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+# CLAUDE.md
+
+This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.
+
+## What this is
+
+`@btravstack/entity` — a domain-entity builder on zod v4. One declaration
+(`class X extends Entity("X")(fields, options)`) yields a type, four plain
+`ZodObject` validators, behaviour, and a composable `instance` schema. Every
+fallible operation returns an `unthrown` `Result<T, InvalidEntity>` instead of
+throwing.
+
+pnpm + turbo monorepo with a single package, `packages/entity`. Root scripts
+delegate to turbo; package scripts are where the real commands live.
+
+## Commands
+
+Run from the repo root:
+
+```sh
+pnpm build            # tsdown → dist, dual CJS/ESM + .d.ts
+pnpm test             # vitest run (src/**/*.spec.ts)
+pnpm typecheck        # tsc --noEmit, both the main pass and the .test-d.ts pass
+pnpm test:types       # the .test-d.ts pass alone
+pnpm lint             # oxlint
+pnpm format           # oxfmt (add --check for CI-style verification)
+pnpm knip             # dead code / unused deps
+```
+
+The full gate CI runs is: `format --check`, `lint`, `typecheck`, `test`,
+`knip`, `build`.
+
+Single test / single file — run inside `packages/entity`:
+
+```sh
+pnpm vitest run src/crud.spec.ts
+pnpm vitest run -t "update returns a new entity"
+pnpm vitest              # watch mode
+```
+
+Node is pinned in `.node-version` (24.16.0); pnpm 11.7.0 via `packageManager`
+(`corepack enable`).
+
+## Architecture
+
+Five source modules under `packages/entity/src`, split by what they own:
+
+- **`entity.ts`** — the builder. `Entity(tag)(fields, options)` derives the
+  four `ZodObject`s (`encoded`, `decoded`, `createInput`, `updateInput`) from
+  one field map plus `generated` / `immutable` / `decoded.omit` / `decoded.add`,
+  then returns a `Base` class carrying them as statics. `create` delegates to
+  `decode`; `update` delegates to `make`; every path funnels through
+  `construct`, which runs `invariants` and seals the constructor call. Data
+  fields are installed with `Object.defineProperty(..., { writable: false })`
+  and `_tag` non-enumerably, which is why `_tag` never reaches `encode()`,
+  `JSON.stringify`, or spread.
+- **`types.ts`** — the whole type-level derivation (`DecodedOf`,
+  `CreateInputOf`, `PatchOf`, `UpdateInputShapeOf`, `EntityStatic`), plus
+  `Sealed<D>`, the module-private `unique symbol` that makes `new X(...)` a
+  compile error. Written independently of the builder's body-local values so
+  `EntityStatic` can serve as the builder's explicit return annotation.
+- **`instance.ts`** — `attachInstance` installs `instance` and `~standard` as
+  lazy, self-overwriting accessor getters. The getter (not a plain value) is
+  what makes `X.instance.parse(...)` build an `X` rather than the base class,
+  since the subclass does not exist when the builder runs.
+- **`shape.ts`** — `OnlyNominal`, the type-level check rejecting unbranded
+  fields, and `shape()`, the only sanctioned way to build a domain object.
+- **`add.ts`** / **`errors.ts`** — the curried `add(fields)(from)` helper and
+  the `InvalidEntity` tagged error.
+
+The design rule the whole package turns on: **contracts compose the four plain
+`ZodObject`s; domain code composes `instance`.** `instance` carries a
+`.transform()`, so `z.toJSONSchema(instance, { io: "output" })` throws by
+design — `contract.spec.ts` pins that both ways.
+
+## Binding conventions
+
+- **Errors are values.** The `unthrown/*` oxlint rules are enforced as errors.
+  Do not add a `throw` outside a documented defect path. Genuine exceptions
+  carry a targeted `oxlint-disable` with a reason — several already exist for
+  `no-catch-all-pattern` where `SchemaIssues` is a single non-union type.
+- **Comments recording measurements are regression guards.** Many comments
+  cite a specific TS diagnostic code (TS2411, TS2526, TS4020, TS4111) or a
+  measured library behaviour. Verify before "simplifying" them away — the
+  catalog in `pnpm-workspace.yaml` pins `typescript` and `@orpc/zod` to the
+  exact versions those measurements were taken against, with the reason inline.
+- **Type-level behaviour lives in `*.test-d.ts`**, checked by
+  `tsc --noEmit -p tsconfig.test-d.json`. They are excluded from the main tsc
+  pass, from oxlint, and from knip. Changing a compile-time guarantee (the
+  seal, `generated`/`immutable` rules, `add`'s contextual typing) means
+  updating the matching `@ts-expect-error` assertion.
+- **One concept, one name.** The surface is meant to stay small enough that the
+  library can be "done". Resist convenience aliases.
+- **No I/O.** The package reads no clock and generates no id — `create` takes
+  domain-generated values as its second argument, by design.
+- `zod`, `unthrown` and `@unthrown/standard-schema` are peer dependencies to
+  avoid duplicate copies breaking `instanceof` / schema-composition identity.
+  Keep them that way.
+- Dependencies go through the `catalog:` protocol in `pnpm-workspace.yaml`, not
+  inline version ranges.
+
+## Commits and releases
+
+Conventional Commits, enforced by commitlint via a lefthook `commit-msg` hook.
+Lefthook also runs format + lint pre-commit. User-facing changes need a
+changeset (`pnpm changeset`); purely internal changes do not.