Three read-side `/meta` verbs (history, audit, references) never reach `canonicalizeMetaRequestType` — they still derive their key from the MANIFEST map

[os-zhuang]

Surfaced while measuring #9009's reachability. ⚠️ Filed plainly: the routes are live and the divergence is mechanical, but no end-to-end request was driven, so severity is for triage rather than for me.

What was measured

packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts on origin/main @ 3851f87f0. Nine methods run the boundary fold:

canonicalizeMetaRequestType(request) → getMetaItems · getMetaItem · getMetaItemLayered
 getMetaItemCached · saveMetaItem · publishMetaItem
 rollbackMetaItem · diffMetaItem · deleteMetaItem

Three more are /meta/:type/:name routes in rest-route-ledger.ts and are not in that list. Each opens by deriving its key from PLURAL_TO_SINGULAR instead — the MANIFEST-COLLECTION map that #7894 moved this boundary off:

protocol method	route	line
auditMetaItem	GET /api/v1/meta/:type/:name/audit	const singular = PLURAL_TO_SINGULAR[request.type] ?? request.type;
historyMetaItem	GET /api/v1/meta/:type/:name/history	const singularType = PLURAL_TO_SINGULAR[request.type] ?? request.type;
findReferencesToMeta	GET /api/v1/meta/:type/:name/references	const singularTarget = PLURAL_TO_SINGULAR[request.type] ?? request.type;

Why the two maps are not interchangeable here

This is the same two-part divergence #8769 / #8819 / #8868 each closed on one verb:

• Manifest-ABSENT types (field, seed, external_catalog, translation — legitimately not stack collections). The map has no entry, so the type stays plural all the way down. historyMetaItem then asks SysMetadataRepository.history for type = 'translations', which no row carries, and answers { events: [] }. findReferencesToMeta looks up REFERENCE_PATHS['translations'], misses, and returns { references: [] } — the empty-accumulator shape Measured set: five read seams answer a failed read from an empty accumulator with no log and no field saying the answer is incomplete #8896 named: "nothing depends on it" is how an operator reads that answer immediately before a rename or delete.
• Manifest-PRESENT plurals (views). These fold correctly here — but metaUrlSpellingRefusal lives inside canonicalizeMetaRequestType, so these three verbs never consult it. The result is that GET /meta/views/all_leads/history is served, while PUT /meta/views/all_leads is refused 400 by the same deployment for the same spelling. One contract, two dialects, decided by which verb you use (Prime Directive Add comprehensive test suite for Zod schema validation #12) — which is precisely the sentence meta-publish-verb-skips-the-canonical-fold: publishMetaItem is the one /meta entry point that reads the MANIFEST map instead of the URL map #8769 was filed on.

What this is NOT

⛔ Not a lock-gate hole. None of the three reaches getEffectiveLock; the four write verbs that do all fold. #9009's dormancy framing is unaffected — this was measured as part of confirming it.

⛔ Not a claim that #9009's producer-side fold covers this. It does not: these three build their own key and never consult the lock gate.

Suggested disposition

Triage. The mechanical close is the one the other five verbs already took — run canonicalizeMetaRequestType at the top of each, which brings both the URL map and the spelling refusal with it. Whether the read verbs should refuse a plural the way the write verbs do (a 400 where they currently answer 200 with an empty body) is the part worth deciding rather than assuming, since it is a wire-visible change on three GET routes.

Backlinks: #9009 (the card whose reachability measurement surfaced this) · #7894 (moved the boundary off the manifest map) · #8769 · #8819 · #8868 (the same divergence closed one verb at a time) · #8896 (the empty-accumulator harm shape).

[os-project-manager]

Triage: lands in packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts → domain:metadata + pm:queue, type Bug — #7894 moved this boundary off the manifest map and nine verbs fold; three read verbs still derive from PLURAL_TO_SINGULAR (map usage re-verified on origin/main this round), so one deployment serves GET /meta/views/…/history while refusing the same spelling on PUT.

Rationale for queue rather than decision inbox: this is the same divergence family #8769 / #8819 / #8868 already closed one verb at a time — the fold-at-the-top close is precedented, and the spelling refusal riding along is the already-ruled write-verb behaviour extended to the remaining verbs (same-family reuse). The wire-visible half (plural GETs flipping 200-empty → 400) follows that precedent; if implementation surfaces a genuine reason read verbs should answer differently from writes, stop and report the fork rather than picking — do not quietly keep the empty-accumulator answers, which this card documents as operator-harmful ("nothing depends on it" before a rename/delete).

Serial constraint for the metadata seat: protocol.ts is hot — #9111 / PR #9173 in flight, #9176 newly queued to the spec seat touches the same file, #9174 (finding) names revertCommit in it. Hard-serialize.

Size/model suggestion: M, opus.

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