@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/plugin-approvals': patch
+'@objectstack/plugin-sharing': patch
+'@objectstack/plugin-security': patch
+---
+
+fix(plugin-approvals,plugin-sharing): the approver a pending step waits on can read the record the request is about
+
+Clause-②: no
+Metadata-protocol: none
+
+An approver was asked to decide on a record they could not open. Unless the app happened to grant them read of that exact row, the request page showed only the snapshot and the record card read "unable to open this record", so a contract was approved without its document being read.
+
+- **Who reads.** While an approval request is pending, each person on its current step's slate (a slot naming their user id, or the email their own account carries) and the override holder (the administrator who may decide any pending request of their organization) may READ the one record the request is about. A slot left as a `position:` or `team:` literal names no person and grants no read.
+- **How far.** Read only: the write gates never read this grant, so the approver still cannot edit or delete the record. Only the record itself, as a reader of it reads it: attachments follow the record read, as they do for any reader. Only while the step is pending: a decision that resolves the step, or advances the request to its next step, ends the grant at the next read. Never across organizations, the platform administrator's override included. An on-behalf-of (agent) principal gets no approval grant.
+- **Where it is decided.** `@objectstack/plugin-approvals` derives the records from the slate it already resolves (`ApprovalService.pendingApproverReadGrants`, one indexed read of the pending-approver index per request context, plus one request read per object, memoized per request and retired by any write). `@objectstack/plugin-sharing` ORs those record ids into its read filter beside the caller's record shares, so every read door that composes the sharing filter serves them; it grants nothing when the approvals service is absent or its read fails.
+- **Explain.** `@objectstack/plugin-security`'s access explanation names the grant on the sharing layer as a read share "via approval request N".
+
+The grant is the row-level reach of a read share; the approver still needs read on the object itself. Nothing is declared: no metadata key, no app setting.
+
+What to do: nothing. An app that wrote sharing rules mirroring its approval routing only so approvers could open the record may drop them.
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ import {
 } from './payload-redaction.js';
 import { APPROVAL_REQUEST_CHILD_OBJECTS, type RequestVisibilitySource } from './request-read-gate.js';
 import { nodeConfigLocksRecord, recordHeldByLockingApproval } from './lifecycle-hooks.js';
+import { PendingApproverReadGrantSource, type PendingApproverReadGrants } from './pending-approver-read-grant.js';
 // The ADR-0043 pages — the ONE copy of their text, rendered by the plugin's
 // self-hosted mount and by `handleActionPage` alike.
 import { renderConfirmPage, renderResultPage } from './action-link-pages.js';
@@ -1619,10 +1620,21 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
    * registration, and the audit writer memoizes the same way.
    */
   private readonly recordOrgResolver: RecordOrganizationResolver;
+  /**
+   * [#26180] The records a pending approver may read: memoized per execution
+   * context and engine write epoch ({@link ApprovalService.pendingApproverReadGrants}).
+   */
+  private readonly pendingApproverReads: PendingApproverReadGrantSource;
 
   constructor(opts: ApprovalServiceOptions) {
     this.engine = opts.engine;
     this.recordOrgResolver = createRecordOrganizationResolver(opts.engine);
+    this.pendingApproverReads = new PendingApproverReadGrantSource({
+      engine: opts.engine,
+      isOverrideActor: (context, organizationId) => this.isOverrideActor(context, organizationId),
+      accountEmail: (userId) => this.callerAccountEmail(userId),
+      logger: opts.logger,
+    });
     this.clock = opts.clock ?? { now: () => new Date() };
     this.logger = opts.logger;
     this.automation = opts.automation;
@@ -1685,6 +1697,24 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
     });
   }
 
+  /**
+   * [#26180 · ruling 6429330267, letter A] The records of `object` the caller
+   * may READ because a pending approval step waits on them: record id → the
+   * pending request ids that grant it.
+   *
+   * While a request is pending, each resolved person on its current step's
+   * slate (the caller's user id or account email in a slot) and the override
+   * holder ({@link ApprovalService.isOverrideActor}) may read the one record
+   * it is about. Derived from the slate this service resolved, never declared;
+   * fenced to the caller's active organization; ends when the step resolves.
+   * plugin-sharing ORs the ids into its read filter and names the requests in
+   * `explain`. Rejects when a read fails, so the consumer can fail closed.
+   * The rules and the cost live in `pending-approver-read-grant.ts`.
+   */
+  async pendingApproverReadGrants(object: string, context: ExecutionContext): Promise<PendingApproverReadGrants> {
+    return this.pendingApproverReads.forObject(object, context);
+  }
+
   /** Attach (or replace) the ADR-0105 D9 posture provider. */
   attachTenancyPosture(provider: () => string | undefined): void {
     this.tenancyPosture = provider;
 
@@ -147,6 +147,11 @@ const SLOT_SITES: Readonly<Record<string, { role: SiteRole; why: string }>> = {
     why: 'a presence test, not a comparison: selects the action rows that hold a slot to label (#23889 boot '
       + 'backfill); the slot is compared with nothing, and no caller identity is involved',
   },
+  'pending-approver-read-grant.ts · slateRequestIds · approver: persons.length === 1 ? persons[0] : { $in: persons }': {
+    role: 'reader',
+    why: 'the pending approver\'s record read (#26180): `persons` is actingAddresses(caller) with no positions — the '
+      + 'user id and account email slateNamesAPerson calls a person; a position literal names no person, so grants no read',
+  },
   "sys-approval-request.object.ts · (module) · field: 'pending_approvers'": {
     role: 'declarative',
     why: 'the `my_pending` list view\'s substring filter on {current_user_id}; served only by the generic data '
 
@@ -0,0 +1,275 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+/**
+ * [#26180 · ruling 6429330267, letter A] Which records a pending approval step
+ * lets a caller READ — `ApprovalService.pendingApproverReadGrants`, the answer
+ * plugin-sharing ORs into its read filter.
+ *
+ * The full door (a real kernel, the security and sharing plugins, a two-step
+ * flow) is pinned in dogfood's `approval-pending-approver-record-read`. What
+ * only this level can state is the derivation itself and its bounds:
+ *
+ *  - who: a PERSON on the pending slate — the caller's user id or account
+ *    email in a slot — and the override holder; a `position:` literal (a
+ *    target that resolved to nobody) names no person and grants no read;
+ *  - while: a decided request grants nothing, at the next read of the same
+ *    request context too (a write retires the memo);
+ *  - where: never across organizations, the platform administrator's override
+ *    included (that boot is `single`, one organization, no wall to cross);
+ *  - cost: a request context pays one account read and one index read for its
+ *    slate, and one request read per object — never a read per record, and a
+ *    caller on no slate stops after the index read;
+ *  - fail: a failed read is rethrown and never memoized.
+ *
+ * The rig is the read-gate suites' (`record-reader-opt-in.integration.test.ts`):
+ * a real ObjectQL engine over better-sqlite3 and the real
+ * `ApprovalsServicePlugin.start()`.
+ */
+
+import { describe, it, expect, afterEach } from 'vitest';
+import { ObjectQL } from '@objectstack/objectql';
+import { SqlDriver } from '@objectstack/driver-sql';
+import type { EngineQueryOptions } from '@objectstack/spec/data';
+import type { ExecutionContext } from '@objectstack/spec/kernel';
+import { ApprovalService } from './approval-service.js';
+import { ApprovalsServicePlugin } from './approvals-plugin.js';
+import { SysApprovalRequest } from './sys-approval-request.object.js';
+import { SysApprovalAction } from './sys-approval-action.object.js';
+import { SysApprovalApprover } from './sys-approval-approver.object.js';
+import { SysApprovalDelegation } from './sys-approval-delegation.object.js';
+import { DEFAULT_ORGANIZATION_ID, installDefaultOrganization } from './default-organization.testkit.js';
+
+const OBJECT = 'contract_sheet';
+const OTHER = 'memo_sheet';
+const PKG = 'approvals-pending-approver-read-test';
+const OTHER_ORG = 'org_other';
+
+const SYSTEM: ExecutionContext = { isSystem: true, positions: [], permissions: [] };
+/** A request row as the system reads it. */
+const requestRow = async (rig: Rig, where: Record<string, unknown>): Promise<any> =>
+  ((await rig.engine.find('sys_approval_request', { where, context: SYSTEM } satisfies EngineQueryOptions)) as any[])[0];
+/** A member of `org`, acting as themself. */
+const member = (userId: string, org: string = DEFAULT_ORGANIZATION_ID) =>
+  ({ userId, tenantId: org, organizationId: org, positions: [], permissions: [], posture: 'MEMBER' }) as any;
+
+const SUBMITTER = 'u_submitter';
+/** On the slate by user id. */
+const BY_ID = 'u_by_id';
+/** On the slate by the email their account carries. */
+const BY_EMAIL = 'u_by_email';
+const BY_EMAIL_ADDRESS = 'by.email@verify.test';
+/** Holds position `buyer`; the slate holds only the unresolved `position:buyer` literal. */
+const BUYER = 'u_buyer';
+/** On no slate. */
+const STRANGER = 'u_stranger';
+
+function sheet(name: string) {
+  return {
+    name,
+    label: name,
+    fields: {
+      id: { name: 'id', label: 'Id', type: 'text' as const, primaryKey: true },
+      title: { name: 'title', label: 'Title', type: 'text' as const },
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+/** The account table `callerAccountEmail` reads. */
+const SysUser = {
+  name: 'sys_user',
+  label: 'User',
+  managedBy: 'better-auth',
+  fields: {
+    id: { name: 'id', label: 'Id', type: 'text' as const, primaryKey: true },
+    email: { name: 'email', label: 'Email', type: 'text' as const },
+  },
+};
+
+interface Rig {
+  engine: ObjectQL;
+  svc: ApprovalService;
+  finds: string[];
+}
+
+let current: ObjectQL | undefined;
+
+afterEach(async () => {
+  try { await current?.destroy(); } catch { /* noop */ }
+  current = undefined;
+});
+
+async function boot(): Promise<Rig> {
+  const engine = new ObjectQL();
+  current = engine;
+  engine.registerDriver(new SqlDriver({
+    client: 'better-sqlite3',
+    connection: { filename: ':memory:' },
+    useNullAsDefault: true,
+  }), true);
+  await engine.init();
+  for (const def of [
+    sheet(OBJECT), sheet(OTHER), SysUser,
+    SysApprovalRequest, SysApprovalAction, SysApprovalApprover, SysApprovalDelegation,
+  ]) {
+    engine.registry.registerObject(def as any, PKG, PKG);
+  }
+  await engine.syncSchemas();
+  await installDefaultOrganization(engine);
+  await engine.getDriverForObject('sys_organization')!.create('sys_organization', { id: OTHER_ORG, name: 'Other' });
+  await engine.getDriverForObject('sys_user')!.create('sys_user', { id: BY_EMAIL, email: BY_EMAIL_ADDRESS });
+
+  const services: Record<string, unknown> = { objectql: engine };
+  const ctx: any = {
+    getService: (name: string) => {
+      if (!(name in services)) throw new Error(`[Kernel] Service '${name}' not found`);
+      return services[name];
+    },
+    registerService: (name: string, svc: unknown) => { services[name] = svc; },
+    hook: () => {},
+    logger: { info: () => {}, debug: () => {}, warn: () => {}, error: () => {} },
+  };
+  await new ApprovalsServicePlugin().start(ctx);
+
+  // Every engine read of the approval tables and the account table, by table —
+  // the cost the read path pays. Counted at the engine's own `find`.
+  const finds: string[] = [];
+  const find = engine.find.bind(engine);
+  (engine as any).find = (object: string, options?: EngineQueryOptions) => {
+    if (object.startsWith('sys_approval') || object === 'sys_user') finds.push(object);
+    return find(object, options);
+  };
+  return { engine, svc: services.approvals as ApprovalService, finds };
+}
+
+/** Open one pending request on `recordId` of `object`, its slate the given approver targets. */
+async function open(
+  rig: Rig,
+  object: string,
+  recordId: string,
+  approvers: Array<{ type: 'user' | 'position'; value: string }>,
+  organizationId: string = DEFAULT_ORGANIZATION_ID,
+): Promise<string> {
+  await rig.engine.insert(object, { id: recordId, title: recordId, organization_id: organizationId }, { context: SYSTEM });
+  const opened = await rig.svc.openNodeRequest({
+    object, recordId, runId: `run_${recordId}`, nodeId: 'review', flowName: 'contract_review',
+    config: { approvers, behavior: 'first_response' } as any,
+    submitterId: SUBMITTER, record: { id: recordId, title: recordId }, organizationId,
+  }, member(SUBMITTER, organizationId)) as any;
+  expect(opened?.status, `request on ${recordId} is pending`).toBe('pending');
+  return String(opened.id);
+}
+
+/** The grant as plain data: record id → request ids. */
+async function grantsOf(rig: Rig, object: string, context: any): Promise<Record<string, string[]>> {
+  return Object.fromEntries([...(await rig.svc.pendingApproverReadGrants(object, context))].map(([k, v]) => [k, [...v]]));
+}
+
+describe('pendingApproverReadGrants — the records a pending approval step lets a caller read (#26180)', () => {
+  it('grants a person on the pending slate, by user id or by account email, the one record — and no one else', async () => {
+    const rig = await boot();
+    const byIdRequest = await open(rig, OBJECT, 'c_by_id', [{ type: 'user', value: BY_ID }]);
+    const byEmailRequest = await open(rig, OBJECT, 'c_by_email', [{ type: 'user', value: BY_EMAIL_ADDRESS }]);
+    await open(rig, OBJECT, 'c_position', [{ type: 'position', value: 'buyer' }]);
+
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, member(BY_ID))).toEqual({ c_by_id: [byIdRequest] });
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, member(BY_EMAIL))).toEqual({ c_by_email: [byEmailRequest] });
+    // The submitter, a stranger: on no slate.
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, member(SUBMITTER))).toEqual({});
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, member(STRANGER))).toEqual({});
+    // A `position:` literal names no person: the holder may decide it, but
+    // the read is the resolved person's alone.
+    const positionRow = await requestRow(rig, { record_id: 'c_position' });
+    expect(String(positionRow.pending_approvers)).toBe('position:buyer');
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, { ...member(BUYER), positions: ['buyer'] })).toEqual({});
+    // Another object's records are never granted by this one's requests.
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OTHER, member(BY_ID))).toEqual({});
+    // No user, a system context: nothing to grant (system reads are unscoped anyway).
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, { positions: [], permissions: [] })).toEqual({});
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, SYSTEM)).toEqual({});
+  });
+
+  it('grants the override holder every pending record of the object in their organization', async () => {
+    const rig = await boot();
+    const a = await open(rig, OBJECT, 'c_a', [{ type: 'user', value: BY_ID }]);
+    const b = await open(rig, OBJECT, 'c_b', [{ type: 'user', value: BY_EMAIL_ADDRESS }]);
+    const tenantAdmin = { ...member('u_admin'), posture: 'TENANT_ADMIN', permissions: ['organization_admin_no_bypass'] };
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, tenantAdmin)).toEqual({ c_a: [a], c_b: [b] });
+  });
+
+  it('ends with the step: a decided request grants nothing, on the same request context too', async () => {
+    const rig = await boot();
+    const request = await open(rig, OBJECT, 'c_decided', [{ type: 'user', value: BY_ID }]);
+    const ctx = member(BY_ID);
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, ctx)).toEqual({ c_decided: [request] });
+
+    await rig.svc.decideNode(request, { decision: 'approve', actorId: BY_ID }, member(BY_ID));
+    const row = await requestRow(rig, { id: request });
+    expect(row.status).toBe('approved');
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, ctx)).toEqual({});
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, member(BY_ID))).toEqual({});
+
+    const rejected = await open(rig, OBJECT, 'c_rejected', [{ type: 'user', value: BY_ID }]);
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, ctx)).toEqual({ c_rejected: [rejected] });
+    await rig.svc.decideNode(rejected, { decision: 'reject', actorId: BY_ID }, member(BY_ID));
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, ctx)).toEqual({});
+  });
+
+  it('never crosses an organization — the platform administrator\'s override included', async () => {
+    const rig = await boot();
+    const there = await open(rig, OBJECT, 'c_there', [{ type: 'user', value: BY_ID }], OTHER_ORG);
+    const row = await requestRow(rig, { id: there });
+    expect(row.organization_id, 'the request lives in the other organization').toBe(OTHER_ORG);
+
+    // The same person, acting in their default organization: nothing.
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, member(BY_ID))).toEqual({});
+    // …and in the request's own organization: the record.
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, member(BY_ID, OTHER_ORG))).toEqual({ c_there: [there] });
+    // The platform administrator may DECIDE across the wall; the read stays home.
+    const platformAdmin = { ...member('u_platform'), posture: 'PLATFORM_ADMIN' };
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, platformAdmin)).toEqual({});
+    // An org-less caller reaches only org-less requests.
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, { userId: BY_ID, positions: [], permissions: [] })).toEqual({});
+  });
+
+  it('costs one account read and one index read per request context, plus one request read per object — never per record', async () => {
+    const rig = await boot();
+    const r1 = await open(rig, OBJECT, 'c_1', [{ type: 'user', value: BY_ID }]);
+    const r2 = await open(rig, OBJECT, 'c_2', [{ type: 'user', value: BY_ID }]);
+
+    const ctx = member(BY_ID);
+    rig.finds.length = 0;
+    for (let i = 0; i < 5; i++) expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, ctx)).toEqual({ c_1: [r1], c_2: [r2] });
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OTHER, ctx)).toEqual({});
+    expect(rig.finds).toEqual(['sys_user', 'sys_approval_approver', 'sys_approval_request', 'sys_approval_request']);
+
+    // A caller on no slate stops after the index read, for every object.
+    const stranger = member(STRANGER);
+    rig.finds.length = 0;
+    await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, stranger);
+    await grantsOf(rig, OTHER, stranger);
+    expect(rig.finds).toEqual(['sys_user', 'sys_approval_approver']);
+
+    // Any write through the engine retires the memo: the next read asks again.
+    await rig.engine.insert(OTHER, { id: 'm_1', title: 'unrelated', organization_id: DEFAULT_ORGANIZATION_ID }, { context: SYSTEM });
+    rig.finds.length = 0;
+    await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, ctx);
+    expect(rig.finds).toEqual(['sys_user', 'sys_approval_approver', 'sys_approval_request']);
+  });
+
+  it('rethrows a failed read and never memoizes it', async () => {
+    const rig = await boot();
+    const request = await open(rig, OBJECT, 'c_fault', [{ type: 'user', value: BY_ID }]);
+    const ctx = member(BY_ID);
+    const find = (rig.engine as any).find;
+    let failNext = true;
+    (rig.engine as any).find = (object: string, options?: EngineQueryOptions) => {
+      if (object === 'sys_approval_approver' && failNext) {
+        failNext = false;
+        return Promise.reject(new Error('store unavailable'));
+      }
+      return find(object, options);
+    };
+    await expect(rig.svc.pendingApproverReadGrants(OBJECT, ctx)).rejects.toThrow('store unavailable');
+    expect(await grantsOf(rig, OBJECT, ctx)).toEqual({ c_fault: [request] });
+  });
+});