@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/spec': minor
+---
+
+feat(spec): `GetMetaItemsRequestSchema` declares `names`, the batch by-names read of a `/meta/:type` list
+
+Clause-②: yes (widening)
+Metadata-protocol: added
+
+A caller that wants a handful of items of one metadata type used to read the whole type, or read each item by name. The list request now declares an optional `names`, a list of item names:
+
+- **What it answers.** Only the named items of the type, among those the list would answer without it. A name that matches no item is simply absent from the answer; there is no 404.
+- **On the wire.** One comma-separated value, `GET /api/v1/meta/:type?names=a,b,c`, the data routes' convention for `fields` and `searchFields`. The request member is the protocol's post-parse shape, a list (`names: ['a', 'b', 'c']`); the REST door splits the value.
+- **An empty value is refused.** The schema refuses an empty list (`minItems: 1` in the published JSON Schema), and the door answers an empty `?names=` with 400, rather than reading it as every item. Leave the key out to list every item.
+
+This entry declares the member only. The REST door, the dispatcher and the store read that serve it are a separate change to `@objectstack/rest`, `@objectstack/runtime` and `@objectstack/metadata-protocol`; until a release carries it, a list request carrying `names` is answered as if it were absent.
@@ -1514,6 +1514,7 @@ One changed key path of the pending draft, and the last write that changed it.
 | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
 | **type** | `string` | ✅ | Metadata type name (e.g., "object", "plugin") |
 | **packageId** | `string` | optional | Optional package ID to filter items by |
+| **names** | `string[]` | optional | [PLANNED — not yet served] Item names to narrow the list to: only the named items of the type are answered, among those the list would answer without it. Sent over HTTP as one comma-separated value (`?names=a,b,c`). A name that matches no item is simply absent from the answer (no 404). An empty value is refused with 400 rather than read as every item; leave the key out to list every item. No list door reads it yet: until one does, a request carrying it is answered as if it were absent. |
 | **previewDrafts** | `boolean` | optional | Draft-visibility switch (ADR-0033 draft-overlay preview): when true, pending `state='draft'` rows are overlaid on the active list — draft wins on name collision, draft-only items appear, and each overlaid item is tagged `_draft: true` so UIs can badge the preview. Absent/false = published world only. Declaration ≠ authorization: this member only switches which rows are read, and ADR-0106 masking is unaffected — callers without draft-preview authorization are refused upstream (admin-gated), not by this schema. |
 
 
 
@@ -835,6 +835,7 @@
     "api/GetMetaItemResponse:sortability",
     "api/GetMetaItemResponse:type",
     "api/GetMetaItemResponse:version",
+    "api/GetMetaItemsRequest:names",
     "api/GetMetaItemsRequest:packageId",
     "api/GetMetaItemsRequest:previewDrafts",
     "api/GetMetaItemsRequest:type",
 
@@ -1872,6 +1872,74 @@ describe('environmentId stays OUT of the meta-read request shape — transport-l
   });
 });
 
+// Its own import lines, as the blocks around it: this group pins one member.
+import { z } from 'zod';
+import type { GetMetaItemsRequest } from './protocol.zod';
+
+describe('GetMetaItemsRequestSchema declares `names` — the batch by-names list read', () => {
+  // Ruling A on #29236: the list narrows to the named items, an unknown name
+  // is simply absent, and an empty value is refused rather than read as every
+  // item. This is the protocol's post-parse shape — a list; the wire's one
+  // comma-separated value is split by the REST door. As in the blocks above,
+  // accept-pins assert the parsed VALUE: the object is non-strict, so
+  // `success` alone is also what an undeclared, stripped key looks like.
+
+  it('accepts names and PRESERVES the list through parse', () => {
+    const result = GetMetaItemsRequestSchema.safeParse({ type: 'app', names: ['crm', 'helpdesk'] });
+    expect(result.success).toBe(true);
+    if (result.success) expect(result.data.names).toEqual(['crm', 'helpdesk']);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps names OPTIONAL — a request without it lists every item, and parse invents none', () => {
+    const result = GetMetaItemsRequestSchema.safeParse({ type: 'app' });
+    expect(result.success).toBe(true);
+    if (result.success) expect('names' in result.data).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('refuses an EMPTY list, at `names` — an empty filter is never read as every item', () => {
+    const result = GetMetaItemsRequestSchema.safeParse({ type: 'app', names: [] });
+    expect(result.success).toBe(false);
+    if (!result.success) {
+      expect(result.error.issues).toHaveLength(1);
+      expect(result.error.issues[0]).toMatchObject({ code: 'too_small', path: ['names'] });
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('judges no member — a name that matches no item is kept, to be simply absent from the answer', () => {
+    for (const names of [['no_such_app'], [''], ['crm', 'crm']]) {
+      const result = GetMetaItemsRequestSchema.safeParse({ type: 'app', names });
+      expect(result.success, JSON.stringify(names)).toBe(true);
+      if (result.success) expect(result.data.names).toEqual(names);
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('refuses the wire spelling — a comma string is the REST door\'s to split, not a protocol value', () => {
+    expect(GetMetaItemsRequestSchema.safeParse({ type: 'app', names: 'crm,helpdesk' }).success).toBe(false);
+    expect(GetMetaItemsRequestSchema.safeParse({ type: 'app', names: [1] }).success).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  it('states the minimum in the published JSON Schema (a minimum, not a refinement)', () => {
+    const json = z.toJSONSchema(GetMetaItemsRequestSchema, { io: 'input', unrepresentable: 'any' }) as {
+      properties: Record<string, Record<string, unknown>>;
+      required?: string[];
+    };
+    expect(json.properties.names).toMatchObject({ type: 'array', minItems: 1, items: { type: 'string' } });
+    expect(json.required ?? []).not.toContain('names');
+  });
+
+  it('types names as an optional string list, input and output alike', () => {
+    expectTypeOf<GetMetaItemsRequest['names']>().toEqualTypeOf<string[] | undefined>();
+  });
+
+  it('is declared ahead of its producer: the describe opens with the planned marker, never a tracker id', () => {
+    // No list door reads `names` yet; the change that serves it drops the
+    // marker and this pin with it.
+    const description = GetMetaItemsRequestSchema.shape.names.description ?? '';
+    expect(description).toMatch(/^\[PLANNED — not yet served\] /);
+    expect(description).not.toMatch(/#\d{3,}/);
+  });
+});
+
 describe('MetadataProtocol declares getMetaItemLayered', () => {
   // Type-level pins (compiled by the spec test typecheck, the
   // translation-typegen.test.ts pattern). The member is an interface
 
@@ -238,10 +238,45 @@ export const GetMetaTypesResponseSchema = lazySchema(() => z.object({
  * must carry it alongside a request do so in a typed transport envelope at
  * their own layer (see `TransportScopedMetaRequest` in `@objectstack/rest`),
  * never by widening these shapes.
+ *
+ * **`names` is the batch by-names read of one type** (ruling A on #29236,
+ * record 6580261740): a caller that wants a handful of items asks the list
+ * once instead of reading the whole type, or reading each item by name. This
+ * member is the protocol's post-parse shape — a LIST of item names; the wire
+ * spelling `?names=a,b,c` (one comma-separated value, the data routes'
+ * convention for `fields` and `searchFields`, which fits the list door's arity
+ * rule that refuses a repeated key) is split by the REST door, not here. The
+ * protocol pushes it down to the store read, so it filters before decorating
+ * and masking and translation run on the named items only.
+ *
+ * The list arm refuses only the EMPTY list, as `searchFieldsArray` does
+ * (`../data/search-fields-names-a-field.ts`): absent means "every item", so an
+ * empty filter read as absent is a widening — the class the list door's `?id=`
+ * / `?object=` refusal closes (`refuseEmptyListFilter` in `@objectstack/rest`).
+ * The schema judges no member: a name that matches no item is not refused,
+ * it is simply absent from the answer, as an unknown `?id=` narrows to the
+ * empty list. A minimum, not a refinement, so the published JSON Schema
+ * states it.
+ *
+ * **Declared ahead of its producer.** No list door reads `names` yet, so its
+ * describe opens `[PLANNED — not yet served]`; the server PR on #29236 drops
+ * the marker in the change that serves the member (the pin is in
+ * `protocol.test.ts`).
  */
 export const GetMetaItemsRequestSchema = lazySchema(() => z.object({
   type: z.string().describe('Metadata type name (e.g., "object", "plugin")'),
   packageId: z.string().optional().describe('Optional package ID to filter items by'),
+  names: z.array(z.string())
+    .min(1, 'Name at least one item, or leave `names` out to list every item')
+    .optional()
+    .describe(
+      '[PLANNED — not yet served] Item names to narrow the list to: only the named items of the type '
+      + 'are answered, among those the list would answer without it. Sent over HTTP as one '
+      + 'comma-separated value (`?names=a,b,c`). A name that matches no item is simply absent from the '
+      + 'answer (no 404). An empty value is refused with 400 rather than read as every item; leave the '
+      + 'key out to list every item. No list door reads it yet: until one does, a request carrying it '
+      + 'is answered as if it were absent.',
+    ),
   previewDrafts: z.boolean().optional().describe(
     'Draft-visibility switch (ADR-0033 draft-overlay preview): when true, '
     + 'pending `state=\'draft\'` rows are overlaid on the active list — draft '