---
title: "ADR-255: A record select explains the chosen option"
manual: "LLM Foundation"
version: "0.43"
permalink: "https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/netresearch/nr-llm:adr-255@0.43"
source: "Adr/Adr255ARecordSelectExplainsTheChosenOption.rst"
rendered: "2026-11-04T13:45:29+00:00"
---

# ADR-255: A record select explains the chosen option {#adr-255}

-   *Status:* Accepted
-   *Date:* 2026-11-03
-   *Authors:* Netresearch DTT GmbH

## Context {#context}

Integrators choose a model, a configuration, a task or a skill from a select
that shows each record's name and nothing else. The names do not say what a
record does: a configuration called "Demo GPT-4o mini" does not say what it
is for, two tasks can both be called "Translate Content", and a skill's name
is often a short title from its source. The records have a description, and
the model and provider behind a configuration are known; none of it reaches
the select.

What the platform offers, read in TYPO3 13.4.37 and 14.3.10:

-   A native `<option>` renders one line of text. `SelectSingleElement`
    ignores an item's `description`; `SelectMultipleSideBySideElement` puts
    the label in the option's `title` attribute, which only a mouse hover
    shows. Only `SelectCheckBoxElement` reads `description`.
-   Customizable select (`appearance: base-select`) allows markup in an
    option, but it is not Baseline: Chrome and Edge 135 and Safari 27 ship it,
    Firefox 149 only behind two preferences (MDN browser-compat-data 8.1.8).
    The option's whole text would also become its accessible name.
-   Core's field controls `addRecord`, `editPopup` and `listModule` render
    for every user and leave the refusal to the page they open.
    `editPopup` finds its select by `data-formengine-input-name`, which only
    a multiple select has; on a `selectSingle` it throws in the browser.
    `listModule` opens the List module on the edited record's page, where
    the nr-llm records usually are not.

## Decision {#decision}

**A field wizard under the select shows the chosen option's description and
the facts its label hides.** `nrllmChoiceHelp`
(`ChoiceHelpWizard`, `ChoiceSummaryProvider`,
`Backend/ChoiceHelp.js`):

-   a configuration names its model and provider, or says that it picks a
    model by criteria or has none yet; a task names its configuration; a model
    names its provider and model ID; a provider its adapter; a skill its
    identifier;
-   only the options FormEngine already offers are described; the facts name
    related records (a model's provider, a configuration's model, a task's
    configuration) by name only. The text is written as text, never as
    markup;
-   the element is tied to every select of the field with `aria-describedby`
    and is a polite, atomic live region. Polite, because the new text belongs
    after the option name the screen reader reads first; assertive would cut
    that name off; without a live region a changed choice would keep the old
    explanation until the select is focused again. Checked in Chromium's
    accessibility tree on 13.4 and 14.3: the select's description is the help
    text and changes with the arrow keys;
-   `selectMultipleSideBySide`: the text follows the option last chosen in
    either list, so moving through the available items with the arrow keys
    compares them one by one (`change` fires on arrow keys in Chromium and
    Firefox on both TYPO3 versions).

**Create and manage controls are shown only to users who can use them.**
`nrllmAddRecord` is core's `addRecord` behind `RecordControlAccess`:
the table must be modifiable and the target page must allow editing content;
the root level is open to administrators only. `nrllmManageRecords` opens
the nr-llm module that lists the records, through core's `list-module.js`
(which asks to save unsaved changes first), and only for a user with access
to that module. Both give their link an accessible name; core's controls
have none, because the text sits in the icon's `title`.

Which select gets what:

-   configuration's model, task's configuration: help, create, manage;
-   skills of a configuration and of a task, model's provider, term list's
    configurations: help, manage. Skills come from sources with an approval;
    providers are created through the setup wizard, which normalises the
    endpoint;
-   the landing page template's configuration and image task use the same
    nodes from nr-landingpage.

## Consequences {#consequences}

-   One implementation, used by every extension through the render types;
    another extension's record select on an nr-llm table only needs the TCA
    entries.
-   An "edit the chosen record" control is not offered on single selects:
    core's `editPopup` does not work there, and the manage control plus the
    description cover the need to know what a record is.
-   A richer picker (a listbox or dialog per option) was not built. Comparing
    options one by one works with the help text; a dialog would duplicate the
    side-by-side element's filter and ordering. To revisit if an installation
    has dozens of similar skills.

## Alternatives considered {#alternatives-considered}

-   Customizable select: not Baseline; usable only as an enhancement on top of
    the help text, and longer accessible names for every option.
-   The record description in the option label: one long line per option, cut
    off by the select's width.
-   Core field controls without a check: buttons that lead to an access error
    for editors without the right.