@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+---
+"create-objectstack": patch
+"@objectstack/cli": patch
+---
+
+A new project's `pnpm-workspace.yaml` is now a short settings file: one comment line above each block instead of 57 to 66 lines of version history and measurements. `npm create objectstack`, `objectstack init` and a standalone `objectstack create` now write the same 21-line file.
+
+Clause-②: no
+
+- The settings are unchanged: `packages: []`, the same `onlyBuiltDependencies` and `allowBuilds` lists, and the same `peerDependencyRules.allowedVersions` entries, in the same order. A project installs exactly as before.
+- Each block keeps one line that says why it is there: which pnpm versions read each build-approval key, and that the peer rules only silence a warning that was measured harmless.
+- The measurements behind each setting now live in the `@objectstack/cli` source next to the values they explain, so they are kept up to date there instead of in every project.
+- Already-scaffolded projects are not touched. Their longer comments can be deleted or kept; the settings are identical.
@@ -111,6 +111,11 @@ export function manifestIdSlug(name: string): string {
  * default standalone SQLite store, via knex) ships uncompiled and `serve`
  * fails with "Could not locate the bindings file".
  *
+ * Why each entry is here: `better-sqlite3` is the native SQLite driver, an
+ * `optionalDependencies` entry of `@objectstack/driver-sql` (and of this
+ * package, for its own sqlite tooling); `esbuild` is what compiles
+ * `objectstack.config.ts` when the CLI loads it through `bundle-require`.
+ *
  * Current pnpm reads this from `pnpm-workspace.yaml`, NOT the `pnpm` field in
  * package.json (that field is now ignored and emits a deprecation warning).
  * npm/yarn/bun build native modules by default and ignore this file.
@@ -147,7 +152,10 @@ export const SCAFFOLD_BUILT_DEPENDENCIES = ['better-sqlite3', 'esbuild'];
  *    hands it to Kysely, and its own sqlite test path uses node's built-in
  *    `node:sqlite` `DatabaseSync`. There is therefore no better-auth call site
  *    that could touch an API moved between better-sqlite3 12 and 13 — the
- *    range is a statement about an instance we never supply.
+ *    range is a statement about an instance we never supply. Re-read
+ *    2026-09-11 on the 1.7.3 pin (the rendered file's prose carried this
+ *    reading until it shrank to one line per block): the published package
+ *    still names better-sqlite3 only in that peer declaration.
  *
  *    ⚠️ TWO CORRECTIONS to what this entry used to say, both measured:
  *      • the 13.x copy better-auth binds to is `@objectstack/cli`'s OWN
@@ -486,85 +494,59 @@ export function renderScaffoldPackageJson(
  * Emitting only the older key is what made a freshly scaffolded project fail
  * its very first `pnpm install` for every user on pnpm 11. Both lists come
  * from the same `builtDeps` argument, so the two populations can never be
- * granted different build permission. This is the shape
- * `packages/create-objectstack/src/templates/blank/pnpm-workspace.yaml`
- * already ships for the other scaffold path.
+ * granted different build permission.
+ *
+ * ## One comment line per block — the reasons live here, not in the file
+ *
+ * The rendered file is the first thing a newcomer opens beside a README that
+ * calls the project a clean slate, and none of the measurements behind it is
+ * that reader's decision. So each block carries ONE comment line naming its
+ * reason, and everything else is kept beside the value it explains:
+ *
+ *   packages: []            this docblock (above) and `SCAFFOLD_PNPM_RANGE`.
+ *   onlyBuiltDependencies,  this docblock (the per-pnpm-version table above)
+ *   allowBuilds             and `SCAFFOLD_BUILT_DEPENDENCIES` (why each
+ *                           package needs its build).
+ *   peerDependencyRules     `SCAFFOLD_ALLOWED_PEER_VERSIONS`: one measured
+ *                           paragraph per entry, its retirement condition,
+ *                           and the retired `@better-auth/scim>better-call`.
+ *
+ * The file carried 57 comment lines here, and 66 in the template, until the
+ * maintainer asked for it to stay minimal with the rationale moved into the
+ * scaffolder source (#22162). A later change to any value meets its reason in
+ * this file, which is where the change is made.
+ *
+ * `packages/create-objectstack/src/templates/blank/pnpm-workspace.yaml`, the
+ * other scaffold path, ships these exact bytes: that package cannot import this
+ * renderer (see the shared emission policy block above), so
+ * `test/scaffold-workspace-consistency.test.ts` holds the two files equal and
+ * holds the comment budget, and an edit to one is made to both.
  */
 export function renderPnpmWorkspaceYaml(
   builtDeps: string[] = SCAFFOLD_BUILT_DEPENDENCIES,
   allowedPeerVersions: Record<string, string> = SCAFFOLD_ALLOWED_PEER_VERSIONS,
 ): string {
   const peerEntries = Object.entries(allowedPeerVersions);
 
+  // One comment line per block, directly above its key and inside 80 columns
+  // (held by test/scaffold-workspace-consistency.test.ts). The reasons behind
+  // each line live in the docblocks named above, not in the user's file.
   return [
-    '# An explicit EMPTY workspace: this project has no member packages, so',
-    '# this file is settings-only. The key is not decoration — pnpm 9.x and',
-    '# 10.0–10.4 parse this file BEFORE they read `engines`, and refuse a file',
-    '# without a `packages:` key outright ("ERROR packages field missing or',
-    '# empty") before resolving a single dependency.',
-    '# Not `packages: [\'.\']`: that would declare this project a workspace',
-    '# MEMBER — a monorepo root, which it is not.',
+    '# Older pnpm needs this key; empty because this project is not a monorepo.',
     'packages: []',
     '',
-    '# pnpm does not run dependency build scripts unless they are approved',
-    '# here. Without this file a fresh `pnpm install` exits 1 on pnpm 11 with',
-    '# ERR_PNPM_IGNORED_BUILDS — pnpm 10 only warned, pnpm 11 made it a hard',
-    '# error. Without the build, better-sqlite3 can ship without a usable',
-    '# binding and `objectstack serve` fails with "Could not locate the',
-    '# bindings file".',
-    '#',
-    '# Both keys are needed; no single pnpm version range reads both:',
-    '#   allowBuilds             pnpm >= 10.26, and the ONLY key pnpm 11 reads',
-    '#                           — with onlyBuiltDependencies alone pnpm 11',
-    '#                           exits 1 exactly as if nothing were approved.',
-    '#   onlyBuiltDependencies   pnpm 10.0–10.25, which ignore allowBuilds.',
-    '#                           pnpm 11 ignores this key.',
-    '#',
-    '# npm, yarn and bun ignore this file and build native modules anyway.',
+    '# Build-script approvals for pnpm 10.0–10.25, which do not read allowBuilds.',
     'onlyBuiltDependencies:',
     ...builtDeps.map((d) => `  - ${d}`),
     '',
+    '# The same approvals for pnpm 10.26 and later; pnpm 11 reads only this key.',
     'allowBuilds:',
     ...builtDeps.map((d) => `  ${d}: true`),
     // No rules, no header: a bare `peerDependencyRules:` would advertise a
     // declaration that is not there.
     ...(peerEntries.length === 0 ? [] : [
       '',
-      '# Third-party peer ranges that resolve outside what their declaring',
-      '# package states, and that pnpm reports on a first install. None is a',
-      '# real incompatibility:',
-      '#',
-      '#   better-auth peers better-sqlite3 ^12.0.0 while the tree resolves 13.x',
-      '#   (the copy @objectstack/cli declares for its own sqlite tooling). That',
-      '#   peer is optional and covers handing better-auth a raw better-sqlite3',
-      '#   `Database`; ObjectStack hands it an ObjectQL adapter instead, so',
-      '#   nothing here goes down that path. Re-measured 2026-09-11 on',
-      '#   better-auth 1.7.3: nothing in the published package references',
-      '#   better-sqlite3 except that peer declaration itself — it only accepts',
-      '#   a Database you construct — so there is no call site that could',
-      '#   depend on what changed between 12 and 13. The upstream',
-      '#   range is stale; pinning back to 12 would just install a second,',
-      '#   unused native copy.',
-      '#',
-      '#   (The \'@better-auth/scim>better-call\' entry that used to sit here is',
-      '#   retired. The rc-era scim pin peered an exact better-call 1.3.7 against',
-      '#   better-auth\'s own 1.4.0 and this map declared that skew away; the pin',
-      '#   is a stable release now, and @better-auth/scim 1.7.3 peers an exact',
-      '#   better-call 1.4.0 — the one copy better-auth depends on. Re-measured',
-      '#   2026-09-12 off the installed manifest: the skew is gone.)',
-      '#',
-      '#   @better-auth/core, /oauth-provider, /scim and /sso each peer an exact',
-      '#   @better-auth/utils 0.4.2, while better-call (better-auth\'s own HTTP',
-      '#   layer) depends on ^0.5.0 and is what the tree resolves them against.',
-      '#   0.5.0 keeps every symbol those four import — base64/base64Url,',
-      '#   createHash, createRandomStringGenerator — with the same signatures',
-      '#   and the same values on the inputs they pass, so the report is the',
-      '#   only difference. Pinning utils back instead would drag better-call',
-      '#   off its own declared range, which is a real violation rather than a',
-      '#   reported one.',
-      '#',
-      '# These suppress the report only — no resolution moves, and the lockfile',
-      '# is byte-identical with and without this block.',
+      '# Upstream peer ranges measured harmless; this only silences the warning.',
       'peerDependencyRules:',
       '  allowedVersions:',
       ...peerEntries.map(([k, v]) => `    '${k}': '${v}'`),
 
@@ -69,9 +69,27 @@
 // What is compared is the rendered `allowedVersions` MAP — the keys each file
 // widens and the version each key is widened to — for the same reason the
 // build limb compares rendered grants: no expected value is restated here, so
-// each producer's expectation is the other producer. The prose above each
-// block is NOT compared: the two files explain these skews in their own words
-// on purpose, and the measurement they describe is the same either way.
+// each producer's expectation is the other producer.
+//
+// ── One file, one comment line per block (#22162) ───────────────────────────
+//
+// The two files used to explain these settings in their own words, 57 and 66
+// comment lines of measurements and version history, and the prose was not
+// compared. That left a retired entry's explanation shipping in one of them
+// with nothing to fail on it (#17093). The maintainer then asked for
+// the file to stay minimal, with the rationale in the scaffolder source, and
+// triage ruled that both scaffold paths render the same file. So two more
+// limbs now hold it:
+//
+//   * the two producers render the SAME BYTES — comments included, which is
+//     what closes the drift above: there is one text left to keep true;
+//   * each file stays a settings file — at most one comment line per block,
+//     directly above its key, inside 80 columns. The measurements live in the
+//     docblocks of `renderPnpmWorkspaceYaml`, `SCAFFOLD_BUILT_DEPENDENCIES`
+//     and `SCAFFOLD_ALLOWED_PEER_VERSIONS` in `src/commands/init.ts`.
+//
+// The limbs above stay as they were: when the bytes do differ, they say WHICH
+// declaration or version claim differs, which a byte comparison cannot.
 
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
 import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
@@ -141,31 +159,52 @@ function grantedBuilds(yaml: string): Record<(typeof APPROVAL_KEYS)[number], str
 /**
  * The prose each file attaches to each approval key, as one string per key.
  *
- * Both files write it as a definition list inside the header comment — the key
- * at the start of a comment line, its explanation column-aligned after it, and
- * continuation lines indented under that. The two wordings differ and are meant
- * to; only the VERSION CLAIMS inside them are compared.
+ * Each file writes it as the one comment line directly above the key (the
+ * budget the last limb below holds). Only the VERSION CLAIMS inside it are
+ * compared, so the limb still says which boundary differs when the bytes do.
  */
 function keyProse(yaml: string): Map<string, string> {
   const prose = new Map<string, string>();
-  let current: string | null = null;
-  for (const line of yaml.split('\n')) {
-    const definition = /^#[ \t]{2,}(allowBuilds|onlyBuiltDependencies)[ \t]{2,}(\S.*)$/.exec(line);
-    if (definition) {
-      current = definition[1];
-      prose.set(current, definition[2].trim());
-      continue;
+  const lines = yaml.split('\n');
+  lines.forEach((line, i) => {
+    const key = /^(allowBuilds|onlyBuiltDependencies):/.exec(line)?.[1];
+    const above = i > 0 ? /^#[ \t]*(\S.*)$/.exec(lines[i - 1]) : null;
+    if (key && above) prose.set(key, above[1].trim());
+  });
+  return prose;
+}
+
+/** The widest comment line the rendered file may carry. */
+const MAX_COMMENT_COLUMNS = 80;
+
+/**
+ * Every way a file breaks its comment budget, one entry per offending line.
+ *
+ * The budget is at most one comment line per top-level block: a full-line
+ * comment, directly above its key, inside {@link MAX_COMMENT_COLUMNS}. A line
+ * count alone would let one block take every line the others save, and a line
+ * rule without a width would let one line hold a paragraph; this is the
+ * smallest rule that bounds both, and it adds up to a few hundred bytes of
+ * comment however the file grows. No value in this file can contain `#` (they
+ * are package names, versions and `true`), so any `#` is a comment.
+ */
+function commentBudgetBreaches(yaml: string): string[] {
+  const lines = yaml.split('\n');
+  const breaches: string[] = [];
+  lines.forEach((line, i) => {
+    if (!line.includes('#')) return;
+    const where = `line ${i + 1} ${JSON.stringify(line)}`;
+    if (!line.startsWith('#')) {
+      breaches.push(`${where} puts a comment inside or after a setting`);
+    } else if (!/^[A-Za-z][\w-]*:/.test(lines[i + 1] ?? '')) {
+      breaches.push(`${where} is not the one comment line directly above a top-level key`);
     }
-    // A continuation is an indented comment line that starts no new key; a bare
-    // `#` (or anything that is not an indented comment) closes the entry.
-    const continuation = current === null ? null : /^#[ \t]{2,}(\S.*)$/.exec(line);
-    if (continuation) {
-      prose.set(current!, `${prose.get(current!)} ${continuation[1].trim()}`);
-      continue;
+    const columns = [...line].length;
+    if (columns > MAX_COMMENT_COLUMNS) {
+      breaches.push(`${where} is ${columns} columns wide, over ${MAX_COMMENT_COLUMNS}`);
     }
-    current = null;
-  }
-  return prose;
+  });
+  return breaches;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -274,3 +313,32 @@ describe('the two scaffold paths render the same pnpm build approvals (#10499)',
     ).toEqual(template);
   });
 });
+
+describe('the two scaffold paths render one minimal file (#22162)', () => {
+  it('renders the same bytes in both scaffold paths', () => {
+    expect(
+      RENDERED[CLI],
+      `${CLI} and ${TEMPLATE} write different pnpm-workspace.yaml files. Both scaffold ` +
+        'paths ship ONE file: make the same edit to renderPnpmWorkspaceYaml() and to the ' +
+        "template, and put any new reasoning in init.ts's docblocks rather than the file.",
+    ).toBe(RENDERED[TEMPLATE]);
+  });
+
+  it.each(Object.keys(RENDERED) as Producer[])(
+    '%s carries at most one short comment line per block',
+    (producer) => {
+      const yaml = RENDERED[producer];
+      // Non-vacuity: a file with no top-level key has no block to comment, and
+      // an empty breach list over it would read as a file within budget.
+      expect(yaml).toMatch(/^[A-Za-z][\w-]*:/m);
+      expect(
+        commentBudgetBreaches(yaml),
+        `${producer} writes more comment than its settings need. A scaffolded project ` +
+          'opens with this file, and the measurements behind each block belong in the ' +
+          "docblocks of renderPnpmWorkspaceYaml, SCAFFOLD_BUILT_DEPENDENCIES and " +
+          'SCAFFOLD_ALLOWED_PEER_VERSIONS in src/commands/init.ts: one comment line per ' +
+          `block, directly above its key, at most ${MAX_COMMENT_COLUMNS} columns.`,
+      ).toEqual([]);
+    },
+  );
+});
@@ -410,9 +410,14 @@ describe('templates survive npm packing', () => {
 // of every AI-written app on the platform, so a line that reads as "add member
 // packages here" is the expensive half of that choice.
 //
-// `objectstack init` renders the second copy of this rule
+// `objectstack init` renders the second copy of this file
 // (`renderPnpmWorkspaceYaml` in packages/cli/src/commands/init.ts) and is
-// ratcheted there; both paths carry it until the two renderers are unified.
+// ratcheted there. The two are one file (#22162): the same bytes, one comment
+// line per block, held by packages/cli/test/scaffold-workspace-consistency.test.ts.
+// So the measurements behind every block of this file — the pnpm version table,
+// why each build is approved, each peer skew and when it retires — live in
+// init.ts's docblocks (`renderPnpmWorkspaceYaml`, `SCAFFOLD_BUILT_DEPENDENCIES`,
+// `SCAFFOLD_ALLOWED_PEER_VERSIONS`), not in the file a new project opens.
 describe('blank template explicit empty workspace', () => {
   const wsPath = path.join(pkgRoot, 'src', 'templates', 'blank', 'pnpm-workspace.yaml');
   // Same comment-stripping as the blocks below: the prose above the key names