diff --git a/‎.changeset/record-change-payload-credential-mask.md‎
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diff --git a/‎packages/objectql/src/engine-realtime-credential-mask.test.ts‎
Lines changed: 144 additions & 0 deletions b/‎packages/objectql/src/engine-realtime-credential-mask.test.ts‎
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diff --git a/‎packages/objectql/src/engine.ts‎
Lines changed: 44 additions & 6 deletions b/‎packages/objectql/src/engine.ts‎
Lines changed: 44 additions & 6 deletions
diff --git a/‎packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/approval-service.ts‎
Lines changed: 33 additions & 2 deletions b/‎packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/approval-service.ts‎
Lines changed: 33 additions & 2 deletions
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/objectql': patch
+'@objectstack/plugin-approvals': patch
+'@objectstack/plugin-webhooks': patch
+'@objectstack/service-knowledge': minor
+---
+
+Record-change payloads apply the same credential mask and internal-field omission as write responses.
+
+Clause-②: yes (widening)
+
+- **`data.record.created` / `data.record.updated` events.** The engine projects the event's `after` and `changes` bodies through `omitInternalFieldsFromWriteResponse` (`@objectstack/core`), the helper every external write response already uses: credential-class fields (`secret`, and `password` outside the exempt `managedBy` buckets) carry `SECRET_MASK` (or `null` when unset), and `internal: true` fields are omitted. The engine's own write result is unchanged, so a privileged in-process caller that reads the stored value back off `insert` / `update` still sees it.
+- **Approval request snapshot.** The record snapshot an approval request stores (`payload_json`) applies the same rule when the request is opened.
+- **Outbound webhook body.** The delivered body, and the delivery row that stores it, apply the same rule to `before`, `after` and `changes`.
+- **Knowledge index documents.** `recordToDocument` takes the object definition as an optional fourth argument and skips credential-class and `internal` fields, under `'*'` and when a source names one explicitly. `KnowledgeService` passes the definition from the bound engine.
+- **New public surface of `@objectstack/service-knowledge` (additive):** `recordToDocument` accepts the object definition as an optional fourth argument; existing three-argument calls behave as before.
+- **Receivers see masked values.** Webhook receivers and realtime clients now get `SECRET_MASK` (or `null` when unset) for credential-class fields and no key for `internal` fields.
+- **Existing rows are not rewritten.** Approval snapshots, webhook delivery rows and knowledge documents written before this change keep their stored bodies; reindexing a knowledge source refreshes its documents.
+- The audit trail already masked these fields and is unchanged. No other accept set or public schema changes.
@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+/**
+ * A `data.record.*` event is an external exit of the write it describes: its
+ * subscribers store or forward the record bodies (`after`, `changes`) to
+ * readers below the write boundary. So both bodies carry what a write
+ * RESPONSE carries — credential-class fields masked, `internal: true` fields
+ * omitted, by the one helper every write response uses — while the engine's
+ * own write result, read by privileged in-process callers, stays whole.
+ */
+
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach, vi } from 'vitest';
+import type { IRealtimeService, RealtimeEventPayload } from '@objectstack/spec/contracts';
+import { SECRET_MASK } from '@objectstack/spec/data';
+import { ObjectQL } from './engine.js';
+
+const CREDENTIAL = 'synthetic-credential-7c1e';
+const INTERNAL = 'synthetic-internal-0b42';
+
+const widget = {
+  name: 'widget',
+  label: 'Widget',
+  fields: {
+    id: { name: 'id', type: 'text' as const, primaryKey: true },
+    title: { name: 'title', type: 'text' as const },
+    passphrase: { name: 'passphrase', type: 'password' as const },
+    lookup_digest: { name: 'lookup_digest', type: 'text' as const, internal: true },
+  },
+};
+
+function makeStubDriver() {
+  const stores = new Map<string, Map<string, Record<string, unknown>>>();
+  const storeFor = (o: string) => {
+    let s = stores.get(o);
+    if (!s) { s = new Map(); stores.set(o, s); }
+    return s;
+  };
+  let nextId = 0;
+  const driver: any = {
+    name: 'memory', version: '0.0.0', supports: {},
+    async connect() {}, async disconnect() {}, async checkHealth() { return true; }, async execute() { return null; },
+    async find(o: string) { return Array.from(storeFor(o).values()); },
+    findStream() { throw new Error('ns'); },
+    async findOne(o: string, ast: any) {
+      const where = ast?.where ?? {};
+      for (const r of storeFor(o).values()) {
+        if (Object.entries(where).every(([k, v]) => k.startsWith('$') || (r[k] ?? null) === ((v as any)?.$eq ?? v ?? null))) return r;
+      }
+      return null;
+    },
+    async create(o: string, data: Record<string, unknown>) {
+      nextId += 1;
+      const id = (data.id as string) ?? `r_${nextId}`;
+      const row = { ...data, id };
+      storeFor(o).set(id, row);
+      return row;
+    },
+    async update(o: string, id: string, data: Record<string, unknown>) {
+      const s = storeFor(o); const cur = s.get(id);
+      if (!cur) throw new Error(`nf ${o}/${id}`);
+      const up = { ...cur, ...data, id }; s.set(id, up); return up;
+    },
+    async delete(o: string, id: string) { return storeFor(o).delete(id); },
+    async count(o: string) { return (await this.find(o)).length; },
+    async bulkCreate(o: string, rows: Record<string, unknown>[]) { return Promise.all(rows.map((r) => this.create(o, r))); },
+    async updateMany() { return 0; }, async deleteMany() { return 0; },
+    async bulkUpdate() { return []; }, async bulkDelete() {},
+    async upsert(o: string, data: Record<string, unknown>) { return this.create(o, data); },
+    async beginTransaction() { return { commit: async () => {}, rollback: async () => {} }; },
+    async commit() {}, async rollback() {},
+  };
+  return { driver };
+}
+
+describe('record-change event bodies apply the write-response non-exposure rules', () => {
+  let engine: ObjectQL;
+  let published: RealtimeEventPayload[];
+
+  beforeEach(async () => {
+    published = [];
+    const realtime: IRealtimeService = {
+      publish: vi.fn(async (event: RealtimeEventPayload) => { published.push(event); }),
+      subscribe: vi.fn(async () => 'sub-1'),
+      unsubscribe: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+    };
+    engine = new ObjectQL();
+    const { driver } = makeStubDriver();
+    engine.registerDriver(driver, true);
+    await engine.init();
+    engine.registry.registerObject(widget);
+    engine.setRealtimeService(realtime);
+    vi.spyOn((engine as any).logger, 'warn').mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+    vi.spyOn((engine as any).logger, 'debug').mockImplementation(() => undefined);
+  });
+
+  it('a create event masks the credential field and omits the internal field from `after`', async () => {
+    await engine.insert('widget', { id: 'w1', title: 'One', passphrase: CREDENTIAL, lookup_digest: INTERNAL });
+    expect(published).toHaveLength(1);
+    const payload = published[0].payload as Record<string, any>;
+    expect(payload.type).toBe('data.record.created');
+    expect(payload.after.title).toBe('One');
+    expect(payload.after.passphrase).toBe(SECRET_MASK);
+    expect('lookup_digest' in payload.after).toBe(false);
+    expect(JSON.stringify(payload)).not.toContain(CREDENTIAL);
+    expect(JSON.stringify(payload)).not.toContain(INTERNAL);
+  });
+
+  it('an update event projects both `after` and `changes`', async () => {
+    await engine.insert('widget', { id: 'w2', title: 'Two', passphrase: 'first', lookup_digest: 'first' });
+    published.length = 0;
+    await engine.update('widget', { id: 'w2', title: 'Two b', passphrase: CREDENTIAL, lookup_digest: INTERNAL });
+    expect(published).toHaveLength(1);
+    const payload = published[0].payload as Record<string, any>;
+    expect(payload.type).toBe('data.record.updated');
+    expect(payload.changes.title).toBe('Two b');
+    expect(payload.changes.passphrase).toBe(SECRET_MASK);
+    expect('lookup_digest' in payload.changes).toBe(false);
+    expect(payload.after.passphrase).toBe(SECRET_MASK);
+    expect('lookup_digest' in payload.after).toBe(false);
+    expect(JSON.stringify(payload)).not.toContain(CREDENTIAL);
+    expect(JSON.stringify(payload)).not.toContain(INTERNAL);
+  });
+
+  it('an unset credential field rides the event as null, not as the mask', async () => {
+    await engine.insert('widget', { id: 'w3', title: 'Three', passphrase: null });
+    const payload = published[0].payload as Record<string, any>;
+    expect(payload.after.passphrase).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("the engine's own write result is unchanged for the privileged in-process caller", async () => {
+    const created = await engine.insert('widget', {
+      id: 'w4', title: 'Four', passphrase: CREDENTIAL, lookup_digest: INTERNAL,
+    }) as Record<string, unknown>;
+    expect(created.passphrase).toBe(CREDENTIAL);
+    expect(created.lookup_digest).toBe(INTERNAL);
+
+    const updated = await engine.update('widget', { id: 'w4', lookup_digest: `${INTERNAL}-b` }) as Record<string, unknown>;
+    expect(updated.passphrase).toBe(CREDENTIAL);
+    expect(updated.lookup_digest).toBe(`${INTERNAL}-b`);
+    // ...while the events those writes published carried neither value.
+    expect(JSON.stringify(published.map((e) => e.payload))).not.toContain(CREDENTIAL);
+    expect(JSON.stringify(published.map((e) => e.payload))).not.toContain(INTERNAL);
+  });
+});
@@ -119,6 +119,11 @@ import {
   // The data door's object-existence 404, shared for the same reason: an
   // in-process verb refuses a name the registry does not resolve with it.
   objectNotFoundError,
+  // The one write-response non-exposure helper (credential mask + `internal`
+  // omission); a record-change event body is an external exit of the same
+  // write, so it is projected through the same rule — see
+  // {@link projectEventRecordBody}.
+  omitInternalFieldsFromWriteResponse,
 } from '@objectstack/core';
 import { WriteEpoch, isWriteEpochOperation } from './write-epoch.js';
 import { bridgeAuthzInvalidation } from './authz-invalidation-bridge.js';
@@ -3365,6 +3370,33 @@ function redactEventMetadataBody(
   return rest;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Project a `data.record.*` event body (`after` / `changes`) through the
+ * generic-data-path non-exposure rules — credential-class fields MASKED,
+ * `internal: true` fields OMITTED — by the ONE helper every external write
+ * response already goes through (`omitInternalFieldsFromWriteResponse`,
+ * `@objectstack/core`). ⛔ Never a second copy of that rule here.
+ *
+ * The event is an external exit of the write: its subscribers (outbound
+ * deliveries, search indexes, flows that snapshot the record) store or forward
+ * what they receive to readers below the write boundary, so the body carries
+ * what a read of the same row would answer — never the stored value the
+ * engine's own write result keeps whole for the privileged in-process caller.
+ *
+ * Pure with respect to the write result: the helper deletes and assigns in
+ * place, so it runs on a fresh shallow copy and the caller's record (the
+ * engine's return value) is never touched.
+ */
+function projectEventRecordBody(
+  schema: unknown,
+  body: Record<string, unknown> | undefined,
+): Record<string, unknown> | undefined {
+  if (body === undefined) return body;
+  const copy = { ...body };
+  omitInternalFieldsFromWriteResponse(schema, copy);
+  return copy;
+}
+
 /** `DataEvent.userId` — the acting user, when the execution context names one. */
 function eventUserId(execCtx?: ExecutionContext): string | undefined {
   const userId = execCtx?.userId;
@@ -7572,17 +7604,23 @@ export class ObjectQL implements IObjectQLEngine {
 
     try {
       const timestamp = new Date().toISOString();
-      const changes = redactEventMetadataBody(object, eventRecordBody(input.changes), input.after);
-      const after = redactEventMetadataBody(object, eventRecordBody(input.after), input.after);
+      const schema = this._registry.getObject(object);
+      // Credential mask + `internal` omission on both bodies, the same rule
+      // the write response gets ({@link projectEventRecordBody}).
+      const changes = projectEventRecordBody(
+        schema,
+        redactEventMetadataBody(object, eventRecordBody(input.changes), input.after),
+      );
+      const after = projectEventRecordBody(
+        schema,
+        redactEventMetadataBody(object, eventRecordBody(input.after), input.after),
+      );
       const userId = eventUserId(input.context);
       // [#14970] The RECORD's organization, off the row itself — ⛔ never
       // `input.context.tenantId`, which is the CALLER's. See
       // {@link eventOrganizationId}; omitted, never `''`/`undefined`, because
       // absence has exactly one spelling in the schema.
-      const organizationId = eventOrganizationId(
-        this._registry.getObject(object),
-        input.organizationRow,
-      );
+      const organizationId = eventOrganizationId(schema, input.organizationRow);
       const event: DataEvent = DataEventSchema.parse({
         id: generateEventUuid(),
         type: `data.record.${action}`,
 
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ import { isFileIdToken, referenceTargetOf } from '@objectstack/spec/data';
 // mechanism for a second producer, and commit aa5994e17 landed this service's key
 // (`approval_recall_not_submitter`) into it ahead of this consumer half.
 import { renderOperationMessage, type ValidationMessageTranslator } from '@objectstack/spec/system';
-import { isGrantActive } from '@objectstack/core';
+import { isGrantActive, omitInternalFieldsFromWriteResponse } from '@objectstack/core';
 import {
   filterApproversWhoCanRead,
   resolveApproverDirectoryOrg,
@@ -3038,7 +3038,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
       current_step: input.nodeId,
       current_step_index: 0,
       pending_approvers: approvers.join(','),
-      payload_json: input.record != null ? JSON.stringify(input.record) : null,
+      payload_json: input.record != null ? JSON.stringify(this.snapshotRecord(input.object, input.record)) : null,
       flow_run_id: input.runId,
       flow_node_id: input.nodeId,
       node_config_json: JSON.stringify(configSnapshot),
@@ -5915,6 +5915,37 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
     }
   }
 
+  // ── Record snapshot ──────────────────────────────────────────
+
+  /**
+   * The subject record as `payload_json` stores it: credential-class fields
+   * MASKED and `internal: true` fields OMITTED, by the one helper every
+   * external write response goes through (`omitInternalFieldsFromWriteResponse`,
+   * `@objectstack/core`) — the same answer a read of the row gives.
+   *
+   * The record arrives from the flow's `$record`, which the record-change
+   * trigger builds off the engine's own write result, and that result keeps the
+   * stored row whole for privileged in-process callers. The snapshot is the
+   * opposite case: it is stored, and served to approvers and submitters below
+   * the write boundary (the serve-time redaction in `payload-redaction.ts`
+   * narrows by field-level security, and cannot know a value is a stored
+   * credential). Defence in depth beside the engine's own event-body projection.
+   *
+   * Pure: projects a shallow copy, never the caller's record. No schema (an
+   * engine double without `getSchema`, an unregistered object) projects
+   * nothing — the same posture as the helper itself.
+   */
+  private snapshotRecord(object: string, record: unknown): unknown {
+    if (!record || typeof record !== 'object' || Array.isArray(record)) return record;
+    let schema: unknown;
+    try {
+      schema = this.engine.getSchema?.(object);
+    } catch { /* schema unavailable — nothing to project against */ }
+    const copy = { ...(record as Record<string, unknown>) };
+    omitInternalFieldsFromWriteResponse(schema, copy);
+    return copy;
+  }
+
   // ── Display enrichment ───────────────────────────────────────
 
   /**