NSManagedObject and KVO vs Documentation

Well, NSManagedObject does provide an implementation for the name property (as well as the - name and - setName: methods). I would assume that the implementations provided by Core Data do include calls to willChangeValueForKey: and didChangeValueForKey:.

So, although the KVO is "automatic" in the sense that you didn't have to do anything to make it work, I would imagine that it is not automatic in the sense that willChangeValueForKey: and didChangeValueForKey: are being called by the methods in NSManagedObject that provide the dynamic property implementations.