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Null/undefined handling must preserve intent across API boundaries and persistence layers. Treat undefined as “not provided/unchanged/omit”, and treat null (or an explicitly reset payload) as “clear/reset this value”. Ensure your type annotations and runtime normalization match what the receiving contract/storage layer expects, and lock the behavior with tests for clear/reset vs default transitions.

Apply:

• For “clear/reset” actions: send the contract’s expected reset representation (often explicit null or a specific empty object/shape), not {} accidentally, and not an omitted field.
• For “update/replace” actions: send the field only when you truly mean to change it; otherwise omit with undefined.
• For null vs undefined: if code or defaults treat them differently (e.g., null should not be swallowed like undefined), ensure the function signature and call sites agree.
• For “empty vs absent” collections/strings: distinguish between “caller provided empty” and “caller omitted”. Don’t assume protobuf/RPC decoding preserves omissions; handle decoded defaults intentionally.

Example pattern (clear vs omit):

// clear/reset vs omit
const payload = {
  // If user cleared a field, send explicit reset value the contract expects:
  baseUrl: userCleared ? null : undefined, // undefined => omit/leave unchanged
};

// persistence: match the storage encoding expected for clears
await client.command("session.update", {
  sessionId,
  ...(metadataToClear ? { metadata: {} } : { metadata: updates.metadata }),
});

Also add focused tests for:

• custom→default (cleared) transitions
• “clear” becoming a no-op due to null being decoded as omitted
• cases where omitted fields decode to defaults (e.g., protobuf images -> []) and must not overwrite previous values unintentionally.

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