geneva_drive 0.7.0 → 0.8.0

checksums.yaml

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
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data/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [0.8.0]
+
+- Add `removed_step :name` for taking a step out of a workflow that has instances in flight. Deleting a `step` outright strands every workflow holding a scheduled execution for it: the executor finds no definition and pauses with `StepNotDefinedError`, which during a rolling deploy can hit every workflow sitting on that step at once. The gem cannot recover from this on its own — it knows the step is gone, but not whether the steps after it were ever meant to run, and a step's position says nothing about reachability (a `capture_payment` that normally ends the workflow by calling `finished!` sits directly before `refund`, so skipping forward would refund a payment that was never captured). `removed_step` is how the author of the removal records that judgement in advance: declared in the position the step used to occupy, it keeps the name resolvable so executions scheduled before the removal are skipped and the workflow continues to the next runnable step, while scheduling never spools an execution for the name again and `before_step:`/`after_step:` references keep working. An execution parked on the step waiting for a signal is released on `resume!` rather than waiting for an event that can no longer match. `Workflow.removed_steps_in_flight` reports which gravestones step execution rows still reference (ignoring finished and canceled workflows), so a `removed_step` line can be deleted once it comes back empty. The default for an undeclared removal is unchanged: the workflow still pauses.
+- Add `workflow.resume_at!(:step_name)` for workflows already stranded on a step that was deleted without a `removed_step` gravestone. Plain `resume!` had nowhere to send them and died with a `NoMethodError` on nil deep inside `create_step_execution`; it now raises `StepNotDefinedError` naming the missing step, the steps still defined, and the way out. Where to land is deliberately the operator's call, for the same reason the executor will not guess it.
+- Support MariaDB for the JSON columns (resumable step `cursor`, signal `payload`). MariaDB has no JSON type: `json` there is an alias for LONGTEXT with an auto-generated CHECK constraint named after the column, and since `cursor` is reserved in MariaDB, loading a schema dump that re-emits that constraint died on a syntax error. Rails also types such a column as text, so a Hash written to it was stored as `#inspect` output, which the same CHECK constraint then rejected. The installer migrations now ask for plain LONGTEXT on MariaDB via the new `geneva_drive_json_column` migration helper, and the models encode and decode JSON themselves whenever the column is text. The check is on the column, not the adapter, so installs that already ran the old migration on MariaDB get the encoding without having to rewrite the column.
+- Test against Rails 7.2, 8.0 and 8.1 on SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL and MariaDB. Previously the appraisals stopped at Rails 8.0, and the MySQL CI job could not build `mysql2`.
+
 ## [0.7.0]
 
 - Add signals: external events delivered to a workflow instance with `workflow.signal!(:payment_confirmed, payload: {...}, idempotency_key: event["id"])`, and a step primitive that parks until one arrives with `step :capture, wait_for: :payment_confirmed`. Signals are rows in a new `geneva_drive_signals` table, persisted before any processing, so arrival order does not matter: a signal that lands before its waiting step exists is buffered and claimed when the step runs, and one that lands after the step parked wakes it immediately. Both sides of the rendezvous run under the workflow row lock, so no signal can slip through the gap, and delivery is one transaction: the insert, the waking of parked executions and every counter bump land together or not at all, so a crashed `signal!` leaves nothing half-delivered (the job enqueue stays after-commit, with the existing stuck-scheduled housekeeping sweep as its backstop). Waiting is a first-class step execution state (`waiting`) that holds no queue slot and no timer — nothing polls. Matching is by name - `wait_for:` also takes a `GenevaDrive::SignalMatcher`, whose optional block narrows by payload and is evaluated on the workflow the signal was sent to (so `hero` is in scope), or any other object responding to `#matches?(signal)`. Matchers are plain reusable objects, so a rule can live in a constant and be shared across steps. Signals move `pending` → `claimed` → `consumed`, consumed only once every attached execution chain has finished cleanly — where skipping counts as finishing, so any flavor of skip (`skip_if:` at wake, `skip!` in a step, an exception policy, or an operator `skip!` on a ready or paused workflow) settles the signal that step was delivered, while skips of steps that never attached leave buffered signals alone — and in the same transaction as the step's own completion, so a reattempt or a `resume!` re-reads the same payload and the audit trail never claims an event was handled when it was not. Two counters on the row, `claimed` and `consumed`, count attachments and clean resolutions (with `claimed?` / `consumed?` reading those counters rather than the lifecycle state). Redelivery is deduplicated by a unique index on `(workflow_id, name, idempotency_key)` — the duplicate call returns the original row flagged `duplicate_delivery?` without dispatching. Payloads go through ActiveJob serializers, come back with indifferent access, and are bounded by `GenevaDrive.max_signal_payload_size` (128 KB, `nil` disables). `signal!` on a finished or canceled workflow raises `GenevaDrive::WorkflowNotOngoing` unless it is a redelivery of a known event; on a paused workflow the row is buffered and delivered by `resume!`. Timeouts are deliberately out of scope for now; waiting is instead made loud through `waiting_since` and two housekeeping gauges (`geneva_drive.waiting_step_executions`, `geneva_drive.waiting_overdue` past `GenevaDrive.waiting_visibility_threshold`, 7 days by default), with `skip!` and `cancel!` as operator escape hatches. Needs one new installer migration (the signals table plus two columns on step executions); until it runs everything else is unaffected and executing a `wait_for:` step raises a configuration error pointing at the missing migration. Test helpers: `assert_waiting_for_signal`, `assert_signal_state`, and the step-driving helpers now raise instead of spinning on a parked execution. Mixing up `wait:` and `wait_for:` now raises `StepConfigurationError` at class load in both directions, which also tightens `wait:` to reject Strings (previously `wait: "later"` silently meant zero seconds).

data/MANUAL.md

@@ -325,6 +325,80 @@ end
 
 The referenced step must already be defined — you can only insert before or after steps that appear earlier in the class body.
 
+### Removing a Step with `removed_step`
+
+Deleting a `step` is not safe while workflows are in flight. Step executions are rows scheduled ahead of time, so at the moment a deploy lands there are workflows holding a row that names a step the new code no longer has. When such a row's job runs, the executor finds no definition and pauses the workflow with `StepNotDefinedError`. During a rolling deploy this can happen to every workflow sitting on that step at once.
+
+GenevaDrive cannot recover from this by itself, and the reason is worth being precise about. It knows the step is gone. It does not know whether the work that step did still needs doing, and — more importantly — it does not know which of the remaining steps would have run had it executed. A step's position in the sequence says nothing about reachability: a `capture_payment` that normally ends the workflow by calling `finished!` sits directly before `refund`, and nothing in the database distinguishes "carry on to the next one" from "stop here". Skipping forward on the workflow's behalf would, in exactly that case, issue a refund for a payment that was never captured. So the executor pauses and waits for a human, which is the only correct thing it can do on its own.
+
+`removed_step` is how you tell it the answer in advance. Declare it in the position the step used to occupy:
+
+```ruby
+class PaymentWorkflow < GenevaDrive::Workflow
+  step :authorize do
+    PaymentGateway.authorize(hero)
+  end
+
+  removed_step :capture_payment
+
+  step :send_receipt do
+    ReceiptMailer.receipt(hero).deliver_later
+  end
+end
+```
+
+The declaration is an assertion only you can make: *this step no longer needs to happen, carry on past it.* Having been told, GenevaDrive can act without guessing:
+
+- Executions already scheduled under the old name resolve, are marked `skipped`, and the workflow proceeds to the next runnable step.
+- Scheduling never spools a new execution for the name again — a new `PaymentWorkflow` goes `authorize` → `send_receipt`.
+- `before_step:` / `after_step:` references to the name keep working.
+- An execution parked on the step waiting for a signal is released on `resume!` instead of waiting for an event that can no longer match.
+
+A removed step takes a name and nothing else. There is nothing to configure about a step that does not run.
+
+Because the gravestone is in the source, in order, the decision is visible in the diff that removes the step — which is where a reviewer can still object to it.
+
+### Retiring the Gravestone
+
+A `removed_step` line is temporary. It can go once no step execution row can land on it any more, which is a question you can ask directly:
+
+```ruby
+PaymentWorkflow.removed_steps_in_flight
+# => {"capture_payment" => 3}   # three rows still point at it — leave the line in place
+# => {}                          # drained — the removed_step line can be deleted
+```
+
+Rows belonging to finished and canceled workflows are ignored, since they will never execute again. The full lifecycle is: replace `step` with `removed_step` and deploy; let in-flight workflows drain past it; delete the line in a later deploy once `removed_steps_in_flight` comes back empty.
+
+### Recovering a Workflow Stranded by a Deleted Step
+
+If a step was deleted without leaving a gravestone, the workflows that were sitting on it are paused and pointed at a name that no longer resolves. Plain `resume!` has nowhere to send them and says so:
+
+```ruby
+workflow.resume!
+# GenevaDrive::StepNotDefinedError: Cannot resume PaymentWorkflow #42: step 'capture_payment'
+# is no longer defined in PaymentWorkflow. Pick the step to continue from with
+# resume_at!(:step_name) — the steps still defined are authorize, send_receipt — or cancel!
+# the workflow. ...
+```
+
+`resume_at!` is the escape hatch. You name the step to continue from, because only you know what the deleted step would have done:
+
+```ruby
+workflow.resume_at!(:send_receipt)
+```
+
+It cancels any stray execution, points the workflow at the named step, and continues from there. It refuses names that are not defined, and refuses to land on a `removed_step`. To find the affected workflows:
+
+```ruby
+GenevaDrive::Workflow.paused
+  .joins(:step_executions)
+  .where(geneva_drive_step_executions: {error_class_name: "GenevaDrive::StepNotDefinedError"})
+  .distinct
+```
+
+If the workflow should not continue at all, `cancel!` it.
+
 ## Conditional Execution
 
 ### Skipping Steps with `skip_if:`
@@ -1227,8 +1301,13 @@ end
 # Resume a specific workflow
 workflow = GenevaDrive::Workflow.find(id)
 workflow.resume!  # Re-enqueues existing scheduled step or creates new one
+
+# Or continue from a specific step, when the step it was pointed at is gone
+workflow.resume_at!(:send_receipt)
 ```
 
+`resume_at!` exists for workflows paused on a step that no longer exists in the code. See [Recovering a Workflow Stranded by a Deleted Step](#recovering-a-workflow-stranded-by-a-deleted-step).
+
 ## Workflow States
 
 ### State Machine Diagram
@@ -1957,7 +2036,11 @@ The workflow will sit in `paused` state — holding the slot, preventing duplica
 
 ### Pause on missing step definitions
 
-There is one more scenario where pause happens automatically. If a workflow references a step name that no longer exists in the class definition — typically after a deploy that removed or renamed a step — the executor pauses the workflow rather than silently skipping or crashing. This gives operators a chance to notice the mismatch and decide whether to skip, cancel, or deploy a fix.
+There is one more scenario where pause happens automatically. If a workflow references a step name that no longer exists in the class definition — typically after a deploy that removed or renamed a step — the executor pauses the workflow rather than silently skipping or crashing.
+
+This is not a limitation to be worked around. The executor knows the step is gone but not whether the steps after it were ever meant to run, and guessing wrong means performing work the missing step would have prevented. Pausing hands that judgement to someone who has it.
+
+Declare `removed_step :name` when you take a step out and the judgement is recorded ahead of time, so nothing pauses; see [Removing a Step with `removed_step`](#removing-a-step-with-removed_step). For workflows already stranded by a step deleted without one, `resume_at!` is the way back — see [Recovering a Workflow Stranded by a Deleted Step](#recovering-a-workflow-stranded-by-a-deleted-step).
 
 ## Complete Example Workflows
 

data/Rakefile

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 require "bundler/setup"
 require "bundler/gem_tasks"
 
-require "rake/testtask"
 require "standard/rake"
 require "yard"
 
@@ -15,3 +14,17 @@ end
 
 APP_RAKEFILE = File.expand_path("test/dummy/Rakefile", __dir__)
 load "rails/tasks/engine.rake"
+
+# Rails' own plugin test runner rather than a Rake::TestTask: it is what sets up
+# and tears down the per-worker databases that ActiveSupport::TestCase.parallelize
+# creates, and a plain Rake::TestTask leaves those workers hanging at exit.
+desc "Run the test suite"
+task :test do
+  ruby "-Itest", "bin/test"
+end
+
+# The root Gemfile resolves to the newest released Rails and the dummy app
+# defaults to SQLite, so a plain `rake` is the "latest Rails on SQLite" run.
+# The appraisal gemfiles cover the older Rails minors, and CI additionally
+# points DATABASE_URL at PostgreSQL and MySQL.
+task default: [:standard, :test]

data/bin/matrix

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Local CI: run the suite for every Rails appraisal against every database
+# engine the CI matrix covers, so that a one-engine failure can be reproduced
+# without pushing. Brings compose.yaml up first and leaves it running.
+#
+#   bin/matrix                    # the whole matrix
+#   bin/matrix rails_8_1          # one Rails version, all engines
+#   bin/matrix rails_8_1 sqlite   # one cell
+set -uo pipefail
+cd "$(dirname "$0")/.."
+
+# The gemfiles are generated from Appraisals, which makes them the one place
+# the supported Rails versions are written down. CI reads the same list off
+# them, so neither side can drift from the other.
+RAILS_VERSIONS=${1:-$(ls gemfiles/*.gemfile | xargs -n1 basename | sed 's/\.gemfile$//' | tr '\n' ' ')}
+ENGINES=${2:-"sqlite postgres mysql mariadb"}
+
+for engine in $ENGINES; do
+  case "$engine" in
+    sqlite|postgres|mysql|mariadb) ;;
+    *) echo "Unknown engine: $engine (pick from sqlite, postgres, mysql, mariadb)" >&2; exit 1 ;;
+  esac
+done
+
+# Only the engines actually asked for - CI runs one cell per job and should not
+# be pulling a MySQL image to test against PostgreSQL.
+services=""
+for engine in $ENGINES; do
+  case "$engine" in
+    postgres|mysql|mariadb) services="$services $engine" ;;
+  esac
+done
+if [ -n "$services" ]; then
+  docker compose up -d --wait $services || exit 1
+fi
+
+# Compose publishes to an ephemeral host port, so ask it which one it got.
+port_of() {
+  docker compose port "$1" "$2" | sed 's/.*://'
+}
+
+# SQLite gets no DATABASE_URL, exactly as in CI: the dummy app defaults to it
+# and resolves its own path relative to Rails.root.
+url_for() {
+  case "$1" in
+    postgres) echo "postgresql://postgres:postgres@127.0.0.1:$(port_of postgres 5432)/geneva_drive_test" ;;
+    mysql)    echo "mysql2://root:root@127.0.0.1:$(port_of mysql 3306)/geneva_drive_test?encoding=utf8mb4" ;;
+    mariadb)  echo "mysql2://root:root@127.0.0.1:$(port_of mariadb 3306)/geneva_drive_test?encoding=utf8mb4" ;;
+  esac
+}
+
+failed=0
+results=()
+for rails in $RAILS_VERSIONS; do
+  gemfile="gemfiles/$rails.gemfile"
+  [ -f "$gemfile" ] || { echo "No such appraisal: $gemfile" >&2; exit 1; }
+  BUNDLE_GEMFILE=$gemfile bundle check >/dev/null 2>&1 || BUNDLE_GEMFILE=$gemfile bundle install || exit 1
+  for engine in $ENGINES; do
+    echo "==> $rails / $engine"
+    if [ "$engine" = sqlite ]; then
+      env -u DATABASE_URL BUNDLE_GEMFILE=$gemfile RAILS_ENV=test GENEVA_DRIVE_ENGINE=$engine bundle exec rake test
+    else
+      env BUNDLE_GEMFILE=$gemfile RAILS_ENV=test GENEVA_DRIVE_ENGINE=$engine DATABASE_URL="$(url_for "$engine")" bundle exec rake test
+    fi
+    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
+      results+=("ok    $rails / $engine")
+    else
+      results+=("FAIL  $rails / $engine")
+      failed=1
+    fi
+  done
+done
+
+printf '\n'
+printf '%s\n' "${results[@]}"
+exit $failed

data/bin/md2html

@@ -42,6 +42,98 @@ class SyntaxHighlightingHTML < Redcarpet::Render::HTML
   end
 end
 
+# GitHub-Flavored Markdown alerts: `> [!NOTE]` etc. Redcarpet emits these
+# as ordinary blockquotes, so we post-process the HTML to spot the marker,
+# strip it, and rewrite the blockquote with an alert class + title.
+# GitHub knows exactly these five and matches them case-sensitively —
+# `[!note]` or `[!FOO]` stay literal text there, and so must they here.
+GFM_ALERT_TYPES = %w[NOTE TIP IMPORTANT WARNING CAUTION].freeze
+# Only spaces/tabs and one line ending may follow the marker. `\s*` would
+# swallow the blank line separating the marker from a following paragraph.
+GFM_ALERT_PATTERN = /\A\[!(#{GFM_ALERT_TYPES.join("|")})\][ \t]*\r?\n?/
+
+# The marker opens the text of a paragraph. GitHub insists it sit alone on the
+# blockquote's first line; we are laxer and also accept body text trailing it
+# on the same line, rather than leaving a half-parsed `[!NOTE]` on the page.
+def alert_marker_of(child)
+  return nil unless child.element? && child.name == "p"
+  first_text = child.children.first
+  return nil unless first_text&.text?
+  match = first_text.content.match(GFM_ALERT_PATTERN)
+  match && match[1]
+end
+
+# Take the marker out of the paragraph it introduces and keep everything else,
+# element children included — that is the whole point: an alert whose body
+# opens with `**bold**` has the marker and a <strong> in the same <p>, so we
+# may only edit that leading text node, never replace the paragraph.
+def strip_alert_marker!(paragraph)
+  first_text = paragraph.children.first
+  first_text.content = first_text.content.sub(GFM_ALERT_PATTERN, "") if first_text&.text?
+
+  # A marker line ending in two spaces is a Markdown hard break, so Redcarpet
+  # leaves a <br> where the marker was. Drop that leading padding, otherwise
+  # the alert body opens with a blank line.
+  while (node = paragraph.children.first)
+    blank_text = node.text? && node.content.strip.empty?
+    break unless blank_text || (node.element? && node.name == "br")
+    node.remove
+  end
+
+  # The marker was alone on its line: the paragraph has nothing left to say.
+  paragraph.remove if paragraph.children.empty?
+end
+
+def transform_gfm_alerts(html_body)
+  doc = Nokogiri::HTML::DocumentFragment.parse(html_body)
+  doc.css("blockquote").each do |bq|
+    # Redcarpet collapses adjacent blockquotes into one, so a single
+    # <blockquote> may carry several `[!TYPE]` markers. Partition its
+    # children into segments, each introduced by a marker (or the
+    # untagged preamble before any marker).
+    segments = [[nil, []]]
+    bq.children.to_a.each do |child|
+      marker = alert_marker_of(child)
+      if marker
+        segments << [marker, [child]]
+      else
+        segments.last[1] << child
+      end
+    end
+    segments.reject! do |_, nodes|
+      nodes.all? { |n| n.text? && n.content.strip.empty? }
+    end
+
+    # Nothing to do if no markers appeared at all.
+    next if segments.all? { |type, _| type.nil? }
+
+    prev = bq
+    segments.each_with_index do |(type, children), i|
+      new_bq = Nokogiri::XML::Node.new("blockquote", bq.document)
+      children.each { |c| new_bq.add_child(c) }
+
+      if type
+        first_p = new_bq.children.find(&:element?)
+        strip_alert_marker!(first_p) if first_p && first_p.name == "p"
+
+        title = Nokogiri::XML::Node.new("p", bq.document)
+        title["class"] = "markdown-alert-title"
+        title.content = type.capitalize
+        new_bq.prepend_child(title)
+        new_bq["class"] = "markdown-alert markdown-alert-#{type.downcase}"
+      end
+
+      if i == 0
+        bq.replace(new_bq)
+      else
+        prev.add_next_sibling(new_bq)
+      end
+      prev = new_bq
+    end
+  end
+  doc.to_html
+end
+
 def build_toc(html_body)
   doc = Nokogiri::HTML::DocumentFragment.parse(html_body)
   headings = doc.css("h1, h2")
@@ -82,6 +174,11 @@ def html_template(title, content, toc: "")
       --table-border: #dfe2e5;
       --blockquote-color: #6a737d;
       --blockquote-border: #dfe2e5;
+      --alert-note: #0969da;
+      --alert-tip: #1a7f37;
+      --alert-important: #8250df;
+      --alert-warning: #9a6700;
+      --alert-caution: #cf222e;
       --toc-width: 280px;
     }
 
@@ -247,6 +344,22 @@ def html_template(title, content, toc: "")
       margin-bottom: 0;
     }
 
+    /* GitHub-Flavored Markdown alerts (> [!NOTE] etc.) */
+    .markdown-alert {
+      color: var(--text-color);
+      padding: 0.5em 1em;
+    }
+    .markdown-alert-title {
+      font-weight: 600;
+      margin: 0 0 0.25em;
+      color: var(--alert-accent, inherit);
+    }
+    .markdown-alert-note      { border-left-color: var(--alert-note);      --alert-accent: var(--alert-note); }
+    .markdown-alert-tip       { border-left-color: var(--alert-tip);       --alert-accent: var(--alert-tip); }
+    .markdown-alert-important { border-left-color: var(--alert-important); --alert-accent: var(--alert-important); }
+    .markdown-alert-warning   { border-left-color: var(--alert-warning);   --alert-accent: var(--alert-warning); }
+    .markdown-alert-caution   { border-left-color: var(--alert-caution);   --alert-accent: var(--alert-caution); }
+
     /* Horizontal rules */
     hr {
       border: 0;
@@ -444,6 +557,7 @@ def convert_markdown_to_html(input_path, output_path = nil, toc: true)
   })
 
   html_body = markdown.render(markdown_content)
+  html_body = transform_gfm_alerts(html_body)
   toc_html = toc ? build_toc(html_body) : ""
   html_document = html_template(title, html_body, toc: toc_html)
 

data/lib/generators/geneva_drive/install/templates/add_resumable_step_support.rb

@@ -5,15 +5,11 @@ class AddResumableStepSupportToGenevaDriveStepExecutions < ActiveRecord::Migrati
 
   def change
     unless column_exists?(:geneva_drive_step_executions, :cursor)
-      # Cursor for resumable steps. Use database-native JSON type:
-      # - PostgreSQL: jsonb (indexed, efficient, supports containment queries)
-      # - MySQL 5.7+: json (native validation and storage)
-      # - SQLite: json (Rails handles as TEXT with serialization)
-      if connection.adapter_name.downcase.include?("postgresql")
-        add_column :geneva_drive_step_executions, :cursor, :jsonb
-      else
-        add_column :geneva_drive_step_executions, :cursor, :json
-      end
+      # Cursor for resumable steps. Database-native JSON where there is one -
+      # jsonb on PostgreSQL, json on MySQL and SQLite - and plain LONGTEXT on
+      # MariaDB, which has no JSON type. See geneva_drive_json_column.
+      cursor_type, cursor_options = geneva_drive_json_column
+      add_column :geneva_drive_step_executions, :cursor, cursor_type, **cursor_options
     end
 
     unless column_exists?(:geneva_drive_step_executions, :continues_from_id)

data/lib/generators/geneva_drive/install/templates/add_signals_support.rb

@@ -34,16 +34,11 @@ class AddSignalsSupportToGenevaDrive < ActiveRecord::Migration[7.2]
       # Lifecycle: pending -> claimed -> consumed
       t.string :state, null: false, default: "pending"
 
-      # Serialized payload. Use the database-native JSON type, same flavor
-      # logic as the resumable step cursor:
-      # - PostgreSQL: jsonb
-      # - MySQL 5.7+: json
-      # - SQLite: json (Rails handles as TEXT with serialization)
-      if adapter.include?("postgresql")
-        t.jsonb :payload
-      else
-        t.json :payload
-      end
+      # Serialized payload, same flavour logic as the resumable step cursor:
+      # jsonb on PostgreSQL, json on MySQL and SQLite, plain LONGTEXT on
+      # MariaDB, which has no JSON type. See geneva_drive_json_column.
+      payload_type, payload_options = geneva_drive_json_column
+      t.column :payload, payload_type, **payload_options
 
       t.datetime :claimed_at
       t.datetime :consumed_at

data/lib/geneva_drive/executor.rb

@@ -327,6 +327,24 @@ class GenevaDrive::Executor
         next nil
       end
 
+      # A step declared with `removed_step` is a gravestone: scheduling stopped
+      # spooling executions for it, but one scheduled before the removal was
+      # deployed can still arrive here. The author of the removal has already
+      # said this step no longer needs to happen, so skip it and move on rather
+      # than pausing the workflow the way an undeclared removal does.
+      if step_def.removed?
+        logger.info("Step '#{step_execution.step_name}' is declared removed_step — skipping it and continuing")
+
+        transition_step!("skipped", outcome: "skipped")
+        # The execution may have been carrying a signal when the step was
+        # removed under it; settle it here rather than leaving it claimed
+        # forever, exactly as a skip_if skip does.
+        workflow.settle_signal_for_skipped!(step_execution)
+        transition_workflow!("ready")
+        workflow.schedule_next_step!
+        next nil
+      end
+
       # Resumable steps need the cursor and continues_from_id columns. Fail
       # loudly (instead of degrading) - without cursor persistence an
       # interrupted iteration would silently restart from the beginning.

data/lib/geneva_drive/json_column.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+# JSON encoding for columns the database does not type as JSON itself.
+#
+# PostgreSQL and MySQL both hand Rails a real JSON attribute, so a Hash
+# assigned to one is encoded by the adapter and comes back decoded. MariaDB
+# has no JSON type - see GenevaDrive::MigrationHelpers#geneva_drive_json_column
+# for why - so the column is plain LONGTEXT, Rails types it as text, and a Hash
+# written to it would be stored as `#inspect` output. Encoding it here keeps
+# the models writing and reading the same Ruby values everywhere.
+#
+# The branch is on the column, not on the adapter, deliberately: an install
+# that already ran the old migration against MariaDB has a LONGTEXT column and
+# gets the encoding too, without needing its column rewritten first.
+#
+# @api private
+module GenevaDrive::JsonColumn
+  extend ActiveSupport::Concern
+
+  class_methods do
+    # Whether the column holds JSON as text rather than as a JSON type, and so
+    # needs encoding and decoding here. Lazily detected: never touches the
+    # database at class definition time, since the column may not exist yet.
+    #
+    # @param name [String, Symbol] the column name
+    # @return [Boolean]
+    def json_column_as_text?(name)
+      name = name.to_s
+      @_json_column_as_text ||= {}
+      return @_json_column_as_text[name] if @_json_column_as_text.key?(name)
+
+      @_json_column_as_text[name] = begin
+        column = table_exists? && columns_hash[name]
+        column ? column.type == :text : false
+      rescue ActiveRecord::ActiveRecordError
+        false
+      end
+    end
+
+    # Clears the cached detection. Call after migrating in-process.
+    #
+    # @return [void]
+    def reset_json_column_cache!
+      remove_instance_variable(:@_json_column_as_text) if defined?(@_json_column_as_text)
+    end
+
+    # Prepares an already-serialized value for writing to the column.
+    #
+    # @param name [String, Symbol] the column name
+    # @param value [Object, nil] a JSON-safe Ruby value
+    # @return [Object, nil] the value, encoded to a JSON string where needed
+    def encode_json_column(name, value)
+      return value unless json_column_as_text?(name)
+      return nil if value.nil?
+
+      JSON.generate(value)
+    end
+
+    # Reverses {encode_json_column} for a value read off the column.
+    #
+    # @param name [String, Symbol] the column name
+    # @param raw [Object, nil] the raw attribute value
+    # @return [Object, nil] the decoded value
+    def decode_json_column(name, raw)
+      return raw unless json_column_as_text?(name)
+      return nil if raw.nil?
+      return raw unless raw.is_a?(String)
+
+      JSON.parse(raw)
+    end
+  end
+end

data/lib/geneva_drive/migration_helpers.rb

@@ -48,6 +48,33 @@ module GenevaDrive::MigrationHelpers
     options
   end
 
+  # Column type and options for a column that holds a JSON document.
+  #
+  # PostgreSQL gets jsonb and MySQL gets its native json. MariaDB gets neither:
+  # it has no JSON type at all, `json` there being an alias for LONGTEXT with an
+  # auto-generated CHECK constraint named after the column. Two things go wrong
+  # with that alias. The schema dump comes back as `t.text` plus
+  # `t.check_constraint name: "cursor"`, and loading that dump re-emits the
+  # constraint name unquoted - `cursor` is reserved in MariaDB, so the load dies
+  # on a syntax error, which takes out `db:schema:load` and every parallel test
+  # worker with it. And because Rails types the column as text either way, a
+  # Hash assigned to it is written out as `#inspect` rather than JSON, which the
+  # very same CHECK constraint then rejects. Asking for plain LONGTEXT and doing
+  # the JSON encoding in the model (see GenevaDrive::JsonColumn) sidesteps both.
+  #
+  # @return [Array(Symbol, Hash)] the column type and its options
+  def geneva_drive_json_column
+    adapter = connection.adapter_name.downcase
+
+    if adapter.include?("postgresql")
+      [:jsonb, {}]
+    elsif connection.respond_to?(:mariadb?) && connection.mariadb?
+      [:text, {limit: 4_294_967_295}]
+    else
+      [:json, {}]
+    end
+  end
+
   private
 
   # Collects the id column from every application table (excludes system

data/lib/geneva_drive/removed_step_definition.rb

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+# A gravestone left in place of a step that has been taken out of a workflow.
+#
+# Deleting a `step` outright is not safe while workflows are in flight: an
+# execution row already scheduled for that name finds no definition when its
+# job runs, and the workflow pauses with StepNotDefinedError. Declaring
+# `removed_step :name` in the position the step used to occupy keeps the name
+# resolvable, so those executions are skipped instead of stranding the
+# workflow, while scheduling never spools a new execution for it again.
+#
+# A removed step holds nothing but a name - no block, no wait, no conditions.
+# There is nothing left to configure about a step that does not run.
+#
+# @api private
+class GenevaDrive::RemovedStepDefinition < GenevaDrive::StepDefinition
+  # Creates a gravestone for a step that no longer exists.
+  #
+  # The parent is handed a callable that never runs: a removed step is
+  # intercepted by the executor before it would be performed.
+  #
+  # @param name [String, Symbol] the name of the step that was removed
+  # @param call_location [Array<String, Integer>, nil] source location of the removed_step call
+  def initialize(name:, call_location: nil)
+    super(name: name, callable: :__removed_step_never_runs, call_location: call_location)
+  end
+
+  # Returns true to mark this as a gravestone rather than a runnable step.
+  #
+  # @return [Boolean]
+  def removed?
+    true
+  end
+end

data/lib/geneva_drive/signal.rb

@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 #   workflow.signal!(:payment_confirmed, payload: {amount_cents: 12_500})
 #
 class GenevaDrive::Signal < ActiveRecord::Base
+  include GenevaDrive::JsonColumn
+
   self.table_name = "geneva_drive_signals"
 
   # Signal lifecycle states as enum with string values.
@@ -109,7 +111,7 @@ class GenevaDrive::Signal < ActiveRecord::Base
         end
       end
 
-      serialized
+      encode_json_column(:payload, serialized)
     end
   end
 
@@ -119,7 +121,7 @@ class GenevaDrive::Signal < ActiveRecord::Base
   #
   # @return [Object, nil] the payload
   def payload
-    raw = self[:payload]
+    raw = self.class.decode_json_column(:payload, self[:payload])
     return nil if raw.nil?
 
     value = ActiveJob::Arguments.deserialize([raw]).first