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feat(zarr-metadata): add metadata model layer#210

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feat(zarr-metadata): add metadata model layer#210
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zarr-metadata-model-layer

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@d-v-b d-v-b commented Jul 5, 2026

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Adds zarr_metadata.model: frozen-dataclass models that are canonical, lossless representations of Zarr v2/v3 metadata documents, plus structural validators. This is part 1 of the thin-metadata refactor (design spec): the models ported here (from the zng_metadata prototype) become the metadata layer zarr-python consumes after the next zarr-metadata release.

What's included

  • model._validationValidationProblem / MetadataValidationError diagnostics and validate_* / is_* / parse_* trios for JSON values, v3 metadata fields, and v2/v3 array + group documents. Structural checks only (key presence, JSON shapes); no domain interpretation.
  • model._arrayZarrMetadataV3 (name + configuration, the in-memory form of MetadataV3), ArrayMetadataModelV3, ArrayMetadataModelV2 (+*Partial TypedDicts with drift-guard tests). Every v3 extension point is held as a ZarrMetadataV3; fill_value is verbatim JSON (NaN as "NaN"); JSON arrays are tuples. from_key_value/to_key_value handle the zarr.json / .zarray+.zattrs store layouts.
  • model._groupGroupMetadataModelV3 (with the consolidated_metadata convention as a typed field), GroupMetadataModelV2, ConsolidatedMetadataModelV3 (entries parsed into thin child models), ConsolidatedMetadataModelV2 (flat .zmetadata map held verbatim — merging file fragments into node models would lose which nodes had a .zattrs entry and break byte-faithful round-tripping; see the design-spec refinement).
  • Front-door exports of the model classes from zarr_metadata; validators and key/store constants stay under zarr_metadata.model.
  • 188 new tests (161 ported from the prototype suite, 27 new for groups/consolidated). pyright --strict clean.

API-hardening pass (added after an ergonomics review)

A fresh agent with no design context consumed defective documents through this API and reported back; its findings drove five changes (see the harden model validation commit):

  1. Validators now enforce what the types declare. The v2 validator checks dtype / order / compressor / filters / dimension_separator shapes, and all four document validators check the fixed zarr_format / node_type literals. (Resolves the previously-flagged "validators don't check literal values" question.)
  2. ValidationProblem carries a machine-readable kind (missing_key / invalid_type / invalid_value / invalid_json) — consumers dispatch on it instead of string-matching messages.
  3. One exception type for all ingestion failures: from_key_value no longer leaks KeyError / JSONDecodeError, and constructor invariants raise MetadataValidationError (still a ValueError) instead of bare ValueError.
  4. ZarrMetadataV3NamedConfigModelV3, plus a role-named alias MetadataFieldModelV3 used in all annotation positions: annotations convey the logical meaning of the field, not its serialized form. Today the alias is exactly NamedConfigModelV3; if a future spec revision adds a field form that cannot normalize to name + configuration, the alias widens to a union and annotation sites do not move (mirrors the raw-layer NamedConfigV3 / MetadataV3 split).
  5. Discoverability: the validate_*/is_*/parse_* contract is documented on zarr_metadata.model itself; update() documents that it does not re-validate; the v2 to_json vs to_key_value attributes split is documented on both.

An adversarial pass (constructing invalid documents that pass validation) closed four more holes (close validation holes commit): JSON booleans and negative values in shape/chunks; dimension_names length not matching shape; non-JSON attributes/configuration values (previously either silently rewritten by json.dumps on round-trip or escaping as a raw TypeError); and the consolidated-metadata envelope, now deep-validated by the same validate_consolidated_metadata_v3 the model constructor uses, so the is_group_metadata_v3 type guard never vouches for a document from_json would reject.

Must-understand extension fields (decision made after reading the spec text): the spec requires an implementation to fail to open groups/arrays carrying fields it does not recognize that are not explicitly must_understand: false — and fields are implicitly must-understand. Since recognition is reader-specific (consolidated_metadata is itself such a field) and a document carrying a must-understand extension is still a valid document, the refusal duty sits at open/resolve time, not in document validation. The v3 models now expose must_understand_fields — the obligation partition of extra_fields — so a reader discharges the duty with meta.must_understand_fields.keys() - recognized; the design spec pins this as a part-2 resolve-layer requirement (core zarr-python recognizes no extra fields, matching today's parse_extra_fields behavior). Still unchecked, as domain territory: empty v2 dtype record lists and empty codec names.

Still flagged: always-emitted .zattrs Resolved: the .zattrs file's presence is part of the store. v2 attributes is dict | UNSET: UNSET (no file) emits nothing, any dict — including an explicit empty {} — emits the file, and the two stores stay distinct through round-trips.

Optional pydantic integration

zarr_metadata.pydantic ships one Annotated field type per model (metadata: zmp.ArrayMetadataV3 on any BaseModel). Design was gamed out with prototypes against two alternatives: __get_pydantic_core_schema__ dunders on the core classes (verified working across pydantic 2.0–2.13, rejected to keep the dependency-free layer framework-free) and pydantic-aware subclasses in the namespace (rejected on empirical failures — identity split breaks equality, core instances are rejected by subclass-typed fields, nested construction escapes the subclass hierarchy). The chosen shape keeps instances as the core classes (free interop with non-pydantic code), imports pydantic eagerly at the module (loud failure when absent), and quarantines protocol risk to one module. Validation delegates to from_json, so pydantic coercion can never bypass the structural validators; tests/model/test_pydantic.py additionally documents the hand-rolled recipes and the engine-backed BaseModel pattern for pydantic-zarr-style consumers.

Follow-up

After merge: cut zarr_metadata-v0.4.0, bump zarr-python's floor pin, then part 2 (resolve layer + thin metadata swap in zarr-python) proceeds per the design spec.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

dependabot Bot and others added 19 commits May 31, 2026 19:28
…#176)

Bumps the actions group with 8 updates in the / directory:

| Package | From | To |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [prefix-dev/setup-pixi](https://github.com/prefix-dev/setup-pixi) | `0.9.5` | `0.9.6` |
| [codecov/codecov-action](https://github.com/codecov/codecov-action) | `6.0.0` | `6.0.1` |
| [github/issue-metrics](https://github.com/github/issue-metrics) | `4.2.2` | `4.2.7` |
| [j178/prek-action](https://github.com/j178/prek-action) | `2.0.3` | `2.0.4` |
| [actions/upload-artifact](https://github.com/actions/upload-artifact) | `7.0.0` | `7.0.1` |
| [actions/download-artifact](https://github.com/actions/download-artifact) | `7.0.0` | `8.0.1` |
| [pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish](https://github.com/pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish) | `1.13.0` | `1.14.0` |
| [zizmorcore/zizmor-action](https://github.com/zizmorcore/zizmor-action) | `0.5.3` | `0.5.6` |



Updates `prefix-dev/setup-pixi` from 0.9.5 to 0.9.6
- [Release notes](https://github.com/prefix-dev/setup-pixi/releases)
- [Commits](prefix-dev/setup-pixi@1b2de7f...5185adf)

Updates `codecov/codecov-action` from 6.0.0 to 6.0.1
- [Release notes](https://github.com/codecov/codecov-action/releases)
- [Changelog](https://github.com/codecov/codecov-action/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md)
- [Commits](codecov/codecov-action@57e3a13...e79a696)

Updates `github/issue-metrics` from 4.2.2 to 4.2.7
- [Release notes](https://github.com/github/issue-metrics/releases)
- [Commits](github-community-projects/issue-metrics@c9e9838...1e38d5e)

Updates `j178/prek-action` from 2.0.3 to 2.0.4
- [Release notes](https://github.com/j178/prek-action/releases)
- [Commits](j178/prek-action@6ad8027...bdca6f1)

Updates `actions/upload-artifact` from 7.0.0 to 7.0.1
- [Release notes](https://github.com/actions/upload-artifact/releases)
- [Commits](actions/upload-artifact@v7...043fb46)

Updates `actions/download-artifact` from 7.0.0 to 8.0.1
- [Release notes](https://github.com/actions/download-artifact/releases)
- [Commits](actions/download-artifact@v7...3e5f45b)

Updates `pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish` from 1.13.0 to 1.14.0
- [Release notes](https://github.com/pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish/releases)
- [Commits](pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@v1.13.0...cef2210)

Updates `zizmorcore/zizmor-action` from 0.5.3 to 0.5.6
- [Release notes](https://github.com/zizmorcore/zizmor-action/releases)
- [Commits](zizmorcore/zizmor-action@b1d7e1f...5f14fd0)

---
updated-dependencies:
- dependency-name: prefix-dev/setup-pixi
  dependency-version: 0.9.6
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-patch
  dependency-group: actions
- dependency-name: codecov/codecov-action
  dependency-version: 6.0.1
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-patch
  dependency-group: actions
- dependency-name: github/issue-metrics
  dependency-version: 4.2.7
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-patch
  dependency-group: actions
- dependency-name: j178/prek-action
  dependency-version: 2.0.4
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-patch
  dependency-group: actions
- dependency-name: actions/upload-artifact
  dependency-version: 7.0.1
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-patch
  dependency-group: actions
- dependency-name: actions/download-artifact
  dependency-version: 8.0.1
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-major
  dependency-group: actions
- dependency-name: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish
  dependency-version: 1.14.0
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-minor
  dependency-group: actions
- dependency-name: zizmorcore/zizmor-action
  dependency-version: 0.5.6
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-patch
  dependency-group: actions
...

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <support@github.com>
Co-authored-by: dependabot[bot] <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
d-v-b added 7 commits July 5, 2026 13:31
Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
Findings from an API-ergonomics exercise (a fresh agent consuming
defective metadata documents):

- ValidationProblem gains a machine-readable kind (missing_key /
  invalid_type / invalid_value / invalid_json), ending message
  string-matching in consumers.
- The v2 array validator now enforces what its types declare (dtype,
  order, compressor, filters, dimension_separator), and all four
  document validators check the fixed zarr_format / node_type literals.
- All ingestion failures surface as MetadataValidationError: missing
  store keys and undecodable bytes in from_key_value (previously
  KeyError / JSONDecodeError) and constructor invariants (previously
  bare ValueError).
- ZarrMetadataV3 is renamed NamedConfigModelV3: it models a name +
  configuration pair, and the old name read as a whole-document type.
- Discoverability: the validate_*/is_*/parse_* contract is documented
  on zarr_metadata.model itself; update() documents that it does not
  re-validate; the v2 to_json/to_key_value attributes split is
  documented on both.

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
…aFieldModelV3

Model fields and consumer signatures should convey the logical meaning
of the type (a metadata-document field), not the form it takes when
JSON-serialized (a named configuration). MetadataFieldModelV3 is today
exactly NamedConfigModelV3; if a future spec revision adds a field form
that cannot normalize to name + configuration, the alias widens to a
union and annotation sites do not move. Mirrors the raw-layer split
between NamedConfigV3 (shape) and MetadataV3 (field union).

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
test_v3_to_json_includes_required_fields hand-enumerated keys with
chained asserts, restating what ARRAY_METADATA_REQUIRED_KEYS_V3 already
defines. Now: one coverage assert driven by the constant (tracks the
TypedDict automatically) and one whole-document equality for the values.

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
The subset assert against ARRAY_METADATA_REQUIRED_KEYS_V3 was redundant:
equality with a literal that spells out the full document already covers
every required key. One dict, one assert.

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
Invalid documents that previously passed validation:

- shape/chunks containing JSON booleans (bool is an int subclass in
  Python but not an integer in a metadata document) or negative values
- dimension_names whose length does not match shape
- attributes and configuration values that are not JSON-serializable —
  now checked recursively like fill_value, so an int-keyed dict cannot
  be silently rewritten by json.dumps on round-trip and a set() cannot
  escape as a TypeError from to_key_value
- consolidated_metadata envelopes: the group validator now deep-validates
  the envelope and its entries via the shared
  validate_consolidated_metadata_v3, which ConsolidatedMetadataModelV3
  .from_json also uses, so is_group_metadata_v3 never vouches for a
  document the model constructor would reject

Three pre-existing test fixtures paired dimension_names=('x',) with the
default scalar shape () and were themselves spec-invalid; they now use a
matching 1-d shape.

Deliberately unchanged, pending a design decision: unknown extension
fields with must_understand: true still pass (which layer owns the
spec's refusal duty), and empty v2 dtype records / empty codec names
still pass (domain territory).

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
The v3 core spec: 'An implementation MUST fail to open Zarr groups or
arrays if any metadata fields are present which (a) the implementation
does not recognize and (b) are not explicitly set to
"must_understand": false' — and fields are implicitly must-understand
unless waived.

The model layer cannot discharge this itself: recognition is
reader-specific (consolidated_metadata is itself an extension field one
reader understands and another does not), and a document carrying a
must-understand extension is still a valid document. So the models
partition by obligation: must_understand_fields is the subset of
extra_fields not explicitly waived, and a compliant reader fails to
open when must_understand_fields.keys() - recognized is non-empty.
The design spec pins that duty on the part-2 resolve layer, matching
what zarr-python's parse_extra_fields enforces today.

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
@d-v-b

d-v-b commented Jul 5, 2026

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🤖 AI text below 🤖

The design decisions taken in this PR (where the upstreamed models diverge from the zng_metadata prototype) are now documented as issues on the prototype repo:

  • zng#19 — tracking: models upstreamed, port adaptations, action after zarr_metadata-v0.4.0
  • zng#20ZarrMetadataV3NamedConfigModelV3 + role alias MetadataFieldModelV3
  • zng#21ValidationProblem.kind + one exception type; Ok/Err result type rejected
  • zng#22 — validators enforce declared types (v2 fields, literals, adversarial holes)
  • zng#23must_understand_fields and the fail-to-open duty
  • zng#24 — group/consolidated models; v2 .zmetadata verbatim

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

d-v-b added 2 commits July 5, 2026 17:18
Delegate wholesale rather than letting pydantic introspect the dataclass:
InstanceOf (is-instance core schema) + BeforeValidator(from_json) +
PlainSerializer(to_json, return_type=dict). Field-by-field validation is
impossible anyway (the models' annotation-only imports live behind
TYPE_CHECKING, so pydantic raises class-not-fully-defined) and would
diverge from the library's structural validation via coercion if it
weren't. MetadataValidationError subclasses ValueError, so failed parses
surface as pydantic ValidationError with the loc-annotated messages.

pydantic is already in the package's test dependency group.

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
…y not

Correcting the previous commit's too-strong claim: pydantic CAN
introspect the model dataclass — TypeAdapter(...).rebuild() with the
TYPE_CHECKING-only names supplied as _types_namespace resolves the
schema, and __post_init__ invariants still run. A new test exercises
that path and pins why it is not the recommended integration: it
validates the model shape, not the document (bare-string data_type
rejected — no from_json normalization), and pydantic's lax coercion
silently re-opens holes the library validators close (shape=[True, -5]
coerces to (1, -5); a wrong dimension_names count passes).

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
d-v-b added 5 commits July 5, 2026 21:17
… pyright

Pinning a working pyright (<= 1.1.404) in CI was considered and does
not suffice: the pin controls one of four checker surfaces. Contributor
IDEs (Pylance bundles current pyright) and downstream consumers'
pyright read the py.typed inline annotations with their own versions,
and decisively, mypy 2.1.0 has no PEP 661 support at all — a sentinel
in type position is a hard [valid-type] error, which would degrade
these fields to Any for mypy consumers, including zarr-python itself.
The enum is currently the only spelling with exact types on every
surface; switch when pyright#11115 is fixed AND mypy implements PEP 661.

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
Corrects the sentinel implementation note: PEP 661 was accepted
2026-04-23 and ships as stdlib sentinel in Python 3.15. The two checker
gaps blocking the Sentinel spelling (pyright regression #11115, mypy
not yet implementing the PEP) are therefore temporary gaps against a
Final standard, and the enum is a stopgap with a defined end state.

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
…are the laggards

ty 0.0.56 types the Sentinel spelling perfectly in dataclass fields:
exact T | UNSET unions, both-direction is/is-not narrowing, and
wrong-typed constructor arguments rejected (verified with reveal_type,
so it is real inference, not silent Any). The checker matrix for
sentinel-in-type-position is therefore ty full / pyright regressed
(#11115) / mypy not implemented — recorded so the switch decision has
current calibration.

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
d-v-b's call: PEP 661 is Final, ty already types the sentinel spelling
exactly, mypy support is in review (python/mypy#21647) and treated as
imminent, and pyright has a known-good version — so use the standard
sentinel today rather than carrying the enum stopgap.

- UNSET is now typing_extensions.Sentinel("UNSET"), used directly in
  type expressions (tuple[str | None, ...] | UNSET); the UnsetType
  companion enum is gone from the API.
- typing_extensions floor bumped to 4.14 (where Sentinel arrived).
- CI pins pyright==1.1.404, the last version before the class-attribute
  sentinel regression (microsoft/pyright#11115); pyproject documents the
  same pin for local runs. 0 errors on the pin; ty checks the sentinel
  fields clean (its 2 remaining diagnostics are its incomplete PEP 728
  extra_items write support, unrelated).
- Known short-term cost, accepted deliberately: mypy-checked consumers
  need cast/type-ignore at narrowing sites until mypy#21647 merges, and
  contributors' Pylance may show phantom Unknowns until the pyright fix
  ships. Recorded in _sentinel.py and the changelog.
- The pydantic native-introspection test reverts to documenting that
  introspection is unsupported (pydantic 2.13 cannot schema a Sentinel);
  the delegation patterns are unaffected.

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
d-v-b and others added 4 commits July 5, 2026 21:50
…ifact

Resolves the last flagged round-trip question from the initial port:
to_key_value on the v2 models always emitted a .zattrs key, so a store
that never had one gained a file on round-trip. Per d-v-b's ruling,
attributes on ArrayMetadataModelV2/GroupMetadataModelV2 is now
`dict[str, JSONValue] | UNSET`: UNSET means no .zattrs file (and no
attributes key in the merged document form) and emits nothing, while
any dict — including an explicit empty {} — means the file exists and
is emitted. The two spellings stay distinct through round-trips, per
the None/UNSET invariant; create_default defaults to UNSET (a fresh
minimal node has no .zattrs).

Assisted-by: ClaudeCode:claude-fable-5
…by reference

Models hold the UNSET sentinel as field values (dimension_names,
attributes), so any object graph containing a model must survive pickling
and deep-copying. A sentinel's contract is identity — state-based pickling
would produce impostor objects that fail every `is UNSET` check — which is
why typing_extensions <= 4.15 refused to pickle sentinels at all.

typing_extensions 4.16 implements Sentinel.__reduce__ as pickling by
reference (a lookup of the sentinel's name on its defining module), the same
mechanism enum members use, so the singleton identity survives the round
trip. Bump the floor and pin the behavior with tests: identity across
pickle/copy/deepcopy, models holding UNSET round-tripping, and a guard that
a non-importable sentinel still fails loudly rather than pickling by state.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@d-v-b
d-v-b force-pushed the zarr-metadata-model-layer branch from 0dc98bb to 340a17d Compare July 8, 2026 08:40
d-v-b and others added 2 commits July 8, 2026 11:48
…mary, JSON suffix for documents

Applies the naming decisions from the PR discussion: ZarrV2/ZarrV3 moves to
the front of every type name so a format version cannot be misread as a
class revision, and the model dataclasses take the bare entity names
(ZarrV3ArrayMetadata, ZarrV3GroupMetadata, ZarrV3ConsolidatedMetadata,
ZarrV3NamedConfig, role alias ZarrV3MetadataField) while the TypedDict
document forms carry a JSON suffix (ZarrV3ArrayMetadataJSON, ...,
ZarrV3MetadataFieldJSON, ZarrV3NamedConfigJSON).

The zarr_metadata.pydantic field types take the bare entity names, matching
the model classes they validate into; the module now references the model
module qualified to keep those names free. Raw-layer names released in 0.3.0
are renamed without aliases (pre-1.0), documented in changes/4119.removal.md.
Validation problem messages name documents in plain English instead of type
names. snake_case function names (validate_array_metadata_v3, ...) and
SCREAMING_SNAKE constants are deliberately untouched: the revision ambiguity
the rename fixes does not arise for them, and renaming them is a separate
decision.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
d-v-b added 8 commits July 22, 2026 12:52
Adopt the upstream format-version-first public names while preserving the Zarr v3 extension-envelope, must-understand, canonical serialization, and arbitrary-JSON additional-field behavior.

Assisted-by: Codex:gpt-5
d-v-b added 2 commits July 22, 2026 20:58
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