@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+---
+'create-objectstack': minor
+---
+
+The blank starter ships a test story: `pnpm test` boots the scaffolded app's own stack with `bootStack` from `@objectstack/verify` and asserts one business fact through its in-process handle
+
+Clause-②: no
+
+A project scaffolded with `npx create-objectstack` used to start with no `test` script and no way to assert its own behaviour, so the first test an author wrote was a hand-assembled kernel or a faked `ctx`. The blank template now carries:
+
+- **`note.test.ts`**, one starter test. It boots the app the project declares (its objects, its plugins, the services it requires) on the real engine, in-process, with an in-memory database and no server, and asserts that a note without a title is refused with the engine's own `VALIDATION_FAILED` error naming `title`, beside the same note with a title being saved. It addresses the object as `Note.name`, so it follows the namespace scaffolding writes.
+- **`vitest.config.ts`**: a 60 s hook timeout for the boot, vitest's console capture switched off, so a log line the stack writes while a worker shuts down cannot fail a green run, and `OS_REGISTRY_LOG: 'warn'`, which drops the engine's one-line-per-registered-item boot log.
+- **`package.json`**: a `test` script (`vitest run`), and `@objectstack/verify` (at the project's `@objectstack/*` range) and `vitest` as devDependencies. The vitest range is `~4.0.0`, the one `objectstack init -t plugin` and `objectstack create plugin` declare, and it is generated from that shared policy rather than written by hand, so the three scaffolders cannot drift apart. `~4.0.0` is the range that installs on npm 10, the npm Node 22 bundles; `^4.0.0` does not.
+- **`tsconfig.json`** includes every root `*.ts` (`"*.ts"`, as `objectstack init` writes it), so `pnpm typecheck` checks the starter test and the vitest config.
+- **`README.md`** lists `pnpm test` beside `validate`, `lint` and `typecheck`.
+
+The project's CI workflow is unchanged: its steps are the script set every scaffolder's project must declare, and `objectstack init -t app` declares no `test` script.
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/runtime': patch
+---
+
+fix(runtime): on a `kernel-resolver` host, a dispatcher door resolves a service on the request's own environment kernel before the host kernel. `HttpDispatcher.resolveService` used to ask the host kernel's scoped lookup first, and the host kernel's singleton `protocol` / `metadata` / `objectql` answered it whatever the scope. So `POST /api/v1/actions/:object/:action` loaded its subject row through a protocol that registers none of the environment's objects, and it answered `404 RECORD_NOT_FOUND` for a row the caller can read. Hosts with no request kernel of their own (single-environment, SharedProjectPlugin) resolve exactly as before, and an id that names nothing is still refused with 404.
+
+Clause-②: no
@@ -1066,17 +1066,27 @@ jobs:
       # second red on wall time against `timeout-minutes`. Both constants, their
       # measured basis and a self-test battery each live in the script.
       #
+      # THE RED IS A `schedule` RED ALONE (C2, both timing steps, ruling
+      # https://github.com/objectstack-ai/objectstack/issues/22949#issuecomment-6119186511):
+      # the dataset's weights are measured on the hourly `schedule` runs, so
+      # only those exit 1 on DRIFT. On `merge_group`, `pull_request`, `push`
+      # and `workflow_dispatch` the step prints the same verdict, raises the
+      # DRIFT as a `::warning::` annotation and exits 0. The event reaches the
+      # script as `--event "$GITHUB_EVENT_NAME"`, which it requires; the rule
+      # and its self-test live there (TIMING_GRADED_EVENT, timingGateMode).
+      #
       # EXECUTED WINDOWS ONLY. Measurements come from samplesFromSummary() in
       # measure-test-shard-timings.mjs, which drops cache HITs and failed
       # suites, and the prediction is summed over the same executed packages.
       # A replay's near-zero window would read as a shard far FASTER than
       # predicted and vouch for a rotted dataset, so a shard whose packages all
       # replayed is NOT MEASURED, never "fast".
       #
-      # NO `if:` and NO `continue-on-error` (the red is the point), and ABOVE
-      # the attestation pair for the #6082 reason documented on the upload
-      # above: a failed unguarded step skips that pair, so a drift red also
-      # withholds this shard's attestation, the fail-closed direction. A shard
+      # NO `if:` and NO `continue-on-error` (the red is the point, and the
+      # `schedule`-only red is the script's `--event`, so neither is needed),
+      # and ABOVE the attestation pair for the #6082 reason documented on the
+      # upload above: a failed unguarded step skips that pair, so a drift red
+      # also withholds this shard's attestation, the fail-closed direction. A shard
       # with no packages runs no turbo and writes no summary; that is NOT
       # MEASURED here rather than a usage error from the script.
       #
@@ -1109,7 +1119,7 @@ jobs:
             exit 0
           fi
           node scripts/partition-test-shards.mjs --check-drift "${SUMMARIES[@]}" \
-            --label "Test Core (${{ matrix.shard }}/6)"
+            --label "Test Core (${{ matrix.shard }}/6)" --event "$GITHUB_EVENT_NAME"
 
       # Runs even when the suite failed — that is when it earns its keep. It
       # answers TWO questions about a red suite, and needs both to be able to
@@ -1486,12 +1496,12 @@ jobs:
       # ── The per-package suite-duration ratchet (#16468) ──────────────────
       #
       # A GATE, unlike the two reporting steps above: NO `continue-on-error`,
-      # so a package whose suite ran past its ceiling reds `Test Core`, naming
-      # the package and its slowest test files. The ceiling is the package's
-      # slowest executed run in the refresh window x 1.25, generated into
-      # scripts/test-shard-timings.json (`ceilings`) by the refresh lane and
-      # held by every later refresh; it rises only by a ruled entry in the
-      # script's RULED_CEILING_RAISES. A `provisional` package prints "no
+      # so on a `schedule` run a package whose suite ran past its ceiling reds
+      # `Test Core`, naming the package and its slowest test files. The
+      # ceiling is the package's slowest executed run in the refresh window
+      # x 1.25, generated into scripts/test-shard-timings.json (`ceilings`) by
+      # the refresh lane and held by every later refresh; it rises only by a
+      # ruled entry in the script's RULED_CEILING_RAISES. A `provisional` package prints "no
       # ceiling: provisional" and is not red; a package absent from the dataset
       # prints "no ceiling: new package" and is not red until the first refresh
       # after it lands gives it a ceiling, while a package the dataset knows
@@ -1505,6 +1515,20 @@ jobs:
       # samplesFromSummary, and every vitest file line); a capture that did not
       # arrive leaves its packages ungraded and says so, never red.
       #
+      # EXIT-GRADED ON `schedule` ALONE (C2, both timing steps, ruling
+      # https://github.com/objectstack-ai/objectstack/issues/22949#issuecomment-6119186511):
+      # the ceilings come from the hourly `schedule` runs, so only those red
+      # this job on a package over its ceiling. On `merge_group`,
+      # `pull_request`, `push` and `workflow_dispatch` the step prints the same
+      # table, raises each package over its ceiling as a `::warning::`
+      # annotation and exits 0; a real slowdown merged to `main` reds the next
+      # hourly run. A package whose ceiling is under the absolute floor (20s,
+      # CEILING_FLOOR_SECONDS) prints "below floor" and is never red. The
+      # event reaches the script as `--event "$GITHUB_EVENT_NAME"`, which it
+      # requires; a refusal (a malformed table or raise record) is red on every
+      # event. The rule, the floor's reading and their self-tests live in the
+      # script.
+      #
       # NOT MEASURED, exit 0, while the dataset carries no `ceilings`: they are
       # generated only where the run-summary artifacts are downloadable (the
       # refresh lane), so the first refresh after this lands writes them, and
@@ -1515,7 +1539,7 @@ jobs:
       # captured, so a red shard's packages are graded too.
       - name: Check the per-package suite-duration ceilings
         if: always()
-        run: node scripts/check-test-suite-ceilings.mjs --captures "$RUNNER_TEMP/test-timings" --label 'Test Core'
+        run: node scripts/check-test-suite-ceilings.mjs --captures "$RUNNER_TEMP/test-timings" --label 'Test Core' --event "$GITHUB_EVENT_NAME"
 
 
   # ── Temporal conformance against live, non-UTC servers (ADR-0053 D-A3) ─────
 
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 #
 # Job 1 (PRs touching the scaffolder / docker example) scaffolds with the
 # repo-built scaffolder and runs the generated project against the registry:
-# install → validate → build → boot → health probes → docker build/run. That
+# install → validate → build → test → boot → health probes → docker build/run. That
 # run scaffolds with `--skip-install` and installs the project itself, so it
 # exercises the scaffolder's `--skip-install` shape; a second, throwaway
 # project is scaffolded WITHOUT it purely to assert the shape a real user
@@ -148,6 +148,16 @@ jobs:
           npm run validate
           npm run build
 
+      # The starter's own test (`note.test.ts`): it boots the generated
+      # project's stack in-process through @objectstack/verify, as installed
+      # from the registry, and asserts one business fact on the real engine.
+      # A scaffold whose `test` script is red out of the box teaches its user
+      # to ignore tests, so the starter ships it green or not at all.
+      - name: Test the generated project
+        run: |
+          cd "$RUNNER_TEMP/e2e-app"
+          npm test
+
       # Two questions this step must answer about its own server, and used to
       # answer neither (#9779). Both belong here rather than in the CLI: `os
       # start` is already correct — the shell around it was not.
@@ -486,14 +496,18 @@ jobs:
 
       # `build` is the gate every template must pass; `validate` is run only
       # when the scaffolded project defines it (the now-retired remote
-      # templates did not always ship it).
+      # templates did not always ship it), and `test` likewise: a published
+      # scaffolder older than the starter's `note.test.ts` declares none.
       - name: Gate the generated project
         run: |
           cd "$RUNNER_TEMP/canary-app"
           if node -e "process.exit(JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('package.json','utf8')).scripts?.validate ? 0 : 1)"; then
             npm run validate
           fi
           npm run build
+          if node -e "process.exit(JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('package.json','utf8')).scripts?.test ? 0 : 1)"; then
+            npm test
+          fi
 
       # Same two guards, same reasoning, as `Boot from the artifact and probe
       # health` in scaffold-local — see the measurement written out there. Kept
 
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import Link from 'next/link';
 import { ArrowRight, Check } from 'lucide-react';
 import { Bricolage_Grotesque, IBM_Plex_Mono } from 'next/font/google';
 import { HomeLayout } from 'fumadocs-ui/layouts/home';
-import { baseOptions, gitConfig } from '@/lib/layout.shared';
+import { baseOptions, ESSAY_URL, gitConfig } from '@/lib/layout.shared';
 import { absoluteUrl, HERO_COVER } from '@/lib/site';
 import {
   APACHE_2_0_URL,
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import {
   type JsonLdNode,
 } from '@/lib/structured-data';
 import { YouTubeEmbed } from '@/components/youtube-embed';
+import { OntologyRunsFigure } from '@/components/figures';
 
 /** The 90-second overview — the same video the README's hero cover links to. */
 const OVERVIEW_VIDEO_ID = 'CX_FlOoOtr0';
@@ -122,6 +123,13 @@ function homeGraph(): JsonLdNode[] {
   ];
 }
 
+/** Section 00's three sentences, verbatim from the maintainer's ruling. */
+const IDEA: string[] = [
+  'An enterprise is definition plus execution. When execution is nearly free, it is its definition.',
+  'What the model lacks is not intelligence: a world, hands, and a fence.',
+  'An ontology written clearly enough is software. Models change; the ontology stays.',
+];
+
 const VOCABULARY: { tag: string; title: string; copy: string }[] = [
   { tag: 'object', title: 'Objects & fields', copy: 'Typed schemas with relations, validation, formulas, and files.' },
   { tag: 'permission', title: 'Permissions', copy: 'RBAC plus row- and field-level security, enforced by the runtime.' },
@@ -223,6 +231,15 @@ export default function HomePage() {
             metadata small enough for AI to hold whole: agents read it whole, reason it whole,
             refactor it whole.
           </p>
+          <p className="mt-5">
+            <Link
+              href={ESSAY_URL}
+              className="inline-flex items-center gap-1 font-medium text-fd-foreground underline underline-offset-4 transition-colors hover:text-fd-primary"
+            >
+              Why the ontology is the software
+              <ArrowRight className="size-4" />
+            </Link>
+          </p>
           <div className="mt-8 flex flex-wrap items-center justify-center gap-3">
             <Link
               href="/docs/getting-started"
@@ -306,6 +323,40 @@ export default function HomePage() {
           </p>
         </section>
 
+        {/* ── 00 · the idea ────────────────────────────────────── */}
+        <section className="relative mx-auto w-full max-w-6xl px-6 py-16 md:py-20">
+          <div className="flex items-baseline gap-4 border-t border-fd-border pt-8">
+            <span className="text-xs tracking-[0.18em] text-fd-muted-foreground uppercase" style={{ fontFamily: 'var(--l-mono)' }}>
+              00 · The idea
+            </span>
+          </div>
+          <h2 className="mt-4 max-w-2xl text-3xl font-bold tracking-tight md:text-4xl" style={{ fontFamily: 'var(--l-display)' }}>
+            An ontology written clearly enough runs directly
+          </h2>
+          {/* The figure's caption takes its spacing and colour from the blog's prose
+              styles there; this page has no prose wrapper, so the wrapper sets them. */}
+          <div className="mx-auto mt-10 max-w-4xl [&_figcaption]:mt-3 [&_figcaption]:text-sm [&_figcaption]:text-fd-muted-foreground">
+            <OntologyRunsFigure caption="The ontology is not the design document for the software; the runtime runs it directly." />
+          </div>
+          <div className="mt-10 grid gap-8 md:grid-cols-3">
+            {IDEA.map((line) => (
+              <div key={line}>
+                <div className="h-px bg-fd-border" aria-hidden />
+                <p className="mt-4 text-lg font-semibold text-pretty" style={{ fontFamily: 'var(--l-display)' }}>
+                  {line}
+                </p>
+              </div>
+            ))}
+          </div>
+          <Link
+            href={ESSAY_URL}
+            className="mt-8 inline-flex items-center gap-2 text-sm font-medium underline underline-offset-4 transition-colors hover:text-fd-primary"
+          >
+            Read the essay
+            <ArrowRight className="size-4" />
+          </Link>
+        </section>
+
         {/* ── 01 · the loop ────────────────────────────────────── */}
         <section className="relative mx-auto w-full max-w-6xl px-6 py-16 md:py-20">
           <div className="flex items-baseline gap-4 border-t border-fd-border pt-8">
@@ -455,14 +506,7 @@ export default function HomePage() {
               The ontology is the software. Your objects, relations, actions, permissions, and
               flows are your business ontology — views, dashboards, apps, and translations are
               projections of it, and the definition layer of the AI era should be an open
-              protocol you own. Read the long form:{' '}
-              <Link
-                href="/blog/the-ontology-is-the-software"
-                className="inline-flex items-center gap-1 font-medium text-fd-foreground underline underline-offset-4 transition-colors hover:text-fd-primary"
-              >
-                The Ontology Is the Software
-                <ArrowRight className="size-3.5" />
-              </Link>
+              protocol you own.
             </p>
             <p className="mt-3 text-sm text-fd-muted-foreground">
               ObjectStack is build &amp; ask with Claude Code. Rather build &amp; ask online —
 
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ export const gitConfig = {
   branch: 'main',
 };
 
+/** The essay's route: the nav's `Why` entry, and the home page's hero link and section 00. */
+export const ESSAY_URL = '/blog/the-ontology-is-the-software';
+
 export function baseOptions(): BaseLayoutProps {
   return {
     nav: {
@@ -24,8 +27,11 @@ export function baseOptions(): BaseLayoutProps {
       ),
     },
     // Every layout spreads baseOptions() — DocsLayout (docs sidebar), and HomeLayout on
-    // the home page and on /blog — so this one entry is the blog's link on all of them.
-    links: [{ text: 'Blog', url: '/blog', active: 'nested-url' }],
+    // the home page and on /blog — so these entries are the nav's links on all of them.
+    links: [
+      { text: 'Why', url: ESSAY_URL, active: 'url' },
+      { text: 'Blog', url: '/blog', active: 'nested-url' },
+    ],
     githubUrl: `https://github.com/${gitConfig.user}/${gitConfig.repo}`,
   };
 }
@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@ my-app/
 ├── objectstack.manifest.json    # name, namespace, specVersion
 ├── package.json
 ├── tsconfig.json
+├── note.test.ts                 # the starter test `npm test` runs
+├── vitest.config.ts             # its test-runner config
 ├── AGENTS.md                    # conventions for coding agents
 └── src/
     ├── objects/
@@ -232,6 +234,7 @@ framework surface you install:
 | `@objectstack/plugin-hono-server` | The HTTP server that mounts the generated REST API. |
 | `@objectstack/connector-rest` · `-openapi` · `-mcp` | The three generic connector executors — register the `rest` / `openapi` / `mcp` provider factories so declarative `connectors:` entries materialize ([ADR-0097](/docs/automation/flows)). |
 | `@objectstack/cli` *(dev)* | The `os` / `objectstack` CLI: `dev`, `validate`, `build`, `start`. |
+| `@objectstack/verify` *(dev)* | The test harness: `bootStack` boots this app's own stack in-process, on an in-memory database and with no server port, and returns the handle a test asserts through. `npm test` runs the starter test `note.test.ts` with it. |
 
 No driver package is listed because none is installed directly: `@objectstack/runtime`
 depends on `driver-sql`, `driver-sqlite-wasm` and `driver-memory`, and the CLI carries