Every hotclm notification reaches a zh-CN reader in English — the notify nodes use inline title/message, the one-language path, instead of a localized template #172

Filing gate: ① user-visible defect, reproduced on @objectstack 18.2.0 (the 18.2 upgrade pass, hotclm PR #155).

Symptom. Every notification hotclm's own flows send is English, whatever the reader's language: "Due in 7 days: 更新保险凭证 | This contract obligation is due on 2026-11-03. Record progress, or mark it done once it is performed", "Contract approved: … has cleared every approval rung", "Instalment 4 overdue: …", "In legal review over 30 days: …" (12 topics observed in sys_notification on a zh-CN demo).

Where. Every hotclm notify node writes inline title / message: src/flows/_daily-sweep.ts (the six daily sweeps), contract-approval.flow.ts (approved / rejected), expiration-sweep.flow.ts, renewal-notice.flow.ts and signature-record.flow.ts. The 18.2 spec says what that path is (io-node-config.zod.ts, title): "One text for every recipient (not localizable — use template for per-locale content)". The localizable path is template + templateData, resolved per recipient after fan-out from the recipient's sys_user.locale, else the deployment default (service-messaging/src/recipient-locale.ts, ruling #13881), against templates an app declares in defineStack({ emailTemplates }) as (name, locale) members.

So this is app-side. The platform already ships per-recipient localization (the platform's own approval notifications are keyed text, plugin-approvals/src/approval-notification-text.ts); hotclm does not use it.

Expected. Each hotclm notification has an en and a zh-CN template member, and a zh-CN reader receives 「7 天后到期：更新保险凭证」 and so on.

Measure first. Whether the inbox channel renders the template path for the in-app bell as well as email (the recipient-locale module names sys_notification_template on the topic path for the inbox). If the inbox cannot render a declared template, that half is a platform gap and goes to objectstack, cross-linked here.

Related, not this card. The platform's approval notifications also read English on the demo. They are keyed per recipient, so that is the deployment default locale (hotclm#142: demo:zh leaves the workspace locale at English) and accounts with no locale, not a platform defect.

Business reason. Reminders (overdue payments, obligations due, review SLA) are the app's whole proactive surface; a Chinese legal or finance team reads them all in English.

Reader. hotclm execution seat (PM seat #36). Touches every flow with a notify node; serialize after #156 (flows refusals).

Duplicate search. hotclm issues, all states, "notification English / notify template / locale": 0 hits; #142 related (workspace locale), open.