Match conditions

Every Source adapter converts its response into:

• a result count;
• the first candidate record, represented as a flat object for field matching.

All conditions in match must pass. With no conditions, the check requires at least one result.

Field conditions

A field condition names a Source result field and an operator:

match:
  - column: status
    op: eq
    value: active

column is used for both SQL columns and JSON object fields.

Comparison targets

Compare a field to one of four target types.

Trusted caller context:

- column: customer_id
  ctx: customer_id

A literal:

- column: status
  value: active

Another proposed tool argument:

- column: balance
  op: gte
  arg: amount

Exact decimal equality for a money field must be declared explicitly:

- column: amount_due
  op: eq
  arg: amount
  type: decimal

type: decimal is valid with eq and ne. Both operands are parsed by the same exact, finite Decimal path used by ActionRail policies. It treats 1250, 1250.0, and "1250.00" as the same number without rounding, while invalid, Boolean, NaN, and infinite inputs fail closed. Do not apply this type to identifiers, account numbers, or scopes where formatting is meaningful.

The current time plus an optional offset:

- column: delivered_at
  op: gte
  now: -30d

Time offsets support s, m, h, d, and w, such as -15m, +1h, or -30d. An empty value means the current instant. Source values may be ISO-8601 timestamps or epoch seconds/milliseconds.

Operators

Operator	Meaning	Comparison behavior
eq	equal	String equality by default; exact numeric equality with type: decimal.
ne	not equal	String inequality by default; exact numeric inequality with type: decimal.
gt	greater than	Numeric conversion.
gte	greater than or equal	Numeric conversion.
lt	less than	Numeric conversion.
lte	less than or equal	Numeric conversion.
contains	contains substring	String containment.
in	is one of	Expected value is a comma-separated string.
set	is set	Actual value is neither null nor an empty string. No target.
empty	is empty	Actual value is null or an empty string. No target.

When numeric conversion fails for an ordered comparison, the condition fails.

Result-count conditions

Count conditions work across SQL rows, JSON lists, MCP results, and HTTP responses:

match:
  - rows: eq
    value: 0

Common patterns:

# Required existence
- rows: gte
  value: 1

# Blocklist or idempotency check: no matching result may exist
- rows: eq
  value: 0

# Velocity threshold
- rows: lte
  value: 3

Count conditions support eq, ne, gt, gte, lt, and lte.

Lists and multiple rows

Count conditions see the full number of returned results. Field conditions inspect only the first returned record.

Make ordering explicit when the identity of the first SQL row or JSON list item matters. Prefer a query or Source endpoint that returns one unambiguous candidate record for ownership and state checks.

Legacy shapes

The runtime still accepts must_match as a single field condition and expect: absent as “row count equals zero.” New configuration should use the match list and explicit row-count conditions.