feat(core): content references database schema

[MA2153]

What does this PR do?

Adds the content-references database schema — the narrow first step toward reference fields. Schema only: no field type, API, handlers, repositories, or admin UI yet (deliberately out of scope; those come in follow-ups).

Two new system tables via forward-only migration 043_content_references.ts:

• _emdash_relations — relationship-type definitions. Row-per-locale, mirroring _emdash_taxonomy_defs: declares which collection is the parent and which is the child (the multipliable side), plus localized parent_label / child_label for each role. UNIQUE(name, locale).
• _emdash_content_references — directed parent → child edges between content entries. Both endpoints and the relation are referenced by translation_group, so edges are locale-agnostic. Mirrors content_taxonomies: group-linking means no foreign keys (a translation_group is unique nowhere), and dangling-edge cleanup is an application-layer obligation for the future write path. UNIQUE(relation_group, parent_group, child_group).

Design notes: relations are directed; the child is the side that multiplies; many-to-many within a single relation is intentionally not modeled (swap parent/child to express the inverse). Same-collection and self-references are permitted. The migration is idempotent (.ifNotExists() / .ifExists()) so it survives the runner's partial-run recovery path.

Related Discussion: #386

Closes #

Type of change

• Feature (requires maintainer-approved Discussion)

Checklist

• I have read CONTRIBUTING.md
• pnpm typecheck passes — packages/core typechecks clean. (A pre-existing, unrelated failure in packages/plugin-cli re: registry-lexicons exports is present on main and not touched here.)
• pnpm lint passes — no diagnostics in changed files. (8 pre-existing diagnostics in unrelated templates//demos/ astro configs predate this PR.)
• pnpm test passes (targeted) — 23/23 across content-references.test.ts (8) and migrations.test.ts (15), SQLite. Postgres parity runs via describeEachDialect when PG_CONNECTION_STRING is set.
• pnpm format has been run
• I have added/updated tests for my changes
• User-visible admin strings wrapped for translation — n/a (no admin UI in this PR; schema only)
• I have added a changeset
• New features link to an approved Discussion: Complete the reference field: collection picker in schema editor + content picker in content editor #386

AI-generated code disclosure

• This PR includes AI-generated code — model/tool: Claude Opus 4.8 (Claude Code)

Screenshots / test output

Test Files  2 passed (2)
     Tests  23 passed (23)

New schema tests cover: table existence; insert + default backfill (locale='en', sort_order=0); both unique constraints (edge triple + name/locale, incl. cross-locale allow); forward + backlink traversal with ordering; same-collection / self-references; index existence (SQLite); and down() → up() rollback. Dialect-agnostic (SQLite + Postgres).

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[changeset-bot]

🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: dbbf5dc

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 14 packages

Name	Type
emdash	Minor
@emdash-cms/cloudflare	Minor
@emdash-cms/sandbox-workerd	Patch
@emdash-cms/fixture-perf-site	Patch
@emdash-cms/perf-demo-site	Patch
@emdash-cms/cache-demo-site	Patch
@emdash-cms/admin	Minor
@emdash-cms/auth	Minor
@emdash-cms/blocks	Minor
@emdash-cms/gutenberg-to-portable-text	Minor
@emdash-cms/x402	Minor
create-emdash	Minor
@emdash-cms/auth-atproto	Patch
@emdash-cms/plugin-embeds	Patch

Not sure what this means? Click here to learn what changesets are.

Click here if you're a maintainer who wants to add another changeset to this PR

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commit: dbbf5dc

[emdashbot]

Approach assessment

This is well-scoped, schema-only groundwork for content references. The design sensibly mirrors the existing taxonomy/byline row-per-locale + translation-group model (_emdash_taxonomy_defs / content_taxonomies). Locale-agnostic edges linked by translation_group are the right fit for EmDash's content-localization architecture, and keeping foreign keys out of the edge table is consistent with how content_taxonomies already works.

The migration is additive, forward-only, and idempotent (.ifNotExists() / .ifExists()), which is exactly what the runner's partial-run recovery path needs. The down() ordering drops the edge table before the definition table, which is correct.

What I checked

• Migration correctness (idempotency, SQLite/Postgres compatibility, column types, defaults, unique constraints, index shapes)
• Type definitions in types.ts against the migration schema
• Runner registration and MIGRATION_COUNT
• Test coverage (table existence, defaults, unique constraints, cross-locale duplicates, forward/backlink traversal, self-references, index existence, down/up round-trip)
• Cross-cutting concerns: no orphaned-table impact, no handler/repository side effects (intentionally out of scope), no SQL interpolation issues

Headline conclusion

The implementation is clean and the tests are thorough. There are no logic bugs or regressions. I have two non-blocking suggestions:

1. Index naming: align with the literal idx_{table}_{column} convention used in recent migrations (double-underscore for _emdash_* tables).
2. Changeset level: consider minor instead of patch for new feature groundwork.
3. Optional: consider a partial unique index on _emdash_relations(translation_group, locale) to enforce the row-per-locale invariant at the DB level, matching what migration 040 does for bylines.

Good to merge once the maintainer weighs the naming suggestion.

[emdashbot]

[suggestion] This is net-new feature groundwork. While the package is pre-1.0, a minor bump is more idiomatic in Changesets for additive capabilities than patch.

[MA2153]

Bumped to minor.

[masonjames]

Nice work @MA2153

I pulled this down locally and tested it against nearby open work.

Overall, this looks like solid schema groundwork. The main thing I’d recommend before merge is the relation group invariant. _emdash_content_references.relation_group points at _emdash_relations.translation_group, but _emdash_relations.translation_group is currently nullable and not unique per locale. That leaves room for future lookups by (relation_group, locale) to return zero rows or multiple rows. Since this is a new table, I’d either make translation_group required or add the partial unique index emdashbot suggested:

UNIQUE (translation_group, locale) WHERE translation_group IS NOT NULL

[MA2153]

Thanks for pulling it down @masonjames. On the relation-group invariant: I took the stronger of your two options — _emdash_relations.translation_group is now NOT NULL (rather than just adding a partial unique). Reasoning: edges reference relations by translation_group and _emdash_content_references.relation_group is NOT NULL, so a null group is a row no edge can ever point at — structurally dead. Since this is a new table there is no backfill window (the reason bylines/040 keep theirs nullable + partial), so NOT NULL + a plain UNIQUE(translation_group, locale) index fully enforces "at most one variant per locale." Pushed in dbbf5dc, with tests for the dup and null cases.

[ascorbic]

Thanks!