AGENTS.md

@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ In [docs/decisions.md](docs/decisions.md):
 - After a row, a path names a column or a linked table
 - A selected row is fixed, not drawn, and an unnamed read beside it is refused
 - A link column after a row steps up to the parent row, and a path may not end on it
+- A selector names a row by its key alone
 - A parent row with no child row is a load error
 - The choice-of-rows fence guards a data file's root, and requires string fields
 - A table is a record of string columns

docs/decisions.md

@@ -368,8 +368,7 @@ exactly one row.
   renders `Stockholm / Helsinki`, and two items of one choice may select different rows.
 - What a path draws beneath a selected row is one draw per selection, per render and
   group, shared by every path through it: `{/geo.SE.municipality[1281].locality.name}`
-  twice names one locality. `[1281]` and `[Lund]` select one row, so they are one
+  twice names one locality.
-  selection.
 - A read whose path selects no row is refused beside a selection in its family, in the
   same render and group, naming the rewrite through each selection and a `drawGroup`:
   beside `{/misc.territory[SE].capital}`, a writer reading `{/misc.territory.currency}`
@@ -396,11 +395,23 @@ parent. A row is selected or drawn alike.
   of `{name} ({alpha2})`, `city[Oslo].country` names `city[Oslo].country.alpha2` and
   `{/city[Oslo].country.name} ({/city[Oslo].country.alpha2})`. `List` leaves such a path
   out, and a record's link column still holds the key, since it is a column, not a path.
+- A path may not step back down into a child table after a step up:
+  `city[Oslo].country.city.name` could be Oslo or a city of Norway drawn afresh, so it is
+  refused, naming `city[Oslo].name` and `country[NO].city.name`.
+- A route through another row is another path to the same data, not a second spelling:
+  `city[Oslo].country.name` and `country[NO].name` both load.
 
 Checked against three simulated template writers from the Audience: all three read the
 parent row where a segment followed, and they split between the code and the name where
 the path ended.
 
+## A selector names a row by its key alone
+
+Decided 2026-09-27 by the maintainer, for goal 4's one spelling per result. A table with
+a `key` selects by it alone: `country[NO]` loads, and `country[Norway]` is refused
+naming `[NO]`, since a name could spell another row's key. A table with no `key`
+selects by its `name` inside its parent, which is the key it has.
+
 ## A parent row with no child row is a load error
 
 A descendant is drawn inside the nearest pinned ancestor, so every ancestor row must

todo.md

@@ -174,10 +174,16 @@ by a `data-import/` script, as README goal 12 asks.
 
 - Step up from a row to its parent as the decision "A link column after a row steps up
   to the parent row, and a path may not end on it" states: `city[Oslo].country.name` is
-  a load error today, and `city[Oslo].country` renders the cell `NO`, as
+  a load error today, `city[Oslo].country.city.name` draws a city, and
+  `city[Oslo].country` renders the cell `NO`, as
   `locality.municipality` does, which `List` stops advertising. Replace the README's
   `city[Oslo].country` example with `fejkdata -d ./mydata 'city[Oslo].country.name'`,
   rendering `Norway`.
+- Select a row by its key alone, as the decision "A selector names a row by its key
+  alone" states: `geo.SE.municipality[Lund]` and `misc.territory[Sweden]` select a row
+  today, where the error should name `[1281]` and `[SE]`. Refuse a `name` option beside
+  `key`, which then selects nothing, drop it from the shipped tables, and state the
+  README's selectors and `CHANGELOG.md`'s "a path selects a row by key or name" to match.
 - Render selected rows as the decision "A selected row is fixed, not drawn, and an
   unnamed read beside it is refused" states: `New` refuses
   `{/misc.territory[SE].capital} / {/misc.territory[FI].capital}` today, and a choice
@@ -227,12 +233,6 @@ by a `data-import/` script, as README goal 12 asks.
 
 ### Open questions to settle
 
-- Decide what a path stepping up and back down renders, per goal 4's writer check:
-  `city[Oslo].country.city.name` could be Oslo or a city of Norway drawn afresh.
-- Decide whether a route through another row is a second spelling of one result:
-  `city[Oslo].country.name` and `country[NO].name` always render `Norway`, and goal 4
-  refuses a second spelling, while `country[NO]` and `country[Norway]` both select one
-  row today.
 - Decide whether a goal 5 violation joins the comprehension gate's exception list: the
   `{/sel}|{/sel}` panic waits behind the whole round at 5.9, and
   `{/geo.SE.locality}|{/geo.SE.municipality}` mispairs the shipped data meanwhile, though a