From 56deb2e8883f9c879caf3b4d8b5850461893d967 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: David Snelling <david@soulcraft.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2026 14:05:26 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?fix(namespace):=20the=20JS=20sorted=20fallback?=
 =?UTF-8?q?=20honors=20the=20ruled=20ordering=20contract=20=E2=80=94=20nul?=
 =?UTF-8?q?ls=20last=20in=20BOTH=20directions=20(was=20nulls-first=20on=20?=
 =?UTF-8?q?desc)=20+=20deterministic=20id-ascending=20tie-break?=
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---
 src/utils/metadataIndex.ts | 28 +++++++++++++++++++---------
 1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/utils/metadataIndex.ts b/src/utils/metadataIndex.ts
index fdb17c22..cf5d521e 100644
--- a/src/utils/metadataIndex.ts
+++ b/src/utils/metadataIndex.ts
@@ -2260,20 +2260,30 @@ export class MetadataIndexManager implements MetadataIndexProvider {
     }
 
     idValuePairs.sort((a, b) => {
-      if (a.value == null && b.value == null) return 0
-      if (a.value == null) return order === 'asc' ? 1 : -1
-      if (b.value == null) return order === 'asc' ? -1 : 1
-      if (a.value === b.value) return 0
+      // Ordering contract (cross-engine, ruled 2026-08-03): missing/null
+      // values sort LAST in BOTH directions — the direction flip never moves
+      // them to the front — and ties break by id ascending, so an ordered
+      // read is deterministic and identical on both engines. Rows are never
+      // dropped for lacking the field.
+      const aNull = a.value == null
+      const bNull = b.value == null
+      if (aNull || bNull) {
+        if (aNull && bNull) return a.id < b.id ? -1 : a.id > b.id ? 1 : 0
+        return aNull ? 1 : -1
+      }
       // Numbers compare numerically; everything else by code-point (UTF-8 byte) order.
       // This makes the JS fallback sort match cor's native column store exactly
       // (numeric i64/f64 vs code-point strings) and stay deterministic across
       // environments, unlike the `<` operator's UTF-16 ordering for strings.
-      let comparison: number
-      if (typeof a.value === 'number' && typeof b.value === 'number') {
-        comparison = a.value < b.value ? -1 : 1
-      } else {
-        comparison = compareCodePoints(String(a.value), String(b.value))
+      let comparison = 0
+      if (a.value !== b.value) {
+        if (typeof a.value === 'number' && typeof b.value === 'number') {
+          comparison = a.value < b.value ? -1 : 1
+        } else {
+          comparison = compareCodePoints(String(a.value), String(b.value))
+        }
       }
+      if (comparison === 0) return a.id < b.id ? -1 : a.id > b.id ? 1 : 0
       return order === 'asc' ? comparison : -comparison
     })