@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/metadata-protocol': patch
+'@objectstack/runtime': patch
+---
+
+fix: `POST /api/v1/packages/:id/publish-drafts` probes dashboard widgets as the publishing caller, so a correct dataset over a permission-gated object is no longer reported as an error-tier `widget_query_failed`
+
+Clause-②: no
+Metadata-protocol: none
+
+The build probes that run after a package publish called the analytics service's `queryDataset` with no execution context. Read admission refuses a read with no context, so every dashboard widget bound to a dataset over a permission-gated object came back as `widget_query_failed` ("Access denied: reading … is not permitted for this user"), with a fix telling the author to change a dataset that renders correctly.
+
+- **`@objectstack/runtime`:** the publish-drafts route now passes the caller's execution context to `publishPackageDrafts` on every request. Before, it passed one only when the request named a `backfill`.
+- **`@objectstack/metadata-protocol`:** `publishPackageDrafts` passes that context to `runBuildProbes`, which takes a new optional `context`. The widget probe runs `queryDataset` as that caller, the same path the dashboard renderer takes. "Empty although the object has rows" is now judged over the rows that caller can see.
+
+The probe never falls back to a system context. A publisher who cannot read the dataset still gets the error-tier `widget_query_failed`, because that widget will not render for them either.
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2025 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+/**
+ * [#25484] The dashboard-widget plane reads as the caller it is handed.
+ *
+ * `queryDataset` receives the caller's context (the renderer's path), and the
+ * "empty although the object has rows" comparison counts the rows THAT caller
+ * can see. A system count beside a caller-scoped query would call a row-scoped
+ * empty answer broken. With no context the plane is unchanged: a context-less
+ * query, and a system count.
+ *
+ * The door-to-admission leg is pinned in `@objectstack/runtime`
+ * (`packages-publish-drafts-probe-caller-context.test.ts`).
+ */
+
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
+import { runBuildProbes, type ProbeEngine } from './build-probes.js';
+
+const ITEMS: Record<string, unknown> = {
+    'dashboard board': { name: 'board', widgets: [{ id: 'w1', dataset: 'ds', values: ['total'] }] },
+    'dataset ds': { name: 'ds', object: 'task_item', measures: [{ name: 'total', aggregate: 'count' }] },
+};
+const getItem = async (type: string, name: string) => ITEMS[`${type} ${name}`];
+
+const CALLER = { userId: 'u_row_scoped' };
+
+/** Rows exist for the system; the row-scoped caller sees none. Honours `limit`. */
+function engineVisibleToSystemOnly(): ProbeEngine & { contexts: unknown[] } {
+    const contexts: unknown[] = [];
+    return {
+        contexts,
+        find: async (_object: string, query: unknown) => {
+            const q = query as { limit?: unknown; context?: { isSystem?: boolean } } | undefined;
+            contexts.push(q?.context);
+            const rows = q?.context?.isSystem ? [{ id: 'r1' }, { id: 'r2' }] : [];
+            return typeof q?.limit === 'number' ? rows.slice(0, q.limit) : rows;
+        },
+    };
+}
+
+describe('runBuildProbes — the widget plane reads as the caller (#25484)', () => {
+    it('hands queryDataset the caller context and counts the rows that caller sees', async () => {
+        const engine = engineVisibleToSystemOnly();
+        const analytics = { queryDataset: vi.fn(async (..._args: unknown[]) => ({ rows: [] })) };
+        const report = await runBuildProbes({
+            engine, getItem, analytics, context: CALLER,
+            published: [{ type: 'dashboard', name: 'board' }],
+        });
+
+        expect(analytics.queryDataset).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+        expect(analytics.queryDataset.mock.calls[0]![2]).toBe(CALLER);
+        expect(engine.contexts).toEqual([CALLER]);
+        expect(report.checked.widgets).toBe(1);
+        expect(report.issues).toEqual([]);
+    });
+
+    it('with no context: a context-less query and a system count, as before', async () => {
+        const engine = engineVisibleToSystemOnly();
+        const analytics = { queryDataset: vi.fn(async (..._args: unknown[]) => ({ rows: [] })) };
+        const report = await runBuildProbes({
+            engine, getItem, analytics,
+            published: [{ type: 'dashboard', name: 'board' }],
+        });
+
+        expect(analytics.queryDataset.mock.calls[0]![2]).toBeUndefined();
+        expect(engine.contexts).toEqual([{ isSystem: true }]);
+        expect(report.issues.map((i) => [i.code, i.severity])).toEqual([['empty_query', 'error']]);
+    });
+});
@@ -81,6 +81,19 @@ export interface RunBuildProbesOptions {
     analytics?: ProbeAnalytics;
     /** Threaded into engine/analytics reads (tenant scoping). */
     organizationId?: string | null;
+    /**
+     * The PUBLISHING caller's execution context. Widget probes run
+     * `queryDataset` as this caller, because that is what the renderer does:
+     * a widget is healthy when the person who sees it can read it, so the
+     * probe asks read admission the question the dashboard will ask.
+     *
+     * ⛔ Never substitute a system context when it is absent. A probe that
+     * reads as the system reports a widget healthy that its own publisher
+     * cannot open, and that is the false clean this plane exists to prevent.
+     * Absent, the read goes out context-less and read admission answers for
+     * it — a refusal, reported as such.
+     */
+    context?: unknown;
 }
 
 type Rec = Record<string, unknown>;
@@ -103,17 +116,22 @@ function resultRows(result: unknown): unknown[] {
     return [];
 }
 
-/** True when the object has at least one row (probe read, isSystem). */
+/**
+ * True when the object has at least one row. A system read by default; the
+ * widget plane passes the caller's context so "the object has rows" is judged
+ * over the rows that caller can see — the same rows its dataset query saw.
+ */
 async function hasRows(
     engine: ProbeEngine,
     objectName: string,
     organizationId?: string | null,
+    readContext: unknown = { isSystem: true },
 ): Promise<boolean> {
     const rows = await engine.find(objectName, {
         fields: ['id'],
         limit: 1,
         ...(organizationId ? { where: { organization_id: organizationId } } : {}),
-        context: { isSystem: true },
+        context: readContext,
     });
     return Array.isArray(rows) && rows.length > 0;
 }
@@ -139,7 +157,7 @@ async function hasRows(
 export async function runBuildProbes(opts: RunBuildProbesOptions): Promise<BuildProbeReport> {
     const issues: RuntimeBuildIssue[] = [];
     const checked = { seeds: 0, views: 0, widgets: 0, objects: 0 };
-    const { engine, getItem, published, analytics, organizationId } = opts;
+    const { engine, getItem, published, analytics, organizationId, context } = opts;
 
     // Memoized active-item reads (a dashboard and its widgets share datasets).
     const itemCache = new Map<string, unknown | undefined>();
@@ -340,9 +358,21 @@ export async function runBuildProbes(opts: RunBuildProbesOptions): Promise<Build
 
             const objectName = typeof dataset.object === 'string' ? dataset.object : undefined;
             try {
-                const result = await analytics.queryDataset(dataset, selection, undefined);
+                // [#25484] As the publishing caller — the renderer's path. With
+                // no context here, read admission refused every dataset over a
+                // permission-gated object, and a correct widget was reported as
+                // an error-tier `widget_query_failed`. A caller who genuinely
+                // cannot read the dataset is still refused, and still reported.
+                const result = await analytics.queryDataset(dataset, selection, context);
                 const rows = resultRows(result);
-                if (rows.length === 0 && objectName && (await hasRows(engine, objectName, organizationId))) {
+                // "Empty although the object has rows" is judged over the rows
+                // THIS caller can see: a system count would call a row-scoped
+                // empty answer broken.
+                const rowsContext = context && typeof context === 'object' ? context : undefined;
+                if (
+                    rows.length === 0 && objectName
+                    && (await hasRows(engine, objectName, organizationId, rowsContext))
+                ) {
                     issues.push({
                         layer: 'runtime',
                         severity: 'error',
 
@@ -25015,7 +25015,9 @@ export class ObjectStackProtocolImplementation implements
          * [#24253] The caller's execution context: the principal the
          * `backfill` writes run as, so object permissions, RLS/FLS and record
          * hooks apply exactly as they do to that caller's own edit. Required
-         * when `backfill` names anything; nothing else here reads it.
+         * when `backfill` names anything. [#25484] The build probes read as it
+         * too: a dashboard widget is probed through `queryDataset` as this
+         * caller, the renderer's path, never as the system.
          */
         context?: unknown;
     }): Promise<{
@@ -25899,6 +25901,7 @@ export class ObjectStackProtocolImplementation implements
                     published,
                     ...(analytics && typeof analytics.queryDataset === 'function' ? { analytics } : {}),
                     organizationId: null,
+                    ...(request.context !== undefined ? { context: request.context } : {}),
                 });
             } catch {
                 probes = undefined;
 
@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+/**
+ * [#25484] `POST /packages/:id/publish-drafts` probes a published dashboard's
+ * widgets AS THE PUBLISHING CALLER.
+ *
+ * The probe docblock promises "the SAME `queryDataset` path the dashboard
+ * renderer hits", and the renderer passes the caller's context. The probe
+ * passed none, so the analytics service's object-level read admission refused
+ * every dataset over a permission-gated object and a correct widget came back
+ * as an error-tier `widget_query_failed` ("Access denied: reading … is not
+ * permitted for this user") telling the author to fix a dataset that was fine.
+ *
+ * What is real here: the door (`HttpDispatcher.handlePackages`), the protocol's
+ * `publishPackageDrafts`, `runBuildProbes`, and an `AnalyticsService` whose
+ * `admitObjectRead` judges the context it is handed — the gate that refused.
+ * What is a double: the draft store and the phase-1/phase-2 publish seams
+ * (the same seams `packages/objectql/src/build-probes.test.ts` stubs), and the
+ * driver the analytics strategy reads.
+ *
+ * The two legs are each other's control: the reader's publish must come back
+ * clean, and the non-reader's must still carry the refusal, so neither "the
+ * probe stopped running" nor "the probe now reads as the system" can pass.
+ */
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
+import { DatasetSchema } from '@objectstack/spec/ui';
+import type { ExecutionContext } from '@objectstack/spec/kernel';
+import { AnalyticsService } from '@objectstack/service-analytics';
+import { assertEngineFindOnePredicate } from '@objectstack/metadata-core';
+import { ObjectStackProtocolImplementation } from '@objectstack/metadata-protocol';
+import { HttpDispatcher } from '../http-dispatcher.js';
+
+/** The object read admission walls off from everyone but the reader. */
+const GATED = 'task_item';
+
+const DATASET = DatasetSchema.parse({
+    name: 'task_metrics',
+    label: 'Task metrics',
+    object: GATED,
+    dimensions: [],
+    measures: [{ name: 'task_count', label: 'Tasks', aggregate: 'count' }],
+});
+
+const ITEMS: Record<string, unknown> = {
+    'dashboard task_board': {
+        name: 'task_board',
+        widgets: [{ id: 'w_tasks', dataset: 'task_metrics', values: ['task_count'] }],
+    },
+    'dataset task_metrics': DATASET,
+};
+
+/** Both callers may publish; only the reader may read `task_item`. */
+const caller = (userId: string) => ({
+    request: {},
+    executionContext: {
+        userId,
+        systemPermissions: ['manage_metadata', 'studio.access', 'setup.access'],
+    },
+}) as any;
+const READER = 'u_reader';
+const NON_READER = 'u_publisher_without_read';
+
+function makeDoor() {
+    const admissionContexts: Array<ExecutionContext | undefined> = [];
+    const analytics = new AnalyticsService({
+        queryCapabilities: () => ({ nativeSql: false, objectqlAggregate: true, inMemory: false }),
+        admitObjectRead: (object, context) => {
+            admissionContexts.push(context);
+            return object !== GATED || context?.userId === READER;
+        },
+        executeAggregate: async () => [{ task_count: 7 }],
+    });
+
+    const protocol = new ObjectStackProtocolImplementation({} as never);
+    const p = protocol as any;
+    p.ensureOverlayIndex = async () => {};
+    p.getOverlayRepo = () => ({
+        listDrafts: async () => [
+            { type: 'dataset', name: 'task_metrics' },
+            { type: 'dashboard', name: 'task_board' },
+        ],
+        get: async (ref: any, opts: any) =>
+            opts?.state === 'draft' ? { body: ITEMS[`${ref.type} ${ref.name}`], hash: 'h' } : null,
+    });
+    vi.spyOn(p, 'promoteDraftForPublish').mockImplementation(async (req: any) => ({
+        singularType: req.type,
+        orgId: null,
+        advisories: [],
+        result: { version: 'h', seq: 1, item: { body: ITEMS[`${req.type} ${req.name}`] }, packageId: null },
+    }));
+    vi.spyOn(p, 'runPublishSideEffects').mockResolvedValue({});
+    p.getMetaItem = async ({ type, name }: any) => ({ item: ITEMS[`${type} ${name}`] });
+    p.getMetaItems = async () => ({ items: [] });
+    const engineFinds: Array<{ object: string; context: unknown }> = [];
+    p.engine = {
+        find: async (object: string, query: any) => {
+            engineFinds.push({ object, context: query?.context });
+            const rows = [{ id: 'r1' }, { id: 'r2' }];
+            return typeof query?.limit === 'number' ? rows.slice(0, query.limit) : rows;
+        },
+        // The ADR-0067 pre-publish capture: never published, so no active row.
+        findOne: async (object: string, query: unknown) => {
+            assertEngineFindOnePredicate(object, query as never);
+            return null;
+        },
+        // The ADR-0067 commit row the batch writes; not under test here.
+        insert: async (_object: string, row: unknown) => row,
+    };
+    p.getServicesRegistry = () => new Map<string, unknown>([['analytics', analytics]]);
+
+    const kernel: any = {
+        getService: (name: string) => {
+            if (name === 'protocol') return Promise.resolve(protocol);
+            if (name === 'objectql') {
+                return Promise.resolve({
+                    insert: vi.fn(), find: vi.fn(), update: vi.fn(),
+                    registry: { getAllPackages: vi.fn().mockReturnValue([]) },
+                });
+            }
+            if (name === 'metadata') return Promise.resolve({ getObject: vi.fn() });
+            return null;
+        },
+        context: { getService: () => null, trigger: vi.fn() },
+    };
+    return { dispatcher: new HttpDispatcher(kernel), admissionContexts, engineFinds };
+}
+
+async function publishAs(userId: string) {
+    const door = makeDoor();
+    const result = await door.dispatcher.handlePackages(
+        '/com.tasks/publish-drafts', 'POST', {}, {}, caller(userId),
+    );
+    expect(result.response?.status).toBe(200);
+    const data: any = (result.response as any)?.body?.data;
+    expect(data?.outcome).toBe('published');
+    return { ...door, probes: data?.probes };
+}
+
+afterEach(() => vi.restoreAllMocks());
+
+describe('publish-drafts widget probes run as the publishing caller (#25484)', () => {
+    it('a correct dataset over a gated object the caller CAN read yields no error-tier issue', async () => {
+        const { probes, admissionContexts, engineFinds } = await publishAs(READER);
+
+        expect(probes?.checked?.widgets).toBe(1);
+        expect(probes.issues.filter((i: any) => i.severity === 'error')).toEqual([]);
+        // Admission was asked about the caller, never about a system principal.
+        expect(admissionContexts.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+        for (const ctx of admissionContexts) {
+            expect(ctx?.userId).toBe(READER);
+            expect((ctx as any)?.isSystem).toBeUndefined();
+        }
+        // No system read was used to judge this widget either.
+        expect(engineFinds.filter((f) => (f.context as any)?.isSystem)).toEqual([]);
+    });
+
+    it('a caller who CANNOT read the dataset still gets the error-tier widget_query_failed', async () => {
+        const { probes, admissionContexts } = await publishAs(NON_READER);
+
+        expect(probes?.checked?.widgets).toBe(1);
+        const failed = probes.issues.filter((i: any) => i.code === 'widget_query_failed'); // adr0112-ok: D6c build-probe diagnostics code
+        expect(failed).toHaveLength(1);
+        expect(failed[0]).toMatchObject({
+            layer: 'runtime',
+            severity: 'error',
+            artifact: { type: 'dashboard', name: 'task_board' },
+            ref: { type: 'dataset', name: 'task_metrics', member: 'w_tasks' },
+        });
+        expect(admissionContexts.every((ctx) => ctx?.userId === NON_READER)).toBe(true);
+    });
+});
@@ -312,12 +312,13 @@ describe('publish-drafts backfill crosses the door (#24253)', () => {
         expect(PublishPackageDraftsResponseSchema.parse(data).backfillApplied).toEqual(stopped);
     });
 
-    it('without the key, the protocol is sent neither a backfill nor a context', async () => {
+    it('without the key, the protocol is sent no backfill but still THIS caller\'s context (#25484: the build probes read as it)', async () => {
         const { publishPackageDrafts } = await publishDrafts({ apps: [] });
 
         const sent = publishPackageDrafts.mock.calls[0]![0];
         expect('backfill' in sent).toBe(false);
-        expect('context' in sent).toBe(false);
+        expect(sent.context).toEqual(PKG_ADMIN().executionContext);
+        expect(sent.context?.isSystem).toBeUndefined();
     });
 
     it('the protocol\'s request refusal answers 400 VALIDATION_ERROR with its issues, nothing flipped or announced', async () => {
 
@@ -390,8 +390,12 @@ describe('#15068 · 0 · the publish-then-read path really runs', () => {
         const { publishRequest } = await publishThenRead({ activeOrganizationId: ORG });
 
         // The door threads no organization into `publishPackageDrafts` (nor
-        // into `applyPublishedSeeds`), even with one active.
-        expect(publishRequest()).toEqual({ packageId: PKG });
+        // into `applyPublishedSeeds`), even with one active. [#25484] The
+        // caller's execution context does ride along, verbatim: the build
+        // probes read a widget's dataset AS that caller (the renderer's path),
+        // and nothing in the publish derives a write scope from it.
+        const caller = PKG_ADMIN(ORG).executionContext;
+        expect(publishRequest()).toEqual({ packageId: PKG, context: caller });
         expect(publishRequest()).not.toHaveProperty('organizationId');
     });
 });