From 091e8ab9944ace6c61c857a75304b97b5827ee4b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: IlyaKhalafi <ilyakhalafi@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2026 08:51:38 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Preserve empty database plugin overrides

Closes #3000
---
 datasette/app.py         |  4 +++-
 docs/writing_plugins.rst |  2 ++
 tests/test_plugins.py    | 41 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 46 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/datasette/app.py b/datasette/app.py
index b2cb24b7..04d0202d 100644
--- a/datasette/app.py
+++ b/datasette/app.py
@@ -1491,7 +1491,9 @@ class Datasette:
 
             # fallback to db_config or top-level config, in that order, if needed
             if table_plugin_config is None and fallback:
-                return db_plugin_config or self._plugin_config_top(plugin_name)
+                if db_plugin_config is not None:
+                    return db_plugin_config
+                return self._plugin_config_top(plugin_name)
 
             return table_plugin_config
 
diff --git a/docs/writing_plugins.rst b/docs/writing_plugins.rst
index bbefe344..68507d4c 100644
--- a/docs/writing_plugins.rst
+++ b/docs/writing_plugins.rst
@@ -302,6 +302,8 @@ If it cannot find the requested configuration at the table layer, it will fall b
 
 In this case, the above code would return that configuration for ANY table within the ``sf-trees`` database.
 
+An explicit empty dictionary at the database or table layer counts as configuration and prevents fallback to the next layer.
+
 The plugin configuration could also be set at the top level of ``datasette.yaml``:
 
 .. [[[cog
diff --git a/tests/test_plugins.py b/tests/test_plugins.py
index 58e154a2..973744a5 100644
--- a/tests/test_plugins.py
+++ b/tests/test_plugins.py
@@ -301,6 +301,47 @@ async def test_plugin_config(ds_client):
     assert None is ds_client.ds.plugin_config("unknown-plugin")
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "database_plugins,table_plugins,fallback,expected",
+    [
+        ({"example": {}}, {}, True, {}),
+        ({"example": {"setting": "database"}}, {}, True, {"setting": "database"}),
+        ({}, {}, True, {"setting": "top"}),
+        ({"example": None}, {}, True, {"setting": "top"}),
+        (
+            {"example": {}},
+            {"example": {"setting": "table"}},
+            True,
+            {"setting": "table"},
+        ),
+        ({"example": {"setting": "database"}}, {"example": {}}, True, {}),
+        ({"example": {}}, {}, False, None),
+        ({"example": {}}, {"example": {}}, False, {}),
+    ],
+)
+def test_plugin_config_table_fallback_preserves_empty_database_config(
+    database_plugins, table_plugins, fallback, expected
+):
+    datasette = Datasette(
+        config={
+            "plugins": {"example": {"setting": "top"}},
+            "databases": {
+                "example_db": {
+                    "plugins": database_plugins,
+                    "tables": {"items": {"plugins": table_plugins}},
+                }
+            },
+        }
+    )
+
+    assert (
+        datasette.plugin_config(
+            "example", database="example_db", table="items", fallback=fallback
+        )
+        == expected
+    )
+
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_plugin_config_env(ds_client, monkeypatch):
     monkeypatch.setenv("FOO_ENV", "FROM_ENVIRONMENT")