components: `element:text_input`'s `label` / `placeholder` / `description` are the INVERSE of #5637 — the renderer already resolves the locale map, the declaration still says `'string'`, so the gate warns on a legal write

[os-zhuang]

Found while implementing #5637 (element:record_picker's label / placeholder). Out of that card's fence — filed, not fixed there.

This is the same family, opposite direction. #5590 and #5637 are "the contract admits the map, the renderer drops it, so the declaration correctly stays narrow until the render site catches up". element:text_input is the case where the render site already caught up and the declaration never moved.

Measured

packages/components/src/renderers/basic/text-input.tsx resolves all three keys at their read sites:

 96: const label = pickLocalized(props.label, language);
 97: const placeholder = pickLocalized(props.placeholder, language);
 98: const description = pickLocalized(props.description, language);

The contract for all three is the I18nLabel union — measured on the installed @objectstack/spec 17.1.0 pin, ElementTextInputPropsSchema:

label union [string | record] | map safeParse: OK
placeholder union [string | record] | map safeParse: OK
description union [string | record] | map safeParse: OK

But the ComponentMeta entries still declare one arm each (text-input.tsx:146, :147, :183):

{ name: 'label', type: 'string', label: 'Label' },
{ name: 'placeholder', type: 'string', label: 'Placeholder' },
…
{ name: 'description', type: 'string', label: 'Description' },

Driven through the same manifestFromConfigs + validateTree path the console specimen test uses, with { en: 'Owner', 'zh-CN': '负责人' }:

PROBE label declaredArms="string" codes=["type-mismatch :: <element:text_input> prop \"label\" expected a string"]
PROBE placeholder declaredArms="string" codes=["type-mismatch :: <element:text_input> prop \"placeholder\" expected a string"]
PROBE description declaredArms="string" codes=["type-mismatch :: <element:text_input> prop \"description\" expected a string"]

Why this is the defect and not a harmless narrowing

ComponentInput.type in packages/types/src/base.ts states the rule in both directions: declare an arm the renderer drops and you advertise a shape that never reaches the screen; withhold an arm the renderer resolves and the manifest gate reports type-mismatch on a legal write. Its own words for the second half — "one platform authority contradicting itself on the write it just recommended, at warning severity — which is worse than it sounds, because noise on legal writes trains authors (AI authors included) to dismiss the unknown-prop and type-mismatch reports that ARE real."

Here the author writes a map, the renderer renders it correctly in the viewer's language, and the gate warns anyway. That is precisely the direction #5590's changeset called "the false declaration in the other direction".

Not a duplicate of the defaultValue specimen

apps/console/src/__tests__/component-input-union-specimens.test.ts:214 asserts that an I18N_MAP on element:text_input.defaultValue does report type-mismatch, and that assertion is correct and must stay: defaultValue's spec type is string | number, a key whose contract has no object arm. It is the control that keeps the widening per-key. The three keys above are a different set with a different contract, and none of them is pinned anywhere today.

What a fix would decide

Mechanically it looks like the emptyText move run backwards: widen the three inputs arms to ['string', 'object'] and rewrite the descriptions from what the renderer does. Two things worth a triage look rather than assuming:

1. Whether all three travel together, or description is separable — it has a different destination than the two label-ish keys.
2. Whether the console specimen file should gain a pin for this block, since the specimens are where "declared arms == contract arms" is currently guarded, and a fix with no pin can silently regress the same way.

Filed unassigned and unqueued.

[os-zhuang]

Triage: pm:queue, domain:ui, bug. Declaration lags the renderer (renderer resolves the locale map, ComponentMeta still declares 'string'), so the gate warns on a legal write — the exact inverse of #5637 and the direction ComponentInput.type's own rule already condemns. Restores declared = enforced; no contract change (spec 17.1.0 already admits the map on all three keys, measured in the card). Scope: widen the three arms to ['string','object'], rewrite descriptions from what the renderer does, and answer the card's two look-items in the PR: whether description travels with the two label-ish keys, and add the console specimen pin for this block so it cannot silently regress. Note: #5637 (the inverse direction, record_picker) sits in the decision box — do not touch its keys here.

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[os-zhuang]

Claim: PM loop round 19
Session: session_01EuPCi56cnGyykygi3z9w4m
Branch: claude/issue-5717-text-input-declared-arms
Worktree: objectui-issue-5717
Domain: domain:ui
File surface: packages/components/src/renderers/basic/text-input.tsx and its tests, plus apps/console/src/__tests__/component-input-union-specimens.test.ts for the pin triage requires (stop on breach; explain in the report)
Container & model: S, mode:subagent, model: opus
Clause-②: no
Serial constraints cleared: packages/components is free — #5714 merged 20:43Z. Round-19 siblings fenced disjoint: #5703 (packages/auth/src/createAuthenticatedFetch.ts) and #5660 (apps/console/index.html + src/main.tsx). ⚠️ #5660 also lives in apps/console but touches different files; the specimen test is yours, index.html/main.tsx are its.

Tier basis. No path-derived mandate. Content judgement: clause ② does not trip — triage measured that spec 17.1.0 already admits the map on all three keys, so widening the declaration restores declared = enforced rather than widening any accept set. This is the mirror of #5637, which cleared for the same reason.

Premise re-verified on origin/main d8afbe519, every line reproduced exactly as the card cites it:

• text-input.tsx:96 / :97 / :98 — pickLocalized(props.label|placeholder|description, language). The renderer already resolves all three.
• :146 / :147 / :183 — { name: 'label'|'placeholder'|'description', type: 'string', … }. The declaration still says one arm.

This is the inverse of #5637 and the direction ComponentInput.type's own rule condemns: the author writes a map, the renderer renders it correctly in the viewer's language, and the manifest gate warns type-mismatch anyway. Its own words for why that matters: "one platform authority contradicting itself on the write it just recommended, at warning severity — which is worse than it sounds, because noise on legal writes trains authors (AI authors included) to dismiss the unknown-prop and type-mismatch reports that ARE real."

Triage's ruling, binding, with two items it requires answered in the PR: widen the three arms to ['string','object'], rewrite the descriptions from what the renderer does, and (1) state whether description travels with the two label-ish keys or is separable, (2) add the console specimen pin for this block so it cannot silently regress.

⛔ Do not touch element:record_picker's keys — #5637 (the inverse direction) sits in the decision box. ⛔ Do not weaken component-input-union-specimens.test.ts:214, which asserts an I18N_MAP on element:text_input.defaultValue does report type-mismatch. That assertion is correct and must stay: defaultValue's spec type is string | number, a contract with no object arm. It is the control that keeps this widening per-key rather than blanket — if your change makes it go green, you have widened too far.

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