refactor(app-shell): retire the designer string table and its parity gate

.changeset/25922-studio-i18n-table-retired.md

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+---
+'@object-ui/i18n': patch
+---
+
+docs(i18n): the `studio` namespace is the designer strings' only home
+
+Clause-②: no
+Metadata-protocol: none
+
+- **Last slice of the move ruled on objectstack#25922** (6431032267, Q2 = A; kept by 6431234244). `@object-ui/app-shell`'s private designer table, empty since the previous slice, is deleted, and its `t()` / `tOptional()` read `@object-ui/i18n/namespaces/studio` alone. Every string reads the same as before in every language. The README and the namespace's doc comments now say so, and point at `src/__tests__/studio-namespace.test.ts` as the namespace's one parity check, since the paired-table gate `check:i18n-designer-parity` is retired with the table. No export or string changes.

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -3539,9 +3539,6 @@ jobs:
       - name: Verify changed en strings were followed by the nine translations
         run: pnpm --dir ui run check:i18n-drift
 
-      - name: Verify the metadata-admin designer string tables stay paired
-        run: pnpm --dir ui run check:i18n-designer-parity
-
       - name: Type-check the ui scripts
         run: pnpm --dir ui run type-check:scripts
 

ui/package.json

@@ -58,7 +58,6 @@
     "check:i18n-keys": "node scripts/check-i18n-call-site-keys.mjs",
     "check:i18n-drift": "node scripts/check-i18n-en-drift.mjs",
     "check:i18n-dead-keys": "node scripts/check-i18n-dead-keys.mjs",
-    "check:i18n-designer-parity": "node scripts/check-i18n-designer-table-parity.mjs",
     "check:skills-paths": "node scripts/check-skills-paths.mjs",
     "check:skill-examples": "node scripts/check-skill-examples.mjs",
     "check:skill-eval-tokens": "node scripts/check-skill-eval-tokens.mjs",

ui/packages/app-shell/src/views/metadata-admin/i18n.ts

@@ -44,24 +44,26 @@
  * 6431234244) reopened the objectui#4662 carve-out: this table becomes the
  * `studio` namespace of `@object-ui/i18n` (`packages/i18n/src/namespaces/studio/`),
  * one lazy namespace carrying the existing `en` and `zh` text, every other
- * language falling back to `en`. It moves in slices. Until the last one, a key
- * lives either here or there, never both, and every lookup below asks this
- * table first and the namespace second (`lookupString`), so no call site
- * changes. `packages/i18n/README.md`, section "Scope — the Studio designer
- * strings", is the conventions-side record; keep the two in step.
+ * language falling back to `en`. It moved in slices, and the last one (S7)
+ * deleted the engine-string table from this module: every designer string now
+ * answers from the namespace alone (`lookupString`), with no call site changed.
+ * `packages/i18n/README.md`, section "Scope — the Studio designer strings", is
+ * the conventions-side record; keep the two in step.
  *
- * What has not changed for the keys still here: only `en` and `zh` exist, so
- * the other eight shipped locales render English on these screens, and the
- * pack gates do not read this module (`scripts/check-i18n-call-site-keys.mjs`
- * skips it by declaration). `check:i18n-designer-parity` reads both homes.
+ * Only `en` and `zh` exist, so the other eight shipped locales render English
+ * on these screens, and the pack gates do not read the namespace
+ * (`scripts/check-i18n-call-site-keys.mjs` skips this module by declaration).
+ * The namespace's own parity is `packages/i18n/src/__tests__/studio-namespace.test.ts`;
+ * the type and domain label tables below keep theirs in
+ * `ui/scripts/__tests__/check-i18n-dead-keys.test.ts`.
  */
 
 import { useObjectTranslation } from '@object-ui/i18n';
 // The designer strings' new home. Its `en` catalogue is resident; its other
 // catalogues are fetched on demand, and `useMetadataLocale()` re-renders its
 // caller when one lands. ⚠️ `ui/scripts/check-i18n-dead-keys.mjs` reads the
-// namespace's catalogues as part of this table BECAUSE this module imports it:
-// drop the import and the gates stop reading them.
+// namespace's catalogues as this module's engine strings BECAUSE this module
+// imports it: drop the import and the gates stop reading them.
 import { studioString, useStudioCatalogue } from '@object-ui/i18n/namespaces/studio';
 // Type-only (erased at build): the overlay-scope and lock-state label tables
 // below are keyed by their producer's own union rather than by hand — see
@@ -191,16 +193,6 @@ const DOMAIN_LABELS_ZH: Record<string, string> = {
   other: '其他',
 };
 
-const ENGINE_STRINGS_EN: Record<string, string> = {
-  // Empty since #25922 slice S6b: every row lives in `@object-ui/i18n`'s
-  // `studio` namespace. Kept until slice S7 retires the table.
-};
-
-const ENGINE_STRINGS_ZH: Record<string, string> = {
-  // Empty since #25922 slice S6b: every row lives in `@object-ui/i18n`'s
-  // `studio` namespace. Kept until slice S7 retires the table.
-};
-
 /** Whether a locale resolves to Chinese (the only non-English catalog). */
 export function isZhLocale(locale?: SupportedLocale | string): boolean {
   return (locale ?? '').toLowerCase().startsWith('zh');
@@ -515,27 +507,25 @@ export function flowFieldZh(type: string, id: string): FlowFieldZh | undefined {
 
 function pickTable(
   locale: SupportedLocale | string | undefined,
-): { types: Record<string, string>; domains: Record<string, string>; strings: Record<string, string> } {
+): { types: Record<string, string>; domains: Record<string, string> } {
   const lower = (locale ?? '').toLowerCase();
   if (lower.startsWith('zh')) {
-    return { types: TYPE_LABELS_ZH, domains: DOMAIN_LABELS_ZH, strings: ENGINE_STRINGS_ZH };
+    return { types: TYPE_LABELS_ZH, domains: DOMAIN_LABELS_ZH };
   }
-  return { types: TYPE_LABELS_EN, domains: DOMAIN_LABELS_EN, strings: ENGINE_STRINGS_EN };
+  return { types: TYPE_LABELS_EN, domains: DOMAIN_LABELS_EN };
 }
 
 /**
- * The value of one designer string: this module's own table for the locale
- * first, then the `studio` namespace in `@object-ui/i18n`, which the table is
- * moving into slice by slice (objectstack#25922, ruling 6431032267 Q2 = A).
- * A key lives in exactly one of the two homes — `check:i18n-designer-parity`
- * fails on a key in both — so the order decides nothing but cost.
+ * The value of one designer string, from the `studio` namespace in
+ * `@object-ui/i18n` (objectstack#25922, ruling 6431032267 Q2 = A), which holds
+ * every row this module's own table used to.
  *
  * The namespace answers a language it has no catalogue for, and a catalogue
- * still being fetched, from its `en` catalogue; this table keeps its own
- * behaviour for the keys it still holds (a key its zh half lacks echoes back).
+ * still being fetched, from its `en` catalogue; a zh-only row (a flow node
+ * label, an enum value, a package form help text) is `undefined` outside zh.
  */
 function lookupString(key: string, locale: SupportedLocale | string | undefined): string | undefined {
-  return pickTable(locale).strings[key] ?? studioString(key, locale);
+  return studioString(key, locale);
 }
 
 export function translateMetadataType(

ui/packages/app-shell/src/views/metadata-admin/inspectors/inspectorStrings.studioNamespace-25922.test.ts

@@ -1,19 +1,20 @@
 // Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
 
 /**
- * objectstack#25922 slices S2 to S6b — the designer rows that moved into
+ * objectstack#25922 slices S2 to S7 — the designer rows that moved into
  * `@object-ui/i18n`'s `studio` namespace (every `engine.inspector.*` row;
  * `engine.packages.*`, `engine.form.*`, `engine.edit.*`; all of
  * `engine.studio.*`; the data source pages, the field types, the metadata
  * preview panes, the flow designer, the rest of the Studio chrome and, last,
  * the translation preview), and
  * app-shell's `t()` / `tOptional()` still answer every one of them the way they
- * did when the rows sat in its own table.
+ * did when the rows sat in its own table. Slice S7 deleted that table and the
+ * table-first lookup, so the namespace is the only home.
  *
  * What would break it:
- *   - a row copied back into the app-shell table with a different value — the
- *     table is asked first, so it would shadow the namespace silently;
- *   - the namespace fallback dropped from `lookupString` — every moved key
+ *   - a lookup asked in front of the namespace again (a table brought back
+ *     with a row whose value differs) — it would shadow the namespace silently;
+ *   - the namespace dropped from `lookupString` — every moved key
  *     would echo back as itself;
  *   - a family emptied out of the namespace, which every per-key assertion
  *     below would then pass over nothing. The floors are per FAMILY, by name,
@@ -23,6 +24,9 @@
  * `loadStudioCatalogue` (the module's public door), not a copy of their text.
  */
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import path from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
 import { loadStudioCatalogue } from '@object-ui/i18n/namespaces/studio';
 import { t, tOptional } from '../i18n';
 
@@ -134,15 +138,49 @@ const FAMILY_FLOOR: Readonly<Record<string, number>> = Object.freeze({
  * carry. The package form's help text reads its English from the producer's own
  * `.describe()` sentence; the flow node labels and hints and the flow enum
  * values read theirs from the engine descriptor or the value itself. Each is
- * read through `tOptional` or a `lookupString` fallback (`ZH_ONLY_FAMILIES` in
- * `ui/scripts/check-i18n-designer-table-parity.mjs` carries the reasons).
+ * read through `tOptional` or a `lookupString` fallback; `ZH_ONLY_REASONS`
+ * below carries the reasons.
  */
 const ZH_ONLY_FLOOR: Readonly<Record<string, number>> = Object.freeze({
   'engine.packages.form.help.': 9,
   'engine.flowNode.': 40,
   'engine.enum.': 4,
 });
 
+/**
+ * Why each zh-only family has no `en` row, and the reader that says so. Moved
+ * here from the retired `check:i18n-designer-parity` gate with slice S7. A
+ * citation is `{ file, anchor }`, the anchor is TEXT and never a line number,
+ * and it must occur exactly once in its file or it stops locating anything.
+ */
+const ZH_ONLY_REASONS = Object.freeze([
+  {
+    prefix: 'engine.flowNode.',
+    reason:
+      'zh-only by design: for English the flow palette falls back to the engine descriptor’s own ' +
+      'server-authoritative name/description, so an `en` row would OVERRIDE the server',
+    file: '../i18n.ts',
+    anchor: 'resolved by translateNodeLabel/Hint',
+  },
+  {
+    prefix: 'engine.enum.type.',
+    reason:
+      'zh-only by construction: translateEnumOption returns the raw value before it ever looks the ' +
+      'key up for any non-zh locale, so an `en` row is unreachable',
+    file: '../i18n.ts',
+    anchor: 'export function translateEnumOption',
+  },
+  {
+    prefix: 'engine.packages.form.help.',
+    reason:
+      'zh-only on purpose: with no `en` row tOptional returns undefined, helpText drops out, and the row ' +
+      'falls back to ManifestSchema’s .describe() in @objectstack/spec — an `en` row would copy that ' +
+      'text into a second producer, against AGENTS.md #0.1',
+    file: '../package-schema.ts',
+    anchor: 'en-US deliberately has NO entry',
+  },
+]);
+
 const familyKeys = (prefix: string): string[] => Object.keys(EN).filter((key) => key.startsWith(prefix));
 
 describe('moved designer rows answer from the studio namespace (objectstack#25922)', () => {
@@ -173,3 +211,45 @@ describe('moved designer rows answer from the studio namespace (objectstack#2592
     expect(keys.filter((key) => tOptional(key, 'en-US') !== undefined)).toEqual([]);
   });
 });
+
+describe('the namespace is the only home (objectstack#25922 slice S7)', () => {
+  const here = path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+  const zhOnly = Object.keys(ZH).filter((key) => !(key in EN));
+
+  it('every namespace key answers through t() and tOptional() with its catalogue value', () => {
+    // Every key, not a family sample: with the table gone nothing else may
+    // answer, so a lookup in front of the namespace shows up here by key.
+    expect(Object.keys(EN).length).toBeGreaterThan(3000);
+    const wrong = Object.keys(EN).flatMap((key) => {
+      const out: string[] = [];
+      const zh = ZH[key] ?? EN[key];
+      for (const locale of ['en-US', 'en', 'de-DE', undefined]) {
+        if (t(key, locale) !== EN[key]) out.push(`t ${locale} ${key}`);
+        if (tOptional(key, locale) !== EN[key]) out.push(`tOptional ${locale} ${key}`);
+      }
+      for (const locale of ['zh-CN', 'zh', 'zh-TW']) {
+        if (t(key, locale) !== zh) out.push(`t ${locale} ${key}`);
+        if (tOptional(key, locale) !== zh) out.push(`tOptional ${locale} ${key}`);
+      }
+      return out;
+    });
+    expect(wrong).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it('the zh-only rows are the documented families, and answer in zh alone', () => {
+    // 54 at the move (9 package form help rows, 41 flow node rows, 4 flow enum
+    // values); all of them belong to a family with a reason below.
+    expect(zhOnly.length).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(50);
+    expect(zhOnly.filter((key) => !ZH_ONLY_REASONS.some((f) => key.startsWith(f.prefix)))).toEqual([]);
+    const wrong = zhOnly.flatMap((key) => [
+      ...['en-US', 'en', 'de-DE', undefined].filter((locale) => tOptional(key, locale) !== undefined).map((l) => `en-side ${l} ${key}`),
+      ...['zh-CN', 'zh', 'zh-TW'].filter((locale) => tOptional(key, locale) !== ZH[key]).map((l) => `zh-side ${l} ${key}`),
+    ]);
+    expect(wrong).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it.each(ZH_ONLY_REASONS.map((f) => [f.prefix, f] as const))('%s: its citation anchor occurs exactly once', (_prefix, family) => {
+    const text = readFileSync(path.join(here, family.file), 'utf8');
+    expect(text.split(family.anchor).length - 1).toBe(1);
+  });
+});

ui/packages/app-shell/src/views/metadata-admin/previews/__tests__/block-config-i18n.test.ts

@@ -508,9 +508,9 @@ describe('placeholders that must NOT be translated (#3979)', () => {
  *      own chrome key list rather than hand-copying it.
  *
  * Since objectstack#25922 slice S2 the prefix lives in the `studio` namespace
- * of `@object-ui/i18n` (`packages/i18n/src/namespaces/studio/{en,zh}.ts`), so
- * a locale's key set is read from BOTH homes — the app-shell table and the
- * namespace catalogue — and a key is retired only when it has left both.
+ * of `@object-ui/i18n` (`packages/i18n/src/namespaces/studio/{en,zh}.ts`), and
+ * since slice S7 the app-shell table is gone, so a locale's key set is read
+ * from its namespace catalogue alone.
  *
  * Measured on this checkout: every one of the 171 `engine.inspector.pageBlock.*`
  * keys in each table is covered by one of those two, and no key is constructed
@@ -565,13 +565,10 @@ interface EngineStringTable {
   name: string;
   /** Every key the table declares, in file order. */
   keys: string[];
-  /** 1-based line range of the object literal, for the disjointness guard. */
-  from: number;
-  to: number;
 }
 
 /**
- * The KEYS of one `ENGINE_STRINGS_*` table, read out of the source by LINE
+ * The KEYS of one `STUDIO_*` catalogue, read out of the source by LINE
  * RANGE rather than by scanning the whole file.
  *
  * Table membership is the whole question here: a key that MOVED from one locale
@@ -592,7 +589,7 @@ function engineStringTable(source: string, name: string): EngineStringTable {
     const m = /^ {2}'((?:[^'\\]|\\.)*)':/.exec(lines[i]);
     if (m) keys.push(m[1]);
   }
-  return { name, keys, from: open + 1, to: close + 1 };
+  return { name, keys };
 }
 
 /**
@@ -637,17 +634,8 @@ function shippedLiteralKeys(): Map<string, string[]> {
 }
 
 const I18N_SOURCE = readFileSync(I18N_SOURCE_PATH, 'utf8');
-const EN_TABLE = engineStringTable(I18N_SOURCE, 'ENGINE_STRINGS_EN');
-const ZH_TABLE = engineStringTable(I18N_SOURCE, 'ENGINE_STRINGS_ZH');
-const EN_HOME = engineStringTable(readFileSync(STUDIO_HOME_PATH.en, 'utf8'), 'STUDIO_EN');
-const ZH_HOME = engineStringTable(readFileSync(STUDIO_HOME_PATH.zh, 'utf8'), 'STUDIO_ZH');
-
-/** One locale's keys across both homes: the app-shell table and the namespace. */
-function bothHomes(table: EngineStringTable, home: EngineStringTable): EngineStringTable {
-  return { name: `${table.name} + ${home.name}`, keys: [...table.keys, ...home.keys], from: table.from, to: table.to };
-}
-const EN_KEYS = bothHomes(EN_TABLE, EN_HOME);
-const ZH_KEYS = bothHomes(ZH_TABLE, ZH_HOME);
+const EN_KEYS = engineStringTable(readFileSync(STUDIO_HOME_PATH.en, 'utf8'), 'STUDIO_EN');
+const ZH_KEYS = engineStringTable(readFileSync(STUDIO_HOME_PATH.zh, 'utf8'), 'STUDIO_ZH');
 
 /** The keys `SITES` implies — the complete BLOCK_CONFIG-derived vocabulary. */
 const DERIVED = new Set(SITES.map((s) => s.derived));
@@ -673,26 +661,15 @@ function pageBlockKeys(table: EngineStringTable): string[] {
 }
 
 describe('a retired key leaves BOTH locale tables (objectui#8368)', () => {
-  it('reads two disjoint tables out of i18n.ts, both emptied into the namespace', () => {
+  it('reads both locale catalogues out of the studio namespace, the app-shell table retired', () => {
     // The extractor is a source parser, so its silent failure mode is finding
     // FEWER keys — which would make every assertion below vacuously green over
-    // an empty corpus. Ranges first: overlapping ones would mean the `};`
-    // scan ran past a table and both sets became the same set.
-    // The table drained slice by slice into the namespace (objectstack#25922)
-    // and is empty since slice S6b: a key back in it would shadow the
-    // namespace's copy. The 3,000-key floor, held over both homes together
-    // below, is what keeps an empty table from reading as a parser gone quiet.
-    expect(EN_TABLE.to).toBeLessThan(ZH_TABLE.from);
-    expect(EN_TABLE.keys).toEqual([]);
-    expect(ZH_TABLE.keys).toEqual([]);
+    // an empty corpus. The table drained slice by slice into the namespace
+    // (objectstack#25922) and slice S7 deleted it: i18n.ts declaring one again
+    // would be a second home this census cannot see.
+    expect(I18N_SOURCE).not.toMatch(/\bconst ENGINE_STRINGS_/);
     // No duplicates: a key declared twice would be a silent overwrite, and the
     // set arithmetic below would hide it.
-    expect(EN_TABLE.keys.length).toBe(new Set(EN_TABLE.keys).size);
-    expect(ZH_TABLE.keys.length).toBe(new Set(ZH_TABLE.keys).size);
-    // The namespace homes are read the same way, and a key in both homes of
-    // one locale would be counted twice below.
-    expect(EN_HOME.keys.length).toBeGreaterThan(150);
-    expect(ZH_HOME.keys.length).toBeGreaterThan(150);
     expect(EN_KEYS.keys.length).toBe(new Set(EN_KEYS.keys).size);
     expect(ZH_KEYS.keys.length).toBe(new Set(ZH_KEYS.keys).size);
     expect(EN_KEYS.keys.length).toBeGreaterThan(3000);