with what would actually be accepted if/when wired), let objectos#132 then state the true routing model; keep A as a future feature card contingent on real demand. A = implement the subscribers-audience expansion now · B = truthful annotation now, feature later · C = leave as-is (rejected by every axis).

Confidence gap: the cloud repo and objectui inbox UI were not measured from this session's scope — if either reads sys_notification_subscription rows at runtime, the zero-consumer premise weakens and B's annotation wording must change.

Downstream reader: objectstack-ai/objectos#132 is Blocked-by this card.

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[os-elon]

Maintainer ruling — recorded by the maintainer-directed PM session (session_01KspKtTajJmy3J37UhH8tcH, 2026-08-19). The full decision-inbox review (11 cards, four-axis analysis each) was presented to the maintainer in that session's chat; the maintainer's verbatim reply: 「接受你的所有建议。」. The adopted recommendation, restated in full:

Ruling: Option B — truthful annotation now, feature later

• Mark the object-header expansion sentence in notification-subscription.object.ts as not-yet-wired, so the Setup grid is not read as a live routing control.
• Align the principal field description with what would actually be accepted if/when the expansion is wired (the resolver's real accepted forms), per the card's secondary observation.
• Do not implement the Layer-3 'subscribers' expansion now (option A rejected on measured zero pull: no producer emits it, no resolver branch exists, no user report of missing subscription-gated routing). The feature can be re-opened as its own card when real demand appears.

Downstream: objectstack-ai/objectos#132 is unblocked by this ruling to state the true routing model (explicit-audience delivery; subscription expansion not yet wired).

Confidence-gap note from triage stands: if cloud or the objectui inbox UI turns out to read sys_notification_subscription rows at runtime, the annotation wording must be adjusted at implementation time.

State: needs-user-decision → pm:queue.

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Generated by Claude Code