# The wire format stays flat and deliberately does not mirror the schema

Status: accepted

Storage splits a tracked series across two tables (ADR-0003), but `GET /bookmarks` and
`PUT /bookmarks/{key}` keep emitting and accepting one **flat** JSON object with `title`,
`cover`, `last_chapter` and `latest_chapter` as siblings — exactly the shape they had
when there was one table. The server joins on the way out and decomposes on the way in.

## Why a future reader will find this surprising

The obvious move after splitting a table is to nest the JSON to match. Don't "fix" this.

**A nested payload would have broken every installed userscript instantly.** Scripts read
`b.title` directly; moving it to `b.series.title` yields `undefined` — no error, just
blank rows and a New Chapter signal that silently reports nothing forever. Because
Violentmonkey updates roughly once a day per device, the migration relies on old scripts
continuing to work during a 14-day grace window. A nested format and that grace window
are mutually exclusive.

**It is also the better contract independently of compatibility.** A client rendering one
row needs the title and the reading position together; nesting exports the re-stitching
to every browser to mirror a decision about disk layout it should not know about. Keeping
them separate lets storage change again later without a client release — which is the
whole reason this ADR is worth the paragraph.

## Consequence

The flat shape is a contract, not an implementation detail. Changing the storage schema
must not change it. It follows the rule already in force for `updated_at`: the server
owns the truth and returns the row **as stored**, and clients adopt the response rather
than their own payload.