feat(lint,showcase,automation): record-after-write follow-ups — validation lint, showcase flow, create-leg previous fix (#3427)

[os-zhuang]

Summary

Follow-ups to the record-after-write feature (#3427, merged in #3446). Three things, one of them a real bug the dogfood caught:

1. Authoring-time lint for never-firing record triggers (@objectstack/lint)

New flow-trigger-unknown-event rule in validateFlowTriggerReadiness: a start node whose triggerType is record-lifecycle-shaped (record-before|after-<op>) but names an op the record-change trigger can't map — a typo like record-after-updated — binds to the trigger yet maps to no hook and never fires (only a runtime warn). The rule surfaces that at os validate time. Warning severity, consistent with the file's existing rules. (Bare record-<noun> shapes like record-change are out of this rule's scope.)

2. Showcase example (examples/app-showcase)

UrgentTaskAlertFlow — one record-after-write flow that fires when a task is created Urgent or escalated to Urgent, using the previous == null create/update discrimination. Demonstrates the feature as a real, dogfood-verified example.

3. Fix: previous unbound on the create leg (@objectstack/service-automation) 🐛

Dogfooding #2 in a live app surfaced a real bug: the engine bound previous into the flow condition scope only when truthy, so on a record insert previous was an unknown CEL variable. The previous == null discrimination that #3446 documented (flows docs + the Studio designer) actually threw condition failed to evaluate as CEL: Unknown variable: previous and dropped the run. previous is now always bound — null when there is no prior row — so previous == null is the create leg and previous.<field> the update leg, as advertised. Update-triggered flows are unchanged.

Verification (dogfood)

Booted the showcase app on a fresh backend and drove it over REST:

• record-after-write flow binds to afterInsert + afterUpdate; among the 20 active bound flows.
• Create an Urgent task → flow fires (create leg, previous == null → true), zero Unknown variable errors, a task.urgent notification is delivered.
• Create a non-urgent task → flow correctly does not fire.
• Escalate low → urgent → flow fires (update leg).

The dogfood also caught a second, showcase-local bug (the notify node had no recipient → every run failed "at least one recipient is required"); fixed by notifying the assignee with {$User.Id} as a guaranteed fallback (live-verified a notification is delivered).

Automated: service-automation (347) + trigger-record-change (42, incl. a new create/update discrimination integration test) + lint (271) suites all green.

Changesets

• @objectstack/service-automation: patch (the previous binding fix).
• (lint + showcase changes need no changeset — the lint rule ships in an unreleased line and the showcase is not published.)

Related

• record_change flow start node binds to a single lifecycle event — no create-OR-update in one flow #3427 (request), feat(trigger-record-change): record-after-write fires one flow on create OR update (#3427) #3446 (the merged record-after-write feature), flow record trigger: consider multi-event triggerType (array / unions beyond create-or-update) #3457 (the deferred multi-event/array triggerType decision).

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
spec	Canceled		Jul 24, 2026 4:39pm

[github-actions]

📓 Docs Drift Check

This PR changes 3 package(s): @objectstack/lint, packages/services, packages/triggers.

7 hand-written doc(s) reference the affected code and may need an implementation-accuracy re-verification:

• content/docs/automation/webhooks.mdx (via packages/services)
• content/docs/kernel/runtime-services/audit-service.mdx (via packages/services)
• content/docs/kernel/runtime-services/index.mdx (via packages/services)
• content/docs/kernel/runtime-services/settings-service.mdx (via packages/services)
• content/docs/permissions/authorization.mdx (via @objectstack/lint)
• content/docs/plugins/packages.mdx (via packages/services)
• content/docs/protocol/kernel/i18n-standard.mdx (via packages/services)

Advisory only. To re-verify, run the docs-accuracy-audit workflow scoped to these files:
node scripts/docs-audit/affected-docs.mjs origin/main → pass the list as args.docs.