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+# SB-8 — Dashboard tile-visibility merge semantics
+
+**Owner:** W-IOS-COORD (v1.4.41)
+**Route:** `src/app/api/dashboard/widgets/route.ts`
+**Resolver:** `src/lib/dashboard-layout.ts` (`resolveDashboardLayout` + `DEFAULT_DASHBOARD_LAYOUT`)
+**Status:** investigation-only — no code change. Documents the contract a
+future widget-introduction migration must honour.
+
+## How the layout is stored
+
+`User.dashboardWidgetsJson` (Prisma `Json?`, default `null`). A null /
+missing value means "no user customisation, use defaults". A populated
+value is a `DashboardLayout` blob shaped by the Zod schema in the PUT
+route. The resolver in `src/lib/dashboard-layout.ts` is the single
+read-side merge point.
+
+## Merge semantics on read (`resolveDashboardLayout`)
+
+1. **Null/empty input** → return `DEFAULT_DASHBOARD_LAYOUT` verbatim.
+2. **Known widget ids** → keep the user's `visible` / `tileVisible` /
+   `order` exactly as stored.
+3. **Unknown widget ids** (stale entries from a removed widget) → dropped
+   silently.
+4. **New widgets present in `DASHBOARD_WIDGET_IDS` but absent from the
+   user's blob** → appended at the end of `widgets[]` with the default
+   layout's `visible`, `tileVisible`, and `order` values. This is the
+   key behaviour any new-widget migration must rely on. The resolver
+   does this on every read; no DB migration is required when a new
+   widget id ships.
+5. **`tileVisible` omitted** → mirrors `visible` for back-compat with
+   pre-v1.4.15 saved layouts.
+6. **Unknown `comparisonBaseline` / `chartOverlayPrefs` keys** → clamped
+   to defaults so a stale client cannot poison the dashboard.
+
+## Merge semantics on write (`PUT /api/dashboard/widgets`)
+
+1. The Zod schema requires the **full** `widgets[]` array — the route
+   does NOT support partial updates. Clients must read the current
+   layout, mutate, and PUT the result.
+2. `chartOverlayPrefs` is preserved automatically when omitted: the
+   route re-reads the persisted blob and re-attaches the existing
+   prefs before writing (see lines 137–151).
+3. `comparisonBaseline` is **not** preserved-on-omit — an omitted
+   field clamps to the default. Clients that want to keep an existing
+   baseline must round-trip the value.
+4. `DELETE` resets to defaults by writing `Prisma.JsonNull` (not
+   `null` — Prisma's typed null sentinel).
+
+## Future-migration guidance
+
+Adding a new widget id is **migration-free** when these rules hold:
+
+- Add the id to `DASHBOARD_WIDGET_IDS`.
+- Add a default entry to `DEFAULT_DASHBOARD_LAYOUT.widgets[]` with the
+  desired `visible`, `tileVisible`, and a unique `order`.
+- That's it. Every existing user gets the new widget appended on next
+  GET. No `prisma migrate` step is needed for the layout blob.
+
+Removing a widget id is also migration-free:
+
+- Drop the id from `DASHBOARD_WIDGET_IDS` and from
+  `DEFAULT_DASHBOARD_LAYOUT`.
+- The resolver drops the orphan entry on next read. A subsequent PUT
+  rewrites the blob without it.
+
+**Anti-pattern (do NOT do):** a "one-shot migration" that rewrites every
+`User.dashboardWidgetsJson` to overlay a new tile-visibility default
+will clobber every user's customisation. The resolver's append-only
+merge is intentionally designed so we never need such a migration.
+
+## Open audit gap closed
+
+The original audit note flagged "what happens when a future migration
+introduces a new tile and we want it visible by default for existing
+users". Answer: do nothing — the resolver handles it. If a tile must
+be visible-by-default for existing users, set `visible: true` in
+`DEFAULT_DASHBOARD_LAYOUT`. The user's saved blob never has the new
+id, so the resolver's append step uses the default.
+
+## References
+
+- `src/app/api/dashboard/widgets/route.ts` — PUT schema + chart-overlay
+  preservation logic.
+- `src/lib/dashboard-layout.ts` — `resolveDashboardLayout`,
+  `serializeDashboardLayout`, `DEFAULT_DASHBOARD_LAYOUT`.
+- `src/lib/__tests__/dashboard-layout.test.ts` — resolver coverage.