objectstack-fleet · Nov 6, 2026 · Nov 6, 2026 · Nov 6, 2026 · Nov 6, 2026 · Nov 6, 2026
diff --git a/.changeset/31035-template-manifest-inert-keys-retired.md b/.changeset/31035-template-manifest-inert-keys-retired.md
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/spec': minor
+'@objectstack/cli': minor
+'create-objectstack': patch
+---
+
+feat(spec)!: retire five `objectstack.manifest.json` keys nothing read — `name`, `specVersion`, `skills`, `scaffold` and `visibility` (#31035)
+
+Clause-②: no (narrowing) — five authorable keys of `TemplateManifestSchema` become tombstones, and `os package publish` refuses the file's `visibility` by name
+Metadata-protocol: narrowed
+
+<!-- adr-0087: registered marketplace-template-manifest-inert-keys-retired -->
+
+**BREAKING** for an `objectstack.manifest.json` that still writes any of the five keys, and for `os package publish` run on a manifest that declares `visibility`.
+
+- **Retired (ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove).** `TemplateManifest.name`, `.specVersion`, `.skills`, `.scaffold` and `.visibility` are `retiredKey()` tombstones: `tsc` refuses them and a parse of `TemplateManifestSchema` refuses each with its prescription. None ever had an effect: no reader of the file's `name`, `specVersion`, `skills` or `scaffold` existed, and `os package publish` read `visibility` only to warn that it ignores it. `RETIRED_KEYS_BY_MAJOR[18]` lists the five keys and the upgrade guide carries the semantic entry `marketplace-template-manifest-inert-keys-retired`. No ADR-0087 conversion: this file is not a stack collection member, so `os migrate meta` has nothing to rewrite; a runtime boot never reads it. The publish request's own `visibility` (`CreatePackageRequestSchema`) is unchanged.
+- **Migration** — FROM → TO, in `objectstack.manifest.json`:
+  - `name` → delete it. The project slug is `package.json` `name`; the published package id is `manifestId` (or the one `os package publish` derives from the compiled artifact).
+  - `specVersion` → delete it. The protocol your package needs is `manifest.engines.protocol` in `objectstack.config.ts`; the spec release it builds against is its `@objectstack/spec` dependency.
+  - `skills` → delete it. create-objectstack installs the whole skills catalog.
+  - `scaffold` → delete it. Nothing prompted for `scaffold.variables` or ran `scaffold.postInstall`.
+  - `visibility` → delete it and pass `os package publish --visibility <private|org|marketplace>`.
+- **`@objectstack/cli`.** `os package publish` refuses a manifest declaring `visibility` before any network call, naming `--visibility`. It names the other four in a warning for deletion and still publishes, because every project scaffolded from the blank template before this release carries them.
+- **`create-objectstack`.** The blank template's manifest drops the five keys it wrote (`name`, `specVersion`, `skills`, `scaffold`), and scaffolding strips every retired key (`category` and these five, one list pinned to the spec's registry rows) from the template's manifest instead of writing `name`, so a template authored before this release still scaffolds a manifest the schema accepts. The release version pass (`scripts/sync-template-versions.mjs`) no longer stamps `specVersion`.
+- **Not retired here:** `publisher` and `isStarter`. A first-party publish script sends both to the hosted packages route, so their fate is a maintainer decision.
diff --git a/content/docs/deployment/cli.mdx b/content/docs/deployment/cli.mdx
@@ -3307,7 +3307,9 @@ checked against the spec's schema before anything is sent, and a declared
 `solutionType` against the built artifact: a `template` needs the `unmanaged`
 install mode, a `connector` a declared connector. The retired `category` — in
 the file, or as `--category` — is refused before any network call, with the
-facets that replace the value it held. `tags` has no flag and is
+facets that replace the value it held, and so is a `visibility` in the file
+(pass `--visibility`). The retired `name`, `specVersion`, `skills` and
+`scaffold`, which nothing ever read, are named in a warning for deletion. `tags` has no flag and is
 sent as written: the control plane judges the list, and a refusal is its 400,
 printed as it is. A top-level `tagline` is used only as the description, when
 neither `--description` nor the file's `description` gives one; otherwise it is

diff --git a/content/docs/deployment/marketplace-handbook.mdx b/content/docs/deployment/marketplace-handbook.mdx
@@ -96,6 +96,9 @@ with no image to caption. The schema also accepts `publisher` and `isStarter`,
 but the platform decides both: an author's value has no effect, so
 `os package publish` never sends them and prints a warning naming each one the
 file declares. `tags` is different: it is sent as written (see the table above).
+The file no longer accepts `visibility` (pass `--visibility`; publish refuses the
+key by name) nor `name`, `specVersion`, `skills` or `scaffold`, which nothing
+ever read: publish names each one still present so you can delete it.
 Put the icon, the description, the tags, the tagline and the README where the
 table above says, and nothing else.
 </Callout>
@@ -139,10 +142,11 @@ npx os verify        # boots the app in-process and proves it through the real H
 npm run build        # os build -> dist/objectstack.json
 ```
 
-Two declarations name the platform major your app is authored against:
-`engines.protocol` in the `defineStack` manifest, and `specVersion` in
-`objectstack.manifest.json`. A runtime outside the `engines.protocol` range
-refuses the app rather than half-loading it. See
+One declaration names the platform major your app is authored against:
+`engines.protocol` in the `defineStack` manifest. A runtime outside that range
+refuses the app rather than half-loading it. (The `specVersion` an older
+scaffold wrote into `objectstack.manifest.json` was never read, and spec 18
+retired it: delete it.) See
 [Validating metadata](/docs/deployment/validating-metadata) for what the checks
 cover.
 
@@ -261,8 +265,8 @@ loaded, and the app's page shows **Not loaded** with the protocol range it
 targets.
 
 To move, run `os migrate meta --from <the major you authored against>` on your
-source, apply what it lists, update `engines.protocol` and `specVersion`,
-rebuild, and publish a new version. [Upgrading](/docs/upgrading#the-metadata-app)
+source, apply what it lists, update `engines.protocol`, rebuild, and publish a
+new version. [Upgrading](/docs/upgrading#the-metadata-app)
 owns the loop.
 
 ## Extras: dependencies and modules

diff --git a/content/docs/getting-started/your-first-project.mdx b/content/docs/getting-started/your-first-project.mdx
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ between all four entry points by the artifact you want rather than by the word.
 ```
 my-app/
 ├── objectstack.config.ts        # defineStack() — the single entry point
-├── objectstack.manifest.json    # name, namespace, specVersion
+├── objectstack.manifest.json    # displayName, namespace — the package listing
 ├── package.json
 ├── tsconfig.json
 ├── note.test.ts                 # the starter test `npm test` runs

diff --git a/content/docs/references/marketplace/template-manifest.mdx b/content/docs/references/marketplace/template-manifest.mdx
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ description: "objectstack.manifest.json — on-disk descriptor for a template /
 
 `objectstack.manifest.json` — on-disk descriptor for a template / package
 source tree. Strict projection of `CreatePackageRequestSchema` (server-
-managed fields excluded) plus scaffold-time extras (name slug,
-specVersion, namespace, skills, preview, scaffold, readmePath), with
+managed fields excluded) plus scaffold-time extras (namespace, preview,
+readmePath), with
 `manifestId` locally relaxed to OPTIONAL — this file is a source tree, not
 a publish request (#7319; the field's own TSDoc carries the measurement).
 
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ objectstack.manifest.json — template / package source descriptor
 | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
 | **displayName** | `string` | ✅ | Display name shown in Studio and Marketplace |
 | **description** | `string` | optional | Short package description |
-| **visibility** | `Enum<'private' \| 'org' \| 'marketplace'>` | optional | Package visibility: private = owner org only; org = all envs in owner org; marketplace = public registry |
+| **visibility** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `TemplateManifest.visibility` was removed in @objectstack/spec 18 (ADR-0049) — `os package publish` never read it from this file. Delete the key and pass `--visibility` (`private`, `org` or `marketplace`) to `os package publish`. |
 | **category** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `TemplateManifest.category` was removed in @objectstack/spec 18 (ADR-0087) — one category had to say both who a package is for and what it is, and the platform and the cloud catalog spelled it from lists that disagreed. Delete the key. Declare `businessFunctions` (1-3 business functions, the primary one first), optionally `industries` (up to 3; absent means cross-industry) and `solutionType` (`app`, `template` or `connector`; absent means `app`). `LEGACY_CATEGORY_MAPPING` in @objectstack/spec/marketplace gives the facets for every old category value. |
 | **businessFunctions** | `Enum<'sales' \| 'marketing' \| 'customer-service' \| 'finance' \| 'hr' \| 'supply-chain' \| 'administration' \| 'project' \| 'legal' \| 'it' \| 'collaboration'>[]` | optional | Business functions the package serves: 1-3 distinct values, the first is primary |
 | **industries** | `Enum<'manufacturing' \| 'trade-distribution' \| 'retail' \| 'logistics' \| 'professional-services' \| 'financial-services' \| 'healthcare' \| 'education' \| 'public-sector' \| 'real-estate-construction'>[]` | optional | Industries the package is built for: up to 3 distinct values; absent means cross-industry |
@@ -58,12 +58,12 @@ objectstack.manifest.json — template / package source descriptor
 | **isStarter** | `boolean` | optional |  |
 | **translations** | `Record<string, { displayName?: string; description?: string; readme?: string; tagline?: string; … }>` | optional | Locale-keyed overrides; missing keys fall back to base columns |
 | **manifestId** | `string` | optional | Optional declarative default for the published package id (reverse-domain, e.g. com.acme.crm). Absent on a template source tree: `objectstack package publish` falls back to --manifest-id and then to a derived `local.<slug>`. NOT optional on the publish request itself |
-| **name** | `string` | ✅ | CLI slug (kebab-case, no namespace prefix) |
-| **specVersion** | `string` | ✅ | Compatible @objectstack/spec semver range |
+| **name** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `TemplateManifest.name` was removed in @objectstack/spec 18 (ADR-0049) — nothing read it: `os package publish` addresses the package by `manifestId` (or derives one from the compiled artifact), and a project's slug is its `package.json` `name`. Delete the key. |
+| **specVersion** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `TemplateManifest.specVersion` was removed in @objectstack/spec 18 (ADR-0049) — nothing read it. Delete the key. The protocol a package needs is `manifest.engines.protocol` in `objectstack.config.ts` (the handshake the runtime checks), and the spec release it builds against is the `@objectstack/spec` version in `package.json`. |
 | **namespace** | `string` | optional | Scaffold-only: the template’s own metadata namespace, rewritten by create-objectstack at scaffold time and read back as the fallback source for the template’s original namespace. NOT the publish namespace — publish reads that off the compiled artifact’s manifest.namespace (ADR-0048 addendum §A.2) |
-| **skills** | `string[]` | optional | Skill ids exercised by this template (for docs / picker) |
+| **skills** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `TemplateManifest.skills` was removed in @objectstack/spec 18 (ADR-0049) — nothing read it: create-objectstack installs the whole `@objectstack/skills` catalog whatever this file lists. Delete the key. |
 | **preview** | `{ screenshots?: string[]; demoUrl?: string }` | optional |  |
-| **scaffold** | `{ variables?: Record<string, any>; postInstall?: string[] }` | optional |  |
+| **scaffold** | `never` | optional | [REMOVED] `TemplateManifest.scaffold` was removed in @objectstack/spec 18 (ADR-0049) — nothing read it: create-objectstack never prompted for `scaffold.variables` nor ran `scaffold.postInstall`. Delete the key. |
 | **readmePath** | `string` | optional | Path (relative to manifest) to long-form README |
 
 ### Nested Shape: `TemplateManifest.translations[string]`

diff --git a/content/docs/upgrading.mdx b/content/docs/upgrading.mdx
@@ -83,11 +83,12 @@ command for this move; it is four steps you run yourself.
    what older scaffolds wrote) moves entirely here. Read whatever
    peer-dependency warnings this prints — the `--frozen-lockfile` install your CI
    runs skips resolution and will never print them.
-3. **Check the two protocol declarations your app ships** — `specVersion` in
-   `objectstack.manifest.json`, and `engines.protocol` in your `defineStack`
-   manifest. Both name the protocol **major**, so a move inside one major leaves
-   both alone, and a major boundary is where they change. Move them deliberately
-   when you cross one; never edit them to silence a mismatch.
+3. **Check the protocol declaration your app ships** — `engines.protocol` in
+   your `defineStack` manifest. It names the protocol **major**, so a move inside
+   one major leaves it alone, and a major boundary is where it changes. Move it
+   deliberately when you cross one; never edit it to silence a mismatch. (An
+   older scaffold also wrote `specVersion` into `objectstack.manifest.json`.
+   Nothing ever read it, and spec 18 retired it: delete it.)
 4. **Re-install the AI skills from the moved catalog, and commit them.** The
    skills your coding agent reads come from the `@objectstack/skills` dev
    dependency, which moves only with the other `@objectstack/*` packages — in

diff --git a/docs/audits/2026-07-unknown-key-strictness-ledger.counts/marketplace.md b/docs/audits/2026-07-unknown-key-strictness-ledger.counts/marketplace.md
@@ -19,4 +19,4 @@ hand-patch a number here** — fix the code or the verdict and regenerate.
 
 | Dir | Sites |
 |---|---|
-| `marketplace/` | 31 |
+| `marketplace/` | 30 |
diff --git a/packages/apps/connector-docusign/objectstack.manifest.json b/packages/apps/connector-docusign/objectstack.manifest.json
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 {
   "$schema": "https://schemas.objectstack.dev/template-manifest.json",
   "manifestId": "app.objectstack.connector-docusign",
-  "name": "connector-docusign",
-  "specVersion": "^18.0.0",
   "displayName": "DocuSign eSignature",
   "description": "Send documents for signature, read envelopes and follow their signature status from flows, over DocuSign's eSignature OpenAPI document. Developer sandbox; your administrator registers their own DocuSign integration key.",
   "businessFunctions": ["collaboration", "legal"],

diff --git a/packages/apps/connector-github/objectstack.manifest.json b/packages/apps/connector-github/objectstack.manifest.json
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 {
   "$schema": "https://schemas.objectstack.dev/template-manifest.json",
   "manifestId": "app.objectstack.connector-github",
-  "name": "connector-github",
-  "specVersion": "^18.0.0",
   "displayName": "GitHub",
   "description": "Search and read GitHub issues and pull requests from flows, through GitHub's remote MCP server. Read only.",
   "businessFunctions": ["it"],

diff --git a/packages/apps/connector-stripe/objectstack.manifest.json b/packages/apps/connector-stripe/objectstack.manifest.json
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 {
   "$schema": "https://schemas.objectstack.dev/template-manifest.json",
   "manifestId": "app.objectstack.connector-stripe",
-  "name": "connector-stripe",
-  "specVersion": "^18.0.0",
   "displayName": "Stripe",
   "description": "Read Stripe customers, charges, invoices and payment intents from flows, over Stripe's own OpenAPI document. Read only.",
   "businessFunctions": ["finance"],