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diff --git a/‎content/docs/references/api/protocol.mdx‎
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diff --git a/‎packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol-publish-drafts-outcome.test.ts‎
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diff --git a/‎packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts‎
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@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/spec": minor
+"@objectstack/metadata-protocol": minor
+---
+
+Declare `outcome: 'published' | 'refused' | 'nothing_to_publish'` as a required
+key on the `publishPackageDrafts` response (#10462) — the first-class
+discriminant for WHICH exit answered, the fact `success` compresses into one
+boolean. Before this field, a publish with nothing to promote and a genuine
+refusal (pre-flight violation or ADR-0067 D2 rollback) were indistinguishable:
+both answer `success: false` with `publishedCount: 0` on a 200, and the no-op
+left no trace at all — an AI consumer graded the no-op as "refused and rolled
+back" and burned two repair rounds on artifacts that were already correct
+(cloud#1488; cloud#1492's patch discriminates on `failed.length > 0`, an
+invariant the producer never stated).
+
+The producer invariants, now stated and pinned in the conformance suites, both
+directions of each: `outcome === 'refused'` ⟺ `failed.length > 0`;
+`outcome === 'nothing_to_publish'` ⟺
+`published.length === 0 && failed.length === 0`;
+`success === (outcome === 'published')`. `success` keeps its exact pre-#10462
+value on every exit — a no-op still answers `success: false` — so consumers
+reading only `success` see no change, and cloud#1492's `failed.length`
+discrimination stays valid during its convergence onto `outcome`. The no-op
+exit additionally logs one `info` line naming the package and both facts
+(nothing pending, nothing refused), so that exit is no longer traceless.
+
+Additive for response consumers. A custom protocol implementation that serves
+`publishPackageDrafts` must now emit `outcome` on every return —
+`PublishPackageDraftsResponseSchema` declares it required, and the conformance
+suites treat a producer return without it as a drifted seam.
@@ -1243,7 +1243,8 @@ List packages response
 
 | Property | Type | Required | Description |
 | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
-| **success** | `boolean` | ✅ | True only when every pending draft promoted (`failed` empty) AND at least one item published. A pre-flight refusal or an ADR-0067 D2 rollback answers false on a 200 — read `failed[]`, not the HTTP status. It does NOT cover the best-effort receipts below, each of which reports its own `success`. |
+| **success** | `boolean` | ✅ | True only when every pending draft promoted (`failed` empty) AND at least one item published. A pre-flight refusal or an ADR-0067 D2 rollback answers false on a 200 — but so does a publish with nothing to promote, so false alone is NOT a refusal: read `outcome` (#10462), not this boolean or the HTTP status. Always equal to `outcome === 'published'` (pinned). It does NOT cover the best-effort receipts below, each of which reports its own `success`. |
+| **outcome** | `Enum<'published' \| 'refused' \| 'nothing_to_publish'>` | ✅ | First-class discriminant for WHICH exit answered (#10462) — the fact `success` compresses into one boolean. `published`: at least one draft promoted and none refused. `refused`: the batch was refused — a pre-flight violation or the ADR-0067 D2 all-or-nothing rollback; the per-item story is in `failed[]`, which is non-empty exactly on this outcome (the invariant consumers previously had to reverse-engineer, now stated by the producer). `nothing_to_publish`: the package had no pending drafts — nothing landed AND nothing was refused; `success` stays false (a no-op is not a successful publish), which before this field made that answer indistinguishable from a refusal. Producer invariants, pinned in the conformance suites: `success === (outcome === 'published')`; `refused` if and only if `failed.length > 0`; `nothing_to_publish` if and only if `published.length === 0 && failed.length === 0`. Values are lowercase snake, matching the `sys_metadata_audit` outcome vocabulary. |
 | **publishedCount** | `integer` | ✅ | Number of drafts promoted to active — `published.length`. 0 on every refusal path (the batch is all-or-nothing, ADR-0067 D2). |
 | **failedCount** | `integer` | ✅ | Number of items that did not publish — `failed.length`. On a rollback this counts the WHOLE batch: the causal item plus every sibling marked BATCH_ABORTED. |
 | **published** | `{ type: string; name: string; version: string; advisories?: object[] }[]` | ✅ | Every draft promoted to active, in publish order. Empty on every refusal path. |
 
@@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+/**
+ * [#10462] `publishPackageDrafts` return-site pins the objectql-side
+ * conformance suite cannot stage against the real engine:
+ *
+ * - the Phase-1 UNWIND's `outcome` — staging a real mid-transaction promotion
+ *   failure through the real engine rides the undeclared `failed[].issues`
+ *   key on the causal element (#10524's surface, deliberately not this
+ *   card's), so the unwind is pinned here with the promotion seam mocked and
+ *   a plain Error (no `issues`);
+ * - the no-op TRACE — the `console.info` line is the no-op exit's only
+ *   record: the audit ledger stays silent on purpose (`sys_metadata_audit`
+ *   rows are keyed on `(type, name)`, and a batch with zero items has no
+ *   honest identity to mint — the limiting case of the rule both refusal
+ *   sites already follow). This file goes red if the line is dropped, and
+ *   pins that it does NOT fire on the exits that leave their own records;
+ * - the zero-draft machinery edge — the one return whose `outcome` is not
+ *   fixed by the site it sits on: a transaction-machinery failure over an
+ *   EMPTY batch answers `nothing_to_publish` (nothing was pending, nothing
+ *   was refused; the unwind's `console.warn` stays the record of the
+ *   failure), which is what keeps the producer invariant
+ *   `outcome === 'refused'` iff `failed.length > 0` true on every return.
+ *
+ * Harness copied from
+ * `packages/objectql/src/protocol-publish-package-drafts.test.ts` (the #8896
+ * capture double) — copied, NOT imported: metadata-protocol cannot depend on
+ * objectql, and each pin must be able to fail independently.
+ */
+import { describe, it, expect, vi, afterEach } from 'vitest';
+import { ObjectStackProtocolImplementation } from './protocol.js';
+
+/**
+ * [#8896] A real double for the two engine calls `publishPackageDrafts` makes
+ * on its own — the ADR-0067 pre-publish CAPTURE read (`findOne`, answering an
+ * explicit `null` for "no active row"), and the commit write (`insert`).
+ */
+function makeCaptureEngine() {
+    const engine = {
+        findOne: async (table: string, opts?: { where?: Record<string, unknown> }) => {
+            void table; void opts;
+            // Every artifact is new here: `null` is the truthful capture answer.
+            return null;
+        },
+        insert: async (table: string) => ({ id: `${table}_1` }),
+    };
+    return engine;
+}
+
+function makeProtocol(drafts: Array<{ type: string; name: string }>) {
+    const protocol = new ObjectStackProtocolImplementation({} as never);
+    (protocol as any).ensureOverlayIndex = async () => {};
+    (protocol as any).getOverlayRepo = () => ({ listDrafts: async () => drafts });
+    (protocol as any).engine = makeCaptureEngine();
+    const promote = vi.spyOn(protocol as any, 'promoteDraftForPublish');
+    const sideEffects = vi
+        .spyOn(protocol as any, 'runPublishSideEffects')
+        .mockResolvedValue({});
+    const promoteOk = (req: any) => ({
+        singularType: req.type,
+        orgId: null,
+        advisories: [],
+        result: { version: 'h', seq: 1, item: { body: { name: req.name } }, packageId: null },
+    });
+    return { protocol, promote, sideEffects, promoteOk };
+}
+
+const NOOP_LINE = /\[Protocol\] publishPackageDrafts: nothing to publish/;
+
+afterEach(() => vi.restoreAllMocks());
+
+describe('[#10462] the Phase-1 unwind names its outcome', () => {
+    it("a mid-batch promotion failure answers outcome 'refused' with the whole batch in failed[]", async () => {
+        const { protocol, promote } = makeProtocol([
+            { type: 'view', name: 'cases' },
+            { type: 'view', name: 'leads' },
+        ]);
+        // A plain Error, deliberately without `issues` — see the header.
+        promote.mockImplementation(async (req: any) => {
+            if (req.name === 'cases') throw new Error('promotion refused');
+            return {
+                singularType: req.type, orgId: null, advisories: [],
+                result: { version: 'h', seq: 1, item: { body: { name: req.name } }, packageId: null },
+            };
+        });
+
+        const res: any = await protocol.publishPackageDrafts({ packageId: 'app.edu' });
+
+        expect(res.success).toBe(false);
+        expect(res.outcome).toBe('refused');
+        expect(res.publishedCount).toBe(0);
+        expect(res.published).toEqual([]);
+        // ADR-0067 D2: the causal item plus its BATCH_ABORTED sibling.
+        expect(res.failedCount).toBe(2);
+        expect(res.failed.map((f: any) => f.name).sort()).toEqual(['cases', 'leads']);
+        // The invariants hold at this site too (both directions).
+        expect(res.outcome === 'refused').toBe(res.failed.length > 0);
+        expect(res.success).toBe(res.outcome === 'published');
+    });
+
+    it("a transaction-machinery failure over an EMPTY batch answers 'nothing_to_publish', keeping the invariant universal", async () => {
+        const { protocol } = makeProtocol([]);
+        (protocol as any).engine = {
+            ...makeCaptureEngine(),
+            transaction: async () => { throw new Error('connection lost'); },
+        };
+        const warn = vi.spyOn(console, 'warn').mockImplementation(() => {});
+
+        const res: any = await protocol.publishPackageDrafts({ packageId: 'app.empty' });
+
+        // Truthful on both axes: nothing was pending, nothing was refused —
+        // and `refused` with `failed: []` would break invariant (i).
+        expect(res).toMatchObject({
+            success: false, outcome: 'nothing_to_publish',
+            publishedCount: 0, failedCount: 0, published: [], failed: [],
+        });
+        // The machinery failure is NOT silent: the unwind's warn is its record.
+        expect(warn.mock.calls.some((c) => String(c[0]).includes('rolled back'))).toBe(true);
+    });
+});
+
+describe('[#10462] the no-op exit leaves a trace', () => {
+    it('TRACE CONTROL: the no-op logs one info line naming the package and BOTH facts', async () => {
+        const { protocol } = makeProtocol([]);
+        const info = vi.spyOn(console, 'info').mockImplementation(() => {});
+
+        const res: any = await protocol.publishPackageDrafts({ packageId: 'app.empty' });
+
+        expect(res.outcome).toBe('nothing_to_publish');
+        const line = info.mock.calls.map((c) => String(c[0])).find((m) => NOOP_LINE.test(m));
+        // Fails if the log line is dropped — the exit would be traceless again.
+        expect(line).toBeDefined();
+        // Names the packageId…
+        expect(line).toContain("'app.empty'");
+        // …and states the two facts `success: false` cannot carry alone:
+        // nothing was pending, and nothing was refused.
+        expect(line).toMatch(/no pending drafts/);
+        expect(line).toMatch(/nothing was refused/);
+    });
+
+    it('the trace is SPECIFIC to the no-op: a successful publish and a refusal do not emit it', async () => {
+        const info = vi.spyOn(console, 'info').mockImplementation(() => {});
+        const warn = vi.spyOn(console, 'warn').mockImplementation(() => {});
+        void warn;
+
+        const ok = makeProtocol([{ type: 'view', name: 'cases' }]);
+        ok.promote.mockImplementation(async (req: any) => ok.promoteOk(req));
+        const okRes: any = await ok.protocol.publishPackageDrafts({ packageId: 'app.edu' });
+        expect(okRes.outcome).toBe('published');
+
+        const refused = makeProtocol([{ type: 'view', name: 'cases' }]);
+        refused.promote.mockImplementation(async () => { throw new Error('promotion refused'); });
+        const refusedRes: any = await refused.protocol.publishPackageDrafts({ packageId: 'app.edu' });
+        expect(refusedRes.outcome).toBe('refused');
+
+        // Those two exits leave their own records (audit rows / warn) — the
+        // info line belongs to the no-op alone.
+        expect(info.mock.calls.map((c) => String(c[0])).some((m) => NOOP_LINE.test(m))).toBe(false);
+    });
+});
@@ -15120,6 +15120,20 @@ export class ObjectStackProtocolImplementation implements
         aiModel?: string;
     }): Promise<{
         success: boolean;
+        /**
+         * [#10462] First-class discriminant for WHICH exit answered — the fact
+         * `success` alone cannot carry: a publish with nothing to promote and
+         * a genuine refusal both answer `success: false` (cloud#1488 graded
+         * the former as a rollback and burned two repair rounds on artifacts
+         * that were already correct). Producer invariants, pinned in the
+         * conformance suites: `outcome === 'refused'` if and only if
+         * `failed.length > 0`; `outcome === 'nothing_to_publish'` if and only
+         * if `published.length === 0 && failed.length === 0`; and
+         * `success === (outcome === 'published')` — `success` keeps its exact
+         * pre-#10462 value and is now derivable. Values are lowercase snake,
+         * matching the `sys_metadata_audit` outcome vocabulary.
+         */
+        outcome: 'published' | 'refused' | 'nothing_to_publish';
         publishedCount: number;
         failedCount: number;
         published: Array<{
@@ -15413,6 +15427,10 @@ export class ObjectStackProtocolImplementation implements
             }
             return {
                 success: false,
+                // [#10462] Guarded by `preflightViolations.length > 0`, so
+                // `failed[]` is non-empty by construction — this exit is
+                // always a refusal.
+                outcome: 'refused',
                 publishedCount: 0,
                 failedCount: preflightViolations.length,
                 published: [],
@@ -15817,6 +15835,16 @@ export class ObjectStackProtocolImplementation implements
                     });
             return {
                 success: false,
+                // [#10462] `failedOut` mirrors `ordered` one-to-one, so it is
+                // empty ONLY when the batch had zero drafts — a failure in the
+                // transaction machinery itself over nothing pending. Deriving
+                // the outcome (rather than hard-coding 'refused') keeps the
+                // producer invariant `outcome === 'refused' iff
+                // failed.length > 0` true on every return site; on that edge
+                // "nothing to publish" stays the truthful answer (nothing was
+                // pending, nothing was refused) and the `console.warn` above
+                // remains the record of the machinery failure.
+                outcome: failedOut.length > 0 ? 'refused' : 'nothing_to_publish',
                 publishedCount: 0,
                 failedCount: failedOut.length,
                 published: [],
@@ -15968,8 +15996,32 @@ export class ObjectStackProtocolImplementation implements
         // ADR-0067 D2 — the commit record was written INSIDE the Phase-1
         // transaction above, together with the promotions it describes.
 
+        // [#10462] The no-op exit — a publish with nothing to promote — used
+        // to be the ONLY exit that left no trace at all: no audit row (right:
+        // `sys_metadata_audit` rows are keyed on `(type, name)`, and a batch
+        // with zero items has no honest identity to mint — the limiting case
+        // of the rule both refusal sites already follow) and no log line
+        // (wrong: an operator who reads `success: false` as a refusal goes
+        // looking for a rollback that never happened). `info`, not `warn`:
+        // nothing was claimed persisted and nothing was lost, so this is
+        // neither a durability nor a functional degradation.
+        if (published.length === 0 && failed.length === 0) {
+            console.info(
+                `[Protocol] publishPackageDrafts: nothing to publish for package `
+                + `'${request.packageId}' — no pending drafts were found, and nothing was refused.`,
+            );
+        }
+
         return {
             success: failed.length === 0 && published.length > 0,
+            // [#10462] Derived, never stored: 'refused' the moment anything is
+            // in `failed[]` (defensive — every failure on this route unwinds
+            // through the Phase-1 catch above today), else 'published' iff
+            // something landed, else the no-op. Exactly the three-way fact
+            // `success` compresses into one boolean.
+            outcome: failed.length > 0
+                ? 'refused'
+                : published.length > 0 ? 'published' : 'nothing_to_publish',
             publishedCount: published.length,
             failedCount: failed.length,
             published,