@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/spec': patch
+---
+
+fix(spec): the retired `connector.webhooks` refusal describes declared webhooks as they work now: read from the metadata registry, with no `sys_webhook` row
+
+Clause-②: no
+Metadata-protocol: none
+
+An author who writes `webhooks` on a connector is refused, and the refusal tells them to declare the webhook in the stack's top-level `webhooks:` collection. It used to add that such a webhook "is materialized into `sys_webhook`". That is no longer how the platform works (ADR-0131 D2): a declared webhook is read from the metadata registry and delivered on record events, and no `sys_webhook` row is written for it. `sys_webhook` holds only the webhooks an organization authors at runtime. An author following the old text looked for a row that never appears.
+
+The refusal now says this. The same correction is made in the protocol-18 upgrade note for the connector resilience family (its replacement and reason) and in the generated connector reference.
+
+Prose only. The refusal itself, its error code, its path and what the connector schema accepts are unchanged.
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ const result = ConnectorSchema.parse(data);
 | **triggers** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.triggers` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove) — a connector trigger never started anything: `AutomationEngine.registerConnector` registers a connector's actions only, no polling loop read `intervalSeconds` (or the `interval` spelling it was renamed from), and no receiver was driven by a `webhook` trigger. Delete the key; the `ConnectorTrigger` shape leaves with it. To start work from an external system, write a flow that calls the connector's action in a `connector_action` node: for an external event, an `api` flow that the event's sender calls; for a scheduled pull, a `schedule` flow. Run `os migrate meta --from 17` to list the mechanical edits for existing sources; `--write` applies the ones it can prove, and you apply the rest by hand. |
 | **syncConfig** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.syncConfig` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove) — no engine ever ran a connector-attached sync: nothing read `strategy`, `direction`, `realtimeSync`, `timestampField`, `conflictResolution`, `batchSize`, `deleteMode` or `filters`, so the `latest_wins` and `soft_delete` defaults resolved and deleted nothing. Delete the key; the `DataSyncConfig` shape leaves with it. A sync is defined on its TARGET: a `mapping` (`targetObject`, `fieldMapping`, `mode`, `upsertKey`) whose `connectorSource` names the `rest` or `openapi` connector it pulls from, the read action and an optional timestamp `watermark`, with a `job` for the cadence. Its pull runs when a `job` drives it — a `job` whose `pull: { mapping }` names that mapping; the binding alone moves no rows. Run `os migrate meta --from 17` to list the mechanical edits for existing sources; `--write` applies the ones it can prove, and you apply the rest by hand. |
 | **fieldMappings** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.fieldMappings` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove) — no engine ever moved a value through a connector field mapping: nothing read `source`, `target`, `defaultValue`, `dataType`, `required` or `syncMode`. Delete the key; the `ConnectorFieldMapping` shape leaves with it. Map fields on the sync's TARGET instead: a `mapping`'s `fieldMapping` (`source` → `target`, with a `transform` the import path executes), which its `connectorSource` pulls through. Run `os migrate meta --from 17` to list the mechanical edits for existing sources; `--write` applies the ones it can prove, and you apply the rest by hand. |
-| **webhooks** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.webhooks` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove) — a webhook nested inside a connector was never registered as a `webhook` item, so it was never materialized into `sys_webhook` and never delivered, and nothing emits the connector events its `events` list could name (`sync.completed`, `auth.expired` and the rest). Delete the key; the nested shape leaves with it (`WebhookConfig`, `WebhookEvent`, `WebhookSignatureAlgorithm`). To have a webhook actually sent, declare it in the stack's top-level `webhooks:` collection, which is materialized into `sys_webhook` and delivered on record events — note that doing so STARTS deliveries this connector never made. Run `os migrate meta --from 17` to list the mechanical edits for existing sources; `--write` applies the ones it can prove, and you apply the rest by hand. |
+| **webhooks** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.webhooks` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove) — a webhook nested inside a connector was never registered as a `webhook` item, so the webhook dispatcher never read it and never delivered it, and nothing emits the connector events its `events` list could name (`sync.completed`, `auth.expired` and the rest). Delete the key; the nested shape leaves with it (`WebhookConfig`, `WebhookEvent`, `WebhookSignatureAlgorithm`). To have a webhook actually sent, declare it in the stack's top-level `webhooks:` collection. The platform reads a declared webhook from the metadata registry and delivers it on record events; it writes no `sys_webhook` row for it (`sys_webhook` holds only the webhooks an organization authors at runtime). Note that declaring it STARTS deliveries this connector never made. Run `os migrate meta --from 17` to list the mechanical edits for existing sources; `--write` applies the ones it can prove, and you apply the rest by hand. |
 | **rateLimitConfig** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.rateLimitConfig` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17.0.0 (ADR-0049 D2) — the entire shape is gone, not just this key: `ConnectorRateLimitConfig` and its `RateLimitStrategy` enum were removed with it, because no outbound rate-limiting engine ever existed. The platform's only token bucket (runtime `security/rate-limit.ts`) throttles INBOUND requests to us; nothing throttled the calls a connector makes out, so every knob here was inert while reading like a configured cap. Delete the key. Do NOT substitute `shared` `RateLimitConfig` — that is the inbound limiter and would cap the wrong direction; until an outbound throttle exists, rate-limit at the connector provider or upstream gateway. This edit left `os migrate meta` with the protocol-16.x conversions: apply it by hand, or run the tool on a release that still carries the conversion — https://objectstack.ai/docs/protocol-upgrade. |
 | **retryConfig** | `{ strategy?: Enum<'exponential_backoff' \| 'linear_backoff' \| 'fixed_delay' \| 'no_retry'>; maxAttempts?: number; initialDelayMs?: number; maxDelayMs?: number; … }` | optional | Retry configuration |
 | **connectionTimeoutMs** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.connectionTimeoutMs` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove) — the platform never honoured it and cannot honour it where it was declared: a connector's outbound call is a WHATWG `fetch`, whose only cancellation surface is one `AbortSignal` over the whole operation, so nothing there observes the connection phase separately, and the value only ever travelled (onto the reported def and the materialization fingerprint) without ever bounding a connect. Delete the key. Use `requestTimeoutMs` for the deadline the platform does keep — it is applied as `resilientFetch`'s per-attempt timeout — and bound the connect phase at a connector provider or upstream gateway on a transport that can separate the phases. Run `os migrate meta --from 17` to list the mechanical edits for existing sources; `--write` applies the ones it can prove, and you apply the rest by hand. |
@@ -490,7 +490,7 @@ Connector type
 | **triggers** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.triggers` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove) — a connector trigger never started anything: `AutomationEngine.registerConnector` registers a connector's actions only, no polling loop read `intervalSeconds` (or the `interval` spelling it was renamed from), and no receiver was driven by a `webhook` trigger. Delete the key; the `ConnectorTrigger` shape leaves with it. To start work from an external system, write a flow that calls the connector's action in a `connector_action` node: for an external event, an `api` flow that the event's sender calls; for a scheduled pull, a `schedule` flow. Run `os migrate meta --from 17` to list the mechanical edits for existing sources; `--write` applies the ones it can prove, and you apply the rest by hand. |
 | **syncConfig** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.syncConfig` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove) — no engine ever ran a connector-attached sync: nothing read `strategy`, `direction`, `realtimeSync`, `timestampField`, `conflictResolution`, `batchSize`, `deleteMode` or `filters`, so the `latest_wins` and `soft_delete` defaults resolved and deleted nothing. Delete the key; the `DataSyncConfig` shape leaves with it. A sync is defined on its TARGET: a `mapping` (`targetObject`, `fieldMapping`, `mode`, `upsertKey`) whose `connectorSource` names the `rest` or `openapi` connector it pulls from, the read action and an optional timestamp `watermark`, with a `job` for the cadence. Its pull runs when a `job` drives it — a `job` whose `pull: { mapping }` names that mapping; the binding alone moves no rows. Run `os migrate meta --from 17` to list the mechanical edits for existing sources; `--write` applies the ones it can prove, and you apply the rest by hand. |
 | **fieldMappings** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.fieldMappings` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove) — no engine ever moved a value through a connector field mapping: nothing read `source`, `target`, `defaultValue`, `dataType`, `required` or `syncMode`. Delete the key; the `ConnectorFieldMapping` shape leaves with it. Map fields on the sync's TARGET instead: a `mapping`'s `fieldMapping` (`source` → `target`, with a `transform` the import path executes), which its `connectorSource` pulls through. Run `os migrate meta --from 17` to list the mechanical edits for existing sources; `--write` applies the ones it can prove, and you apply the rest by hand. |
-| **webhooks** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.webhooks` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove) — a webhook nested inside a connector was never registered as a `webhook` item, so it was never materialized into `sys_webhook` and never delivered, and nothing emits the connector events its `events` list could name (`sync.completed`, `auth.expired` and the rest). Delete the key; the nested shape leaves with it (`WebhookConfig`, `WebhookEvent`, `WebhookSignatureAlgorithm`). To have a webhook actually sent, declare it in the stack's top-level `webhooks:` collection, which is materialized into `sys_webhook` and delivered on record events — note that doing so STARTS deliveries this connector never made. Run `os migrate meta --from 17` to list the mechanical edits for existing sources; `--write` applies the ones it can prove, and you apply the rest by hand. |
+| **webhooks** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.webhooks` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove) — a webhook nested inside a connector was never registered as a `webhook` item, so the webhook dispatcher never read it and never delivered it, and nothing emits the connector events its `events` list could name (`sync.completed`, `auth.expired` and the rest). Delete the key; the nested shape leaves with it (`WebhookConfig`, `WebhookEvent`, `WebhookSignatureAlgorithm`). To have a webhook actually sent, declare it in the stack's top-level `webhooks:` collection. The platform reads a declared webhook from the metadata registry and delivers it on record events; it writes no `sys_webhook` row for it (`sys_webhook` holds only the webhooks an organization authors at runtime). Note that declaring it STARTS deliveries this connector never made. Run `os migrate meta --from 17` to list the mechanical edits for existing sources; `--write` applies the ones it can prove, and you apply the rest by hand. |
 | **rateLimitConfig** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.rateLimitConfig` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17.0.0 (ADR-0049 D2) — the entire shape is gone, not just this key: `ConnectorRateLimitConfig` and its `RateLimitStrategy` enum were removed with it, because no outbound rate-limiting engine ever existed. The platform's only token bucket (runtime `security/rate-limit.ts`) throttles INBOUND requests to us; nothing throttled the calls a connector makes out, so every knob here was inert while reading like a configured cap. Delete the key. Do NOT substitute `shared` `RateLimitConfig` — that is the inbound limiter and would cap the wrong direction; until an outbound throttle exists, rate-limit at the connector provider or upstream gateway. This edit left `os migrate meta` with the protocol-16.x conversions: apply it by hand, or run the tool on a release that still carries the conversion — https://objectstack.ai/docs/protocol-upgrade. |
 | **retryConfig** | `{ strategy?: Enum<'exponential_backoff' \| 'linear_backoff' \| 'fixed_delay' \| 'no_retry'>; maxAttempts?: number; initialDelayMs?: number; maxDelayMs?: number; … }` | optional | Retry configuration |
 | **connectionTimeoutMs** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `connector.connectionTimeoutMs` was removed in @objectstack/spec 17 (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove) — the platform never honoured it and cannot honour it where it was declared: a connector's outbound call is a WHATWG `fetch`, whose only cancellation surface is one `AbortSignal` over the whole operation, so nothing there observes the connection phase separately, and the value only ever travelled (onto the reported def and the materialization fingerprint) without ever bounding a connect. Delete the key. Use `requestTimeoutMs` for the deadline the platform does keep — it is applied as `resilientFetch`'s per-attempt timeout — and bound the connect phase at a connector provider or upstream gateway on a transport that can separate the phases. Run `os migrate meta --from 17` to list the mechanical edits for existing sources; `--write` applies the ones it can prove, and you apply the rest by hand. |
 
@@ -164,14 +164,14 @@ export const HIGH_RISK_CLASSES: HighRiskClass[] = [
     id: 'webhook-materialization',
     label: 'Webhook materialization',
     summary:
-      'a stack/connector-authored webhook is materialized into a dispatchable sys_webhook row on boot (#3461/#3489) — the authored value crosses manifest-decomposition → the ObjectQL registry (type `webhook`) → the bridge → engine.insert, and the bridge was first gated BEHIND the realtime/messaging dispatch guard, silently materializing nothing on a realtime-less boot despite green unit tests.',
+      'a webhook declared in a stack\'s top-level `webhooks:` collection is dispatched from the metadata registry and writes no sys_webhook row (ADR-0131 D2; the boot seeder of #3461/#3489 is retired) — the authored value crosses manifest-decomposition → the ObjectQL registry (type `webhook`) → the `declaredWebhooks` reader the plugin binds on the data engine alone → the dispatcher, which delivers a matching record event with `object`→`object_name` applied. The proof boots WITHOUT realtime because the first bridge was gated BEHIND the realtime/messaging dispatch guard and silently bound nothing on a realtime-less boot despite green unit tests.',
     proofId: 'webhook-materialization',
     proofRef: 'packages/qa/dogfood/test/webhook-materialization.dogfood.test.ts#webhook-materialization',
     bound: true,
     // spec `object` → runtime `object_name` is the representative remap for the
     // whole authoring→dispatcher pipeline: its `live` status is only true
-    // because the materializer runs (engine-only, independent of realtime), and
-    // the proof boots WITHOUT realtime to pin exactly that.
+    // because the declared-webhook reader is bound (engine-only, independent of
+    // realtime), and the proof boots WITHOUT realtime to pin exactly that.
     ledgerBindings: [{ type: 'webhook', path: 'object' }],
   },
   {
 
@@ -10407,8 +10407,8 @@ const dashboardRefreshIntervalToRefreshIntervalSeconds: MetadataConversion = {
  * had no engine — nothing polled, counted consecutive failures or tripped a
  * breaker; `status` was read by nothing (the runtime publishes a COMPUTED
  * `state`, and participation is `enabled`); and a webhook nested in a
- * connector was never registered as a `webhook` item, so it was never
- * materialized into `sys_webhook` or delivered.
+ * connector was never registered as a `webhook` item, so the webhook
+ * dispatcher never read it or delivered it.
  *
  * A pure lossless delete, one notice per stripped key: none of the three ever
  * had an effect to preserve. In particular the nested `webhooks` are STRIPPED,
 
@@ -116,6 +116,23 @@ describe('connector resilience family retirement — the tombstones', () => {
     });
   }
 
+  it('the `webhooks` prescription teaches the declared-webhook model: read from the registry, no `sys_webhook` row', () => {
+    // ADR-0131 D2: a declared top-level webhook is code. The dispatcher reads it
+    // from the metadata registry and no `sys_webhook` row is written for it, so
+    // a prescription that says it "is materialized into `sys_webhook`" sends the
+    // author looking for a row that never appears.
+    const issue = issueAt(ConnectorSchema.safeParse({ ...WELL_FORMED, webhooks: AUTHORED.webhooks }), 'webhooks');
+    expect(issue!.message).toContain('reads a declared webhook from the metadata registry');
+    expect(issue!.message).toContain('it writes no `sys_webhook` row for it');
+    expect(issue!.message).not.toMatch(/materiali[sz]ed into `sys_webhook`/);
+    expect(issue!.message).not.toMatch(/materiali[sz]/);
+    // The D3 entry an upgrading author reads says the same.
+    const entry = MIGRATIONS_BY_MAJOR[18]!.semantic.find((s) => s.id === 'connector-resilience-keys-retired');
+    expect(entry!.replacement).toContain('reads from the metadata registry');
+    expect(entry!.replacement).toContain('writes no `sys_webhook` row');
+    for (const text of [entry!.replacement, entry!.reason]) expect(text).not.toMatch(/materiali[sz]/);
+  });
+
   it('the second carrier, the /meta door and `stack.connectors[]` refuse all three — with controls', () => {
     const door = getMetadataTypeSchema('connector');
     expect(door, 'no schema bound for `connector`').toBeDefined();