@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/spec': patch
+'@objectstack/service-automation': patch
+'@object-ui/app-shell': patch
+---
+
+feat(automation): a paused screen says whether another screen can follow, and the screen-flow runner reads Next or Submit and counts steps from it
+
+Clause-②: yes (widening)
+Metadata-protocol: none
+
+A screen-flow wizard's primary button read Submit on every step, so a requester believed the whole wizard was submitted on step 1, and no step counter could be drawn: the paused screen carried nothing about the screens after it, and a flow can branch after any screen, so only the engine can tell.
+
+- **`@objectstack/spec` — `ScreenSpec.progress`** (optional, `ScreenProgressSpec`) on the paused screen a run serves, and its wire spelling on `TriggerFlowResponseSchema`. `nextScreen` is `'none'` (no path out of this screen reaches another one: the last step), `'certain'` (every path pauses on another screen first) or `'possible'` (a branch, a fault path, a loop, a pause that serves no screen, or a `subflow` decides — the engine does not guess). `step` (1-based) and `stepCount` are present only when every path agrees on them. Nothing a metadata author writes changes.
+- **`@objectstack/service-automation`** fills it from the flow graph of the run when a `screen` node pauses (`readScreenProgress`). A screen that never pauses is not counted; one the run's caller may already have answered counts as possible, never certain. A screen inside a child run (`subflow`) carries only `nextScreen` when its own graph shows another screen, and no `progress` when it does not, because the parent may continue with screens of its own.
+- **`@object-ui/app-shell` — `FlowRunner`** labels the flat step's button `common.next` while another screen is certain or possible and `common.submit` on the last, and draws `form.stepOf` beside the flow's name only when both `step` and `stepCount` are served. A screen served without `progress` keeps Submit and no counter, as before.
+
+What to do: nothing. A custom runner that reads the paused screen can read `progress` the same way.
@@ -1326,6 +1326,48 @@ producer), and `'service'` when the decision to continue belongs to your service
 rather than to whoever holds the run id. Declaring neither leaves your pauses
 refused on the generic route, and the engine warns about it at registration.
 
+### A paused screen says whether another one follows — Next, Submit and the step counter
+
+A paused screen carries `progress`, which the engine reads off the flow graph
+when the screen pauses; the client never walks the graph itself. It is absent
+when the engine has no graph to read (a run started with no flow name, a node
+that is not a `screen` of the registered flow, a flow with no start node), on a
+screen inside a `subflow` whose own flow shows no further screen (below), and
+from a server that predates it. With no `progress` the runner keeps its
+**Submit** label and draws no counter.
+
+```json
+"screen": {
+  "nodeId": "contract_details",
+  "fields": [ … ],
+  "progress": { "nextScreen": "certain", "step": 1, "stepCount": 3 }
+}
+```
+
+| `nextScreen` | means | the Console's flow runner |
+|---|---|---|
+| `none` | no path out of this screen reaches another one: the last step | **Submit** |
+| `certain` | every path pauses on another screen first | **Next** |
+| `possible` | something after this screen decides: a branch, a fault edge, a loop back, a pause that serves no screen (an approval, a wait) or a `subflow` | **Next** |
+
+`step` (1-based) and `stepCount` appear only when **every** path agrees on them,
+and the runner draws "Step 1 of 3" only when both are there. A `decision`
+whose branches pause on different numbers of screens drops `stepCount` for the
+screens before it, and `step` for a screen where those branches meet again; a
+loop through a screen, a parallel fan-out or a `subflow` drops both. The engine
+never guesses which branch the run will take.
+
+What counts as "another screen": a `screen` node that pauses (it declares
+fields, sets `waitForInput: true`, or names an `objectName`). A field-less
+screen that passes through does not count, and a screen the caller may already
+have answered ([below](#a-screen-the-caller-already-answered-does-not-pause))
+counts as possible, never certain. A screen inside a `subflow` carries only
+`nextScreen`, and only when its own flow shows another screen after it: the
+parent may continue with screens of its own.
+
+So a wizard that should read Next, Next, Submit and count "Step N of 3" keeps
+its screens on one straight path, and branches only after its last screen.
+
 ### A screen the caller already answered does not pause
 
 A `screen` node exists to collect input. When the run's **caller already supplied
 
@@ -19,4 +19,4 @@ hand-patch a number here** — fix the code or the verdict and regenerate.
 
 | Dir | Sites |
 |---|---|
-| `api/` | 446 |
+| `api/` | 447 |
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 
 import type { PluginContext } from '@objectstack/core';
 import { defineActionDescriptor, isExpressionEnvelopeShaped, ScreenConfigSchema, ScriptConfigSchema } from '@objectstack/spec/automation';
-import type { ScreenConfigParsed, ScriptConfigParsed } from '@objectstack/spec/automation';
+import type { FlowEdgeParsed, FlowNodeParsed, FlowParsed, ScreenConfigParsed, ScriptConfigParsed } from '@objectstack/spec/automation';
+import type { ScreenProgressSpec } from '@objectstack/spec/contracts';
 import type { AutomationEngine } from '../engine.js';
 import { flowScreenCopyKey, type FlowScreenCopyKey } from '@objectstack/spec/system';
 import { renderTextSlot } from './template.js';
@@ -83,6 +84,201 @@ function valueKindOf(value: unknown): string {
     return `a ${typeof value} (\`${String(value)}\`)`;
 }
 
+/**
+ * How one node of a flow's top-level graph counts toward the screens a run
+ * serves, for {@link readScreenProgress} (#26657):
+ *
+ * - `'screen'` — a `screen` node that pauses whenever the run reaches it.
+ * - `'maybe-screen'` — a `screen` node the run's caller may already have
+ *   answered (`judgeHeadlessScreen`), so whether it pauses depends on values.
+ * - `'subflow'` — a node that may serve screens of its CHILD run, any number
+ *   of them or none (`subflow-node.ts` forwards the child's `screen`), and
+ *   whose pause may end the stretch of screens.
+ * - `'pause'` — any other node that can pause. It serves no screen (only a
+ *   `screen` node sets `NodeExecutionResult.screen`, and `subflow` forwards
+ *   it), so the stretch of screens may end there.
+ * - `'plain'` — everything else, a `screen` that never pauses included.
+ */
+export type ScreenProgressRole = 'screen' | 'maybe-screen' | 'subflow' | 'pause' | 'plain';
+
+/**
+ * A paused screen's place in its run, read off the flow's top-level graph
+ * (#26657) — the {@link ScreenProgressSpec} served on `ScreenSpec.progress`.
+ * `undefined` only when the graph does not hold the node.
+ *
+ * Every out-edge is a way the run may go: the engine does not evaluate a
+ * condition ahead of time, so a branch it cannot see past answers
+ * `'possible'`, and a count that differs between paths is left out rather
+ * than guessed. Region bodies (`loop` / `try_catch` / `parallel`) are not
+ * walked: a pause inside one is refused (`region-suspension-refusal.ts`), so
+ * no screen there is served.
+ */
+export function readScreenProgress(
+    flow: Pick<FlowParsed, 'nodes' | 'edges'>,
+    nodeId: string,
+    roleOf: (node: FlowNodeParsed) => ScreenProgressRole,
+): ScreenProgressSpec | undefined {
+    const nodes = new Map(flow.nodes.map((n) => [n.id, n] as const));
+    if (!nodes.has(nodeId)) return undefined;
+    const roles = new Map([...nodes.values()].map((n) => [n.id, roleOf(n)] as const));
+    const outEdges = new Map<string, FlowEdgeParsed[]>([...nodes.keys()].map((id) => [id, []]));
+    for (const edge of flow.edges ?? []) {
+        if (nodes.has(edge.source) && nodes.has(edge.target)) outEdges.get(edge.source)!.push(edge);
+    }
+    const successors = (id: string): string[] => outEdges.get(id)!.map((e) => e.target);
+    const servesScreen = (id: string): boolean => {
+        const role = roles.get(id);
+        return role === 'screen' || role === 'maybe-screen' || role === 'subflow';
+    };
+
+    // How one visit of a node continues, read the way `traverseNext` walks:
+    // the conditional out-edges that hold run (on an exclusive `decision`
+    // only the first), a default edge only when none held, the unconditional
+    // ones always, and a fault edge only when the node fails. A visit may
+    // STOP when nothing is sure to follow, or when the node may pause without
+    // a screen; it FANS OUT when it may continue into several successors.
+    const visitShape = (id: string): { mayStop: boolean; fansOut: boolean } => {
+        const node = nodes.get(id)!;
+        const role = roles.get(id)!;
+        const edges = outEdges.get(id)!;
+        const onSuccess = edges.filter((e) => e.type !== 'fault');
+        const conditional = onSuccess.filter((e) => e.condition).length;
+        const fallback = onSuccess.filter((e) => !e.condition && e.isDefault).length;
+        const always = onSuccess.length - conditional - fallback;
+        const exclusive = node.type === 'decision'
+            && (node.config as { mode?: unknown } | undefined)?.mode !== 'inclusive';
+        const fansOut = edges.length - onSuccess.length > 1
+            || always + fallback > 1
+            || (exclusive ? always > 0 && conditional > 0 : always + conditional > 1);
+        return { mayStop: role === 'subflow' || role === 'pause' || (always === 0 && fallback === 0), fansOut };
+    };
+    const shapes = new Map([...nodes.keys()].map((id) => [id, visitShape(id)] as const));
+
+    // `nextScreen`. "Another screen can follow" is plain reachability, a loop
+    // back to this very screen included. "Certain" is the fewest screens any
+    // path from here pauses on before it may stop (a 0-1 BFS, entering a
+    // screen costs 1), where only a `screen` that surely pauses counts.
+    const seen = new Set<string>();
+    const queue = [...successors(nodeId)];
+    let reachesScreen = false;
+    while (queue.length > 0) {
+        const id = queue.shift()!;
+        if (seen.has(id)) continue;
+        seen.add(id);
+        if (servesScreen(id)) reachesScreen = true;
+        queue.push(...successors(id));
+    }
+    const fewest = new Map<string, number>([[nodeId, 0]]);
+    const deque: string[] = [nodeId];
+    let fewestToStop = shapes.get(nodeId)!.mayStop ? 0 : Infinity;
+    while (deque.length > 0) {
+        const id = deque.shift()!;
+        const here = fewest.get(id)!;
+        for (const next of successors(id)) {
+            const cost = here + (roles.get(next) === 'screen' ? 1 : 0);
+            if (cost >= (fewest.get(next) ?? Infinity)) continue;
+            fewest.set(next, cost);
+            if (shapes.get(next)!.mayStop) fewestToStop = Math.min(fewestToStop, cost);
+            if (cost === here) deque.unshift(next); else deque.push(next);
+        }
+    }
+    const nextScreen: ScreenProgressSpec['nextScreen'] = !reachesScreen
+        ? 'none'
+        : fewestToStop >= 1 ? 'certain' : 'possible';
+
+    // `step` / `stepCount` — exact counts over the strongly connected
+    // components (Tarjan), so a loop collapses to one unit. Each count is the
+    // SET of screen totals the paths give; it is exact when the set has one
+    // member, and `null` stands for "varies": a loop holding a screen, a
+    // `subflow`, a maybe-screen. A fan-out anywhere the start reaches makes a
+    // run take several paths at once, so no count is exact then either.
+    const start = flow.nodes.find((n) => n.type === 'start');
+    if (!start) return { nextScreen };
+    const component = new Map<string, number>();
+    const members: string[][] = [];
+    const index = new Map<string, number>();
+    const low = new Map<string, number>();
+    const stack: string[] = [];
+    const onStack = new Set<string>();
+    const visit = (id: string): void => {
+        index.set(id, index.size);
+        low.set(id, index.get(id)!);
+        stack.push(id);
+        onStack.add(id);
+        for (const next of successors(id)) {
+            if (!index.has(next)) {
+                visit(next);
+                low.set(id, Math.min(low.get(id)!, low.get(next)!));
+            } else if (onStack.has(next)) {
+                low.set(id, Math.min(low.get(id)!, index.get(next)!));
+            }
+        }
+        if (low.get(id) !== index.get(id)) return;
+        const group: string[] = [];
+        let popped: string;
+        do {
+            popped = stack.pop()!;
+            onStack.delete(popped);
+            component.set(popped, members.length);
+            group.push(popped);
+        } while (popped !== id);
+        members.push(group);
+    };
+    for (const id of nodes.keys()) if (!index.has(id)) visit(id);
+
+    // Tarjan closes a component only after every component it reaches, so
+    // `members` runs sinks first (reverse topological order).
+    const loops = (c: number): boolean =>
+        members[c].length > 1 || successors(members[c][0]).includes(members[c][0]);
+    const weight = (c: number): number | null => {
+        if (loops(c)) return members[c].some(servesScreen) ? null : 0;
+        const role = roles.get(members[c][0]);
+        return role === 'screen' ? 1 : role === 'plain' || role === 'pause' ? 0 : null;
+    };
+    const exits = (c: number): number[] =>
+        [...new Set(members[c].flatMap(successors).map((id) => component.get(id)!))].filter((d) => d !== c);
+    type Counts = Set<number> | null;
+    const shift = (counts: Counts, by: number | null): Counts =>
+        counts === null || by === null ? null : new Set([...counts].map((n) => n + by));
+    const union = (a: Counts, b: Counts): Counts => (a === null || b === null ? null : new Set([...a, ...b]));
+
+    // Screens strictly after a component, to wherever the run may stop.
+    const after = new Map<number, Counts>();
+    for (let c = 0; c < members.length; c += 1) {
+        let counts: Counts = members[c].some((id) => shapes.get(id)!.mayStop) ? new Set([0]) : new Set();
+        for (const d of exits(c)) counts = union(counts, shift(after.get(d)!, weight(d)));
+        after.set(c, counts);
+    }
+    // Screens strictly before a component, from the start.
+    const reached: number[] = [];
+    const before = new Map<number, Counts>([[component.get(start.id)!, new Set([0])]]);
+    for (let c = members.length - 1; c >= 0; c -= 1) {
+        const counts = before.get(c);
+        if (counts === undefined) continue;
+        reached.push(c);
+        for (const d of exits(c)) before.set(d, union(before.get(d) ?? new Set(), shift(counts, weight(c))));
+    }
+    const exact = (counts: Counts | undefined): number | undefined =>
+        counts && counts.size === 1 ? [...counts][0] : undefined;
+
+    const own = component.get(nodeId)!;
+    const fansOut = reached.some((c) => members[c].some((id) => shapes.get(id)!.fansOut));
+    if (fansOut || loops(own)) return { nextScreen };
+    const prior = exact(before.get(own));
+    if (prior === undefined) return { nextScreen };
+    const remaining = exact(after.get(own));
+    return {
+        nextScreen,
+        step: prior + 1,
+        ...(remaining !== undefined ? { stepCount: prior + 1 + remaining } : {}),
+    };
+}
+
+/** The `progress` member, spread in only when the graph answered — absent, never `undefined`. */
+function progressMember(progress: ScreenProgressSpec | undefined): { progress?: ScreenProgressSpec } {
+    return progress ? { progress } : {};
+}
+
 export function registerScreenNodes(engine: AutomationEngine, ctx: PluginContext): void {
     // screen — server-side pass-through (input vars already injected by engine).
     engine.registerNodeExecutor({
@@ -231,6 +427,30 @@ export function registerScreenNodes(engine: AutomationEngine, ctx: PluginContext
             typeof cfg.description === 'string' && cfg.description.length > 0
                 ? screenText('description', cfg.description, 'the body text')
                 : undefined;
+        // [#26657] Where this screen sits among the run's screens, read off
+        // the graph of the flow this run executes (`readScreenProgress`), so
+        // the runner can say "Next" or "Submit" and count steps. Asked only
+        // once the screen pauses. A screen inside a CHILD run (a `subflow`)
+        // sees its own graph alone: "another screen follows" still holds
+        // there, but "none follows" and the counts do not, because the
+        // parent may continue with screens of its own — so those are left out.
+        const progress = async (): Promise<ScreenProgressSpec | undefined> => {
+            if (flowName === undefined) return undefined;
+            const flow = await engine.getFlow(flowName);
+            if (!flow?.nodes.some((n) => n.id === node.id && n.type === 'screen')) return undefined;
+            const read = readScreenProgress(flow, node.id, (n) => {
+                if (n.type === 'subflow') return 'subflow';
+                if (n.type !== 'screen') return engine.getActionDescriptor(n.type)?.supportsPause === true ? 'pause' : 'plain';
+                // The executor's own pause rule, below: an object form always
+                // pauses, `waitForInput` decides, else declared fields do.
+                const raw = (n.config ?? {}) as { objectName?: unknown; fields?: unknown; waitForInput?: unknown };
+                if ((typeof raw.objectName === 'string' && raw.objectName.trim()) || raw.waitForInput === true) return 'screen';
+                if (!Array.isArray(raw.fields) || raw.fields.length === 0 || raw.waitForInput === false) return 'plain';
+                return judgeHeadlessScreen(raw.fields, new Map(), context).supplied.length > 0 ? 'maybe-screen' : 'screen';
+            });
+            if (!read || (context as { $parentRunId?: unknown }).$parentRunId == null) return read;
+            return read.nextScreen === 'none' ? undefined : { nextScreen: read.nextScreen };
+        };
         // [#19939] The record an `edit` form opens. A literal is the contract's
         // string, served as written. An envelope must evaluate to the record's
         // id, a non-blank string: anything else — `null` included — fails the
@@ -280,6 +500,7 @@ export function registerScreenNodes(engine: AutomationEngine, ctx: PluginContext
               defaults,
               idVariable,
               fields: [],
+              ...progressMember(await progress()),
             },
           };
         }
@@ -361,6 +582,7 @@ export function registerScreenNodes(engine: AutomationEngine, ctx: PluginContext
             title: heading() ?? node.label ?? 'Input',
             description: body(),
             fields,
+            ...progressMember(await progress()),
           },
         };
       },