DATABASE_URL should be TINA4_DATABASE_URL

[SAB13711]

The database should be TINA4_DATABASE_URL but it is using DATABASE_URL, when running tina4 test.

2026-06-03T07:31:06.460Z [ERROR ] [_error_result] returning failed result: code:500, msg:Could not process transaction, error:No database bound. Call orm_bind(db) or set DATABASE_URL in .env

[andrevanzuydam]

Good catch — there were actually two bugs here. Both fixed on v3:

1. The user-facing error message (tina4_python/orm/model.py:292)

No database bound. Call orm_bind(db) or set DATABASE_URL in .env

The bare DATABASE_URL was retired in v3.12 and the boot guard rejects it. The message now reads:

No database bound. Call orm_bind(db) or set TINA4_DATABASE_URL in .env

2. The dev admin .env writer (tina4_python/dev_admin/__init__.py:1852-1858)

This is a worse bug than the error message itself — if you updated an existing TINA4_DATABASE_URL row via the dev dashboard's Connections panel, it was REWRITING that line as bare DATABASE_URL=... (stripping the prefix). On the next restart the boot guard would refuse, exactly reproducing the error you saw. So the system was actively breaking its own config when you tried to fix it.

Also fixed: the AI assistant fallback text and the Database.from_env() docstring.

Per the cross-framework parity rule I audited PHP / Ruby / Node too:

• PHP: clean already
• Ruby: clean already
• Node.js: same drift — fixed in parallel (tina4stack/tina4-nodejs commit e0217e8 on v3). The Node Database.fromEnv() also defaulted to the bare key, which was an additional functional defect.

3 new regression tests in tina4-python (full suite 2,675 passing), 4 new in tina4-nodejs (3,420 passing). Both pinned to the v3 branch and will ship in the next patch release.

Commit: fe3a75a