fix(app-shell): one reading for sys_activity.type, and the unrecognised case stops claiming update

.changeset/6730-shared-activity-type-bucket.md

@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+---
+'@object-ui/app-shell': minor
+'@object-ui/i18n': patch
+---
+
+The shell's `sys_activity.type` reading stops calling every unrecognised type an
+update (objectui#6730).
+
+`mapActivityRows` in `hooks/sharedUserFeeds.ts` — the feed behind the AppHeader
+bell's Activity tab, Home's activity card and the exported `ActivityFeed` panel
+— carried the third hand-written reading of that column in this repo, and it
+bucketed every value outside `created` / `deleted` / `commented` / `mentioned`
+as `update`. That is not a missing decision; it is a wrong one stated out loud:
+a `scheduled` meeting, a `login`, a nightly `system` rollup and an author's
+`contract_countersigned` all rendered as "somebody updated this record".
+
+- New `layout/activityItemType.ts` holds the whole reading — the table, the
+ generic bucket, the `"NOW()"` timestamp fallback and the row constructor that
+ applies all three — DOM-free, so what a row becomes is assertable directly.
+- `ActivityItem['type']` gains a fifth kind, `system`: the generic bucket, with
+ its own icon, label and notification toggle. Following
+ `UNMAPPED_ACTIVITY_FEED_TYPE`'s precedent, an unrecognised value renders
+ through it and is named once on `console.warn` rather than being dropped —
+ `sys_activity.type` is author-extensible (objectstack#11507 direction 4), so
+ an unmapped value is real activity nobody has ruled on, not a mistake.
+- The built-ins that had no honest presentation among the four existing kinds —
+ `system`, `completed`, `scheduled`, `login`, `logout` — now land in that
+ bucket instead of claiming `update`. `assigned` and `shared` stay `update`:
+ both write to the record.
+
+⛔ The two readings of this column are deliberately NOT converged.
+`activityRowToFeedItem` builds a `FeedItem`, and the vocabularies cross:
+`FeedItem` collapses create/update/delete into one `field_change` and drops
+`commented` / `mentioned` outright, so routing this surface through it would
+cost the bell every comment row and every create/delete distinction. What is
+shared is a pin, not an import — the new suite reads plugin-detail's real table
+(a devDependency; no runtime edge) and fails when the declared vocabulary grows
+an entry this side has not read, or when the two readings stop disagreeing in
+the three measured ways.

packages/app-shell/src/hooks/__tests__/sharedUserFeeds.activityType-6730.test.tsx

@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+/**
+ * ObjectUI
+ * Copyright (c) 2024-present ObjectStack Inc.
+ *
+ * objectui#6730 — what the bell's Activity tab and Home's card actually
+ * receive, end to end through the shared feed.
+ *
+ * The pure pins live in `layout/__tests__/activityItemType-6730.test.ts`; this
+ * suite is the other half, and it exists because the defect was never in the
+ * table — it was in the reading `mapActivityRows` did INLINE around it. A pin
+ * on a table that the producer does not call is the objectui#5896 failure mode
+ * (the constructor drifting while the tables agreed), so this file asserts the
+ * items the hook hands its consumers, not the map.
+ *
+ * ## Reverse verification (direction predicted BEFORE running)
+ *
+ * - restore the old `: 'update'` catch-all in `mapActivityRows` ⇒ the
+ * `scheduled` and author-extended cases here go RED, and so does the
+ * warn-once case (nothing warns) — the pure suite goes red too;
+ * - keep the catch-all but leave the table in place ⇒ the pure suite stays
+ * GREEN (the table is fine, nobody reads it) and only this file goes red.
+ * That asymmetry is why both files are here.
+ */
+import '@testing-library/jest-dom/vitest';
+import { describe, it, expect, vi, beforeEach, afterEach } from 'vitest';
+import { act, renderHook } from '@testing-library/react';
+
+vi.mock('@object-ui/auth', () => ({ useAuth: () => ({ user: { id: 'u1' } }) }));
+
+/**
+ * One row per branch of the reading, plus the two the card names by hand.
+ * `summary` is non-blank everywhere: a blank one is a DIFFERENT rejection and
+ * is pinned in the pure suite.
+ */
+const ACTIVITY_ROWS = [
+ { id: 'r1', type: 'created', summary: 'created the lead', object_name: 'crm_lead',
+ actor_name: 'Li Si', timestamp: '2026-08-20T10:00:00Z' },
+ { id: 'r2', type: 'updated', summary: 'changed the stage', object_name: 'crm_lead',
+ actor_name: 'Li Si', timestamp: '2026-08-20T10:01:00Z' },
+ { id: 'r3', type: 'deleted', summary: 'deleted the note', object_name: 'crm_lead',
+ actor_name: 'Li Si', timestamp: '2026-08-20T10:02:00Z' },
+ { id: 'r4', type: 'mentioned', summary: 'mentioned you', object_name: 'crm_lead',
+ actor_name: 'Li Si', timestamp: '2026-08-20T10:03:00Z' },
+ // The value objectui#5878 gave the console record page and never gave this
+ // surface. HotCRM's `schedule_meeting` action writes it.
+ { id: 'r5', type: 'scheduled', summary: 'scheduled a meeting', object_name: 'crm_lead',
+ actor_name: 'Li Si', timestamp: '2026-08-20T10:04:00Z' },
+ // An author-extended value under the objectstack#11507 direction-4 ruling.
+ { id: 'r6', type: 'contract_countersigned', summary: 'countersigned', object_name: 'crm_contract',
+ actor_name: 'Li Si', timestamp: '2026-08-20T10:05:00Z' },
+ // The `"NOW()"` sentinel: plugin-audit writes the unevaluated default
+ // through on some paths, and `new Date('NOW()')` is `Invalid Date`.
+ { id: 'r7', type: 'system', summary: 'ran the nightly rollup', object_name: 'crm_lead',
+ actor_name: 'System', timestamp: 'NOW()', created_at: '2026-08-19T23:00:00Z' },
+];
+
+const fakeAdapter = {
+ find: (object: string) =>
+ object === 'sys_activity'
+ ? Promise.resolve({ data: ACTIVITY_ROWS })
+ : Promise.resolve({ data: [] }),
+ getClient: () => undefined,
+};
+vi.mock('../../providers/AdapterProvider', () => ({ useAdapter: () => fakeAdapter }));
+
+import { useSharedActivityFeed, __resetSharedUserFeeds } from '../sharedUserFeeds';
+import { resetUnmappedActivityTypeWarnings } from '../../layout/activityItemType';
+
+const settle = () => act(async () => { await vi.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(0); });
+
+/** Every `console.warn` this suite provokes, as text — a typed array rather
+ * than a spy handle so the assertions read as the messages they are. */
+const warnings: string[] = [];
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+ vi.useFakeTimers();
+ __resetSharedUserFeeds();
+ resetUnmappedActivityTypeWarnings();
+ warnings.length = 0;
+ vi.spyOn(console, 'warn').mockImplementation((...args: unknown[]) => {
+ warnings.push(args.map((a) => String(a)).join(' '));
+ });
+ vi.stubGlobal('fetch', vi.fn(() => Promise.resolve(new Response('{}', { status: 404 }))));
+});
+
+afterEach(() => {
+ vi.unstubAllGlobals();
+ vi.restoreAllMocks();
+ vi.useRealTimers();
+});
+
+/** id -> type, so a failure names the row rather than an array index. */
+async function typesByRow(): Promise<Record<string, string>> {
+ const { result } = renderHook(() => useSharedActivityFeed());
+ await settle();
+ return Object.fromEntries(result.current.map((a) => [a.id, a.type]));
+}
+
+describe('objectui#6730 — the shared activity feed no longer calls everything an update', () => {
+ it('gives each row the presentation its type earns', async () => {
+ expect(await typesByRow()).toEqual({
+ r1: 'create',
+ r2: 'update',
+ r3: 'delete',
+ r4: 'comment',
+ // Both of these were `update` before this PR — the silent widening the
+ // card is filed for. A scheduled meeting is not a record update, and
+ // neither is an author's countersignature.
+ r5: 'system',
+ r6: 'system',
+ r7: 'system',
+ });
+ });
+
+ it('keeps the unrecognised row rather than dropping it, and says so once', async () => {
+ const { result } = renderHook(() => useSharedActivityFeed());
+ await settle();
+
+ // A bucket, not a drop: every row that named an action and said something
+ // still reaches the surface. (objectui#5840's failure mode was the drop.)
+ expect(result.current.map((a) => a.id)).toEqual(ACTIVITY_ROWS.map((r) => r.id));
+
+ const unmapped = result.current.find((a) => a.id === 'r6');
+ expect(unmapped?.description).toBe('countersigned');
+ expect(unmapped?.objectName).toBe('crm_contract');
+
+ // One diagnostic, for the one value nobody has ruled on — not for
+ // `scheduled` or `system`, which the table maps on purpose.
+ const named = warnings.filter((m) => m.includes('sys_activity row with type'));
+ expect(named).toHaveLength(1);
+ expect(named[0]).toContain('contract_countersigned');
+ expect(named[0]).not.toContain('"scheduled"');
+ });
+
+ it('resolves the `"NOW()"` sentinel to `created_at` on this surface', async () => {
+ const { result } = renderHook(() => useSharedActivityFeed());
+ await settle();
+
+ const nowRow = result.current.find((a) => a.id === 'r7');
+ // The fold is behaviour-preserving: the same answer the inline copy gave,
+ // now produced by the one reading this package owns. Pinned against
+ // plugin-detail's folded copy value-for-value in the pure suite.
+ expect(nowRow?.timestamp).toBe('2026-08-19T23:00:00Z');
+ expect(nowRow?.timestamp).not.toBe('NOW()');
+
+ // Unchanged rows keep their own timestamp — the fallback is a fallback.
+ expect(result.current.find((a) => a.id === 'r1')?.timestamp).toBe('2026-08-20T10:00:00Z');
+ });
+});

packages/app-shell/src/hooks/sharedUserFeeds.ts

@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ import { errorCodeIs } from '@object-ui/types';
 import { useAdapter } from '../providers/AdapterProvider.js';
 import { bearerAuthHeaders } from '../utils/authToken.js';
 import type { ActivityItem } from '../layout/ActivityFeed.js';
+import { activityRowToActivityItem } from '../layout/activityItemType.js';
 import type { InboxNotification } from '../layout/inboxGrouping.js';
 
 /** Approvals poll cadence — the bell's original 30s (M11.C15). */
@@ -566,45 +567,30 @@ function adapterKey(adapter: unknown): string | null {
 }
 
 /**
- * Raw `sys_activity` rows carry plugin-audit's column names
- * (`summary` / `actor_name` / `object_name` / `timestamp`); casting them
- * straight through leaves every `ActivityItem` field undefined, which is what
- * once rendered the Activity tab as blank rows showing only a relative time.
+ * Raw `sys_activity` rows -> `ActivityItem`s: rows that name an action and say
+ * something. Home narrows it further (human actors only) at its own call site.
  *
- * This is the shared superset: rows that name an action and say something.
- * Home narrows it further (human actors only) at its own call site.
+ * The reading itself moved to `layout/activityItemType.ts` (objectui#6730).
+ * What lived here was the THIRD hand-written reading of `sys_activity.type` in
+ * this repo — objectui#5878 shared the table between the `record:activity`
+ * block and `RecordDetailView`, objectui#5896 shared the constructor around it,
+ * and this copy survived both — plus its own copy of the `"NOW()"` timestamp
+ * quirk whose two others #5896 folded into one.
+ *
+ * ⛔ It did NOT become a call to `activityRowToFeedItem`, and the module it
+ * moved to explains at length why not: the target types CROSS. `FeedItem`
+ * collapses create/update/delete into one `field_change`, and drops
+ * `commented` / `mentioned` outright — so routing this surface through the
+ * shared constructor would cost the bell every comment row and every
+ * distinction between a create and a delete. What is shared instead is a PIN,
+ * not an import: `activityItemType-6730.test.ts` reads plugin-detail's real
+ * table (devDependency, no runtime edge) and fails when the column's declared
+ * vocabulary grows an entry this side has not read.
  */
 function mapActivityRows(rows: unknown[]): ActivityItem[] {
  return rows
- .filter((row): row is Record<string, unknown> => {
- if (!row || typeof row !== 'object') return false;
- const r = row as Record<string, unknown>;
- return typeof r.type === 'string' && String(r.summary ?? '').trim().length > 0;
- })
- .map((r) => {
- let when = r.timestamp as string | undefined;
- if (!when || when === 'NOW()' || Number.isNaN(Date.parse(when))) {
- when = r.created_at as string | undefined;
- }
- const raw = String(r.type);
- const type: ActivityItem['type'] =
- raw === 'commented' || raw === 'mentioned'
- ? 'comment'
- : raw === 'deleted'
- ? 'delete'
- : raw === 'created'
- ? 'create'
- : 'update';
- return {
- id: String(r.id),
- type,
- objectName: String(r.object_name ?? ''),
- recordId: r.record_id != null ? String(r.record_id) : undefined,
- user: String(r.actor_name ?? ''),
- description: String(r.summary ?? ''),
- timestamp: when ?? '',
- };
- });
+ .map((row) => activityRowToActivityItem(row))
+ .filter((item): item is ActivityItem => item !== null);
 }
 
 /**

packages/app-shell/src/layout/ActivityFeed.tsx

@@ -17,18 +17,18 @@ import {
  SheetTitle,
  SheetTrigger,
 } from '@object-ui/components';
-import { Activity, Plus, Pencil, Trash2, MessageSquare, Filter } from 'lucide-react';
+import { Activity, Plus, Pencil, Trash2, MessageSquare, Filter, Info } from 'lucide-react';
 import { useObjectTranslation } from '@object-ui/i18n';
+import type { ActivityItem } from './activityItemType.js';
 
-export interface ActivityItem {
- id: string;
- type: 'create' | 'update' | 'delete' | 'comment';
- objectName: string;
- recordId?: string;
- user: string;
- description: string;
- timestamp: string;
-}
+/**
+ * The item shape and its kind union live in `activityItemType.ts` with the
+ * `sys_activity` reading that produces them (objectui#6730) — that module is
+ * DOM-free, so what a row BECOMES can be asserted without mounting this Sheet.
+ * Re-exported here so every existing `from './ActivityFeed.js'` import (and the
+ * package barrel's `ActivityItem`) keeps resolving unchanged.
+ */
+export type { ActivityItem, ActivityItemType } from './activityItemType.js';
 
 export interface ActivityFeedProps {
  activities?: ActivityItem[];
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@ const typeConfig: Record<
  update: { icon: Pencil, color: 'text-blue-500' },
  delete: { icon: Trash2, color: 'text-red-500' },
  comment: { icon: MessageSquare, color: 'text-amber-500' },
+ // The generic bucket (objectui#6730): built-ins these four kinds have no
+ // honest presentation for (`system` / `completed` / `scheduled` / `login` /
+ // `logout`) plus every author-extended value. Neutral on purpose — the point
+ // of the bucket is that it does not claim the row was an update.
+ system: { icon: Info, color: 'text-muted-foreground' },
 };
 
 /** Format an ISO timestamp as a localized relative string (e.g. "2m ago"). */
@@ -69,6 +74,7 @@ export function ActivityFeed({ activities = [], className }: ActivityFeedProps)
  update: true,
  delete: true,
  comment: true,
+ system: true,
  });
 
  const togglePreference = (type: ActivityItem['type']) => {
@@ -83,6 +89,7 @@ export function ActivityFeed({ activities = [], className }: ActivityFeedProps)
  update: t('layout.activityFeed.typeUpdate'),
  delete: t('layout.activityFeed.typeDelete'),
  comment: t('layout.activityFeed.typeComment'),
+ system: t('layout.activityFeed.typeSystem'),
  };
 
  return (