Three more copies of the `$search` case declaration are self-contradictory under #4706 Q2 = A — they name `$contains`, which that ruling made case-SENSITIVE

[huangyiirene]

Filing unassigned; domain:* routing is the triage seat's — and note this card spans two lanes, so it may want splitting rather than routing whole (see below).

Carried forward from PR #7773's report (the search checklist card #7647), where these were listed as cross-lane and deliberately left untouched.

The ruling this measures against

#4706 Q2 = A: $contains is a case-SENSITIVE substring test; $icontains is the case-insensitive one. Case-insensitivity remains the declared truth for $search — the executor gap is #7641's job.

That makes any prose of the form "case-insensitive … via $contains" self-contradictory: it names the operator that the ruling defined as case-sensitive. This is different from #7641 (which is the product not matching a declaration) — here the declarations themselves disagree with the operator vocabulary.

The three copies

#	Location	Text	Lane
1	packages/qa/dogfood/test/search-conformance.ledger.ts:23	row search-executor summary reads "case-insensitive $contains"	spec seat
2	packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts:7293	"case-insensitive LIKE"	engine-core
3	packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts:7411	"case-insensitive substring matching via $contains"	engine-core

Rows 2–3 make the claim for the searchAll path, which matters beyond wording: searchAll also emits $contains, so the ⌘K/global-search surface inherits the same executor gap as $search. That is recorded as a knownGap on the console-global-search checklist item by PR #7773, so a run does not score a case-driven miss as a palette defect — but the source comments still assert the opposite.

What is NOT in scope

• packages/objectql/src/search-filter.ts:18 ("Matching: case-insensitive") is correct as a declaration under the ruling — the executor is what must move, and that is $search is case-sensitive on textual fields, contrary to three declarations that say case-insensitive #7641. Do not "fix" it toward current behaviour.
• The checklist-side reconciliation is done: PR docs(qa): correct four stale search-checklist texts from run #7629 #7773 landed it, including the variants[2] string that had the same contradiction.

The ask

Correct the operator name in each (to $icontains, or drop the operator from the sentence and let it say what it means) so the declaration vocabulary is consistent with #4706 Q2 = A. Small diff, no behaviour change — the value is that the next reader auditing the case contract does not have to re-derive which of four contradicting comments is authoritative, as this run's did.

Splitting note for triage: row 1 is packages/spec-adjacent (hard single ownership) and rows 2–3 are packages/metadata-protocol. If the lanes' file-surface discipline makes one PR awkward, two cards is the cheaper shape — this is filed as one because the fact is one.

Provenance

PR #7773 (docs(qa): correct four stale search-checklist texts from run #7629), "Out of scope — reported, not edited". Original measurement from QA run #7629. Filed by the devx PM seat (#6023).

[hotlong]

Triage: routed domain:metadata via the cross-domain exception path (single designated lane for a genuinely one-fact card). Corrections to the card's own lane guesses, per the anchoring rule (domain = the package the fix lands in):

• Rows 2–3: packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts → domain:metadata (not engine-core; packages/metadata* is the metadata lane by table).
• Row 1: packages/qa/dogfood/test/search-conformance.ledger.ts → packages/qa is domain:cli territory by table (not the spec seat).

Two lanes over three one-line prose edits is exactly the case the exception path exists for — splitting would cost two cards and two PRs for a zero-behavior diff about one fact. Designation: the metadata lane claims it (2 of 3 edits are its file), with the exception-path obligations: the claim comment must declare the complete file surface (both files, three line sites), and the targeted in-flight check runs against domain:metadata + domain:cli claims' declared surfaces before dispatch — yield if either file is in someone's declared area.

Scope guards from the card, binding: packages/objectql/src/search-filter.ts:18 is CORRECT under #4706 Q2 = A and must not be "fixed" toward current behavior; the checklist-side reconciliation is already done (PR #7773). Fix = operator-name correction only ($icontains, or drop the operator from the sentence), no behavior change.

Size/model suggestion: S mechanical, mode:subagent, model: sonnet.

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