@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/spec': minor
+---
+
+feat(spec): the error-code ledger lists `INVALID_REQUEST` under `@objectstack/verify`
+
+Clause-②: yes (widening: a new owner provenance row in the published error-code ledger)
+
+`ERROR_CODE_LEDGER['@objectstack/verify']` now lists `INVALID_REQUEST`. The verify handle's two update doors answer it for a malformed call, such as `{ system: true }` on an insert or delete, or a `hooks.updateWhere` the engine would write by id. They answer in-process, with a thrown `Error` carrying `code`, `status` and `statusCode`; it is a test door with no HTTP path. No code is added: `ErrorCode`, `RegisteredErrorCode` and `REGISTERED_ERROR_CODES` are unchanged, so `ApiErrorSchema` accepts exactly what it accepted before.
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/verify': minor
+---
+
+feat(verify): the handle gains a system-context update door and a predicate update door
+
+Clause-②: yes (widening)
+
+An app's tests reach two more engine write paths through the in-process handle, so a suite no longer calls the booted kernel's `objectql` service by hand for them.
+
+- **The system principal on an update.** `hooks.run(object, 'update', { id, ...fields }, { system: true })` writes one row by id under `{ isSystem: true }`, the context a system job or an integration writes under. No permission gate applies. The bound hooks still run (they see `session.isSystem` and no `userId`), declared validations still refuse, and the record-change trigger fires its flows with no trigger user. The new type is `AsSystem` (`{ system: true }`), exported beside `AsUser`.
+  - Only `update` takes it. `{ system: true }` on `insert` or `delete`, or beside an `as` token, is refused with `code: 'INVALID_REQUEST'`, `status: 400` before anything is written. Fixture rows are still `seed(object, rows)`, which also skips record triggers.
+- **The predicate update.** `hooks.updateWhere(object, where, data, opts)` is the engine's own predicate path, `update(object, data, { where, multi: true, context })`. It writes one payload to every row `where` selects and resolves with the affected-row count. The engine dispatches `beforeUpdate` and `afterUpdate` once per matched row, each bound to that row's own pre-image as `previous`, so record-change flows evaluate and fire per row. No REST door reaches this path: `POST /data/:object/updateMany` writes by id. The caller is `{ as: token }` or `{ system: true }`.
+  - It refuses with `code: 'INVALID_REQUEST'`, `status: 400`, before the engine is touched, a `where` that is not an object, and a call the engine's own update dispatch would write by id: a `where` that names only an `id`, or an `id` in `data` beside a `where` that selects by nothing else. Write one row by id through `hooks.run(object, 'update', { id, ...fields }, opts)`. An `id` inside a larger predicate (`{ id, status: 'open' }`) stays a predicate update. An `id` in `data` beside a real predicate is refused by the engine itself, as it is on every caller.
+
+Every other refusal from either door is the engine's own error, unchanged: assert on its `code` and `status`.
@@ -1473,6 +1473,10 @@ export const ERROR_CODE_LEDGER = {
     // record.
     'INVALID_ARTIFACT_PACKAGES',
   ],
+  '@objectstack/verify': [
+    // [#22301] An in-process test door, no HTTP path: a malformed call to the handle's update doors throws an Error carrying code / status / statusCode.
+    'INVALID_REQUEST',
+  ],
 } as const satisfies Record<string, readonly string[]>;
 
 /** A code registered by at least one package (deduped union of the ledger). */
 
@@ -99,6 +99,14 @@ expect(deal.expected_revenue).toBe(6_000);             // the hook derived it
 await expect(stack.hooks.run('crm_vault', 'insert', { name: 'x' }, { as: rep }))
   .rejects.toMatchObject({ code: 'PERMISSION_DENIED', statusCode: 403 });
 
+// An update as the system principal (no user): no permission gate, but the
+// hooks, the validations and the record-change flows all run.
+await stack.hooks.run('crm_opportunity', 'update', { id: deal.id, stage: 'closed_won' }, { system: true });
+
+// A predicate update: one payload for every matched row, hooks and record
+// flows once per row with that row's own `previous`. Resolves the count.
+const n = await stack.hooks.updateWhere('crm_opportunity', { name: 'Globex' }, { description: 'Bulk note' }, { as: rep });
+
 // A validation rule, without writing.
 const verdict = await stack.validate('crm_opportunity', { amount: -1 }, { as: rep });
 expect(verdict.valid).toBe(false);
@@ -127,12 +135,17 @@ await stack.stop();
 - `as` is always a bearer token minted by `signIn()` / `signUp()` on the same
   stack — the handle resolves it through the dispatcher's own identity resolver
   (`contextFor(token)` exposes that context for services the handle does not
-  cover). There is no way to run as "nobody"; `seed` and the default `rows` run
-  as the system principal, deliberately and by name.
+  cover). There is no way to run as "nobody"; `seed`, the default `rows` and
+  an update passed `{ system: true }` (`hooks.run(…, 'update', …)`,
+  `hooks.updateWhere`) run as the system principal, deliberately and by name.
 - A refusal from `flows.*` / `actions.run` is the route's ADR-0112 envelope
   (`VerifyRefusal`: `code`, `status`, `details`; `isVerifyRefusal(e)`); a
-  refusal from `hooks.run` / `validate` / `rows` is the engine's own error.
-  Assert on `code` (and `status` / `statusCode`), never on a message alone.
+  refusal from `hooks.run` / `hooks.updateWhere` / `validate` / `rows` is the
+  engine's own error. The two update doors refuse a malformed call themselves,
+  before the engine is touched, with `INVALID_REQUEST` / `400` (`{ system: true }`
+  on an insert or delete, a caller named twice, or a `hooks.updateWhere` the
+  engine would write by id). Assert on `code` (and `status` / `statusCode`),
+  never on a message alone.
 - Many files, one boot: `bootStackOnce(config, opts?)` memoises `bootStack` per
   `(config, opts)` object identity for the life of the process. Share it from
   one module, under vitest `isolate: false`, and never `stop()` a stack other
@@ -189,7 +202,7 @@ run" must never read like "nothing to find".
 ## API
 
 - `bootStack(config, opts?)` → `VerifyStack` (`api` / `raw` / `signIn` / `signUp` / `apiAs` / `stop`, plus the handle:
-  `hooks.run` / `validate` / `flows.run` / `flows.resume` / `actions.run` / `seed` / `rows` / `metadata` / `tenancy` / `contextFor`).
+  `hooks.run` / `hooks.updateWhere` / `validate` / `flows.run` / `flows.resume` / `actions.run` / `seed` / `rows` / `metadata` / `tenancy` / `contextFor`).
 - `bootStackOnce(config, opts?)` → the same, memoised per `(config, opts)` identity for the process.
 - `deriveCrudCases(config)` → the auto-derived round-trip cases (write one, read one, assert) for every object.
 - `runCrudVerification(stack, token, config)` → `VerifyReport`; `formatReport(report)` for a log summary.
 
@@ -14,14 +14,18 @@
 // call to the door that owns the semantics, and returns what that door
 // returned (or rethrows what it threw). The doors, per method:
 //
-//   hooks.run · validate · seed · rows   → the ObjectQL engine (`insert` /
-//     `update` / `delete` / `validate` / `find`), the SAME calls
-//     `@objectstack/rest`'s data ingress makes (`protocol.createData` →
+//   hooks.run · hooks.updateWhere · validate · seed · rows → the ObjectQL
+//     engine (`insert` / `update` / `delete` / `validate` / `find`), the SAME
+//     calls `@objectstack/rest`'s data ingress makes (`protocol.createData` →
 //     `engine.insert(object, data, { context })`, and so on). The bound hook
 //     chain, the validation pass, the SecurityPlugin middleware (object
 //     grants, RLS, FLS) all live INSIDE those calls, so they run here exactly
 //     as they run for a REST write. `handle.test.ts` pins that parity on the
-//     same row AND the same refusal.
+//     same row AND the same refusal. [#22301] The two update doors also take
+//     the system principal by name (`{ system: true }` → `{ isSystem: true }`,
+//     the context a system job's write carries), and `hooks.updateWhere` is
+//     the engine's predicate path (`multi: true`), which no REST door reaches:
+//     `handle.update-doors.test.ts` pins both.
 //   flows.run / flows.resume · actions.run → the runtime's `HttpDispatcher`,
 //     driven in-process (no Hono, no socket, no JSON round-trip). The REST
 //     `/automation` and `/actions` routes are the only doors that carry the
@@ -51,7 +55,7 @@ import { SEED_WRITE_EXECUTION_CONTEXT, type ExecutionContext } from '@objectstac
 import type { ValidateDataResponse } from '@objectstack/spec/api';
 import type { AutomationResult } from '@objectstack/spec/contracts';
 import type { ServiceObject } from '@objectstack/spec/data';
-import type { ObjectQL } from '@objectstack/objectql';
+import { resolveEngineUpdateDispatch, type ObjectQL } from '@objectstack/objectql';
 import type { TenancyService } from '@objectstack/plugin-auth';
 
 /** Any row the engine hands back. Untyped on purpose: the engine's, not the handle's. */
@@ -88,6 +92,24 @@ export interface AsUser {
   as: string;
 }
 
+/**
+ * [#22301] Identify the caller as the platform's own SYSTEM principal: no
+ * user, no session. The write runs under `{ isSystem: true }`, the context a
+ * system job, an integration or the platform's own automation writes under,
+ * so it passes no permission gate, and it is still a real write: the bound
+ * hooks see `session.isSystem` and no `userId`, declared validations run, and
+ * the record-change trigger fires its flows with no trigger user. (`seed` is
+ * the other system door, and it is not this one: it also sets `skipTriggers`
+ * and `seedReplay`, because a fixture is end-state data, not an event.)
+ *
+ * Accepted by the UPDATE doors only: `hooks.run(object, 'update', …)` and
+ * `hooks.updateWhere`. Named, never defaulted: a write that names no caller
+ * is refused, so a forgotten `as` can never become a system write.
+ */
+export interface AsSystem {
+  system: true;
+}
+
 /**
  * The engine's answer to a flow trigger or resume, plus the flow's name so the
  * value can be handed straight back to `flows.resume`. The `AutomationResult`
@@ -141,6 +163,41 @@ export interface VerifyHandle {
       input: EngineRow,
       opts: AsUser,
     ): Promise<EngineRow>;
+    /**
+     * [#22301] The same by-id `update` as the SYSTEM principal ({@link AsSystem}):
+     * `update(object, { ...input, id }, { where: { id }, context: { isSystem:
+     * true } })`. No permission gate; the hooks, the declared validations and
+     * the record-change trigger run as they do for any system write.
+     *
+     * Only `update` takes `{ system: true }`. A system insert of fixture rows
+     * is `seed`; a system insert or delete that fires record triggers has no
+     * door here, and asking for one is refused (`INVALID_REQUEST` / `400`).
+     */
+    run(object: string, operation: 'update', input: EngineRow, opts: AsSystem): Promise<EngineRow>;
+    /**
+     * [#22301] A PREDICATE update: one payload written to every row `where`
+     * selects. This is the engine's own predicate path, `update(object, data,
+     * { where, multi: true, context })`, and no REST door reaches it (`POST
+     * /data/:object/updateMany` writes by id, one row at a time). The engine
+     * dispatches the `beforeUpdate` and `afterUpdate` hooks once per matched
+     * row, each bound to THAT row's pre-image as `previous` (ADR-0058's bulk
+     * addendum), so the record-change trigger evaluates and fires per row.
+     * Resolves with the affected-row count the engine answers.
+     *
+     * `where` is the engine's object-form filter (`{ name: 'x' }`, `{ stage:
+     * { $ne: 'won' } }`); `{}` matches every row. The caller is a person
+     * (`{ as }`) or the system (`{ system: true }`).
+     *
+     * Refused before the engine is touched (`INVALID_REQUEST` / `400`): a
+     * `where` that is not an object, and a call the engine's own update
+     * dispatch would write by id instead: a `where` that names only an `id`,
+     * or an `id` in `data` beside a `where` that selects by nothing else. One
+     * row by id is `hooks.run(object, 'update', { id, ...fields }, opts)`.
+     * Every other refusal (permission, validation, a hook's throw, the
+     * dispatch refusing an `id` in `data` beside a real predicate) is the
+     * engine's own error, rethrown unchanged.
+     */
+    updateWhere(object: string, where: EngineRow, data: EngineRow, opts: AsUser | AsSystem): Promise<number>;
   };
 
   /**
@@ -246,6 +303,24 @@ const API_PREFIX = '/api/v1';
 const SEED_CONTEXT: ExecutionContext = SEED_WRITE_EXECUTION_CONTEXT;
 const SYSTEM_CONTEXT: ExecutionContext = { isSystem: true } as ExecutionContext;
 
+/**
+ * [#22301] A call the handle refuses for its own SHAPE, before any caller is
+ * resolved or the engine is touched. The ADR-0112 pair is the assertion
+ * surface (`statusCode` mirrors `status`, as on a `VerifyRefusal`).
+ */
+function callShapeRefusal(message: string): Error & { code: string; status: number; statusCode: number } {
+  return Object.assign(new Error(message), { code: 'INVALID_REQUEST', status: 400, statusCode: 400 });
+}
+
+/** `true` when `opts` names the system principal; refuses a call that names two callers. */
+function namesSystem(opts: AsUser | AsSystem, door: string): boolean {
+  const system = (opts as Partial<AsSystem> | undefined)?.system === true;
+  if (system && (opts as Partial<AsUser>).as !== undefined) {
+    throw callShapeRefusal(`verify: ${door} takes ONE caller: { as: token } or { system: true }, not both`);
+  }
+  return system;
+}
+
 function refusalFrom(status: number, body: unknown, fallback: string): VerifyRefusal {
   // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
   const b = body as any;
@@ -335,15 +410,25 @@ export async function createHandle(kernel: ObjectKernel, origin: string): Promis
     contextFor,
 
     hooks: {
-      async run(object, operation, input, opts) {
+      // Parameters annotated because the member is overloaded (an overload
+      // set gives no contextual parameter types); the return type is left to
+      // inference, as it was before the overload.
+      async run(object: string, operation: 'insert' | 'update' | 'delete', input: EngineRow, opts: AsUser | AsSystem) {
         // The call's own shape is judged before anyone is resolved: a
         // malformed call is refused for its own reason, not for whatever the
         // identity resolver says about the token.
         if (operation !== 'insert' && operation !== 'update' && operation !== 'delete') {
           throw new Error(`verify: hooks.run operation must be 'insert' | 'update' | 'delete', got '${String(operation)}'`);
         }
+        const system = namesSystem(opts, 'hooks.run');
+        if (system && operation !== 'update') {
+          throw callShapeRefusal(
+            `verify: hooks.run takes { system: true } on 'update' only, got '${operation}'. ` +
+              'A system insert of fixture rows is seed(object, rows); a system insert or delete that fires record triggers has no handle door.',
+          );
+        }
         const id = operation === 'insert' ? undefined : requireId(input, operation);
-        const context = await contextFor(opts.as);
+        const context = system ? { ...SYSTEM_CONTEXT } : await contextFor((opts as AsUser).as);
         const ql = await engine();
         switch (operation) {
           case 'insert':
@@ -356,6 +441,29 @@ export async function createHandle(kernel: ObjectKernel, origin: string): Promis
             return ql.delete(object, { where: { id }, context });
         }
       },
+
+      async updateWhere(object, where, data, opts) {
+        if (where === null || typeof where !== 'object' || Array.isArray(where)) {
+          throw callShapeRefusal(
+            'verify: hooks.updateWhere(object, where, data, opts) takes `where` as an object filter; `{}` matches every row',
+          );
+        }
+        // The engine's OWN dispatch ladder (the one `ObjectQL.update` resolves
+        // first), asked rather than re-derived: a call it would route to the
+        // by-id path is not a predicate update, and answering it here would
+        // hand back a row where this door promises a count.
+        if (resolveEngineUpdateDispatch(data, { where, multi: true }).kind === 'by-id') {
+          throw callShapeRefusal(
+            "verify: hooks.updateWhere is the engine's predicate path, but this call addresses one row by id " +
+              "(a `where` naming only an id, or an id in `data` beside a `where` that selects by nothing else), " +
+              'which the engine writes by id. ' +
+              "Update one row through hooks.run(object, 'update', { id, ...fields }, opts).",
+          );
+        }
+        const context = namesSystem(opts, 'hooks.updateWhere') ? { ...SYSTEM_CONTEXT } : await contextFor((opts as AsUser).as);
+        const ql = await engine();
+        return (await ql.update(object, data, { where, multi: true, context })) as number;
+      },
     },
 
     async validate(object, record, opts) {