diff --git a/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol-meta-item-face.ts b/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol-meta-item-face.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4598ce1a91d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol-meta-item-face.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+/**
+ * [#25467 cut 31] The by-name item read's disabled-package face, from
+ * `ObjectStackProtocolImplementation`, moved out of `protocol.ts` whole:
+ * `readMetaItemFace`, the one body behind `getMetaItem` and
+ * `getMetaItemForExecution`. It refuses an object of a disabled package,
+ * withholds any other item of one, and otherwise answers what `readMetaItem`
+ * answers.
+ *
+ * A MOVE, not a redesign. The function below is the body of the
+ * `ObjectStackProtocolImplementation` method of the same name as it stood,
+ * re-indented one level and otherwise unedited.
+ *
+ * ## How the moved body reaches the class
+ *
+ * The shape #23050 set for `rest-server.ts` (its `data-action-routes.ts`
+ * header carries the full reasoning), as `protocol-batch-data.ts` applies it.
+ * The class keeps the method — the published `dist/*.d.ts` lists its name,
+ * docblock and declared signature — and its body is one literal of exactly
+ * the {@link MetaItemFaceHost} members it reads, plus a `.call`. The `engine`
+ * field is handed over as a getter, so the read finds it as it stands at call
+ * time; the call to `readMetaItem` is handed over as a closure, so it still
+ * reaches the class method. Every caller keeps calling the class method.
+ *
+ * The disabled-package helpers it reads are `protocol.ts`'s own, and are
+ * imported from there. Nothing re-exports this module, so the published
+ * surface does not move.
+ */
+
+import type { ObjectStackProtocolImplementation } from './protocol.js';
+import {
+    isItemOfDisabledPackage,
+    isObjectOfDisabledPackage,
+    noPendingDraftError,
+    objectPackageDisabledError,
+} from './protocol.js';
+
+/**
+ * The `ObjectStackProtocolImplementation` members the function below reads —
+ * every one of them, and no other; the function's `this` is the `Pick` of
+ * them. Each is typed AS the class member (an indexed access on the class),
+ * so a change to a member's signature on the class is a change here too.
+ */
+export interface MetaItemFaceHost {
+    readonly engine: ObjectStackProtocolImplementation['engine'];
+    readonly readMetaItem: ObjectStackProtocolImplementation['readMetaItem'];
+}
+
+/** The body of `ObjectStackProtocolImplementation#readMetaItemFace`; the method's docblock there is its contract. */
+export async function readMetaItemFace(
+    this: Pick<MetaItemFaceHost, 'engine' | 'readMetaItem'>,
+    request: {
+        type: string, name: string, packageId?: string, state?: 'active' | 'draft', previewDrafts?: boolean,
+        member?: string,
+    },
+    face: 'served' | 'execution',
+) {
+    if (request.type === 'object' && isObjectOfDisabledPackage(this.engine?.registry, request.name)) {
+        throw objectPackageDisabledError(request.name);
+    }
+    const answer = await this.readMetaItem(request, { face });
+    if (request.type === 'object' || request.type === 'package'
+        || !isItemOfDisabledPackage(this.engine?.registry, answer?.item)) {
+        return answer;
+    }
+    if (request.state === 'draft') throw noPendingDraftError(request.type, request.name);
+    const { item: _withheld, registration: _servedOnly, ...envelope } = answer as typeof answer & { registration?: unknown };
+    return { ...envelope, item: undefined };
+}
diff --git a/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts b/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts
index 33083b7e759..7270ca0864c 100644
--- a/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts
+++ b/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts
@@ -425,6 +425,8 @@ import { isDeclaredCodeDatasource, isHostCodeDatasource } from './protocol-code-
 import { legacyOrganizationRowsOf, withoutLegacyOrganizationRows } from './protocol-legacy-organization-rows.js';
 // [#25467 cut 30] The object-extender fold onto a MetadataService object body.
 import { foldObjectExtendersFromRegistry } from './protocol-object-extender-fold.js';
+// [#25467 cut 31] The disabled-package face of the by-name item read.
+import { readMetaItemFace } from './protocol-meta-item-face.js';
 
 /**
  * Canonical Zod schema per metadata type lives in
@@ -677,7 +679,7 @@ export function isItemOfDisabledPackage(registry: any, item: unknown): boolean {
  * finds no draft row and the read of a disabled package's draft, so the two
  * answers are byte-identical.
  */
-function noPendingDraftError(type: string, name: string): Error & { code: 'NO_DRAFT'; status: 404 } {
+export function noPendingDraftError(type: string, name: string): Error & { code: 'NO_DRAFT'; status: 404 } {
     const err = new Error(`No pending draft exists for ${type}/${name}.`) as Error & { code: 'NO_DRAFT'; status: 404 };
     err.code = 'NO_DRAFT';
     err.status = 404;
@@ -10703,17 +10705,13 @@ export class ObjectStackProtocolImplementation implements
         type: string, name: string, packageId?: string, state?: 'active' | 'draft', previewDrafts?: boolean,
         member?: string,
     }, face: 'served' | 'execution') {
-        if (request.type === 'object' && isObjectOfDisabledPackage(this.engine?.registry, request.name)) {
-            throw objectPackageDisabledError(request.name);
-        }
-        const answer = await this.readMetaItem(request, { face });
-        if (request.type === 'object' || request.type === 'package'
-            || !isItemOfDisabledPackage(this.engine?.registry, answer?.item)) {
-            return answer;
-        }
-        if (request.state === 'draft') throw noPendingDraftError(request.type, request.name);
-        const { item: _withheld, registration: _servedOnly, ...envelope } = answer as typeof answer & { registration?: unknown };
-        return { ...envelope, item: undefined };
+        // [#25467 cut 31] The body moved to `protocol-meta-item-face.ts` (see `MetaItemFaceHost`).
+        const readEngine = () => this.engine;
+        const host: ThisParameterType<typeof readMetaItemFace> = {
+            get engine() { return readEngine(); },
+            readMetaItem: (...a) => this.readMetaItem(...a),
+        };
+        return readMetaItemFace.call(host, request, face);
     }
 
     /**