@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/lint': patch
+---
+
+fix(lint): the liveness author warnings and their status census read ledger rows at every depth of `children`
+
+Clause-②: no
+Metadata-protocol: none
+
+The liveness rule built its warn map, and its census of the status words the ledgers use, from the top-level rows and one level of `children`. The ledgers have rows two and three levels down, and those were never read. On the tree this was measured on, 41 rows two levels down and 2 rows three levels down carry a status.
+
+- **Warnings.** A row at any depth now warns under the same rules as a shallower one. Its verdict warns on its own (`dead`, `live-elsewhere`, `experimental`), or the row opts in with `authorWarn`. The only rows this reaches today are the dashboard's `widgets[].chartConfig.type`, `.xAxis`, `.yAxis`, `.series` and `.aria`, all `dead`. Each of them is already a retired key that the schema refuses, so `os lint` handed an unparsed stack now also reports `liveness-dead-property` for them. No row at depth 2 or deeper carries `authorWarn`, so no other warning appears.
+- **Status census.** A status word used only at depth 2 or deeper now reaches the vocabulary check that makes sure every status has an author-facing branch.
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ import {
   // #14057 coverage seam — the statuses the shipped ledgers actually carry, so
   // the coverage pin below is derived from the ledgers rather than hand-listed.
   shippedLedgerStatuses,
+  // #26146 — the same census against a ledger directory the test controls.
+  ledgerStatusesIn,
   // #19268/#19276 walk seam — package-internal, same posture as the two above
   // (module exports; `src/index.ts` re-exports neither, and the package's
   // `exports` map publishes only `.` and `./runtime`). The rule against a
@@ -1928,29 +1930,29 @@ describe('the dead and live-elsewhere verdicts warn on their own (#16094)', () =
 describe('the hint a warned row shows an author (#16094, #21096)', () => {
   type ShippedRow = { type: string; path: string; entry: Record<string, unknown> };
 
-  /** Every shipped row at the depth the warn map reads (props + one level of `children`). */
+  /** Every shipped row at the depth the warn map reads: every level of `children` (#26146). */
   function shippedRows(): ShippedRow[] {
     const rows: ShippedRow[] = [];
     const dir = shippedLedgerDir();
-    for (const file of readdirSync(dir).filter((f) => f.endsWith('.json')).sort()) {
-      const type = file.replace(/\.json$/, '');
-      const ledger = JSON.parse(readFileSync(join(dir, file), 'utf8'));
-      const isRow = (v: unknown): v is Record<string, unknown> => !!v && typeof v === 'object' && !Array.isArray(v);
-      for (const [key, entry] of Object.entries((ledger.props ?? {}) as Record<string, unknown>)) {
+    const isRow = (v: unknown): v is Record<string, unknown> => !!v && typeof v === 'object' && !Array.isArray(v);
+    const walk = (type: string, entries: unknown, prefix: string) => {
+      for (const [key, entry] of Object.entries(isRow(entries) ? entries : {})) {
         if (!isRow(entry)) continue;
-        for (const [ck, centry] of Object.entries((entry.children ?? {}) as Record<string, unknown>)) {
-          if (isRow(centry)) rows.push({ type, path: `${key}.${ck}`, entry: centry });
-        }
-        rows.push({ type, path: key, entry });
+        const path = prefix ? `${prefix}.${key}` : key;
+        walk(type, entry.children, path);
+        rows.push({ type, path, entry });
       }
+    };
+    for (const file of readdirSync(dir).filter((f) => f.endsWith('.json')).sort()) {
+      walk(file.replace(/\.json$/, ''), JSON.parse(readFileSync(join(dir, file), 'utf8')).props, '');
     }
     return rows;
   }
 
-  /** An item that authors exactly `path` (one level of nesting at most). */
+  /** An item that authors exactly `path`, at any depth. */
   const itemAuthoring = (path: string): Record<string, unknown> => {
-    const [head, child] = path.split('.');
-    return child === undefined ? { name: 'probe', [head]: 'x' } : { name: 'probe', [head]: { [child]: 'x' } };
+    const nested = path.split('.').reduceRight<unknown>((value, seg) => ({ [seg]: value }), 'x');
+    return { name: 'probe', ...(nested as Record<string, unknown>) };
   };
 
   const hintFor = (row: ShippedRow) => {
@@ -2150,3 +2152,99 @@ describe('[#22161] one-line fix — liveness-ledger-unreadable', () => {
     }
   });
 });
+
+// ── #26146: the warn map and the status census read every depth of `children` ──
+//
+// Both walks used to stop one `children` level down, while the ledgers had grown
+// rows two and three levels down (the dashboard's `widgets.chartConfig.*`, the
+// app's `navigation.dataSource.read.*`). None of them reached the warn map or
+// the vocabulary census. The shipped deep rows carry no `authorWarn`, and every
+// status they carry also appears at a shallower depth, so the opt-in and the
+// census are each held through a planted copy of the ledger directory; the
+// verdict-triggered half is held against the real dashboard ledger.
+describe('#26146 — ledger rows below the child level are graded and counted', () => {
+  const board = (widget: Record<string, unknown>) => ({
+    dashboards: [{
+      name: 'sales_overview',
+      label: 'Sales',
+      widgets: [
+        { id: 'first', type: 'metric', dataset: 'orders', values: ['total'] },
+        { id: 'second', type: 'bar', dataset: 'orders', values: ['total'], ...widget },
+      ],
+    }],
+  });
+
+  it('REAL LEDGER: the dead `widgets.chartConfig.*` rows, two levels down, are graded dead on an unparsed stack', () => {
+    const warned = authorWarnedProperties('dashboard');
+    const findings = lintLivenessProperties(board({
+      chartConfig: { type: 'bar', xAxis: 'region', yAxis: 'total', series: ['total'], title: 'Pipeline' },
+    }));
+    for (const key of ['type', 'xAxis', 'yAxis', 'series']) {
+      const path = `widgets.chartConfig.${key}`;
+      expect(warned.has(path), path).toBe(true);
+      // The second widget is the one authoring it, so the array fan-out is in the path too.
+      expect(ruleOf(findings, path), path).toBe(LIVENESS_DEAD_PROPERTY);
+    }
+    // Control: a live sibling on the same carrier stays silent in the same call.
+    expect(warned.has('widgets.chartConfig.title')).toBe(false);
+    expect(ruleOf(findings, 'widgets.chartConfig.title')).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  /** The shipped `dashboard.json`, with a synthetic subtree planted under `widgets`. */
+  const plantedDashboardLedgerDir = () => ledgerDirWith((dir) => {
+    const ledger = JSON.parse(readFileSync(join(dir, 'dashboard.json'), 'utf8'));
+    ledger.props.widgets.children.synthNest = {
+      status: 'live',
+      children: {
+        // Depth 2: the card's case, a `dead` row with `authorWarn`.
+        deadOptIn: { status: 'dead', authorWarn: true },
+        deeper: {
+          status: 'live',
+          children: {
+            // Depth 3: `planned` warns ONLY through the opt-in, so this pair
+            // shows the opt-in itself reaches this deep, not just the verdict.
+            plannedOptIn: { status: 'planned', authorWarn: true },
+            plannedQuiet: { status: 'planned' },
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    };
+    writeLedger(dir, 'dashboard', ledger);
+  });
+
+  it('PLANTED: a dead row with authorWarn two levels down warns, and an opted-in planned row three levels down warns too', () => {
+    const findings = lintLivenessPropertiesFromLedgerDir(plantedDashboardLedgerDir(), board({
+      synthNest: { deadOptIn: 'x', deeper: { plannedOptIn: 'x', plannedQuiet: 'x' } },
+    }));
+    expect(findings.filter((f) => f.rule === LIVENESS_LEDGER_UNREADABLE)).toEqual([]);
+    expect(ruleOf(findings, 'widgets.synthNest.deadOptIn')).toBe(LIVENESS_DEAD_PROPERTY);
+    expect(ruleOf(findings, 'widgets.synthNest.deeper.plannedOptIn')).toBe('liveness-planned-property');
+    expect(ruleOf(findings, 'widgets.synthNest.deeper.plannedQuiet')).toBeUndefined();
+    // The live containers on the way down warn on nothing.
+    expect(ruleOf(findings, 'widgets.synthNest')).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(ruleOf(findings, 'widgets.synthNest.deeper')).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it('PLANTED: a status word used only two or three levels down reaches the vocabulary census', () => {
+    const dir = ledgerDirWith((d) => {
+      const ledger = JSON.parse(readFileSync(join(d, 'dashboard.json'), 'utf8'));
+      ledger.props.widgets.children.synthNest = {
+        status: 'live',
+        children: {
+          atDepthTwo: { status: 'synth-depth-two' },
+          deeper: { status: 'live', children: { atDepthThree: { status: 'synth-depth-three' } } },
+        },
+      };
+      writeLedger(d, 'dashboard', ledger);
+    });
+    const planted = ledgerStatusesIn(dir);
+    expect(planted.has('synth-depth-two')).toBe(true);
+    expect(planted.has('synth-depth-three')).toBe(true);
+    // Control: the shipped census is this same walk over the shipped directory,
+    // and neither planted word is in it.
+    const shipped = shippedLedgerStatuses();
+    expect([...ledgerStatusesIn(shippedLedgerDir())].sort()).toEqual([...shipped].sort());
+    expect(shipped.has('synth-depth-two')).toBe(false);
+    expect(shipped.has('synth-depth-three')).toBe(false);
+  });
+});
@@ -64,13 +64,35 @@ export interface LedgerEntry {
   children?: Record<string, LedgerEntry>;
 }
 
-/** Flattened, warn-only view of a type's ledger: propPath → entry (incl. `a.b` children). */
+/** Flattened, warn-only view of a type's ledger: propPath → entry (`a.b`, `a.b.c`, … for nested children). */
 type WarnMap = Map<string, LedgerEntry>;
 
 function isRecord(v: unknown): v is AnyRec {
   return !!v && typeof v === 'object' && !Array.isArray(v);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Every row of a ledger's `props`, at EVERY depth of `children`, as
+ * `[dotted path, entry]` — each row's descendants before the row itself, the
+ * order the warn map has always been filled in.
+ *
+ * `#26146`. Both readers of a ledger's rows — {@link loadWarnMap} and the
+ * vocabulary census {@link ledgerStatusesIn} — used to hand-roll the same
+ * walk, and both stopped one `children` level down: a ledger documented as
+ * that deep had since grown rows two and three levels down (the dashboard's
+ * `widgets.chartConfig.*`, the app's `navigation.dataSource.read.*`), and none
+ * of them reached the warn map or the census. One walk, shared, is what keeps
+ * the two from disagreeing again about how deep a ledger goes.
+ */
+function* ledgerRows(rows: unknown, prefix = ''): Generator<[string, LedgerEntry]> {
+  if (!isRecord(rows)) return;
+  for (const [key, entry] of Object.entries(rows as Record<string, LedgerEntry>)) {
+    const path = prefix ? `${prefix}.${key}` : key;
+    if (isRecord(entry)) yield* ledgerRows(entry.children, path);
+    yield [path, entry];
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Locate `@objectstack/spec`'s shipped `liveness/` dir (workspace src or
  * published files).
@@ -126,7 +148,7 @@ interface WarnMapLoad {
   fault?: LedgerFault;
 }
 
-/** Build the warn-only lookup for one type, flattening one level of `children`. */
+/** Build the warn-only lookup for one type, flattening every level of `children` ({@link ledgerRows}). */
 function loadWarnMap(dir: string, type: string): WarnMapLoad {
   const map: WarnMap = new Map();
   const file = join(dir, `${type}.json`);
@@ -144,14 +166,8 @@ function loadWarnMap(dir: string, type: string): WarnMapLoad {
   // carries a `props` record, so this branch describes a corrupt file and
   // never a legitimately empty one (`{"props": {}}` is a reading, not a fault).
   if (!isRecord(ledger) || !isRecord(ledger.props)) return { map, fault: 'unreadable' };
-  const props = ledger.props as Record<string, LedgerEntry>;
-  for (const [key, entry] of Object.entries(props)) {
-    if (entry?.children) {
-      for (const [ck, centry] of Object.entries(entry.children)) {
-        if (shouldWarn(centry)) map.set(`${key}.${ck}`, centry);
-      }
-    }
-    if (shouldWarn(entry)) map.set(key, entry);
+  for (const [path, entry] of ledgerRows(ledger.props)) {
+    if (shouldWarn(entry)) map.set(path, entry);
   }
   return { map };
 }
@@ -301,9 +317,13 @@ function describe(entry: LedgerEntry): { kind: string; rule: string; defaultHint
  *    publishes just `.` and `./runtime`). ────────────────────────────────────
  *
  * Every distinct `status` string the SHIPPED ledgers actually carry, walked the
- * way `loadWarnMap` walks them (top-level props plus one level of `children` —
- * measured as the ledgers' full depth: 423 top-level and 285 child rows carry a
- * status, zero grandchildren do).
+ * way `loadWarnMap` walks them: {@link ledgerRows}, every depth of `children`
+ * (`#26146`). Measured on `origin/main` `6390fe52`, the rows carrying a status
+ * are 528 top-level, 419 child, 41 grandchild and 2 great-grandchild (the app's
+ * `navigation.dataSource.read.url` / `.method`). Until `#26146` both walks
+ * stopped at the child level and a docblock here called that the ledgers' full
+ * depth; it had stopped being one, which is why the depth is no longer a
+ * number this code assumes.
  *
  * WHY THIS EXISTS AND WHY IT DERIVES FROM ROWS. #14057 is #11384 repeating
  * itself through a different door: `describe()` fell behind the vocabulary when
@@ -328,8 +348,19 @@ function describe(entry: LedgerEntry): { kind: string; rule: string; defaultHint
  * carries an anti-vacuity guard.
  */
 export function shippedLedgerStatuses(): ReadonlySet<string> {
+  return ledgerStatusesIn(resolveLivenessDir());
+}
+
+/**
+ * The census of {@link shippedLedgerStatuses}, against a ledger directory the
+ * CALLER supplies — the same seam posture as
+ * {@link lintLivenessPropertiesFromLedgerDir} (module export only). The
+ * shipped ledgers carry no status at depth 2 or deeper that a shallower row
+ * does not also carry, so only a planted copy can show that the census reaches
+ * that depth at all (`#26146`).
+ */
+export function ledgerStatusesIn(dir: string | null): ReadonlySet<string> {
   const statuses = new Set<string>();
-  const dir = resolveLivenessDir();
   if (!dir) return statuses;
   let files: string[];
   try {
@@ -345,11 +376,8 @@ export function shippedLedgerStatuses(): ReadonlySet<string> {
     } catch {
       continue;
     }
-    for (const entry of Object.values(ledger?.props ?? {})) {
+    for (const [, entry] of ledgerRows(ledger?.props)) {
       if (typeof entry?.status === 'string') statuses.add(entry.status);
-      for (const child of Object.values(entry?.children ?? {})) {
-        if (typeof child?.status === 'string') statuses.add(child.status);
-      }
     }
   }
   return statuses;
@@ -371,8 +399,9 @@ export function shippedLedgerStatuses(): ReadonlySet<string> {
  * returns the very map `checkItem` iterates rather than a parallel reading of
  * the same JSON.
  *
- * Keys are the ledger's own property paths, `children` flattened one level as
- * `parent.child` — the shape `checkItem` resolves. Unreadable or absent ledger
+ * Keys are the ledger's own property paths, `children` flattened at every depth
+ * as `parent.child`, `parent.child.grandchild`, … — the shape `checkItem`
+ * resolves. Unreadable or absent ledger
  * ⇒ the empty set, which is also the map `lintLivenessProperties` walks with:
  * the two sides still go quiet TOGETHER rather than one of them going quiet
  * alone, which is the invariant this export exists for.