DESCRIBE WORKFLOW emits `annotation` statements that mxcli check rejects with MDL-WF04

[MendixMau]

Summary

DESCRIBE WORKFLOW emits annotation '<text>'; statements for canvas annotations placed in Studio Pro. mxcli's own checker then rejects those statements with MDL-WF04, on the grounds that writing them produces a model Studio Pro cannot load.

So the emitter produces a construct the validator is designed to refuse. DESCRIBE WORKFLOW output is not re-executable for any workflow carrying canvas annotations, and the failure appears only after the user has already tried to reuse the output.

Environment

• mxcli v0.20.0 (2026-08-28T13:22:53Z), mxcli-darwin-arm64 from the tagged v0.20.0 release
• Mendix model version 11.13.0
• macOS (darwin arm64)

Steps to reproduce

1. In Studio Pro, open any workflow and drop an annotation onto the canvas next to an activity. Save.

2. $ mxcli -p App.mpr -c "DESCRIBE WORKFLOW MyModule.MyWorkflow" > rt.mdl
   $ grep -n "annotation" rt.mdl
   35:  annotation 'Source: Receive + Set busState = New Opening';
   

3. $ mxcli check rt.mdl
   ✓ Syntax OK (1 statements)
   
   ✗ a standalone `annotation` in a workflow body produces a model Mendix cannot load
     (the annotation is placed in the activity flow, which accepts only flow elements)
     — Studio Pro will not open the project  [MDL-WF04]
       at MyModule.MyWorkflow
       → Remove the `annotation` statement. Use an MDL comment (`-- ...`) to keep the
         note in the script; workflow canvas annotations are not yet writable.
   

On a real 23-activity workflow this produced 13 MDL-WF04 errors from unmodified DESCRIBE output.

Expected

Either:

1. Emit annotations as MDL comments (-- Source: Receive + Set busState = New Opening), matching MDL-WF04's own remediation advice, so describe output round-trips and the note survives as text; or
2. Support writing workflow canvas annotations correctly, and relax MDL-WF04 accordingly.

Option 1 is the smaller change and makes DESCRIBE WORKFLOW output re-executable today. Its cost is that annotations are dropped on a rebuild, which is worth stating explicitly in the emitted comment.

Actual

Annotations are emitted as annotation statements that mxcli check refuses, so the describe output cannot be used without hand-stripping every one of them first.

Note

Reported separately from the targeting users xpath quote-doubling defect (a string-escaping bug in the same emitter) because the fix lives in a different place: this one is a decision about whether annotations are emitted as statements, as comments, or made writable.