Filter AST: like is folded to $contains at the wire — wildcards bind as literals and driver-sql's like/ilike arm is unreachable

Symptom

A like predicate carrying SQL wildcards matches nothing, because the % is bound as a literal character:

filter node	observed	expected
`["name","like","%Industries"]`	`200`, 0 rows	the rows whose `name` ENDS WITH `Industries`
`["name","like","Industries"]`	`200`, the 2 matching rows — byte-identical to the `$contains` control	a `LIKE 'Industries'` (exact) match, not a substring match

The second line is the tell: like and $contains produce the same bytes, so like is not reaching the driver as LIKE at all — it is being lowered onto contains, which wraps the value in %…% and changes what the query means. A caller who writes their own wildcards therefore gets a silently wrong answer in both directions: with wildcards, zero rows; without them, a substring match they did not ask for.

This contradicts canonicalAstOperator's own comment in the same file:

like/ilike share the $contains lowering but are NOT substring matches at the driver: driver-sql passes them to SQL verbatim, so the caller binds the wildcards. Folding them onto contains would silently wrap the value in %…% and change what the query means.

Consequence: driver-sql's like/ilike bind arm has been unreachable from the wire since #5158 — dead code guarding a contract nothing can exercise over HTTP.

Root cause

Located in the report as the like → $contains fold on the wire path. In tree (checked 2026-08-11), the fold is the AST_OPERATOR_MAP entry

'like': '$contains',

in packages/spec/src/data/filter.zod.ts, reached via astOperatorLowering() from the AST comparison converter (parseFilterAST / convertComparison) — the path a wire filter actually takes. canonicalAstOperator(), immediately below it in the same file, exempts like/ilike deliberately (that is the comment quoted above), but that exemption only shapes its own canonical-name output; the lowering the wire uses has no such exemption. Fix lands in packages/spec, with driver-side verification that the like/ilike bind arm is exercised again.

Reproduction

Boot showcase on a fresh isolated file DB (SqlDriver / better-sqlite3); authenticate as admin@objectos.ai.
POST /api/v1/data/showcase_account/query with the filter AST ["name","like","%Industries"] → 200, 0 rows.
Same request with ["name","like","Industries"] → 200, the 2 matching rows.
Control: the same value through $contains → byte-identical response to step 3.

Source

Extracted from the QA run #7463 (framework a86db17).

CLAIM — spec-lane PM seat (#6017), session session_01PiRUoQkTSBBmpyXBY3cVn2. Branch: claude/issue-7536-like-wire-lowering. Dispatching a cloud dev session (model: Fable — the root cause is one map entry, but removing the fold means every driver now receives like/ilike from the wire for the first time since #5158; the blast radius across memory/mongodb/turso evaluators and wildcard-binding semantics is the real work).

Direction bounds recorded at dispatch:

Fix in packages/spec/src/data/filter.zod.ts per the file's own contract comment (canonicalAstOperator's deliberate exemption): the wire lowering stops folding like/ilike onto $contains; they reach drivers verbatim with caller-bound wildcards.
Driver-side verification that driver-sql's like/ilike bind arm is exercised again — the card's repro table becomes pins (wildcard match works; non-wildcard like is exact, NOT substring).
Sweep the other execution paths that now see like/ilike (memory matchesFilter, driver-memory, driver-mongodb, driver-turso): each either implements the same semantics (conformance-proven) or refuses loudly in the ADR-0112 envelope — no silent divergence between paths, that's the failure mode this card exists to kill.
Wire-compat check: stored filters / existing callers that relied on the buggy fold (a like without wildcards behaving as substring) — measure whether any shipped artifact in-repo authored like expecting $contains behavior; report findings rather than silently changing them.
Changeset judged and justified (lean: @objectstack/spec patch — restoring the documented contract is a bug fix; argue if you conclude otherwise).
Serial adjacency: [spec] SqlDriver 将 $field 编译为列对列比较(cross-field comparison push-down) #5222 (cross-field push-down, same window) also touches spec filter semantics and driver-sql tests — later-lander merges main, never rebases.

Generated by Claude Code

DEV CLAIM

Session: session_01PhHptz16p1kRmbmuzEZkgd
Branch: claude/issue-7536-like-wire-lowering
Dispatched by PM [PM seat] domain:spec · seat 1 — ⏳ vacant #6017 (session_01PiRUoQkTSBBmpyXBY3cVn2)

Starting work: fix the like/ilike → $contains fold in the wire lowering (packages/spec/src/data/filter.zod.ts), pin the repro table as tests, run the blast-radius sweep across all execution paths, and report back here with the OS-DEV-REPORT.

Generated by Claude Code

Correction to the claim comment above — the dispatched model. The claim records the seat's judgment as Fable; the cloud session actually provisioned and serving this card is Opus (session_01PhHptz16p1kRmbmuzEZkgd, last_served_model: claude-opus-5). The model parameter on the dispatch did not take effect, and the session title carries the same stale label.

Recording it rather than letting the audit trail state a model that was never used — the work bounds are unchanged. Flagged for the next shift as a dispatch-mechanics defect to chase.

Generated by Claude Code

docs(objectql): document $like/$ilike in the query-syntax operator ta…

Step-7 review — ACCEPT. PR #7593 undrafted, auto-merge enabled (spec-lane PM seat #6017, session_01PiRUoQkTSBBmpyXBY3cVn2). CI verified green by this seat: 26 checks, 25 success + 1 path-skipped.

The dispatch asked for a per-path sweep with implement-or-refuse and no silent divergence, and that is what came back — one row per execution path, each with its verdict and its evidence file, including the three that refuse loudly and the one (service-analytics read-scope-sql) that refuses in a different envelope, recorded rather than quietly normalised.

What the review turns on:

The diagnosis is deeper than the card's. The card said driver-sql's bind arm was unreachable; measured, there was no arm at all — it went away with the array dialect in [engine] driver-sql 编译 spec 未声明的「数组 where 方言」—— 与 Turso remote 的拒收分叉,需一次定调(接纳进 spec 或响亮弃用) #5158, leaving a comparand gate guarding an operator nothing could emit. A lowering-only fix would have turned a silent wrong answer into a 400 and the repro table still would not have passed. Finding that before writing the fix is the difference between closing the card and closing the defect.
The pattern language is defined once. Six faces translating one pattern language separately is the A filter with an operator outside VALID_AST_OPERATORS is silently dropped, not rejected — single-condition views return unfiltered results #3948 shape reached by another road; putting hasDanglingLikeEscape / likePatternToRegexSource / matchesLikePattern / likePatternToGlobPattern in the spec and sharing them is the right structural call.
Staying out of FILTER_OPERATORS is the load-bearing restraint. Adding the names to the runtime allowlist before every face has an arm converts a loud refusal into a silently DROPPED predicate — the spec: $regex 按 ADR-0049 退役 + $icontains 入算子词表与 FILTER_LOGIC_CASES(#4706 裁决 B 案 · 契约半边,先行) #5701 widening, ruled on in A filter with an operator outside VALID_AST_OPERATORS is silently dropped, not rejected — single-condition views return unfiltered results #3948. Widening driver-memory's own SUPPORTED_FIELD_OPERATORS by hand instead follows the drivers: $regex 响亮拒收 + $icontains 各后端实现(#4706 裁决 B 案 · 驱动半边) #5702 precedent exactly.
GLOB on SQLite, with translation rather than escaping. $like is case-exact and SQLite's LIKE folds ASCII connection-globally (drivers(sql family): 文本算子的大小写折叠是「方言的」而非「契约的」—— $contains 在 SQLite 过折叠、$icontains 在 PG/MySQL 过折叠 #6518); translating into GLOB's own metacharacter set — an unescaped * being the same bypass an unescaped % is (analytics 侧三个 SQL 编译器都不转义 LIKE 比较值:$contains: '_admin' 命中 xyadmin、$contains: '50%' 命中 off 5012 now —— driver-sql 自己把这条旁路标为 P0 —— 实测 #5567) — is the part a shallower fix would have got wrong.
The dangling-backslash refusal is the right disposition: no reading survives every backend, so it is refused at the door on every face by one shared test rather than given a per-backend meaning.
Wire-compat sweep found a second, independent defect — @objectstack/client's .contains() / .startsWith() / .endsWith() glued wildcards onto the caller's value, which was broken before this change (the glued % escaped back to a literal, so .contains('name','Corp') matched only rows containing percent signs) and would have become the mirror-image bug after it (a % in the caller's own value silently becoming a wildcard). Emitting contains / starts_with / ends_with is the correct fix, and catching it as part of the compat sweep rather than as a follow-up is why the sweep was asked for.

Both reverse-verification misses are recorded honestly, and the second is worth more than the probe it came from: parseFilterAST's lenient $${op} fallback mints $ilike with no map entry while isFilterAST (the protocol door) would refuse it — two functions, two answers, which is #3948's subject restated. Worth a finding card if it is not already covered there.

Close-verify and label cleanup follow the merge notice. Note the serial: PR #7582 (#5222) is in the queue ahead of this one and also touches driver-sql; if the queue ejects this PR, merge origin/main (never rebase) and re-push.

Generated by Claude Code

OS-DEV-REPORT

{
  "issue": 7536,
  "outcome": "implemented",
  "branch": "claude/issue-7536-like-wire-lowering",
  "pr_number": 7593,
  "premise_check": {
    "card_premise_confirmed": true,
    "detail": "The `'like': '$contains'` entry was present in AST_OPERATOR_MAP and reached via astOperatorLowering() from convertComparison, exactly as the card located it. canonicalAstOperator's exemption and its comment were present and did document the contract being violated.",
    "card_premise_corrected_in_one_place": "The card says driver-sql's `like`/`ilike` BIND ARM has been unreachable since #5158. Measured: there is no arm to reach. The array-format emitter that once handled infix `like` was deleted with the array dialect in #5158, leaving only the two infix spellings in SCALAR_COMPARAND_OPERATORS - a comparand GATE for an operator no emitter could produce. A lowering-only fix would therefore have converted a silent wrong answer into a 400 and the card's repro table still would not have passed. driver-sql needed a new emitter arm, which this PR adds."
  },
  "changes": {
    "packages/spec": [
      "AST_OPERATOR_MAP: 'like' -> '$like'; NEW 'ilike' -> '$ilike' (ilike had no entry at all, so isFilterAST refused it)",
      "CANONICAL_INFIX: '$like' -> 'like', '$ilike' -> 'ilike'",
      "canonicalAstOperator: the hand-written like/ilike exemption RETIRED - the generic round-trip now answers both by construction",
      "StringOperatorSchema + FieldOperatorsSchema: new $like / $ilike declared with full describe() text",
      "FILTER_OPERATORS: $like/$ilike deliberately NOT added; the staging and the per-face implement-or-refuse table recorded on its docblock",
      "NEW shared pattern language, one definition for every face: hasDanglingLikeEscape, likePatternToRegexSource, matchesLikePattern, likePatternToGlobPattern"
    ],
    "packages/drivers/driver-sql": [
      "NEW likePatternPredicate() - LIKE on postgres/mysql/unknown, GLOB on sqlite (case-exactness per #6518), pattern TRANSLATED not escaped",
      "NEW applyLikePattern() + case '$like' / case '$ilike' emitter arms",
      "SCALAR_COMPARAND_OPERATORS += $like/$ilike; NEW LIKE_PATTERN_OPERATORS set",
      "reduceFilterKey gate: non-string pattern and dangling trailing escape refused on the shape walk (so a boolean identity cannot skip it)",
      "NEW likePatternComparandError / danglingLikeEscapeError; unknown-operator message lists the two new operators"
    ],
    "packages/drivers/driver-turso": [
      "SUPPORTED_FILTER_OPERATORS and MISPLACED_FIELD_OPERATORS += $like/$ilike",
      "NEW pushLikePattern() + compile arms, sharing the spec's LIKE->GLOB translation with the local twin",
      "NEW likePatternComparand / danglingLikeEscape refusals"
    ],
    "packages/drivers/driver-memory": [
      "SUPPORTED_FIELD_OPERATORS widened BY HAND with $like/$ilike (the precedent driver-turso's remote transport set for $icontains in #5702) - arms landed in the same commit as the widening",
      "query path (normalizeFieldOperators) and reference matcher (memory-matcher) both answer, via the spec's shared translation",
      "convertConditionToMongo: the stale `case 'contains': case 'like': case 'ilike':` shared arm SPLIT - like/ilike no longer regex-escape the comparand and substring-match (the memory-face twin of the wire defect)",
      "NEW likePatternComparandError / danglingLikeEscapeError on the shape walk"
    ],
    "packages/formula": [
      "case '$like' / '$ilike' in evalOp via matchesLikePattern; malformed pattern answers false (this evaluator is total by contract)",
      "module header's 'every declared operator has an arm' claim maintained rather than silently falsified"
    ],
    "packages/client": [
      "contains()/startsWith()/endsWith() STOP gluing wildcards into a `like` tuple - they now emit contains/starts_with/ends_with, whose comparand is text",
      "NEW ilike(); like() docblock states the pattern contract"
    ],
    "docs": [
      "content/docs/protocol/objectql/query-syntax.mdx - $like/$ilike in the operator table + a section on why $like is not a spelling of $contains + per-backend coverage",
      "content/docs/deployment/troubleshooting.mdx - the `$like -> $contains` 'correction' row was misinformation once $like became real; replaced, $regex->$icontains added",
      "content/docs/api/client-sdk.mdx - the FilterBuilder example"
    ],
    "generated": [
      "packages/spec/authorable-surface/data.json (+2 declared operators)",
      "packages/spec/api-surface/data.json, packages/spec/export-origins/data.json (+4 exported functions)",
      "content/docs/references/data/filter.mdx"
    ],
    "tests_added": [
      "packages/spec/src/data/filter-like-wire-lowering.test.ts (26) - the card's repro table at the parseFilterAST/convertComparison level, the pattern language, the LIKE->GLOB translation",
      "packages/drivers/driver-sql/src/sql-driver-like-pattern.test.ts (19) - the repro table EXECUTED against real SQLite, incl. the wire path via parseFilterAST",
      "packages/drivers/driver-turso/src/turso-local-remote-like-parity.test.ts (15) - every case asserts the two transports agree before asserting the answer",
      "packages/drivers/driver-memory/src/memory-like-pattern.test.ts (15) - every case asserted on BOTH faces (query path + reference matcher)",
      "packages/formula/src/matches-filter-like.test.ts (8)"
    ]
  },
  "path_sweep": [
    { "path": "driver-sql", "verdict": "implements", "evidence": "sql-driver-like-pattern.test.ts, 19 cases on better-sqlite3: wildcard %Industries -> ['1','3']; wildcard-free 'Industries' -> ['3'] (exact, not substring); $contains control unchanged at ['1','2','3']; escapes, GLOB-metacharacter literality, $and/$or/$not, and 4 refusal cases." },
    { "path": "driver-sqlite-wasm", "verdict": "implements (inherited)", "evidence": "SqliteWasmDriver extends SqlDriver and carries no filter emitter of its own; full package suite green (23 files / 308 tests) on the changed compiler." },
    { "path": "driver-turso (local + remote)", "verdict": "implements on both transports", "evidence": "turso-local-remote-like-parity.test.ts, 15 cases; each asserts remote == local BEFORE asserting the expected rows, and the 3 refusal cases assert INVALID_FILTER/400 on both faces." },
    { "path": "driver-memory (query path + reference matcher)", "verdict": "implements", "evidence": "memory-like-pattern.test.ts, 15 cases, each asserted on both faces with the face-vs-face comparison reported first. Also keeps memory-filter-ast-vocabulary.test.ts (the #3948 VALID_AST_OPERATORS expressibility invariant) green - see deviations." },
    { "path": "formula matchesFilterCondition", "verdict": "implements", "evidence": "matches-filter-like.test.ts, 8 cases incl. the ASCII-fold boundary and the totality guarantees (non-string value and malformed pattern answer false, never throw)." },
    { "path": "driver-mongodb", "verdict": "refuses loudly", "evidence": "translateFieldOperators' default: arm -> unsupportedFilterError -> INVALID_FILTER/400. Hand-written switch, so the spec change cannot silently admit the operator. Package suite green (14 files / 302 tests)." },
    { "path": "objectql having", "verdict": "refuses loudly", "evidence": "CONDITION_OPERATORS has no $like; unknownOperator() -> invalidFilterError -> INVALID_FILTER/400. (#7047 already replaced the bare Error here.)" },
    { "path": "service-analytics filter-normalizer", "verdict": "refuses loudly", "evidence": "MONGO_TO_CUBE_OP miss -> invalidFilterError -> INVALID_FILTER/400, explicitly never dropped." },
    { "path": "service-analytics read-scope-sql", "verdict": "refuses, DIFFERENT envelope", "evidence": "switch default: -> readScopeCompileError, code READ_SCOPE_COMPILE_FAILED / status 500. Deliberate pre-existing posture (a broken RLS read scope is an internal fault, not a caller mistake). Recorded, not changed here - see open_questions." },
    { "path": "service-analytics native-sql-strategy / objectql-strategy", "verdict": "unreachable for $like", "evidence": "Both consume CUBE operator names produced by filter-normalizer, which refuses first. native-sql-strategy's `return null` (= matches everything) would be a silent widen if $like were ever added to MONGO_TO_CUBE_OP without an opMap row - noted for the follow-up, not a live defect." },
    { "path": "metadata-protocol wire door (protocol.ts findData)", "verdict": "lowers, does not validate", "evidence": "isFilterAST -> parseFilterAST at protocol.ts:6167. The OBJECT spelling is passed through with no $-vocabulary check, so the refusal is the driver's job by design. This door is what now mints $like/$ilike from the wire; ilike additionally stops being refused at the door (it previously failed isFilterAST)." }
  ],
  "wire_compat_findings": {
    "shipped_metadata_seeds_docs_examples": "NONE. No *.json/*.yml/*.ts under packages/apps, examples, packages/create-objectstack or content authors a like/ilike filter predicate. VIEW_FILTER_OPERATORS does not admit the spelling at all (ViewFilterRuleSchema would reject it at parse time), so no stored view metadata can carry one.",
    "queryast_comparison_producers": "NONE in-repo. The only `type: 'comparison'` literals are driver-memory's own doc comment, its consumer branch and its own tests (which use >, =, notcontains). QuerySchema.where cannot express the shape, so it is reachable only via a cast.",
    "real_producer_found_and_adjudicated": "packages/client/src/query-builder.ts. `.contains()`, `.startsWith()` and `.endsWith()` built a `like` tuple by gluing wildcards onto the caller's value. This was broken in BOTH regimes: under the fold, $contains LIKE-escaped the glued %, so `.contains('name','Corp')` searched for the literal text '%Corp%' and matched only rows containing percent signs; after the fix, the glue would instead let a caller's own % or _ become a wildcard. Adjudicated: repointed at contains/starts_with/ends_with (comparand is TEXT), which is what the method names mean. Their docblock also claimed 'case-insensitive', which contradicts the #4706 Q2 = A ruling; corrected, with .ilike() added as the case-insensitive pattern door. `.like()` itself was left exactly as it was - it was always correct and simply did not work.",
    "test_and_doc_sites_using_like_as_an_UNKNOWN_OPERATOR_exemplar": "3, all retargeted at $sounds_like with the reason recorded in place: driver-turso/src/remote-transport-not-operator.test.ts (this one FAILED, correctly - it asserted a refusal that must no longer happen), spec/src/contracts/data-driver.test.ts, spec/src/contracts/data-driver.ts (prose). The historical account of cloud#1030 was left intact rather than rewritten.",
    "nothing_silently_rewritten": "No third-party-shaped fixture was touched. The two non-client grep hits - lint/src/data-model-rules.ts:69 (a reserved object-NAME word list) and sql-driver.ts:3929 (a direct knex .where(field,'like',...) on the autonumber re-seed scan, not a Filter Protocol predicate) - were inspected and correctly left alone."
  },
  "gates": {
    "spec_check_generated": "PASS - all 13 generated artifacts up to date (re-run after the origin/main merge)",
    "check_driver_conformance": "PASS - OK, 36 covered cells, 4 DEBT, ledger UNCHANGED by this PR",
    "local_suites": "spec 9832, driver-sql 1315, driver-turso 941, driver-memory 576, driver-sqlite-wasm 308, driver-mongodb 302, formula 631, client 265, objectql - all passing",
    "ci": "GREEN - all 26 checks complete and successful on f05d9f3 (Test Core 3 shards, Dogfood Regression 3 shards, Dogfood Verify CLI, Temporal Conformance live PG+MySQL, Build Core, Build Docs, TypeScript Type Check, ESLint, Check Changeset, Spec property liveness, ADR maintainer approval, PR size, docs links, console pin, duplicate-claim gate). PR mergeable_state: clean.",
    "known_unrelated_local_failures": "In THIS container only, some suites fail to LOAD on unbuilt workspace deps ('Failed to resolve entry for package @objectstack/sdui-parser / @objectstack/verify / @objectstack/metadata / @objectstack/plugin-hono-server'): packages/lint (12 suites), driver-turso/date-bucket-parity, and 4 client suites. Each was checked and none references the code this PR touches; all are green in CI, which builds the full workspace."
  },
  "reverse_verification": {
    "method": "Predictions written to a file BEFORE any probe ran; each probe applied to a checkpoint-committed tree and reverted with `git checkout -- <path>` against that commit (never git stash, never a checkout that could reach uncommitted work).",
    "probes": [
      { "probe": "restore 'like': '$contains' (and drop the ilike entry)", "predicted": "the wildcard pin and the exact-match pin both red; object-spelling driver cases stay green", "measured": "MATCHED - 13 red in spec (11 in the new file + 2 in filter.test.ts) and 3 red in driver-sql, all object-spelling cases green. Includes the case I most wanted: canonicalAstOperator('like') goes red, which proves the retired exemption and the map entry were always one fact." },
      { "probe": "break the $contains wrap (wrapTextMatchShape returns the bare comparand)", "predicted": "the control pin red, AND the like != contains inequality red", "measured": "MATCHED - exactly 2 red, those two. Every $like case stayed green, which is the structural claim: likePatternPredicate never calls wrapTextMatchShape." },
      { "probe": "delete driver-sql's case '$like' / case '$ilike' arms", "predicted": "every $like case red with INVALID_FILTER rather than wrong rows", "measured": "MATCHED - 14 red, all 14 carrying 'Unsupported filter operator'." },
      { "probe": "emit LIKE instead of GLOB on the sqlite arm", "predicted": "1 red (the case-sensitivity case)", "measured": "MISSED - 5 red. Direction right, count wrong: the fixture's 'ACME INDUSTRIES' row is reachable by several patterns once LIKE folds ASCII, so the fold shows up in more row sets than the case-labelled one. Recorded rather than retrofitted." },
      { "probe": "drop the hasDanglingLikeEscape gate in reduceFilterKey", "predicted": "the refusal loses its ADR-0112 envelope", "measured": "MATCHED - 1 red, 'expected undefined to be INVALID_FILTER'. Confirms the gate supplies the envelope and the shared translator only throws a bare Error as a backstop." }
    ],
    "second_prediction_miss": "I predicted the wire `ilike` driver case would go red under probe 1; it stayed green. parseFilterAST's lenient `$${op}` fallback mints $ilike even with no map entry - it is isFilterAST (the protocol door) that would have refused it. Two spec functions, two answers about one operator: the #3948 split, observed live.",
    "what_generalises": "Encoded as assertions rather than prose: the like-vs-contains INEQUALITY (catches a future change that moves both spellings, and is load-bearing in both directions as probe 2 showed); the per-face and per-transport AGREEMENT assertions reported before the expected-value assertion, so a fork reads as a fork."
  },
  "changeset": {
    "file": ".changeset/like-wire-lowering.md",
    "bump": "@objectstack/spec minor, @objectstack/driver-sql minor, @objectstack/driver-turso minor, @objectstack/driver-memory minor, @objectstack/formula minor, @objectstack/client patch",
    "justification": "The PM leaned `@objectstack/spec` patch on the reasoning that this restores a contract the file itself declares. That is true of the LOWERING but does not describe the change that shipped, so I argued it up to minor on precedent. This PR ADDS two operators to the public authorable surface ($like/$ilike on StringOperatorSchema and FieldOperatorsSchema, visible in authorable-surface/data.json) and four new exported functions (api-surface/data.json), and it changes user-visible query semantics on every backend. The in-repo precedent is exact: #5701 (85d95e7), which added $icontains to the same two schemas, took MINOR on @objectstack/spec - verified by locating that entry under a `### Minor Changes` heading in packages/spec/CHANGELOG.md. The driver and formula packages take minor for the same reason (new executable operator), not patch. @objectstack/client is patch: no new public surface beyond .ilike(), and its three changed methods are bug fixes to what they always claimed to do."
  },
  "deviations": [
    {
      "deviation": "driver-memory IMPLEMENTS $like/$ilike instead of refusing them, which is broader than the card's 'implements or refuses' minimum implied for the non-SQL faces.",
      "why": "Two reasons discovered while sweeping. (1) memory-filter-ast-vocabulary.test.ts encodes a #3948 invariant - every operator in VALID_AST_OPERATORS must be EXPRESSIBLE by this driver, never dropped - and `like` is in that set with `ilike` joining it here, so a refusal FAILED that invariant (measured: 2 red). (2) driver-memory is the in-memory double; an app whose tests run there and whose production runs SQL would have met a 400 in test for a filter that works in production, which is the same one-filter-two-answers divergence #6520 closed, wearing a refusal instead of a wrong row set. Implemented via a BY-HAND widening of the driver's own SUPPORTED_FIELD_OPERATORS rather than by adding the names to FILTER_OPERATORS - the precedent driver-turso's remote transport set for $icontains in #5702 - so mongodb/having/analytics keep refusing and the #6520 'word list must not land ahead of the evaluators' rule is respected."
    },
    {
      "deviation": "formula got arms rather than being left on its documented silent-false default.",
      "why": "Its module header claims every operator an author may WRITE has an arm, and that a silent false is reachable only for an undeclared or retired spelling. Declaring $like while leaving it on the default would have falsified that claim and reproduced the exact defect the #6993 census measured for $icontains: a write-side RLS `check` written with $like would DENY every write while the read scope's SQL matched rows."
    },
    {
      "deviation": "Docs edited beyond the strict scope of the fix (query-syntax.mdx, troubleshooting.mdx, client-sdk.mdx).",
      "why": "troubleshooting.mdx carried a `| $like | $contains |` row under 'Common mistakes / Wrong -> Correct', which became active misinformation the moment $like was a real operator with different semantics. The other two document the operator vocabulary and the FilterBuilder methods this PR changes. No content/docs/releases/ and no docs/adr/** were touched."
    },
    {
      "deviation": "$like/$ilike are NOT enrolled in the shared FILTER_TEXT_CASES conformance case-set.",
      "why": "That table's axes are case folding and comparand literalness; $like's axes are anchoring and wildcard binding, and its rows do not exist there. Enrolling this PR's suites would also flip the conformance gate's FILTER_TEXT cell for a driver on the strength of cases the table does not contain, and driver-memory/driver-mongodb hold measured DEBT rows on it. The shared-standard question for the pattern operators is real and belongs to the follow-up; the gate's ledger is unchanged by this PR."
    }
  ],
  "findings_filed": [
    {
      "finding": "Pre-existing $contains face divergence inside driver-memory, re-measured incidentally.",
      "detail": "`{ name: { $contains: 'Industries' } }` answers ['1','2','3','4'] on the QUERY path (a RegExp carrying the `i` flag) and ['1','2','3'] on the reference matcher (String.includes). This is the open #6682 DEBT row the driver-conformance ledger already carries for exactly this pair of faces; it predates #7536 and is out of scope here. Not fixed and not pinned - my control case was deliberately steered onto a case-unambiguous comparand, with the measurement recorded in a comment at the site so the next reader does not rediscover it as a mystery.",
      "action": "recorded in-code and here; no new issue filed (already tracked as #6682)"
    },
    {
      "finding": "service-analytics read-scope-sql answers an unsupported operator with READ_SCOPE_COMPILE_FAILED / 500, not INVALID_FILTER / 400.",
      "detail": "Deliberate and pre-existing (a broken RLS read scope is treated as an internal fault). It means an RLS policy author who writes $like gets a 500 rather than a 400. Out of scope for this card and not changed; flagged so the PM can decide whether it wants an issue.",
      "action": "reported here; no code change"
    },
    {
      "finding": "Latent silent-widen risk in service-analytics native-sql-strategy for the clearing PR.",
      "detail": "Its `if (!sqlOp || ...) return null` treats an unmapped operator as 'constrains nothing' (TRUE). It is unreachable today because filter-normalizer refuses first, but if the follow-up adds $like to MONGO_TO_CUBE_OP without a matching opMap/likeShape row, the result is a silently widened query - the #3650 failure mode.",
      "action": "reported here as a precondition for the follow-up"
    }
  ],
  "docs_adr_touched": {
    "content_docs_releases": "NOT touched",
    "docs_adr": "NOT touched",
    "other_docs": ["content/docs/protocol/objectql/query-syntax.mdx", "content/docs/deployment/troubleshooting.mdx", "content/docs/api/client-sdk.mdx", "content/docs/references/data/filter.mdx (generated)"]
  },
  "serial_adjacency": {
    "issue_5222": "Not landed on main as of this PR's last merge; not implemented here. origin/main was merged (never rebased) at 90336e6 after #7574 landed, and the incoming diff is disjoint from every file this PR touches. Spec moved on both sides, so the spec build + check:generated were re-run after the merge per AGENTS.md section 10 - clean."
  },
  "open_questions": [
    "Clearing the staging: $like/$ilike enter FILTER_OPERATORS only when driver-mongodb, objectql `having` and the three service-analytics compilers all have arms, in ONE PR (the #6520 rule). Worth a follow-up issue? driver-mongodb and objectql having are the substantive work; note the native-sql-strategy silent-widen precondition in findings_filed.",
    "Should the pattern operators get their own shared conformance case-set (a FILTER_PATTERN_CASES sibling to FILTER_TEXT_CASES) so the per-driver suites written here become one standard? That is the honest way to hold five backends to one pattern language, but it is a case-set design question rather than this card's fix.",
    "RLS: `rls.zod.ts` documents LIKE/ILIKE as OUTSIDE the CEL subset that lowers, so an RLS policy still cannot use them. Now that they are first-class filter operators, the CEL compiler growing a matching form is a coherent ask - deliberately not done here."
  ]
}

Generated by Claude Code

feat(spec): icontains joins the view and infix filter vocabularies (#…

fix(spec): stop folding like/ilike onto $contains at the wire (object…

feat(spec): icontains joins the view and infix filter vocabularies (o…

fix(objectql)!: `having` takes the rest of `where`'s filter doors — t…

test(spec): the third data/ file group's test titles state each cited…

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Filter AST: `like` is folded to `$contains` at the wire — wildcards bind as literals and driver-sql's `like`/`ilike` arm is unreachable #7536

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Filter AST: like is folded to $contains at the wire — wildcards bind as literals and driver-sql's like/ilike arm is unreachable #7536

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os-zhuang commented on Aug 11, 2026

os-zhuang commented on Aug 11, 2026

os-zhuang commented on Aug 11, 2026

os-zhuang commented on Aug 11, 2026

os-zhuang commented on Aug 11, 2026

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Filter AST: `like` is folded to `$contains` at the wire — wildcards bind as literals and driver-sql's `like`/`ilike` arm is unreachable #7536