@@ -458,6 +458,13 @@ const ROOT_DIR_WATCH_HINTS = [
   'packages/triggers/*',
   'apps/*',
   'examples/*',
+  // The objectui tree's roots (objectstack#25677). `ui/*` stands for the bare
+  // `ui` member (objectui's root manifest), spelled with a separator for the
+  // reason above; the other three match its own `<dir>/*` globs.
+  'ui/*',
+  'ui/packages/*',
+  'ui/apps/*',
+  'ui/examples/*',
 ];
 
 /**
 
@@ -633,8 +633,21 @@ const WORKSPACE_PARENT_GLOBS = [
   'packages/triggers/*',
   'apps/*',
   'examples/*',
+  // The objectui tree's package roots (objectstack#25677); they match nothing
+  // until it is imported under ui/.
+  'ui/packages/*',
+  'ui/apps/*',
+  'ui/examples/*',
 ];
 
+/**
+ * Workspace members pnpm-workspace.yaml names as a BARE directory (no `/*`):
+ * the one package AT that directory, declared by its manifest path so the entry
+ * keeps the separator the dispatch deriver needs. `ui` is objectui's root
+ * manifest (objectstack#25677); absent until the import, like the globs above.
+ */
+const WORKSPACE_BARE_MEMBER_MANIFESTS = ['ui/package.json'];
+
 /** The parent directories those globs enumerate — each glob minus its leaf. */
 const WORKSPACE_PARENT_DIRS = WORKSPACE_PARENT_GLOBS.map((glob) => glob.replace(/\/\*$/, ''));
 
@@ -650,22 +663,24 @@ function readJson(file) {
 
 function listWorkspacePackages(root) {
   const out = [];
+  const candidates = [];
   for (const parent of WORKSPACE_PARENT_DIRS) {
     const abs = join(root, parent);
     if (!existsSync(abs)) continue;
-    for (const name of readdirSync(abs)) {
-      const dir = join(abs, name);
-      const manifest = join(dir, 'package.json');
-      if (!existsSync(manifest)) continue;
-      let json;
-      try {
-        json = readJson(manifest);
-      } catch {
-        continue;
-      }
-      if (!json.name) continue;
-      out.push({ name: json.name, dir, rel: relative(root, dir), json });
+    for (const name of readdirSync(abs)) candidates.push(join(abs, name));
+  }
+  for (const manifestPath of WORKSPACE_BARE_MEMBER_MANIFESTS) candidates.push(dirname(join(root, manifestPath)));
+  for (const dir of candidates) {
+    const manifest = join(dir, 'package.json');
+    if (!existsSync(manifest)) continue;
+    let json;
+    try {
+      json = readJson(manifest);
+    } catch {
+      continue;
     }
+    if (!json.name) continue;
+    out.push({ name: json.name, dir, rel: relative(root, dir), json });
   }
   return out;
 }
@@ -3322,7 +3337,7 @@ function selfTest() {
     // docblock (#9955). Asserted here rather than left to review because the
     // regression is a tidy-up nobody would flag.
     battery('the declared population must stay READABLE by the dispatch deriver');
-    for (const glob of WORKSPACE_PARENT_GLOBS) {
+    for (const glob of [...WORKSPACE_PARENT_GLOBS, ...WORKSPACE_BARE_MEMBER_MANIFESTS]) {
       expect(
         glob.replace(/^(?:\.\.?(?:\/|$))+/, '').includes('/'),
         `workspace parent ${glob} carries no path separator, so scripts/pm/dispatch-gates.mjs refuses it as too generic and every package under it drops out of the derived gate list`,
@@ -3346,7 +3361,12 @@ function selfTest() {
     // the declaration stays and the live parse becomes its CHECK, in both
     // directions, the shape check-published-files.mjs already uses.
     battery('the declaration must still BE the workspace (#11510)');
-    const declaredParents = WORKSPACE_PARENT_GLOBS.map((g) => g.replace(/\/\*+$/, ''));
+    // A bare-directory member is declared by its manifest path; both spellings
+    // reduce to the directory pnpm-workspace.yaml names.
+    const declaredParents = [
+      ...WORKSPACE_PARENT_GLOBS.map((g) => g.replace(/\/\*+$/, '')),
+      ...WORKSPACE_BARE_MEMBER_MANIFESTS.map((m) => m.replace(/\/package\.json$/, '')),
+    ];
     const liveParents = readWorkspaceGlobs(REPO_ROOT)
       .filter((g) => !isExclusionGlob(g))
       .map((g) => g.replace(/\/\*+$/, ''));
 
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ const SELF_TEST_BATTERIES = Object.freeze({
   'the detector STAYS SILENT where it must': 6,
   'the comment mask, in both directions': 3,
   'tsconfig exclusions are honoured, and only where declared': 2,
-  'refusals': 8,
+  'refusals': 10,
   'provenance: the record must stay reproducible, and visibly so': 8,
   'ledger reconciliation, in both directions': 10,
   'the declared watch hints stay equal to the real population': 2,
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ const REPO_ROOT = resolve(HERE, '..');
  * root reds here instead of quietly leaving part of the tree unswept and this
  * gate unnameable.
  */
-const ROOT_DIR_WATCH_HINTS = ['packages/**', 'apps/**', 'examples/**'];
+const ROOT_DIR_WATCH_HINTS = ['packages/**', 'apps/**', 'examples/**', 'ui/**'];
 
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Refusal floors, and the provenance of the census they were derived from --
@@ -331,8 +331,10 @@ const LEDGER_KINDS = new Set(['optional-runtime-probe', 'type-only']);
 // Workspace discovery
 
 /**
- * The `packages:` globs from pnpm-workspace.yaml. Only the `<dir>/*` shape this
- * repo uses is understood; anything else REFUSES rather than being skipped, so
+ * The `packages:` globs from pnpm-workspace.yaml. Two shapes are understood:
+ * `<dir>/*` (every package one level under `<dir>`) and a bare `<dir>` with no
+ * wildcard at all (the one package AT `<dir>` -- the objectui root manifest,
+ * `ui`, objectstack#25677). Anything else REFUSES rather than being skipped, so
  * a new glob shape cannot silently shrink the population.
  */
 export function workspaceGlobs(yamlText) {
@@ -354,12 +356,16 @@ function discoverPackages(root, globs) {
   const found = [];
   const bad = [];
   for (const glob of globs) {
-    if (!glob.endsWith('/*') || glob.slice(0, -2).includes('*')) { bad.push(glob); continue; }
-    const parent = join(root, glob.slice(0, -2));
+    const bare = !glob.includes('*');
+    if (!bare && (!glob.endsWith('/*') || glob.slice(0, -2).includes('*'))) { bad.push(glob); continue; }
+    const parent = join(root, bare ? glob : glob.slice(0, -2));
+    // An absent root contributes nothing, in both shapes: a workspace glob that
+    // matches no directory is legal pnpm and this gate walks what pnpm walks.
     if (!existsSync(parent)) continue;
-    for (const entry of readdirSync(parent, { withFileTypes: true })) {
-      if (!entry.isDirectory()) continue;
-      const dir = join(parent, entry.name);
+    const candidates = bare
+      ? [parent]
+      : readdirSync(parent, { withFileTypes: true }).filter((e) => e.isDirectory()).map((e) => join(parent, e.name));
+    for (const dir of candidates) {
       const manifestPath = join(dir, 'package.json');
       if (!existsSync(manifestPath)) continue;
       let manifest;
@@ -914,6 +920,22 @@ function selfTest() {
     t('REFUSAL — a glob shape this parser does not understand is fatal, not skipped',
       typeof badGlob.fatal === 'string');
 
+    // The bare `<dir>` shape, both directions: present, its one package is
+    // swept like any other; absent, it contributes nothing and is not fatal.
+    const bareDir = mkdtempSync(join(tmp, 'baredir-'));
+    fixture(bareDir, 'pnpm-workspace.yaml', 'packages:\n  - packages/*\n  - ui\n');
+    fixture(bareDir, 'packages/subject/package.json', JSON.stringify(baseManifest, null, 2));
+    fixture(bareDir, 'packages/subject/src/a.ts', 'export const ok = 1;\n');
+    fixture(bareDir, 'ui/package.json', JSON.stringify({ name: 'ui-root' }, null, 2));
+    fixture(bareDir, 'ui/src/a.ts', "import { x } from '@objectstack/undeclared';\n");
+    const bareSwept = sweep(bareDir);
+    t('a bare `<dir>` workspace entry sweeps the one package at that directory',
+      bareSwept.fatal === undefined
+      && bareSwept.findings.length === 1 && bareSwept.findings[0].dep === '@objectstack/undeclared');
+    const bareAbsent = run({ manifest: baseManifest, files: { 'src/a.ts': 'export const ok = 1;\n' }, workspace: 'packages:\n  - packages/*\n  - ui\n' });
+    t('an ABSENT bare `<dir>` entry contributes nothing and is not fatal',
+      bareAbsent.fatal === undefined && bareAbsent.findings.length === 0);
+
     t('FLOOR — an empty population trips the package floor rather than passing',
       floorProblems({ packages: [], scannedFiles: 99999, specifiers: 99999 }) !== null);
     t('FLOOR — a broken walk trips the file floor',