@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/spec': minor
+---
+
+**BREAKING** — the two unread dependency spellings leave the authoring surface: `PackageDependency.optional` (an entry of the marketplace snapshot's `manifestJson.dependencies[]`) and `AppManifest.dependencies` (the bare-id list on the app install manifest) are `retiredKey()` tombstones (#25792, ADR-0141 D8 items 2 and 3).
+
+A `major`-class change, recorded as `minor` under the launch-window convention. ADR-0141 D8 left both fates to "a measured reader count"; the count was zero for both, so both retire at once, with no retirement stage (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove).
+
+Clause-②: no (narrowing)
+Metadata-protocol: narrowed
+
+**Why.** A dependency is declared in one place, the package's `manifest.dependencies` record (`{ [packageId]: versionRange }`), and the ADR-0141 D2 pre-install check reads that record alone and treats every entry as required. Two more spellings stayed declared beside it and nothing read either. `optional: true` promised "missing dep is a warning, not an error", but the record has no optional arm, so no install path could honour it. `AppManifest.dependencies` restated the record without its range, and no install path consulted it. An author, often an AI, who wrote either got nothing enforced and no error. Measured at `origin/main` `6390fe52ce`: zero readers and zero writers of either key outside `packages/spec` (`packages/`, `ui/`, `examples/`, `apps/`), and none in HotCRM at `9464673`, whose three modules declare their dependency in the record.
+
+### FROM → TO
+
+| removed | from | what to write instead |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| `optional` on a `PackageDependency` entry (`PackageManifestSchema.dependencies[]`) | `@objectstack/spec/marketplace` | delete the key. An entry carries `packageId` and `versionRange` only. Declare a dependency in `manifest.dependencies` only when the package cannot install without it. |
+| `dependencies` on `AppManifest` | `@objectstack/spec/system` | delete the key. Declare each dependency with its range in the package's `manifest.dependencies`, for example `{ 'com.acme.core': '^1.0.0' }`. |
+
+**The one-line fix: delete the key.** A TypeScript author fails `tsc` first (each key is typed as the retired mark), and a parse of `PackageDependencySchema`, `PackageManifestSchema` or `AppManifestSchema` refuses the key with its prescription, the old default (`false`, `[]`) included. The parsed output no longer carries either key, so `PackageDependencyParsed` loses `optional` and `AppManifestParsed` loses `dependencies`.
+
+⚠️ Runtime behaviour is deliberately **unchanged**: nothing ever read either key, so every install answers exactly as before. The removal retracts a false claim, not a capability. **No deprecation window** (startup-stage posture: retirements take effect immediately).
+
+⚠️ **The out-of-repo consumer population beyond HotCRM is NOT MEASURED.** `@objectstack/spec` is published, and the control plane's reading of `sys_package_version.manifest_json` is not readable from this repository.
+
+The ADR-0087 D3 semantic entry `dependency-unread-spellings-retired` carries the judgement, and both keys are registered in `RETIRED_KEYS_BY_MAJOR[18]`. There is no D2 conversion: neither shape is a stack collection member, so a conversion would have no source to rewrite.
+
+<!-- adr-0087: registered dependency-unread-spellings-retired -->
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ Package dependency declaration
 | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
 | **packageId** | `string` | ✅ | Manifest ID of the dependency |
 | **versionRange** | `string` | ✅ | Semver version range (e.g. ^1.0.0) |
-| **optional** | `boolean` | optional (default: `false`) | Whether this dependency is optional |
+| **optional** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `PackageDependency.optional` was removed in @objectstack/spec 18 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove, ADR-0141 D8) — no install path ever honoured it: the pre-install check reads the package's `manifest.dependencies` record, which has no optional arm, and treats every entry as required. Delete the key. Declare a dependency in `manifest.dependencies` (`{ 'com.acme.core': '^1.0.0' }`) only when the package cannot install without it. |
 
 
 ---
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ Package manifest snapshot embedded in a package version
 | **description** | `string` | optional | Short description |
 | **scope** | `Enum<'platform' \| 'environment'>` | optional (default: `"environment"`) | Package scope |
 | **minPlatformVersion** | `string` | optional | Minimum required platform version (semver) |
-| **dependencies** | `{ packageId: string; versionRange: string; optional?: boolean }[]` | optional (default: `[]`) | Package dependencies |
+| **dependencies** | `{ packageId: string; versionRange: string }[]` | optional (default: `[]`) | Package dependencies |
 | **metadataTypes** | `string[]` | optional (default: `[]`) | Metadata types provided by this package |
 | **migrations** | `string[]` | optional (default: `[]`) | Migration script identifiers (ordered) |
 | **configurationSchema** | `Record<string, any>` | optional | JSON Schema for per-installation configuration properties |
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ Package dependency declaration
 | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
 | **packageId** | `string` | ✅ | Manifest ID of the dependency |
 | **versionRange** | `string` | ✅ | Semver version range (e.g. ^1.0.0) |
-| **optional** | `boolean` | optional (default: `false`) | Whether this dependency is optional |
+| **optional** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `PackageDependency.optional` was removed in @objectstack/spec 18 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove, ADR-0141 D8) — no install path ever honoured it: the pre-install check reads the package's `manifest.dependencies` record, which has no optional arm, and treats every entry as required. Delete the key. Declare a dependency in `manifest.dependencies` (`{ 'com.acme.core': '^1.0.0' }`) only when the package cannot install without it. |
 
 
 ---
 
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ App manifest for marketplace installation
 | **flows** | `string[]` | optional (default: `[]`) | Flow names provided |
 | **hasSeedData** | `boolean` | optional (default: `false`) | Whether app includes seed data |
 | **seedData** | `Record<string, any>[]` | optional (default: `[]`) | Seed data records |
-| **dependencies** | `string[]` | optional (default: `[]`) | Required app dependencies |
+| **dependencies** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `AppManifest.dependencies` was removed in @objectstack/spec 18 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove, ADR-0141 D8) — nothing read it: it listed bare ids with no version range, and no install path consulted it. Delete the key. Declare each dependency with its range in the package's `manifest.dependencies` (`{ 'com.acme.core': '^1.0.0' }`), which the pre-install check enforces. |
 
 
 ---
 
@@ -513,6 +513,17 @@ other two on the runtime card:
 The resolver-side `ResolvedPackageDependencySchema` (`@objectstack/spec/kernel`) is unaffected: it is a resolution outcome,
 not a declaration, and `PackageDependencySchema`'s own header already tells the two apart.
 
+**Addendum (2026-10-27, #25792 item 6) — items 2 and 3 decided on the measured count: both retire.** Measured at
+`origin/main` `6390fe52ce`: `PackageDependencySchema.optional` has **0** readers and **0** writers outside `packages/spec`,
+and `AppManifestSchema.dependencies` has **0** readers and **0** writers there, with no parse of `AppManifestSchema` at all
+(this repository's `packages/`, `ui/`, `examples/` and `apps/`; HotCRM at `9464673`, whose three module manifests declare
+the record, the live control). Inside `packages/spec` the only authors were the two schemas and three of their own tests.
+Each key is a `retiredKey()` tombstone now (`marketplace/PackageDependency:optional` and `system/AppManifest:dependencies`
+in `RETIRED_KEYS_BY_MAJOR[18]`), with the D3 record `dependency-unread-spellings-retired` and no D2 conversion, because
+neither shape is a stack collection member. The projection above therefore carries `packageId` = the key and
+`versionRange` = the value, nothing else: item 1's conversion writes no `optional`, and `manifest.dependencies` is the
+one way to declare a dependency.
+
 ---
 
 ## Consequences
 
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
     "marketplace/Package:isStarter = false",
     "marketplace/Package:publisher = \"private\"",
     "marketplace/Package:visibility = \"org\"",
-    "marketplace/PackageDependency:optional = false",
     "marketplace/PackageManifest:dependencies = []",
     "marketplace/PackageManifest:metadataTypes = []",
     "marketplace/PackageManifest:migrations = []",
 
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@
     "system/AppInstallResult:createdTables = []",
     "system/AppInstallResult:installedObjects = []",
     "system/AppInstallResult:seededRecords = 0",
-    "system/AppManifest:dependencies = []",
     "system/AppManifest:flows = []",
     "system/AppManifest:hasSeedData = false",
     "system/AppManifest:objects = []",
 
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@
     "marketplace/Package:translations",
     "marketplace/Package:updatedAt",
     "marketplace/Package:visibility",
-    "marketplace/PackageDependency:optional",
+    "marketplace/PackageDependency:optional [RETIRED]",
     "marketplace/PackageDependency:packageId",
     "marketplace/PackageDependency:versionRange",
     "marketplace/PackageManifest:configurationSchema",
 
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
     "system/AppInstallResult:seededRecords",
     "system/AppInstallResult:success",
     "system/AppInstallResult:version",
-    "system/AppManifest:dependencies",
+    "system/AppManifest:dependencies [RETIRED]",
     "system/AppManifest:description",
     "system/AppManifest:flows",
     "system/AppManifest:hasSeedData",
 
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ describe('App Lifecycle Service Contract', () => {
     views: ['contact_list', 'deal_board'],
     flows: ['new_deal_notification'],
     hasSeedData: true,
-    dependencies: [],
   };
 
   it('should allow a minimal IAppLifecycleService implementation with all required methods', () => {
 
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ import {
 //
 //   ./cloud  — since #16325 ./marketplace — the DECLARATION form an author
 //     writes into a package manifest:
-//     `{ packageId, versionRange, optional }`, embedded in
+//     `{ packageId, versionRange, optional }` (`optional` since retired,
+//     ADR-0141 D8), embedded in
 //     `PackageManifestSchema.dependencies[]` → `sys_package_version.manifest_json`;
 //   ./kernel — the RESOLVER form the dependency resolver walks:
 //     `{ name, versionConstraint, type, resolvedVersion }`, embedded in
@@ -144,10 +145,10 @@ describe('PackageDependency dual-source retirement (C7)', () => {
       packageId: 'com.objectstack.core',
       versionRange: '^1.0.0',
     });
+    // `optional` is a retired tombstone (ADR-0141 D8): it materializes nothing.
     expect(declared).toEqual({
       packageId: 'com.objectstack.core',
       versionRange: '^1.0.0',
-      optional: false, // the `.default(false)` still applies
     });
   });
 
@@ -163,13 +164,14 @@ describe('PackageDependency dual-source retirement (C7)', () => {
     const kernelKeys = keysOf(ResolvedPackageDependencySchema as never);
     const cloudKeys = keysOf(PackageDependencySchema as never);
     expect([...kernelKeys].sort()).toEqual(['name', 'resolvedVersion', 'type', 'versionConstraint']);
+    // `optional` stays in the shape as a retiredKey() tombstone (ADR-0141 D8).
     expect([...cloudKeys].sort()).toEqual(['optional', 'packageId', 'versionRange']);
     expect([...kernelKeys].filter((k) => cloudKeys.has(k)), 'key sets must stay disjoint').toEqual([]);
 
     // Neither side is `.strict()`, so cross-pasting a document does not throw —
     // it silently strips. That is exactly the failure mode the shared name hid,
     // and it is why the pin above forbids a "helpful" re-export alias.
-    const manifestDoc = { packageId: 'com.objectstack.core', versionRange: '^1.0.0', optional: true };
+    const manifestDoc = { packageId: 'com.objectstack.core', versionRange: '^1.0.0' };
     const strippedByResolver = ResolvedPackageDependencySchema.safeParse(manifestDoc);
     expect(strippedByResolver.success, 'resolver form rejects a manifest doc only on required keys').toBe(false);