@@ -21,10 +21,10 @@
 // an object saved through `PUT /meta/object/:name` is listed with a real
 // verdict (it declares a column the remote lacks, and exactly that column is
 // reported); an object imported through `…/external/tables/:remote/import` is
-// listed beside them. The verify harness composes no metadata plugin, so its
-// `metadata` service is the kernel's fallback registered after the
-// federation service's `init()`, as on `objectstack start`; the service reads
-// it when validation runs ([#21876]), so each row here is a real comparison.
+// listed beside them. The verify harness composes `@objectstack/metadata`'s
+// artifact-less `MetadataPlugin`, as `objectstack serve` does for a host
+// configuration (#23088); the service resolves what it reads when validation
+// runs ([#21876]), so each row here is a real comparison.
 // The seam pins sit beside the plugin
 // (`packages/services/service-datasource/src/__tests__/external-validate-reads-live-registry.test.ts`).
 //
 
@@ -160,8 +160,9 @@ describe('dogfood: one artifact, two co-owning packages (ADR-0130 D4)', () => {
 // #14599 — the METADATA door, which the block above does not reach
 // ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 //
-// `bootStack` registers `AppPlugin` and no `MetadataPlugin`, so everything
-// above is measured on the ObjectQL registry alone. The defect this block pins
+// `bootStack` registers `AppPlugin` and a `MetadataPlugin` with no artifact,
+// which loads none of the stack (#23088), so everything above is measured on
+// the ObjectQL registry alone. The defect this block pins
 // lives in the OTHER reader — `MetadataPlugin._parseAndRegisterArtifact`, the
 // door a real `objectstack dev` / `objectstack serve` boot loads the artifact
 // through — and the two only disagree once both are present. That is why this