[structural-drift-commission-generation-spec] Derive the commission form's generation fields from a zod-free server spec leaf

[atomantic]

Slice audited: client-side hand mirrors of server sources of truth (client/src/lib, client/src/utils, client/src/components/*) — structural-drift audit, 2026-09-10.

Problem

• client/src/components/creative-commission/commissionForm.js:91-121 hand-mirrors GENERATION_KEY_DEFS / ABILITY_GENERATION_SPEC from server/lib/creativeCommissionValidation.js:85-114, and IMAGE_BACKEND_OPTIONS / VIDEO_BACKEND_OPTIONS (lines 63-74) hand-mirror CREATIVE_COMMISSION_IMAGE_MODES / CREATIVE_COMMISSION_VIDEO_MODES (server lines 63-72). Both files say so in comments ("keep this in sync with the server spec BY HAND"; "commissionForm.test.js asserts only the client-internal invariant … not server↔client parity"). No parity test exists: no server test imports commissionForm, and commissionForm.test.js covers toForm / toPayload only.
• Already drifted, three ways:
  1. durationMode default — client 'auto' (GENERATION_DEFAULTS_BY_ABILITY.video and 'music-video', lines 111 and 116) vs server default: 'manual' (creativeCommissionValidation.js:92). Both landed in ce01427 (feat: let creative director choose video duration #4494) already disagreeing.
  2. Video backends — server CREATIVE_COMMISSION_VIDEO_MODES = auto + VIDEO_GEN_MODES = local, grok, fal, reactor (server/lib/generationModes.js:40-46; fal from e7d8921 [repo-study-julius-caesar-fal-video-api] Add fal.ai video generator API provider to MediaGen and FableLoom #6213, reactor from 6486822 [repo-study-julius-caesar-reactor-fasth3-provider] Add Reactor.inc fast-h3 video generation API provider to MediaGen and FableLoom #6214). Client VIDEO_BACKEND_OPTIONS = auto, local, grok — last touched by 1161e87 (Let creative commissions pin an image/video render backend (local vs. Grok vs. Codex) per commission #3135); git log -S VIDEO_BACKEND_OPTIONS -- commissionForm.js shows nothing since.
  3. Image backends — the server accepts agy (CLOUD_IMAGE_GEN_MODES, ebbbba4 Fix lib-to-services layering inversions across server/lib #4901); client IMAGE_BACKEND_OPTIONS stops at grok.

Impact

• generationToForm (commissionForm.js:145-154) fills an absent durationMode with 'auto', while the server's ability adapter treats absent as manual (server/services/creativeCommissions/abilityAdapters.js:177, 199, 250 — durationMode === 'auto' ? … : targetDurationSeconds). A commission created before feat: let creative director choose video duration #4494 (no key) opens showing "Creative Director chooses", runs as a fixed-length render, and a save with no edits silently flips it to auto.
• A commission can be pinned to fal / reactor (video) or agy (image) only through the API; the form cannot express a value the schema accepts, and a record holding one renders a <select> with no matching option.
• Every backend added to generationModes.js needs a second edit here — two of the last three additions skipped it.

Fix (decided)

1. Move the spec to a pure leaf server/lib/creativeCommissionSpec.js (no zod, no Node built-ins — the creativeBriefLimits.js precedent both files already name): CREATIVE_COMMISSION_QUALITIES, CREATIVE_COMMISSION_ASPECT_RATIOS, CREATIVE_COMMISSION_IMAGE_MODES, CREATIVE_COMMISSION_VIDEO_MODES, COMMISSION_RENDER_MODEL_MAX, GENERATION_KEY_DEFS, ABILITY_GENERATION_SPEC. creativeCommissionValidation.js imports them and keeps building the Zod schema from GENERATION_KEY_DEFS exactly as today; abilityAdapters.js keeps consuming ABILITY_GENERATION_SPEC.
2. Resolve the durationMode disagreement inside the spec: default: 'auto' (the seed for a NEW commission — the product choice feat: let creative director choose video duration #4494 made in the form) plus legacyAbsent: 'manual' (what a stored record with no key means — the adapter's existing read). generationToForm fills an absent key from legacyAbsent ?? default; the adapter reads gen.durationMode ?? def.legacyAbsent. One definition, both meanings explicit.
3. commissionForm.js derives GENERATION_FIELDS_BY_ABILITY and GENERATION_DEFAULTS_BY_ABILITY from the leaf (type / min / max / values / default), keeping only presentation client-side in a FIELD_PRESENTATION map keyed by generation key (label, modelKind, modelModes, modelLabel, option display strings). IMAGE_BACKEND_OPTIONS / VIDEO_BACKEND_OPTIONS map over the server mode enums using MODE_LABELS from client/src/lib/imageGenModes.js (add fal / reactor labels there if missing).
4. Parity test server/lib/creativeCommissionSpec.parity.test.js in the server workspace, importing the client module the way server/lib/reviewerConfig.test.js:395 does: every key in ABILITY_GENERATION_SPEC[ability].keys renders a field with matching bounds / options, every default matches, and every mode in the server enums is offered. Mutation-probe both directions before merging.
5. Catalog rows (barrel + README) for the new leaf; commissionForm.test.js gains the legacy-absent projection case.

Acceptance criteria

• server/lib/creativeCommissionSpec.js exists, imports nothing, and creativeCommissionValidation.js no longer declares GENERATION_KEY_DEFS, ABILITY_GENERATION_SPEC or the four enums.
• commissionForm.js contains no literal min / max / default / option value for a generation key; they come from the leaf.
• The form offers fal and reactor for video and agy for image, and a stored record pinned to one round-trips through toForm / toPayload.
• A record with no durationMode projects as manual (matching abilityAdapters.js); a fresh commission seeds 'auto'.
• The parity test fails when a mode is added to generationModes.js without a client label, or when a bound changes on one side only.
• Server and client suites green; vite build succeeds.

Scope: medium

Dispatch: model:medium — multi-file work across lib, services and the client with an existing precedent to follow. effort:high — the Zod schema must stay equivalent for stored records and the default / legacy-absent split is a compatibility decision that has to be applied identically on both sides.

[atomantic]

Implemented in #6823. A few decisions made along the way, recorded here:

• default vs legacyAbsent scope: legacyAbsent only overrides the plain default for STORE-side coercion (abilityAdapters.js's sanitizer) and for commissionForm.js's generationToForm (projecting an already-persisted record). Seeding a brand-new/blank commission (toForm({}) / blankForm()) still reads the plain default, so a fresh commission keeps seeding 'auto'. Consequence: mergeGenerationForAbility (the ability-switch mid-edit path) also now resolves a newly-introduced durationMode key via legacyAbsent — i.e. switching an in-progress edit of an existing commission to video/music-video from an ability that doesn't carry durationMode now seeds 'manual' instead of 'auto'. This only affects editing an already-saved commission (a brand-new commission's blank form is unaffected), and no test exercised this path either way before or after.
• toForm()'s blank-vs-real check uses c.generation == null && !c.id (not just c.generation == null) — a saved record (has an id) with a missing/null generation object is treated as legacy, not fresh. Not reachable via the live API today (the store always populates generation), but the helper's own contract shouldn't depend on that.
• creativeCommissionSpec.js imports two other pure leaves (generationModes.js, renderTargets.js) rather than having zero imports — required to keep CREATIVE_COMMISSION_IMAGE_MODES/_VIDEO_MODES derived rather than re-hardcoded (per the issue's own fix item 1). Both are already-established zero-dependency vocabulary leaves the client already imports directly elsewhere (e.g. client/src/lib/imageGenModes.js), so this stays zod-free/Node-builtin-free per the parity test and vite build.
• Raised server/lib/importScoping.test.js's static-import budget by the standard ~1.5k allowance (103,272 → 104,808): the new leaf adds +1 to every closure that already reaches creativeCommissionValidation.js, pulling in nothing new — the same shape as Move the image-gen capability literals into a server/lib leaf so the client stops mirroring them #6590/[complexity-run-agent-spawn-block-and-bail] runAgentSpawn pastes the same block-and-bail epilogue eight times, pinned only by source-text greps #6617.

[atomantic]

Correction to the first decision above: after orchestrator review, mergeGenerationForAbility no longer shares the legacy-aware projection. A key an ability switch introduces (Image → Video adds durationMode) was never on the record, so it now seeds the fresh default ('auto', what a blank form gets) on new and saved commissions alike; only a stored record whose key is missing projects as 'manual'. Pinned by a new commissionForm.test.js case that fails against the alias.