diff --git a/.changeset/23736-record-id-deleted-when.md b/.changeset/23736-record-id-deleted-when.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ceab3a008be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/23736-record-id-deleted-when.md
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/plugin-approvals': patch
+---
+
+fix(plugin-approvals): `sys_approval_request.record_id` declares that the record it names was deleted when `cancel_reason` is `record_deleted`
+
+Clause-②: no
+
+- **The pointer carries its own tombstone predicate.** `record_id` declares `referenceDeletedWhen: { field: 'cancel_reason', value: 'record_deleted' }` beside its `referenceVia: 'object_name'`. A request the platform cancelled because its record was deleted (`status: cancelled`, `cancel_reason: record_deleted`) therefore says, in the served object definition, that the pointer names a record that no longer exists. A renderer draws that option's label (`Related record deleted`) in place of a link, and reads nothing.
+- **Nothing is accepted or answered differently.** The sibling is the existing `cancel_reason` select, which already holds `record_deleted`, so the spec's parse-time refusals of the key are satisfied by the shipped object. No export, type, route, stored value or request answer moves.
+
+A patch: one key on one platform object's served field definition.
diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/sys-approval-request-pointer-pair.test.ts b/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/sys-approval-request-pointer-pair.test.ts
index 23af10da517..45f477552ff 100644
--- a/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/sys-approval-request-pointer-pair.test.ts
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/sys-approval-request-pointer-pair.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
 
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import { ObjectSchema } from '@objectstack/spec/data';
 import { SysApprovalRequest } from './sys-approval-request.object.js';
 
 /**
@@ -49,3 +50,30 @@ describe('sys_approval_request — declared pointer pair (#11386)', () => {
     expect(fields.object_name.required).toBe(true);
   });
 });
+
+/**
+ * The pointer's tombstone predicate — objectui#12489 ruling, letter A.
+ *
+ * When the platform voids a `pending` request because its record was deleted
+ * (`cancelled` + `cancel_reason: 'record_deleted'`), `record_id` names a record
+ * that no longer exists. `referenceDeletedWhen` is the object's own assertion of
+ * that, so a renderer draws the sibling option's label instead of a link to
+ * nothing. The spec refuses the declaration at parse unless the sibling is a
+ * single-value `select` holding the option, so the parse is half of the pin.
+ */
+describe('sys_approval_request — record_id tombstone predicate', () => {
+  const fields = SysApprovalRequest.fields as Record<string, Record<string, unknown>>;
+
+  it('declares record_id as deleted when cancel_reason holds record_deleted', () => {
+    expect(fields.record_id.referenceDeletedWhen).toEqual({ field: 'cancel_reason', value: 'record_deleted' });
+  });
+
+  it('names a sibling select that declares that option, and the object parses through ObjectSchema', () => {
+    expect(fields.cancel_reason.type).toBe('select');
+    expect(fields.cancel_reason.options).toEqual(
+      expect.arrayContaining([expect.objectContaining({ value: 'record_deleted' })]),
+    );
+    const parsed = ObjectSchema.safeParse(SysApprovalRequest);
+    expect(parsed.success, parsed.success ? '' : JSON.stringify(parsed.error.issues)).toBe(true);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/sys-approval-request.object.ts b/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/sys-approval-request.object.ts
index 9fa7608ae58..eb3148ea79d 100644
--- a/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/sys-approval-request.object.ts
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/sys-approval-request.object.ts
@@ -218,6 +218,9 @@ export const SysApprovalRequest = ObjectSchema.create({
       // dropped-deferral error, and `success: false` — and since commit 1cba33f16 the
       // loader also WARNS at load time, before the engine rejects the row.
       referenceVia: 'object_name',
+      // A `cancelled` request whose `cancel_reason` is `record_deleted` names a
+      // record the platform deleted: a renderer draws that option's label, not a link.
+      referenceDeletedWhen: { field: 'cancel_reason', value: 'record_deleted' },
     }),
 
     submitter_id: Field.lookup('sys_user', {