{"record":{"id":"dc04c8c68f9fad72","repo":"santifer/career-ops","slug":"additions-carry-a-url-but-this-tracker-has-no","errorCode":null,"errorMessage":"⚠️  Additions carry a URL but this tracker has no URL column — URL dedup is INACTIVE (fuzzy fallback). Add a `URL` header column to enable it.","messagePattern":"⚠️  Additions carry a URL but this tracker has no URL column — URL dedup is INACTIVE \\(fuzzy fallback\\)\\. Add a `URL` header column to enable it\\.","errorType":"console","errorClass":null,"httpStatus":null,"severity":"warning","filePath":"merge-tracker.mjs","lineNumber":995,"sourceCode":"  const content = readFileSync(join(ADDITIONS_DIR, file), 'utf-8').trim();\n  const addition = parseTsvContent(content, file);\n  if (!addition) { skipped++; continue; }\n\n  // A via= tag can only be stored if the tracker has a Via column — warn\n  // instead of dropping the channel silently (#1596). Clear the value too:\n  // existing rows parse with via='' on this layout, so a set addition.via would\n  // make the cross-channel duplicate guard see a channel mismatch and add a\n  // second ? row instead of updating the same-agency re-blast.\n  if (addition.via && COLMAP.via == null) {\n    console.warn(`⚠️  ${file}: carries via=${addition.via} but the tracker has no Via column — value dropped. Add it with: node merge-tracker.mjs --migrate-via`);\n    addition.via = '';\n  }\n\n  // If additions carry a URL but the tracker has no URL\n  // column, deterministic Pass 0 cannot engage and dedup silently falls back to\n  // the fuzzy tiers. Warn once rather than degrade invisibly.\n  if (addition.url && COLMAP.url == null && !warnedNoUrlCol) {\n    console.warn('⚠️  Additions carry a URL but this tracker has no URL column — URL dedup is INACTIVE (fuzzy fallback). Add a `URL` header column to enable it.');\n    warnedNoUrlCol = true;\n  }\n\n  // Normalize the report link to be relative to the tracker file's directory.\n  // The TSV convention carries a root-relative `reports/...` link; rewrite it\n  // so it resolves correctly when clicked from applications.md (see #760).\n  addition.report = normalizeReportLink(addition.report);\n\n  // Derive the key from the linked report when the TSV did not carry one, so a\n  // row added through the normal nine-column flow is born WITH its key. This\n  // must run before the dedup below reads addition.url — deriving it afterwards\n  // would populate the column while leaving Pass 0 nothing to match on, which is\n  // the original bug with extra steps.\n  if (!addition.url) addition.url = resolveReportUrl(addition.report).url;\n\n  // Check for duplicate by:\n  // 0. Exact normalized posting URL (deterministic, authoritative)\n  // 1. Exact report number match","sourceCodeStart":977,"sourceCodeEnd":1013,"githubUrl":"https://github.com/santifer/career-ops/blob/60398d6549a46f5266929538af21cfab94badc75/merge-tracker.mjs#L977-L1013","documentation":"Deduplication Pass 0 matches additions to tracker rows by exact normalized posting URL (tracking params stripped, host lowercased). That only works when the tracker has a URL header column; without it the merge silently degrades to report-number/entry-number/fuzzy tiers. This once-per-run warning (warnedNoUrlCol) announces that deterministic URL dedup is inactive.","triggerScenarios":"At least one additions file carries a trailing http(s):// posting URL while data/applications.md's header row lacks a URL column — addition.url is truthy, COLMAP.url == null, and the single warning fires before fuzzy-tier matching takes over.","commonSituations":"Long-lived tracker predating the URL feature; trackers built by hand from the 9-column template; after restoring applications.md from an old backup.","solutions":["Add a `URL` header column to data/applications.md so Pass 0 can engage","Backfill URLs for existing rows from their reports with `node merge-tracker.mjs --backfill-urls`","Keep including the posting URL as the trailing field in new TSVs — it is the deterministic dedup key"],"exampleFix":"# before (data/applications.md header)\n| # | Date | Company | Role | Score | Status | PDF | Report | Notes |\n\n# after\n| # | Date | Company | Role | Score | Status | PDF | Report | Notes | URL |","handlingStrategy":"validation","validationCode":"import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';\nfunction trackerHasUrlColumn(trackerPath) {\n  const header = readFileSync(trackerPath, 'utf8').split('\\n').find(l => l.startsWith('|'));\n  return !!header && /\\burl\\b/i.test(header);\n}","typeGuard":null,"tryCatchPattern":null,"preventionTips":["Always append the posting URL as the trailing TSV field — it is the deterministic dedup key","Keep a URL header column in applications.md and backfill old rows with --backfill-urls"],"tags":["tracker","dedup","url-column","schema","merge","warning"],"backgroundTag":"missing-schema-column","analyzedSha":"60398d6549a46f5266929538af21cfab94badc75","analyzedAt":"2026-08-20T23:00:06.764Z","schemaVersion":2},"datasetVersion":"2026-08-29T07:17:48.351Z"}