export: PDF / print document generation — re-planned for v18, superseding the #1301 NOT_PLANNED closure

[os-zhuang]

Status

Maintainer decision (2026-08-13): PDF document generation is re-planned and scheduled for v18. This supersedes the #1301 NOT_PLANNED closure (2026-06-27).

Ruling history (what this issue reverses)

• [P1] export: no print / PDF export — procurement orders & audit reports cannot be delivered #1301 — "[P1] export: no print / PDF export" was closed NOT_PLANNED.
• spec: ListView.exportOptions is typed as a bare array, but the only renderer reads exportOptions.formats #8010 — 'pdf' was subsequently removed from view.exportOptions formats in @objectstack/spec 17.0.0; the enum's error map now carries a retirement prescription and os migrate meta --from 16 rewrites existing sources (packages/spec/src/ui/view.zod.ts:1239-1264). Surviving formats: csv / xlsx / json.

Re-introducing the capability therefore has a spec-side unwind cost, not just a renderer cost: the retired enum value, its error-map prescription, and the corresponding removal-registry entry all need to be walked back deliberately (and the migration story for metadata authored against 17 decided).

Why it came back

Solution scoping for an overseas port/terminal customer (2026-08) — and previously the template gap audit (docs/PLATFORM_GAPS_FROM_TEMPLATES.md gap #9, the origin of #1301) — keeps hitting the same wall: statutory / paper deliverables are non-negotiable for billing- and government-adjacent customers. Concrete artifacts in the port scenario alone: invoices, weighbridge tickets, delivery orders, official correspondence, monthly operation reports. Browser Ctrl+P (Console chrome, no pagination) and per-project Puppeteer side-services are the only workarounds today, and every implementation reinvents the latter.

Suggested scope (starting point: the M1–M4 sketch from #1301)

1. M1 — declarative print templates in spec (header/footer, pagination, tables, related-record blocks).
2. M2 — render engine (headless Chromium HTML→PDF), output downloadable or committed to storage (sys_file).
3. M3 — row/detail action integration ("Export PDF", template picker).
4. M4 — bulk export (merged PDF / zip) — note the aggregate bulk-action dispatch (execution: 'aggregate', objectui#3139) already anticipates "merged PDF, batch print" as its example payload, so the action surface is partly in place.
5. Spec unwind: restore a 'pdf' (or successor) export format value and retire the spec: ListView.exportOptions is typed as a bare array, but the only renderer reads exportOptions.formats #8010 retirement prescription cleanly.

Related

• [P1] export: no print / PDF export — procurement orders & audit reports cannot be delivered #1301 (superseded), spec: ListView.exportOptions is typed as a bare array, but the only renderer reads exportOptions.formats #8010 (enum removal to unwind)
• currency: no exchange-rate / home-currency conversion — dynamic multi-currency amounts cannot be reconciled or aggregated across currencies #8345 (FX conversion — same customer scoping batch, also v18)

[hotlong]

Triage: domain:spec — the first concrete step this card names is a contract unwind (restoring the retired 'pdf' value to view.exportOptions in packages/spec/src/ui/view.zod.ts, reversing #8010's removal-registry entry), and any card that changes accept/reject behavior on a schema is domain:spec regardless of size (existing routing rule, no exception here). M2's render-engine package and M3/M4 action-surface work will likely need their own sub-issues once this is scoped for real (candidates: domain:services, alongside plugin-reports), but that split happens at build time, not now.

Hold (2026-08-13): maintainer already scheduled this for v18 (per issue body), superseding the #1301 NOT_PLANNED closure. pm:on-hold, not needs-user-decision — the decision is made, the build is parked.

Restart trigger files:

• packages/spec/src/ui/view.zod.ts (the retired 'pdf' export-format enum value and its error-map prescription)
• docs/PLATFORM_GAPS_FROM_TEMPLATES.md (gap [WIP] Create a new release version #9, the origin of [P1] export: no print / PDF export — procurement orders & audit reports cannot be delivered #1301)

---

Generated by Claude Code