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+---
+'@objectstack/spec': minor
+---
+
+feat(spec)!: the analytics row wildcard `'*'` is admitted only where a `count` consumes it — a cube or dataset measure over `'*'` under any other aggregate, and a cube dimension over `'*'`, are refused at parse (#21409)
+
+Clause-②: no (narrowing)
+
+**BREAKING** — shipped as `minor` under the launch-window convention
+(`check-changeset-no-major` refuses `major` until GA; breaking-ness is carried by
+this banner, the `(narrowing)` arm above and the ADR-0087 disposition below,
+never by the level).
+
+`'*'` is the row wildcard: what a `count` aggregates (`COUNT(*)`), reading no
+field value. It is now admitted in exactly one place, a measure that counts:
+
+- `MetricSchema.sql` — a cube measure's `sql` — admits `'*'` under
+  `type: 'count'` only; under any other `type` it is refused at `sql`
+  (code `custom`).
+- `DatasetMeasureSchema.field` — an ADR-0021 dataset measure's `field` — admits
+  `'*'` under `aggregate: 'count'` only; under any other aggregate, or on a
+  measure with no aggregate (a `derived` one), it is refused at `field`
+  (code `custom`). A count may still omit `field`.
+- `DimensionSchema.sql` — a cube dimension's `sql` — never admits `'*'`
+  (code `invalid_format`): it takes the column path without the wildcard arm,
+  the pattern a dataset dimension's `field` already takes.
+
+Each refusal names the slot and the aggregate the author wrote, and prescribes
+the two ways out: a `count`, or a column. A column or a relationship path parses
+byte-identically to before on every slot, and so does a `count` over `'*'`.
+
+Why: no aggregate but `count` has a column to read over `'*'`, and a dimension
+has no aggregate at all, yet the contract admitted the wildcard on any measure
+and on a cube dimension, and the analytics strategies sent it to the database as
+written. Measured at `POST /api/v1/analytics/dataset/query` over a real SQLite
+driver, on the native-SQL and the ObjectQL strategy alike: a dataset measure
+aggregating `'*'` under `sum`, `avg`, `min`, `max` or `count_distinct` answered
+`500 DATABASE_ERROR`. A dataset measure compiles to the cube measure it names
+verbatim, so the same reading covers an authored cube measure. Such a member
+never produced an answer, so no working document changes meaning: the failure
+moves from the query to the authoring parse. The two measure slots ask ONE
+shared predicate; the rule is cross-field (the slot and its aggregate), so it is
+a refinement, which the published JSON Schema cannot carry — both sites are
+declared in `dropped-refinements.baseline.json`. The dimension half is a
+`pattern`, so `json-schema/**` states it.
+
+## FROM → TO
+
+```
+FROM  { name: 'deal_metrics', label: 'Deal Metrics', object: 'deal',
+        dimensions: [{ name: 'stage', field: 'stage' }],
+        measures: [{ name: 'deals', aggregate: 'sum', field: '*' }] }
+      -> DatasetSchema.parse accepted it; a dataset query selecting `deals`
+         answered 500 DATABASE_ERROR
+TO    -> DatasetSchema.parse throws a ZodError at measures.0.field (custom):
+         `measures[].field` is the row wildcard `'*'` under `aggregate: 'sum'`. …
+         defineStack({ datasets }) refuses it at datasets.N.measures.0.field (422
+         STACK_SCHEMA_INVALID), and POST /api/v1/analytics/dataset/query answers
+         400 VALIDATION_FAILED for an inline or a saved copy
+
+      measures: [{ name: 'deals', aggregate: 'count' }]                  // a row count
+      measures: [{ name: 'deal_value', aggregate: 'sum', field: 'amount' }] // an aggregate of a column
+
+FROM  defineCube({ name: 'deals', sql: 'deal',
+        measures: { total: { label: 'Total', type: 'sum', sql: '*' } },
+        dimensions: { everything: { label: 'All', type: 'string', sql: '*' } } })
+TO    -> refused at measures.total.sql (custom) and dimensions.everything.sql (invalid_format)
+
+      measures: { total: { label: 'Total', type: 'sum', sql: 'amount' } },
+      dimensions: { stage: { label: 'Stage', type: 'string', sql: 'stage' } }
+```
+
+**The one-line fix:** parse each cube and dataset; every refusal at `…sql` /
+`…field` naming `'*'` is one member to change — declare a `count` to count rows,
+or name the column the measure aggregates (a dimension names the column it
+groups by). On a `derived` dataset measure, delete `field`: nothing read it.
+There is no mechanical rewrite: `os migrate meta` rewrites nothing for it, and
+lists the entry `analytics-row-wildcard-outside-count-refused` as a manual
+change that requires your judgment.
+
+**What a stored document meets.** A metadata read still serves it as stored,
+with the refusal on its read diagnostics (`_diagnostics`), and a re-save through
+the metadata write door is refused at the slot. `POST
+/api/v1/analytics/dataset/query` parses every dataset it is handed, inline or
+saved, so a stored dataset carrying such a measure answers `400
+VALIDATION_FAILED` at `measures.N.field` on every query — including a query that
+selects only its other measures, which used to answer — until the member is
+fixed: it fails closed. An authored cube reaches the analytics runtime through
+the stack definition, whose parse refuses it.
+
+## The kit
+
+- **Schema.** `data/analytics-column-reference.ts` (not published API) declares
+  the predicate `rowWildcardOutsideCount` and its refusal once; `MetricSchema`
+  and `DatasetMeasureSchema` call both from a refinement, and
+  `DimensionSchema.sql` takes `ANALYTICS_COLUMN_PATH`. No export, key or enum
+  member changes, so the api-surface, authorable-surface and JSON-schema
+  manifest ratchets are unchanged.
+- **ADR-0087.** D3 entry `analytics-row-wildcard-outside-count-refused`. No D2
+  conversion: rewriting to `count` would change the figure the author asked for,
+  and only the author can name the column. No `RETIRED_KEYS_BY_MAJOR` row.
+- **Dropped refinements.** `data/Metric` and `ui/DatasetMeasure` gain their root
+  site, and every published schema embedding them gains the embedded site.
+- **Liveness.** `analytics_cube` `measures.sql` / `dimensions.sql` and `dataset`
+  `measures.field` stay `live`, re-verified, their notes re-pointed here.
+- **Docs.** The `ui/dataset` reference page is regenerated.
+- **Runtime.** Unchanged.
+
+## Reach, measured
+
+- This repository: no example, platform object, doc, skill, script or test
+  fixture authors `'*'` outside a `count` at the three slots (`git grep` of every
+  `field` / `sql` value spelled `'*'`, 173 hits, each read in its enclosing
+  object: 154 under a `count`, the rest QueryAST aggregations, comments and
+  strategy-level literals). One spec pin admitted `'*'` on a cube dimension; it
+  now pins the refusal.
+- objectui at the pinned `.objectui-sha`: zero `field` / `sql` values spelled
+  `'*'` (lit controls: 51 `aggregate: 'sum'`, 438 `field: 'amount'`).
+- Out-of-repo authored metadata: NOT MEASURED.
+
+<!-- adr-0087: registered analytics-row-wildcard-outside-count-refused -->
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ const result = DatasetSchema.parse(data);
 | **name** | `string` | ✅ | Measure name — e.g. "revenue"; defined once |
 | **label** | `string \| Record<string, string>` | optional | Display label — the default-language string, or an inline locale map (`{ en, "zh-CN" }`) resolved at render time |
 | **aggregate** | `Enum<'count' \| 'sum' \| 'avg' \| 'min' \| 'max' \| 'count_distinct'>` | optional | Aggregation (sum/avg/count/...); omit when `derived` is set |
-| **field** | `string` | optional | Aggregated field: a base field, a relationship path, or "*"; optional for count(*). Never a SQL expression. |
+| **field** | `string` | optional | Aggregated field: a base field, a relationship path, or "*" for a count; optional for count(*). Never a SQL expression. |
 | **filter** | `any` | optional |  |
 | **format** | `string` | optional | Numeral pattern for a NUMERIC measure — grouping, decimals, percent; e.g. "0,0.00", "0.0%". An amount takes its symbol from `currency`, not from a "$" in the pattern. A DATE-valued measure never reads a date pattern: `"YYYY-MM-DD"` renders that arm's default face. A date or datetime value reads `format` as a display style — `short` or `relative`, honoured on both. |
 | **currency** | `string` | optional | Display currency code (ISO 4217) |
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ const result = DatasetSchema.parse(data);
 | **name** | `string` | ✅ | Measure name — e.g. "revenue"; defined once |
 | **label** | `string \| Record<string, string>` | optional | Display label — the default-language string, or an inline locale map (`{ en, "zh-CN" }`) resolved at render time |
 | **aggregate** | `Enum<'count' \| 'sum' \| 'avg' \| 'min' \| 'max' \| 'count_distinct'>` | optional | Aggregation (sum/avg/count/...); omit when `derived` is set |
-| **field** | `string` | optional | Aggregated field: a base field, a relationship path, or "*"; optional for count(*). Never a SQL expression. |
+| **field** | `string` | optional | Aggregated field: a base field, a relationship path, or "*" for a count; optional for count(*). Never a SQL expression. |
 | **filter** | `any` | optional |  |
 | **format** | `string` | optional | Numeral pattern for a NUMERIC measure — grouping, decimals, percent; e.g. "0,0.00", "0.0%". An amount takes its symbol from `currency`, not from a "$" in the pattern. A DATE-valued measure never reads a date pattern: `"YYYY-MM-DD"` renders that arm's default face. A date or datetime value reads `format` as a display style — `short` or `relative`, honoured on both. |
 | **currency** | `string` | optional | Display currency code (ISO 4217) |