feat(namespace): egress guard + validation speak the law — whereMatcher's resolver reads system.* from the record and bare names from the metadata bag only (the bare-system switch is dead); validateFindParams refuses cursor/includeRelations/writeOnly typed (accepted-and-ignored dies as a class), validates order, and parses every orderBy address

src/db/fieldAddressing.ts

@@ -244,3 +244,42 @@ export class InvalidFieldAddressError extends Error {
     this.kind = kind
   }
 }
+
+/**
+ * @description Refusal for a syntactically valid address that resolves to
+ * NOTHING — a bare name no user field carries. Carries the did-you-mean
+ * (both candidate spellings when the name collides with a system scalar) so
+ * the fix ships inside the error. Thrown by the query layer with index
+ * knowledge, never by the pure parser.
+ */
+export class UnresolvableFieldError extends Error {
+  public readonly raw: string
+  public readonly kind: FieldAddressKind
+
+  constructor(raw: string, kind: FieldAddressKind) {
+    super(buildUnresolvableMessage(raw, kind))
+    this.name = 'UnresolvableFieldError'
+    this.raw = raw
+    this.kind = kind
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * @description Refusal for a find() option that is accepted by the type
+ * surface but NOT implemented — an accepted option must work or refuse;
+ * accepted-and-ignored died as a class (sealed 2026-08-03). Names the
+ * option and the honest state so nobody discovers a no-op by measurement.
+ */
+export class UnsupportedFindOptionError extends Error {
+  public readonly option: string
+
+  constructor(option: string) {
+    super(
+      `find() option '${option}' is not implemented — it used to be silently ` +
+        `ignored, which read as working. Remove it from the call (or track the ` +
+        `feature request); it will be honored or refused, never swallowed.`
+    )
+    this.name = 'UnsupportedFindOptionError'
+    this.option = option
+  }
+}

src/db/whereMatcher.ts

@@ -61,41 +61,44 @@ export class UnsupportedWhereOperatorError extends Error {
  * @returns The field's value, or `undefined` when absent.
  */
 export function resolveEntityField(entity: Entity, field: string): unknown {
-  switch (field) {
-    case 'noun':
-    case 'type':
-      return entity.type
-    case 'subtype':
-      return entity.subtype
-    case 'id':
-      return entity.id
-    case 'createdAt':
-      return entity.createdAt
-    case 'updatedAt':
-      return entity.updatedAt
-    case 'service':
-      return entity.service
-    case 'createdBy':
-      return entity.createdBy
-    case 'confidence':
-      return entity.confidence
-    case 'weight':
-      return entity.weight
-    case '_rev':
-      return entity._rev
-    case 'data':
-      return entity.data
+  // THE ONE ADDRESSING LAW (sealed 2026-08-03): `system.<field>` reads the
+  // entity scalar; bare and `metadata.`-prefixed names read the user's
+  // metadata bag (dotted paths traverse INSIDE the bag). The old bare-name
+  // switch over system fields is dead — bare `createdAt` is the user's own
+  // field now; the engine scalar is `system.createdAt`. Plumbing (vector,
+  // connections, level, data, _rev) is invisible: no spelling reaches it.
+  if (field.startsWith('system.')) {
+    switch (field.slice('system.'.length)) {
+      case 'type':
+        return entity.type
+      case 'subtype':
+        return entity.subtype
+      case 'id':
+        return entity.id
+      case 'createdAt':
+        return entity.createdAt
+      case 'updatedAt':
+        return entity.updatedAt
+      case 'service':
+        return entity.service
+      case 'createdBy':
+        return entity.createdBy
+      case 'confidence':
+        return entity.confidence
+      case 'weight':
+        return entity.weight
+      case 'visibility':
+        return (entity as unknown as Record<string, unknown>).visibility
+    }
+    // Out-of-map system spelling: parse refuses these upstream with a typed
+    // error; reaching here (internal callers only) reads as absent.
+    return undefined
   }
 
-  if (field.includes('.')) {
-    // Dotted path: resolve against the whole entity first (`metadata.x`),
-    // then against the metadata bag (`address.city` on nested metadata).
-    const fromEntity = resolvePath(entity as unknown as Record<string, unknown>, field)
-    if (fromEntity !== undefined) return fromEntity
-    return resolvePath((entity.metadata ?? {}) as Record<string, unknown>, field)
-  }
-
-  return ((entity.metadata ?? {}) as Record<string, unknown>)[field]
+  const path = field.startsWith('metadata.') ? field.slice('metadata.'.length) : field
+  const bag = (entity.metadata ?? {}) as Record<string, unknown>
+  if (!path.includes('.')) return bag[path]
+  return resolvePath(bag, path)
 }
 
 /** Walk a dotted path through nested plain objects. */

src/utils/paramValidation.ts

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import { findCallerLocation } from './callerLocation.js'
 // fallback branches that no supported runtime can reach.
 import * as os from 'node:os'
 import * as fs from 'node:fs'
+import { parseFieldAddress, UnsupportedFindOptionError } from '../db/fieldAddressing.js'
 
 const getSystemMemory = (): number => {
   if (os) {
@@ -466,9 +467,31 @@ export function validateFindParams(params: FindParams): void {
     throw new Error('cannot specify both query and vector - they are mutually exclusive')
   }
   
-  // Universal truth: can't use both cursor and offset pagination
-  if (params.cursor !== undefined && params.offset !== undefined) {
-    throw new Error('cannot use both cursor and offset pagination simultaneously')
+  // ACCEPTED-AND-IGNORED DIED AS A CLASS (sealed 2026-08-03): options the
+  // engine does not implement REFUSE with a typed error instead of silently
+  // doing nothing — a production consumer discovered a no-op by measurement
+  // once; never again.
+  if (params.cursor !== undefined) {
+    throw new UnsupportedFindOptionError('cursor')
+  }
+  if ((params as Record<string, unknown>).includeRelations !== undefined) {
+    throw new UnsupportedFindOptionError('includeRelations')
+  }
+  if ((params as Record<string, unknown>).writeOnly !== undefined) {
+    throw new UnsupportedFindOptionError('writeOnly')
+  }
+
+  // THE ONE ADDRESSING LAW: the orderBy address must PARSE (bare/metadata. =
+  // user field, system.<field> = the ruled map, anything else refuses typed
+  // with the valid map in the message) and order must be a real direction.
+  if (params.orderBy !== undefined) {
+    if (typeof params.orderBy !== 'string') {
+      throw new Error('orderBy must be a string field address')
+    }
+    parseFieldAddress(params.orderBy, 'entity') // throws InvalidFieldAddressError on a bad address
+  }
+  if (params.order !== undefined && params.order !== 'asc' && params.order !== 'desc') {
+    throw new Error(`order must be 'asc' or 'desc', got '${String(params.order)}'`)
   }
   
   // Auto-limit query length based on memory