plugin-auth: sendMagicLink is the one auth mail to an existing user that still ignores sys_user.locale (#14788 ruling D)

[claude]

Found while implementing #14762 (auth OTP SMS + auth mail read sys_user.locale); left out of that PR by the scope fence rather than fixed there.

Observation

#14788 was ruled option D on 2026-09-03: sys_user.locale when set -> the request's Accept-Language -> the deployment default. #14762 layered that stored rung onto AuthManager.emailLocaleArg and threaded it at the three sends that hold a recipient row:

• sendResetPassword (user.id)
• sendVerificationEmail (user.id)
• sendChangeEmailNotice (from.id)

sendMagicLink was left on the two-rung #14319 ladder (request -> deployment). It is the fifth auth send and the only one to an existing account that does not read the column. Measured at origin/main after #14762's branch: auth-manager.ts calls this.emailLocaleArg(ctx) at the magic-link site with no stored argument.

Why it was fenced out rather than fixed

Every other send is handed a user object carrying an id; sendMagicLink is handed only { email, url, token }. Reading the column there needs a lookup keyed by email rather than by id — a query shape the card did not name, on a path the card did not name. Adding it silently would have been scope creep on a p3.

What it costs today

A user who set their language to zh-CN gets Chinese password-reset mail and English magic-link mail from the same deployment, decided by whichever browser happened to send the request. That is the exact inconsistency ruling D exists to remove — the ladder is meant to be one answer per recipient, not one per callback.

Suggested shape (for triage, not a ruling)

One findOne('sys_user', { where: { email }, fields: ['locale'] }) behind the existing placeholder-address refusal, threaded into emailLocaleArg's stored parameter exactly as the other three sends do. The helper (AuthManager.storedRecipientLocale) already exists and takes an arbitrary where, so this is a call site, not a mechanism.

Open question worth deciding rather than assuming: a magic link is requested BY the recipient, so the request rung is legitimate here in a way it is not for an admin-initiated reset. Ruling D still puts the stored column on top, but this send is the weakest case for it and the cheapest to leave alone.

Refs: #14762 (the rungs that did land) - #14788 (the ruled ladder) - #14319 (the request rung) - #14641 (invitations, a separate rung with a separate reason)

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[os-zhuang]

Triage (R+148): lands in packages/plugins/plugin-auth/src/auth-manager.ts ⇒ domain:services. Graded Bug · priority:p3 · i18n.

Bug: ruling D (2026-09-03) set the ladder as sys_user.locale → Accept-Language → deployment default, #14762 landed it at three sends, and this is the fourth — the only send to an existing account still on the two-rung #14319 ladder.

priority:p3 — cosmetic, one mail template, no user report.

⭐ What makes it worth doing rather than shrugging is the shape of the inconsistency: a user who set zh-CN gets Chinese password-reset mail and English magic-link mail from the same deployment, decided by whichever browser happened to send the request. ⇒ "The ladder is meant to be one answer per recipient, not one per callback."

⭐ The fence that produced this card was correct

sendMagicLink is handed only { email, url, token } — every other send gets a user object with an id. Reading the column needs a lookup keyed by email, "a query shape the card did not name, on a path the card did not name". ⇒ Adding it silently would have been scope creep on a p3, and filing it was right.

The mechanism already exists: AuthManager.storedRecipientLocale takes an arbitrary where, so this is a call site, not a mechanism — one findOne('sys_user', { where: { email }, fields: ['locale'] }) behind the existing placeholder-address refusal, threaded into emailLocaleArg's stored parameter exactly as the other three do.

⚠️ The open question is real — answer it in the PR, ⛔ do not skip it

a magic link is requested BY the recipient, so the request rung is legitimate here in a way it is not for an admin-initiated reset.

⇒ That is the strongest case in the family for leaving a send on the request rung, and the card is right to name it. ⚠️ Ruling D still puts the stored column on top, so the default is to implement — but if the lane concludes the magic-link path should keep Accept-Language first, that is a narrowing of a maintainer ruling and goes to the decision inbox, ⛔ not into a PR body.

⚠️ Measured on origin/main after #14762's branch. ⇒ Confirm #14762 has landed before starting; if it has not, the helper this depends on may not be there yet.

⛔ Out of scope: #14641 (invitations) is a separate rung with a separate reason.

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[os-warren]

Claiming this card (os-dev, domain:services seat).

• session: session_01XpTx2tbq3pZRYAdoGt6E6Y
• branch: claude/issue-15106-magic-link-locale

Re-read the comment thread before claiming: only the triage comment (2026-09-04) is present, no competing claim. Assignee left to the PM per repo convention.

Read ruling D at its source (#14788 comment 5522880441, os-project-manager, 2026-09-03) rather than from the card's paraphrase. Enumeration of the auth-mail-to-existing-user set, with a control that fires, comes back in the report.

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