@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ describe('[#30955] the export writer on the real `audit` slot', () => {
 
   it('the row never carries an exported cell value: not the filter comparands, not the search term', async () => {
     await audit.recordDataExport(exportEvent({
-      query: {
+      readQuery: {
         filter: {
           name: SECRET,
           $or: [
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ describe('[#30955] the filter summary keeps names and operators, never a compara
     const { terms, omitted } = summarizeExportFilter(filter);
     expect(terms).toHaveLength(EXPORT_FILTER_SUMMARY_MAX_TERMS);
     expect(omitted).toBe(8);
-    const row = buildDataExportAuditRow(exportEvent({ query: { filter } }));
+    const row = buildDataExportAuditRow(exportEvent({ readQuery: { filter } }));
     expect(metadataOf(row).filter_terms_omitted).toBe(8);
   });
 
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ describe('[#30955] a lost row is loud, once per cause, and never throws', () =>
     const logger = { error: vi.fn(), warn: vi.fn(), debug: vi.fn() };
     const writer = createDataExportAuditWriter({ getEngine: () => engine, logger });
 
-    await expect(writer.recordDataExport(exportEvent({ query: { filter: { name: SECRET }, search: SECRET } }))).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+    await expect(writer.recordDataExport(exportEvent({ readQuery: { filter: { name: SECRET }, search: SECRET } }))).resolves.toBeUndefined();
     await expect(writer.recordDataExport(exportEvent())).resolves.toBeUndefined();
 
     expect(engine.insert).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
 
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ export interface DataExportAuditEvent {
    * The query as the door read it. Reduced to names and operators before it
    * reaches the row: the comparands and the search term are never recorded.
    */
-  query?: { filter?: unknown; search?: unknown; searchFields?: unknown };
+  readQuery?: { filter?: unknown; search?: unknown; searchFields?: unknown };
   outcome: DataExportOutcome;
   /** On a failure: the HTTP status the door answered. */
   status?: number;
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ export function buildDataExportAuditRow(
   const ctx = event.context ?? {};
   const userId = nonEmpty(ctx.userId);
   const performedBy = nonEmpty(ctx.performedBy?.clientId);
-  const query = event.query ?? {};
+  const query = event.readQuery ?? {};
 
   const limit = wholeNumber(event.limit);
   const requestedLimit = wholeNumber(event.requestedLimit);
 
@@ -371,9 +371,11 @@ async function assertImportObjectExists(p: any, objectName: string, environmentI
  *
  * One event per export that cleared every gate and began reading, whether the
  * stream completed or failed; a refused request is no export and hands none.
- * `query` is the query AS READ: the writer reduces it to field names and
+ * `readQuery` is the query AS READ: the writer reduces it to field names and
  * operators before anything reaches the ledger, and records only that a search
- * term applied, never the term.
+ * term applied, never the term. It is not spelled `query` on purpose: it is no
+ * query handed to the engine, and `rest-server-canonical-query-ast.test.ts`
+ * censuses every `query:` line in this file as a server-built QueryAST slot.
  */
 interface DataExportAuditEvent {
     context: unknown;
@@ -384,7 +386,7 @@ interface DataExportAuditEvent {
     requestedLimit: number;
     limitCap: number;
     truncated: boolean;
-    query: { filter?: unknown; search?: string; searchFields?: string[] };
+    readQuery: { filter?: unknown; search?: string; searchFields?: string[] };
     outcome: 'succeeded' | 'failed';
     status?: number;
     errorCode?: string;
@@ -1602,7 +1604,7 @@ export function registerDataActionEndpoints(this: DataActionRouteHost, basePath:
                     limit,
                     requestedLimit,
                     limitCap: HARD_CAP,
-                    query: {
+                    readQuery: {
                         ...(filter !== undefined ? { filter } : {}),
                         ...(search ? { search } : {}),
                         ...(search && searchFields ? { searchFields } : {}),
 
@@ -801,7 +801,7 @@ describe('[#30955] export route — the ledger hears of every export it streams'
       limitCap: 50_000,
       truncated: false,
       outcome: 'succeeded',
-      query: {},
+      readQuery: {},
     });
     expect(events[0].context).toMatchObject({ userId: 'test-user', tenantId: 'org_a' });
   });
@@ -834,7 +834,7 @@ describe('[#30955] export route — the ledger hears of every export it streams'
     const filter = { done: true };
     await run('task', { format: 'csv', filter: JSON.stringify(filter), search: '代码', searchFields: 'title' });
     expect(events).toHaveLength(1);
-    expect(events[0].query).toEqual({ filter, search: '代码', searchFields: ['title'] });
+    expect(events[0].readQuery).toEqual({ filter, search: '代码', searchFields: ['title'] });
     expect(events[0].rowCount).toBe(1);
   });
 
@@ -869,6 +869,29 @@ describe('[#30955] export route — the ledger hears of every export it streams'
     expect(events[0].errorCode).toBe('INVALID_FIELD');
   });
 
+  it('an export of an object name the registry does not know, past an export gate that let it through, hands ONE failed event (404 OBJECT_NOT_FOUND)', async () => {
+    // Pinned as built, for the review to judge: the gates passed and the read
+    // began, so by the door's one rule this is an export that failed, not a
+    // refusal. Only a caller the export gate admits for that name reaches it.
+    const gateAsked: string[] = [];
+    const { events, run } = await bootAudited({
+      canExport: async (object) => { gateAsked.push(object); return true; },
+    });
+    const answer = await run('no_such_object', { format: 'csv' });
+    expect(answer.status).toBe(404);
+    expect(answer.json?.code ?? answer.json?.error?.code).toBe('OBJECT_NOT_FOUND');
+    expect(gateAsked).toEqual(['no_such_object']);
+    expect(events).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(events[0]).toMatchObject({
+      objectName: 'no_such_object',
+      outcome: 'failed',
+      status: 404,
+      errorCode: 'OBJECT_NOT_FOUND',
+      rowCount: 0,
+      truncated: false,
+    });
+  });
+
   it('a sink that throws changes nothing about the file the caller gets', async () => {
     const { run } = await bootAudited({ sink: { recordDataExport: async () => { throw new Error('ledger down'); } } });
     const answer = await run('task', { format: 'csv' });
 
@@ -60,6 +60,14 @@
  */
 
 import { describe, it, expect, vi } from 'vitest';
+// The real `RestServer` this file extends reaches `@objectstack/objectql` only
+// through a dynamic import inside two route handlers (`meta-object-state-routes.ts`,
+// `meta-record-currency-backfill-route.ts`). A module-top import pays that load
+// during COLLECTION, which vitest clocks against nothing, so no case's timeout
+// window can ever hold it (`scripts/check-test-source-alias.mjs`, "The source
+// reach"). The source keeps its dynamic import; this only decides where the
+// first load is paid.
+import '@objectstack/objectql';
 
 const captured = vi.hoisted(() => ({ ctorArgs: [] as unknown[][] }));
 
 
@@ -453,6 +453,9 @@ describe('[#16638] §1 CONTROLS on the census instrument itself', () => {
         // [#27627] The sum unchanged by the app metadata bundle (no slot).
         // [#28470] The sum 5 → 6: the record page's stream reads (`readStream`).
         // [#30675] The sum unchanged by the record-currency code backfill (no slot).
+        // [#30955] The sum unchanged by the export door's audit event: it hands
+        // the plugin-audit writer the query as read under `readQuery`, which is
+        // not a QueryAST slot and reaches no engine.
         expect(Object.keys(REGISTRAR_QUERY_SLOT_FLOORS).sort()).toEqual([...REST_SERVER_REGISTRAR_FILES].sort());
         expect(CENSUS.filter(({ file }) => REGISTRAR_SOURCES.has(file)).map(({ file }) => file))
             .toEqual([...REST_SERVER_REGISTRAR_FILES]);