objectstack-ai
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diff --git a/‎content/docs/kernel/runtime-services/storage-service.mdx‎
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@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/spec": major
+---
+
+refactor(spec)!: retire `IStorageService.list(prefix)` — one contract method, two adapter dialects, both silently incomplete, and no caller (#5540, ADR-0049 enforce-or-remove)
+
+`list?(prefix)` was an optional method on the storage contract, documented as
+
+> List files in a directory/prefix
+
+and the two shipped adapters answered the same call with two different meanings.
+Neither told you.
+
+**The local adapter listed one level and counted directories as files.**
+`LocalStorageAdapter.list` was a plain `readdir` over the prefix directory, so a
+nested key `a/b/c` was invisible under `list('a')` — you got `a/b` — and every
+subdirectory that `stat` succeeded on was pushed into the result as if it were a
+file, producing a `StorageFileInfo` whose `size` is a directory inode and which
+`download()` cannot fetch.
+
+**The S3 adapter recursed and stopped at 1000.** `S3StorageAdapter.list` issued
+one `ListObjectsV2` with the prefix — which matches the whole key, so it is
+recursive, not one level — and read neither `IsTruncated` nor
+`ContinuationToken`. Past 1000 objects, the "all files under this prefix" a
+caller received was the first page, with nothing to distinguish it from a
+complete answer.
+
+So the same call was one-level-plus-junk on one deployment and
+recursive-but-truncated on the other, and the first feature that genuinely
+needed to enumerate a prefix — backup, orphan sweep, migration audit — would
+have got two different wrong answers and no error on either.
+
+**Nothing called it.** The only call site in the repository was the
+`SwappableStorageService` pass-through, which rejects anyway when the active
+adapter has no `list`. REST, the CLI and the storage routes never called it.
+#5172 came closest: it planned to reclaim email-attachment content by listing
+`EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_KEY_PREFIX`, discovered the local adapter could not see one
+level down, and switched to queue-driven deferred work — the divergence cost a
+design, and the method still had no consumer afterwards.
+
+**Migration.**
+
+| Wrote | Write instead |
+| --- | --- |
+| `await storage.list('attachments/task/')` | query the records you wrote — `sys_file` / file-reference rows carry the storage key and page deterministically through ObjectQL |
+| `list?(prefix) { … }` on your own adapter | delete the method (see below) |
+| `if (typeof storage.list === 'function')` capability probe | delete the branch; the contract has no `list` to probe for |
+
+Querying your own records is not a workaround for the missing method — it is the
+only form that was ever correct across both backends and past 1000 objects. The
+bucket was never the system of record for "which files exist"; the rows are.
+
+**Adapter authors: nothing breaks on you.** An implementation left in place still
+compiles — an extra method is not an error on a class — it is simply unreachable
+through the contract, so deleting it is cleanup you can do whenever. The break is
+on the **caller** side: `storage.list(...)` no longer type-checks. That includes a
+*proxy* typed against `IStorageService` that forwards to `inner.list`; the one in
+`@objectstack/service-storage` is removed with the adapters in #5541.
+
+**No tombstone, deliberately.** `IStorageService` is a contract that code
+*implements*; nothing anywhere runs a storage adapter through a `.parse()`, so a
+`retiredKey()` prescription would have no one to reach. The channel that can
+carry it is `tsc`, and `tsc` reports it where it is actionable — at the call
+site. This is the same disposition, for the same reason, as
+`IDataDriver.findStream` (#4484). The retirement is registered as the
+`storage-service-list-retired` semantic entry in the protocol-17 chain step
+(ADR-0087 D3), so `spec-changes.json`, the generated upgrade guide and the
+`spec_changes` MCP tool all carry it. There is no `os migrate meta` step: an
+adapter is code, never stack metadata, so the chain has no source to rewrite.
+
+**No replacement, on purpose.** A prefix listing that cannot paginate is the
+wrong signature to inherit. If a first-party caller ever needs real bucket
+enumeration it comes back cursor-shaped — `list(prefix, { cursor, limit })`
+returning a page plus a continuation token — with adapter-conformance cases
+(nested keys, directory entries, more than 1000 objects) proving both backends
+agree before either ships. Maintainer ruling 2026-08-05 on #5266 chose this over
+aligning the two adapters, which would have grown a conformance surface nobody
+walks.
@@ -25,9 +25,6 @@ export interface IStorageService {
   exists(key: string): Promise<boolean>;
   getInfo(key: string): Promise<StorageFileInfo>;
 
-  // Listing (optional — adapter may not implement)
-  list?(prefix: string): Promise<StorageFileInfo[]>;
-
   // Signed URL (optional)
   getSignedUrl?(key: string, expiresIn: number, options?: PresignedDownloadOptions): Promise<string>;
 
@@ -55,8 +52,8 @@ export interface IStorageService {
 ```
 
 <Callout type="warn">
-Only `upload`, `download`, `delete`, `exists`, and `getInfo` are required. Listing,
-signed/presigned URLs, and chunked upload are optional — call them only after checking
+Only `upload`, `download`, `delete`, `exists`, and `getInfo` are required.
+Signed/presigned URLs and chunked upload are optional — call them only after checking
 the method exists on the active adapter (the local and S3 adapters implement them).
 </Callout>
 
@@ -172,22 +169,22 @@ export interface StorageUploadOptions {
 
 ## Listing Files
 
-### list
-
-Lists files under a key prefix. This method is optional — verify the active
-adapter implements it before calling. It takes a single `prefix` argument
-(no pagination options) and returns `StorageFileInfo[]`.
-
-```typescript
-// List all attachments for a task
-const files = await storageService.list?.(
-  'attachments/tasks/tsk_01HQ4A7B/'
-) ?? [];
-
-for (const file of files) {
-  console.log(`${file.key} (${file.size} bytes)`);
-}
-```
+<Callout type="warn">
+**`list(prefix)` was removed** in `@objectstack/spec` 5.x — the contract has no
+prefix-enumeration method. It was declared but never consumed, and the two shipped
+adapters answered it differently while both silently returned an incomplete answer:
+the local adapter listed a single level and reported directories as files, the S3
+adapter recursed and stopped at 1000 objects without reading `IsTruncated` /
+`ContinuationToken`.
+
+There is no drop-in replacement, deliberately — a prefix listing that cannot paginate
+is the wrong shape to keep. If you were enumerating a prefix, track the keys you wrote
+(the `sys_file` / file-reference records already do this, and are queryable through
+ObjectQL with real pagination) instead of asking the bucket. When a first-party caller
+genuinely needs bucket enumeration, it returns cursor-shaped —
+`list(prefix, { cursor, limit })` — with adapter-conformance cases proving both
+backends agree.
+</Callout>
 
 ---
 
@@ -273,7 +270,7 @@ const key = await storageService.completeChunkedUpload?.(uploadId, [
 
 ## StorageFileInfo
 
-The return type for file metadata (`getInfo`, `list`).
+The return type for file metadata (`getInfo`).
 
 {/* os:check */}
 ```typescript
 
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@ services.storage.download(key: string): Promise<Buffer>
 services.storage.delete(key: string): Promise<void>
 services.storage.exists(key: string): Promise<boolean>
 services.storage.getInfo(key: string): Promise<StorageFileInfo>
-services.storage.list?(prefix: string): Promise<StorageFileInfo[]>
 services.storage.getSignedUrl?(key: string, expiresIn: number, options?: PresignedDownloadOptions): Promise<string>
 ```
 
@@ -31,6 +30,16 @@ services.storage.completeChunkedUpload?(uploadId: string, parts: Array<{ partNum
 services.storage.abortChunkedUpload?(uploadId: string): Promise<void>
 ```
 
+## Removed
+
+`services.storage.list?(prefix)` was removed in `@objectstack/spec` 5.x — the contract
+has no prefix-enumeration method. It had no consumer, and the two shipped adapters gave
+the same call two different, silently-incomplete answers (local: one level, directories
+reported as files; S3: recursive, truncated at 1000 objects). Query the file records you
+wrote rather than the bucket; a future enumeration returns cursor-shaped
+(`list(prefix, { cursor, limit })`). See the
+[contract reference](/docs/kernel/contracts/storage-service).
+
 ## Typical Errors
 
 Storage methods reject with a plain `Error` carrying a descriptive message — the