fix(objectql): the validation-message bridge negotiates the locale through the one rule every other consumer uses

.changeset/validation-message-locale-negotiation.md

@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/objectql": minor
+---
+
+`accept-language: zh` now reads a Chinese refusal on the response whose labels are already Chinese.
+
+`@objectstack/spec` has one locale-negotiation rule — `resolveBundleLocale`: exact match, then case-insensitive, then base language, then **variant expansion**, which is the step that reaches a `zh-CN` bundle from a bare `zh`. `pickData` calls it, and every document translator (`translateObject`, `translateView`, `translateDataset`, …) goes through `pickData`. That is why an app shipping only `zh-CN` still answered `accept-language: zh` with translated object, view and dataset labels.
+
+The write path's message bridge was the one consumer that never negotiated. `ExecutionContext.locale` is the header's first tag verbatim — `preferredLocaleFromHeader` reports what was *asked for* and expands nothing, deliberately, because each of its callers negotiates differently — and the engine handed that tag straight to `II18nService.t()`. A served adapter resolves a locale exactly and then falls to its declared fallback (`FileI18nAdapter.t()` is `resolveFromLocale(key, locale)` then `resolveFromLocale(key, fallbackLocale)`), so `zh` missed the `zh-CN` bundle and the English text came back. The result was a half-translated response an app had no way to see coming: the bundle key was present and correct and the coverage gate was green.
+
+`ObjectQL`'s validation-message context now resolves the requested tag against what the bridged service reports it holds (`II18nService.getLocales()`), through that same `resolveBundleLocale`. The rule is not re-implemented in the engine — the document translators ask it about a bundle's keys, and this asks it about the service's locales. Authored `objects.<object>._validations.<rule>.message` text, `validation.field.*` overrides and translated field labels all follow, because they read one locale.
+
+Unchanged: **which** writes are refused, and everything machine-readable about a refusal — the `code`, the `field`, the `constraint`, the status. Only the language of the sentence moves. `preferredLocaleFromHeader` is untouched, and so is every other caller of it. A request with nothing to negotiate against — no i18n service, a service that cannot report its locales, or a tag no variant of which is on offer — passes through exactly as before.
+
+`ObjectQL.setI18nService` accepts an optional `getLocales?: () => string[]` alongside `t`. `II18nService` has always required `getLocales()`, so every real service already satisfies it; a partial shim that omits it keeps today's behaviour rather than being negotiated against.

content/docs/permissions/system-context.mdx

@@ -109,17 +109,17 @@ that silently does not happen.
 
 | # | Behaviour when `isSystem` | Package | What you get / what you lose | Anchor |
 |:--|:---|:---|:---|:---|
-| 18 | **`readonly` strip bypassed — UPDATE, single row** | objectql | Get: a `readonly` field CAN be written. Lose: the protection that stops a caller seeding e.g. `approval_status` | `objectql/src/engine.ts:11675` |
-| 19 | **`readonly` strip bypassed — UPDATE, bulk/predicate** | objectql | Same, on the multi-row path | `objectql/src/engine.ts:11858` |
-| 20 | **`readonly` strip bypassed — INSERT** | objectql | Same, on create — one gate over BOTH create-side passes since the 2026-09-03 ruling moved the static-`readonly` strip in beside the runtime-owned one and deleted the DataProtocol ingress copy. `isSystem` is the **only** exemption on this path: `preserveAudit` is deliberately not read on create, so a non-system historical import is still stripped | `objectql/src/engine.ts:10323` |
-| 21 | Strict-drop refusal never fires | objectql | Lose: a caller that opted into loud refusal gets **silence** — strict refuses exactly what the strip would have taken, and the strip took nothing | `objectql/src/engine.ts:10456`, `readonly-strict-errors.ts:66` |
-| 22 | **Referential-integrity check skipped** | objectql | Get: writes proceed against unreachable/unresolvable targets. Lose: an `isSystem` caller can write a **dangling reference** | `objectql/src/engine.ts:6182` |
-| 23 | Tenant-audit warning silenced; `bypassTenantAudit` threaded to the driver | objectql | Get: unscoped system writes stop warning. Lose: the signal that would flag a genuine user-path scoping bug | `objectql/src/engine.ts:3913`, `:3923`, `:3950` |
+| 18 | **`readonly` strip bypassed — UPDATE, single row** | objectql | Get: a `readonly` field CAN be written. Lose: the protection that stops a caller seeding e.g. `approval_status` | `objectql/src/engine.ts:11733` |
+| 19 | **`readonly` strip bypassed — UPDATE, bulk/predicate** | objectql | Same, on the multi-row path | `objectql/src/engine.ts:11916` |
+| 20 | **`readonly` strip bypassed — INSERT** | objectql | Same, on create — one gate over BOTH create-side passes since the 2026-09-03 ruling moved the static-`readonly` strip in beside the runtime-owned one and deleted the DataProtocol ingress copy. `isSystem` is the **only** exemption on this path: `preserveAudit` is deliberately not read on create, so a non-system historical import is still stripped | `objectql/src/engine.ts:10381` |
+| 21 | Strict-drop refusal never fires | objectql | Lose: a caller that opted into loud refusal gets **silence** — strict refuses exactly what the strip would have taken, and the strip took nothing | `objectql/src/engine.ts:10514`, `readonly-strict-errors.ts:66` |
+| 22 | **Referential-integrity check skipped** | objectql | Get: writes proceed against unreachable/unresolvable targets. Lose: an `isSystem` caller can write a **dangling reference** | `objectql/src/engine.ts:6240` |
+| 23 | Tenant-audit warning silenced; `bypassTenantAudit` threaded to the driver | objectql | Get: unscoped system writes stop warning. Lose: the signal that would flag a genuine user-path scoping bug | `objectql/src/engine.ts:3920`, `:3930`, `:3957` |
 | 24 | Engine-owned / append-only write guard bypassed | plugin-security | Get: generic writes to `managedBy` engine-owned objects | `system-write-guard.ts:96`, `:120` |
 | 25 | Identity write guard bypassed (ADR-0092) | plugin-auth | Get: direct writes to identity tables through the generic data path | `identity-write-guard.ts:99` |
-| 26 | Search-companion column **kept** in a read's rows when it was explicitly requested | objectql | Get: the internal companion column is readable. Lose: nothing for app code — this is the engine reading its own index | `objectql/src/engine.ts:6881` |
-| 27 | Dependent-count disclosure on a blocked delete | objectql | Get: the count of blocking children. Nothing was elevated past the caller, so nothing is withheld | `objectql/src/engine.ts:12477` |
-| 28 | Reference-cleanup log attributes the write to `'system'` | objectql | Get: an honest actor label instead of `anonymous` when the context carries neither `userId` nor `actor` | `objectql/src/engine.ts:12406` |
+| 26 | Search-companion column **kept** in a read's rows when it was explicitly requested | objectql | Get: the internal companion column is readable. Lose: nothing for app code — this is the engine reading its own index | `objectql/src/engine.ts:6939` |
+| 27 | Dependent-count disclosure on a blocked delete | objectql | Get: the count of blocking children. Nothing was elevated past the caller, so nothing is withheld | `objectql/src/engine.ts:12535` |
+| 28 | Reference-cleanup log attributes the write to `'system'` | objectql | Get: an honest actor label instead of `anonymous` when the context carries neither `userId` nor `actor` | `objectql/src/engine.ts:12464` |
 | 29 | **Bulk data event `organizationId` OMITTED** — the batch is published "not asserted" | plugin-security | Get: nothing — the `data.records.*` event still publishes. Lose: the per-organization attribution: this exit is taken before the security middleware composes any tenant wall, so it records no Layer 0 verdict on the operation (`OperationContext.tenantLayer0Verdict`, #15813), and the engine's bulk producer — which reads that recorded verdict and nothing else — omits the key rather than filling it from the caller's `tenantId`; a tenant-scoped consumer then does not deliver the event inside an organization wall (#15225) | `security-plugin.ts:1686` |
 
 ### 3. Sharing (`plugin-sharing`)
@@ -179,8 +179,8 @@ a reader tracing where elevation travels needs them.
 
 | # | Site | Package | What it does |
 |:--|:---|:---|:---|
-| 62 | `objectql/src/engine.ts:3720` | objectql | Propagates `isSystem` into the hook session so hooks can tell engine self-writes from user writes |
-| 63 | `objectql/src/engine.ts:14923` | objectql | `ScopedContext.isSystem` getter — re-exposes the underlying execution context's flag |
+| 62 | `objectql/src/engine.ts:3727` | objectql | Propagates `isSystem` into the hook session so hooks can tell engine self-writes from user writes |
+| 63 | `objectql/src/engine.ts:14981` | objectql | `ScopedContext.isSystem` getter — re-exposes the underlying execution context's flag |
 | 64 | `plugin-reports/src/report-service.ts:556` | plugin-reports | Threads the flag into the engine call that runs a report |
 | 65 | `body-runner.ts:279` | runtime | Rebuilds an `ExecutionContext` from a hook session, carrying the flag across |
 
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ assuming `isSystem` covers it is a documented source of bugs.
 |:---|:---|:---|
 | "It suppresses triggers / record-change automation" | **No.** Only `skipTriggers` does. A bare `{ isSystem: true }` on a seed write re-fired automation on freshly seeded rows and wedged first boot | `metadata-protocol/src/seed-loader.ts:2032` (rationale at `:1942`–`1944`, #3760), `flow.zod.ts:743` |
 | "It skips the state machine" | **No.** That is `skipStateMachine`, carried by seed replay and by `treatAsHistorical` imports | `objectql/src/engine.ts` FSM gate; see [State Machine](/docs/protocol/objectql/state-machine) |
-| "It skips validation rules" | **No.** Field shape, `format`, `script` and the rest still run. The `readonly` strip runs *before* validation precisely so a discarded value is not judged | `objectql/src/engine.ts:10306`–`10323` |
+| "It skips validation rules" | **No.** Field shape, `format`, `script` and the rest still run. The `readonly` strip runs *before* validation precisely so a discarded value is not judged | `objectql/src/engine.ts:10364`–`10381` |
 | "It preserves a supplied `updated_at` / `updated_by`" | **No.** That is `preserveAudit`, a separate opt-in — and an UPDATE-path exemption only | `field.zod.ts:1590` (#3493 / #6640) |
 | "It stamps `created_by`" | **No.** Audit stamping reads `userId` from the context. A user-less system write stamps nothing — that is today's behaviour, not an error | `runtime-identity.ts:280`–`281` |
 | "It bypasses every guard" | **No.** The last-admin guard applies to **every** context, `isSystem` included — the deprovision path that actually locks an org out is the system one | `last-admin-guard.ts:299` |