[Rush]

A signal query whose predicate is a class declared later in the file:

@Component({ selector: 'd-parent', template: '<ng-content />' })
export class DParent {
  panes = contentChildren(DPane);
}
@Component({ selector: 'd-pane', template: '' })
export class DPane {}

emitted setClassMetadata(DParent, ..., { panes: [{ type: i0.ContentChildren, args: [DPane, { isSignal: true }] }] }). setClassMetadata runs as soon as the class is defined, so in development builds DPane was read before its initialization: ReferenceError: Cannot access 'DPane' before initialization, which stops the app. (The query initializer itself is fine: it runs later.)

ngtsc's memberMetadataFromSignalQuery wraps the predicate in forwardRef unless it is a string or a call expression, for this reason; this does the same:

panes: [{ type: i0.ContentChildren, args: [i0.forwardRef(() => DPane), { isSignal: true }] }]

It applies whatever the declaration order, as in ngtsc. A string predicate (viewChildren('ref')) and decorator queries are left as written. One deliberate difference: a spread first argument (viewChild(...args)) isn't wrapped, since forwardRef(() => ...args) isn't valid JavaScript.

tests/signal_query_metadata_forward_ref_test.rs checks both declaration orders, an options object ({ ...{ read: ElementRef }, isSignal: true }), a string predicate and decorator queries against @angular/compiler-cli 21.0.1's output.