Complete patches

complete patches signal that a value at a path is fully assembled and will not receive further patches in this stream.

What they carry

Unlike add, append, and insert which carry deltas, complete carries the full assembled snapshot at the moment of completion:


{ "path": "title",       "value": "Quarterly Report",        "op": "complete" }
{ "path": "sections[0]", "value": { "heading": "Revenue" },  "op": "complete" }
{ "path": "sections",    "value": [{ "heading": "Revenue" }], "op": "complete" }
{ "path": "",            "value": { "title": "...", ... },    "op": "complete" }

The value is a deep snapshot — safe to store and render without risk of it being mutated by subsequent patches.

When they fire

The Emitter fires a complete patch at the stack-pop boundary — the exact moment a value’s closing character is parsed:

JSON construct	Fires on
Object `{}`	The closing `}`
Array `[]`	The closing `]`
String	The closing `"`
Number	The terminating `,` `}` or `]`
Boolean / null	When the literal is fully accumulated

Children always complete before parents:


sections[0].heading → complete
sections[0].body    → complete
sections[0]         → complete
sections            → complete
(root)              → complete

How the Collector uses them

The Collector does not mutate state on complete patches. It reads the value from the patch (already snapshotted by the Emitter) and fires pathcomplete:


collector.on('pathcomplete', (path, value) => {
  // value is the snapshot from the complete patch
  renderSection(value)
})

Opting out

complete patches are emitted by default. Disable on routes where lifecycle events are not used:


# Python
emitter = Emitter(completions=False)


// Node
const emitter = new Emitter({ completions: false })

Collectors handle their absence gracefully — pathcomplete simply never fires.

Middleware can intercept complete patches

Middleware receives all four ops. Drop a complete patch to suppress pathcomplete for a specific path:


collector.use((patch, next) => {
  // Suppress pathcomplete for the metadata field
  if (patch.op === 'complete' && patch.path === 'metadata') return
  next(patch)
})