fix: Varbase AI Context recipe fails to apply — Property format is unknown on ai_context_item content

Problem/Motivation

Applying the Varbase AI Context recipe fails. Via Project Browser (Admin » Extend » Browse » Varbase recipes » Install Varbase AI Context) the POST to /admin/modules/project_browser/activate returns HTTP 200, but the AJAX payload carries an application error and the recipe silently does not apply:

{"command":"message","message":"Property format is unknown.",
 "messageOptions":{"type":"error","id":"activation_error"}}

Result: the recipe's three starter context items are never created (ai_context_item entity count stays 0), while the ai_context module itself is enabled (it comes in via Varbase AI Base), which makes the failure easy to miss.

Root cause: the recipe's content files set format: plain_text on three fields (description, purpose, content), 3 occurrences each, 9 lines total, in:

• content/ai_context_item/101f2b28-7328-484b-9643-f7166d1b0af5.yml (Varbase AI Editorial Rules)
• content/ai_context_item/6e94fb2f-25d9-4e10-abe1-80a04b0b0df2.yml (Varbase AI Safety Guardrails)
• content/ai_context_item/81c4f2f3-bd17-4e0d-a02b-0ba0904d542b.yml (Varbase Brand & Identity Guidelines)

In drupal/ai_context 1.0.0-beta3 (released 2026-07-18) these base fields are string_long, which exposes only a value property — no format. Verified on a running site:

description => type: string_long | props: value
purpose     => type: string_long | props: value
content     => type: string_long | props: value

Drupal's content importer rejects the unknown format property. The recipe was authored when these were text_long (value + format); ai_context 1.0.0-beta3's "bundleless context items" data-model change made them string_long. The recipe's composer.json requires drupal/ai_context: ~1.0, which resolves to beta3, so the recipe is currently broken for every new install.

Steps to reproduce

1. Install a Varbase 11 site (Drupal core 11.4.4).
2. Go to Admin » Extend » Browse (Project Browser) » Varbase recipes.
3. Click Install on Varbase AI Context.
4. The POST to /admin/modules/project_browser/activate returns HTTP 200 with the AJAX error payload shown above; the UI shows an error message.
5. Check content: 0 ai_context_item entities exist, even though the ai_context module is already enabled (via Varbase AI Base), which makes the failure easy to miss.

Proposed resolution

Remove the 9 format: plain_text lines from the three content/ai_context_item/*.yml files. No other change; label is string and scope is map, both already correct.

The fix was applied and tested end-to-end on a live Varbase 11 site (Drupal core 11.4.4, ai_context 1.0.0-beta3): the corrected recipe was staged and applied with drush recipe, which reported:

Created content for Varbase AI Context recipe.
[OK] Varbase AI Context applied successfully

and the three context items now exist:

3 items: Varbase AI Editorial Rules ; Varbase AI Safety Guardrails ; Varbase Brand & Identity Guidelines

Before the fix the same site reported 0 context items and the "Property format is unknown." error.

AI-Generated: Yes (Claude Code investigated the activation error, identified the ai_context 1.0.0-beta3 string_long data-model change as the root cause, and prepared/verified the fix on a live site; reviewed by Rajab Natshah.)

Fixed by MR !10, merged into 1.0.x.

Remaining tasks

• ✅ File an issue about this project
• ✅ Addition/Change/Update/Fix to this project
• ❌ Testing to ensure no regression
• ➖ Automated unit/functional testing coverage
• ➖ Developer Documentation support on feature change/addition
• ➖ User Guide Documentation support on feature change/addition
• ➖ UX/UI designer responsibilities
• ➖ Accessibility and Readability
• ❌ Reviewed by a human
• ❌ Code review by maintainers
• ❌ Full testing and approval
• ❌ Credit contributors
• ❌ Review with the product owner
• ✅ Update Release Notes
• ✅ Release varbase_ai_context-1.0.0-beta2

User interface changes

• N/A

API changes

• N/A

Data model changes

• N/A

Release notes snippet

• N/A