diff --git a/.changeset/21847-approval-notification-body.md b/.changeset/21847-approval-notification-body.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e21712a7704
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/21847-approval-notification-body.md
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/plugin-approvals': patch
+---
+
+Approval notifications reach their recipient with their text (#21847). The approvals service put each notification's text in `payload.message`. The messaging service builds the delivered notification from `payload.title` and `payload.body`, the fields its `EmitInput` documents, and no channel reads `message`. So `GET /api/v1/notifications` served every approval notification as a title over an empty `body`, and the inbox row's `body_md` was empty too. The lost texts were comments, request-info questions, send-back notes, reassignments, reminders, escalations, SLA breaches and out-of-office substitutions. Every one of them now travels in `payload.body`.
+
+Clause-②: no
+
+- The texts are unchanged. Only the field they travel in moved. Who is notified, and when, is unchanged.
+- Approval notifications no longer carry `payload.message`. Nothing in the platform or the console read it. A tenant-authored `sys_notification_template` for an `approval.*` topic that wrote `{{ message }}` should write `{{ body }}`.
+- The service's notify helper now declares its payload: `title`, `body`, `actionUrl`, and a reminder's `actions`. A call site that spells the text any other way no longer compiles.
+- `@objectstack/service-messaging` is unchanged. There is one field, as documented, and no alias for the old one.
diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/approval-notification-body.integration.test.ts b/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/approval-notification-body.integration.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f9d00415529
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/approval-notification-body.integration.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,251 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+/**
+ * Every approval notification carries its text in `body` — the one field the
+ * `messaging` service's `EmitInput` documents for it, and the only one the
+ * delivered notification is built from.
+ *
+ * ## The defect
+ *
+ * Every approval notification reached its recipient as a title over an empty
+ * body. The service put its text in `payload.message`; messaging reads
+ * `payload.title` and `payload.body` (the inline fan-out, the outbox snapshot
+ * and the dispatcher alike), so the comment, the request-info question and
+ * every escalation line were dropped on the way to the inbox. The flow
+ * `notify` node and the @mention producer already send `body`.
+ *
+ * ## What this pins
+ *
+ * The fix is at the producer, with no alias in messaging. `notify()` types its
+ * payload, so a call site that spells the text any other way does not compile;
+ * this file pins the behaviour across EVERY call site the service has, driven
+ * through the real `ApprovalService` on a real `ObjectQL` over `SqlDriver`
+ * (better-sqlite3, in-memory, real DDL):
+ *
+ * - a comment and a request-info question ARE the body their recipient gets;
+ * - every notification carries a non-empty `body` and no field outside the
+ *   payload `notify()` declares — so a second spelling of the text is red;
+ * - the battery reaches every call site that can notify anyone — eleven of
+ *   the twelve — so neither pin passes over a site it never drove.
+ *
+ * The twelfth, the reminder to a slot literal (`position:<p>`), never reaches
+ * messaging at all: `notify()` drops every audience entry that is a slot
+ * address, and that reminder's audience is nothing else. Its payload is held
+ * to the same declared shape by the compiler, not by this battery.
+ *
+ * The end-to-end half — the text read back from the recipient's
+ * `GET /api/v1/notifications` through the real messaging service — is the
+ * dogfood pin `packages/qa/dogfood/test/approval-notification-body.dogfood.test.ts`.
+ */
+
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeAll, afterAll } from 'vitest';
+import { ObjectQL } from '@objectstack/objectql';
+import { SqlDriver } from '@objectstack/driver-sql';
+import { APPROVAL_REVISE_NODE_TYPE } from '@objectstack/spec/automation';
+import { ApprovalService } from './approval-service.js';
+import { ApprovalsServicePlugin } from './approvals-plugin.js';
+
+const SYSTEM = { isSystem: true, positions: [], permissions: [] } as any;
+const asUser = (userId: string, positions: string[] = []) =>
+  ({ userId, positions, permissions: [] }) as any;
+
+const USERS = [
+  { id: 'u_sub', name: 'Sam Submitter', email: 'sam@example.com' },
+  { id: 'u_legal', name: 'Lee Legal', email: 'lee@example.com' },
+  { id: 'u_alice', name: 'Alice', email: 'alice@example.com' },
+  { id: 'u_bob', name: 'Bob', email: 'bob@example.com' },
+  { id: 'u_ooo', name: 'Olive Away', email: 'olive@example.com' },
+  { id: 'u_boss', name: 'Boss', email: 'boss@example.com' },
+];
+
+/** The text each person writes — distinct, so no one can pass for another. */
+const COMMENT = 'The signed contract is attached to the record now.';
+const QUESTION = 'Which cost centre should this be booked against?';
+const SEND_BACK = 'Split the total by quarter, please.';
+
+/** The fields `notify()` declares for a notification's payload. */
+const PAYLOAD_FIELDS = new Set(['title', 'body', 'actionUrl', 'actions']);
+
+const sysUser = {
+  name: 'sys_user',
+  label: 'User',
+  fields: {
+    id: { name: 'id', label: 'Id', type: 'text' as const, primaryKey: true },
+    name: { name: 'name', label: 'Name', type: 'text' as const },
+    email: { name: 'email', label: 'Email', type: 'text' as const },
+  },
+};
+const deal = {
+  name: 'crm_deal',
+  label: 'Deal',
+  fields: {
+    id: { name: 'id', label: 'Id', type: 'text' as const, primaryKey: true },
+    title: { name: 'title', label: 'Title', type: 'text' as const },
+  },
+};
+
+/** The flow the requests belong to: an approval node with a revise window. */
+const FLOW = {
+  name: 'deal_review',
+  nodes: [
+    { id: 'review', type: 'approval' },
+    { id: 'rework', type: APPROVAL_REVISE_NODE_TYPE },
+  ],
+  edges: [{ id: 'e_revise', source: 'review', target: 'rework', label: 'revise' }],
+};
+
+/** The plugin's own object definitions, as its manifest registers them. */
+async function packageObjects(): Promise<any[]> {
+  let manifest: any;
+  const ctx: any = {
+    getService: (name: string) => {
+      if (name === 'manifest') return { register: (m: any) => { manifest = m; } };
+      throw new Error(`no service '${name}'`);
+    },
+    logger: { info: () => {}, warn: () => {}, error: () => {}, debug: () => {} },
+  };
+  await new ApprovalsServicePlugin().init(ctx);
+  return manifest.objects;
+}
+
+interface Emitted {
+  topic: string;
+  audience: string[];
+  source?: { object: string; id: string };
+  payload?: Record<string, unknown>;
+}
+
+describe('every approval notification carries its text in body', () => {
+  let engine: ObjectQL;
+  let svc: ApprovalService;
+  let now = Date.parse('2026-10-01T09:00:00.000Z');
+  const emits: Emitted[] = [];
+  const ids: Record<string, string> = {};
+
+  const open = async (key: string, approvers: any[], extra: Record<string, unknown> = {}) => {
+    await engine.insert('crm_deal', { id: `D_${key}`, title: key }, { context: SYSTEM } as any);
+    const row: any = await svc.openNodeRequest({
+      object: 'crm_deal', recordId: `D_${key}`, runId: `run_${key}`, nodeId: 'review', flowName: FLOW.name,
+      config: { approvers, behavior: 'first_response', ...extra } as any,
+      submitterId: 'u_sub', record: { id: `D_${key}`, title: key },
+    }, asUser('u_sub'));
+    ids[key] = row.id;
+    return row;
+  };
+
+  /** Which call site an emit came from: its topic, its request, and what tells two sites on one request apart. */
+  const siteOf = (e: Emitted): string => {
+    const key = Object.keys(ids).find((k) => ids[k] === e.source?.id) ?? '?';
+    const links = Array.isArray(e.payload?.actions) ? '+links' : '';
+    const toSubmitter = e.topic === 'approval.sla_breached' && e.audience.join() === 'u_sub' ? '>submitter' : '';
+    return `${e.topic}@${key}${links}${toSubmitter}`;
+  };
+
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    engine = new ObjectQL();
+    engine.registerDriver(new SqlDriver({
+      client: 'better-sqlite3', connection: { filename: ':memory:' }, useNullAsDefault: true,
+    }), true);
+    await engine.init();
+    for (const def of [sysUser, deal, ...(await packageObjects())]) {
+      engine.registry.registerObject(def as any, 'approvals-test', 'approvals-test');
+    }
+    await engine.syncSchemas();
+    for (const u of USERS) await engine.insert('sys_user', u, { context: SYSTEM } as any);
+
+    svc = new ApprovalService({
+      engine: engine as any,
+      // Every reading moves a second on, so the action log has one order.
+      clock: { now: () => new Date(now += 1000) },
+      automation: {
+        resume: async () => ({ status: 'completed' }),
+        cancelRun: async () => undefined,
+        getRun: async (runId: string) => ({ id: runId, status: 'paused' }),
+        getFlow: async () => FLOW,
+      } as any,
+      logger: { warn: () => {}, info: () => {}, error: () => {}, debug: () => {} } as any,
+    });
+    svc.attachMessaging({ async emit(input) { emits.push(input as Emitted); } });
+
+    // ── The thread: a position slot (a literal no account holds) and a person ──
+    const thread = await open('thread', [{ type: 'position', value: 'legal' }, { type: 'user', value: 'u_alice' }],
+      { behavior: 'unanimous' });
+    expect(thread.pending_approvers).toEqual(['position:legal', 'u_alice']);
+    await svc.comment(ids.thread, { actorId: 'u_sub', comment: COMMENT }, asUser('u_sub'));
+    await svc.requestInfo(ids.thread, { actorId: 'u_alice', comment: QUESTION }, asUser('u_alice'));
+    // A remind reaches the person with their own action links.
+    await svc.remind(ids.thread, { actorId: 'u_sub' }, asUser('u_sub'));
+    await svc.reassign(ids.thread, { actorId: 'u_alice', to: 'u_bob' }, asUser('u_alice'));
+
+    // ── Send back, within budget and past it ──
+    await open('revise', [{ type: 'user', value: 'u_alice' }]);
+    await svc.sendBack(ids.revise, { actorId: 'u_alice', comment: SEND_BACK } as any, asUser('u_alice'));
+    await open('budget', [{ type: 'user', value: 'u_alice' }], { maxRevisions: 0 });
+    await svc.sendBack(ids.budget, { actorId: 'u_alice' } as any, asUser('u_alice'));
+
+    // ── Out of office: the routing substitutes a delegate ──
+    await engine.insert('sys_approval_delegation', {
+      id: 'dlg_1', delegator_id: 'u_ooo', delegate_id: 'u_bob', reason: 'leave',
+      valid_from: '2026-09-01T00:00:00.000Z', valid_until: '2026-12-31T00:00:00.000Z',
+      created_at: '2026-09-01T00:00:00.000Z', updated_at: '2026-09-01T00:00:00.000Z',
+    }, { context: SYSTEM } as any);
+    const ooo = await open('ooo', [{ type: 'user', value: 'u_ooo' }]);
+    expect(ooo.pending_approvers).toEqual(['u_bob']);
+
+    // ── The SLA sweep: a notify (submitter told) and a reassign (submitter not) ──
+    await open('sla_notify', [{ type: 'user', value: 'u_alice' }],
+      { escalation: { timeoutHours: 1, action: 'notify', escalateTo: 'u_boss', notifySubmitter: true } });
+    await open('sla_reassign', [{ type: 'user', value: 'u_alice' }],
+      { escalation: { timeoutHours: 1, action: 'reassign', escalateTo: 'u_boss', notifySubmitter: false } });
+    now += 2 * 3600_000;
+    expect(await svc.runEscalations()).toMatchObject({ escalated: 2 });
+  });
+
+  afterAll(async () => {
+    try { await engine?.destroy(); } catch { /* noop */ }
+  });
+
+  it('the battery reaches every call site that can notify anyone — eleven of the twelve', () => {
+    expect(new Set(emits.map(siteOf))).toEqual(new Set([
+      'approval.ooo_substituted@ooo',
+      'approval.ooo_skipped@ooo',
+      'approval.returned@budget',
+      'approval.returned@revise',
+      'approval.reassigned@thread',
+      'approval.reminder@thread+links',
+      'approval.request_info@thread',
+      'approval.comment@thread',
+      'approval.escalated@sla_reassign',
+      'approval.sla_breached@sla_notify',
+      'approval.sla_breached@sla_notify>submitter',
+    ]));
+  });
+
+  it("a comment, a request-info question and a send-back note are their recipient's body", () => {
+    const one = (topic: string, key: string) => {
+      const hits = emits.filter((e) => e.topic === topic && e.source?.id === ids[key]);
+      expect(hits.length, `${topic} on ${key}`).toBe(1);
+      return hits[0];
+    };
+    const comment = one('approval.comment', 'thread');
+    expect([comment.audience, comment.payload?.body]).toEqual([['u_alice'], COMMENT]);
+    const question = one('approval.request_info', 'thread');
+    expect([question.audience, question.payload?.body]).toEqual([['u_sub'], QUESTION]);
+    const sentBack = one('approval.returned', 'revise');
+    expect([sentBack.audience, sentBack.payload?.body]).toEqual([['u_sub'], SEND_BACK]);
+  });
+
+  it('every notification carries a non-empty body, and no field the payload does not declare', () => {
+    const offenders: string[] = [];
+    for (const e of emits) {
+      const payload = e.payload ?? {};
+      if (typeof payload.body !== 'string' || payload.body.trim() === '') {
+        offenders.push(`${siteOf(e)}: body is ${JSON.stringify(payload.body)}`);
+      }
+      for (const field of Object.keys(payload)) {
+        if (!PAYLOAD_FIELDS.has(field)) offenders.push(`${siteOf(e)}: undeclared payload field '${field}'`);
+      }
+    }
+    expect(offenders).toEqual([]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/approval-service.ts b/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/approval-service.ts
index 6ea9ca90046..9a1822845a2 100644
--- a/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/approval-service.ts
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-approvals/src/approval-service.ts
@@ -280,6 +280,28 @@ export interface ApprovalMessagingSurface {
   }): Promise<unknown>;
 }
 
+/**
+ * What an approval notification hands to the messaging service: the
+ * `EmitInput` payload fields the delivered notification is built from, plus a
+ * reminder's one-tap decision links.
+ *
+ * `body` is the text the recipient reads under the title. Messaging builds the
+ * inbox row's `body_md`, and each channel's fallback rendering, from
+ * `payload.body` and no other field, so the text is declared here rather than
+ * left to a free-form bag: a call site that spells it any other way does not
+ * compile. Spelled `message`, it once reached every recipient as an empty body.
+ */
+type ApprovalNotificationPayload = {
+  /** The headline. */
+  readonly title: string;
+  /** The text under the headline. */
+  readonly body: string;
+  /** Where opening it lands; `notify()` narrows the approvals inbox to the request. */
+  readonly actionUrl: string;
+  /** Approve / Reject links on a reminder to a concrete approver (ADR-0043). */
+  readonly actions?: ReadonlyArray<{ readonly label: string; readonly url: string }>;
+};
+
 /** Minimum time between submitter reminders on one request. */
 export const REMIND_COOLDOWN_MS = 4 * 60 * 60 * 1000;
 
@@ -1373,7 +1395,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
   private async notify(input: {
     topic: string;
     audience: string[];
-    payload?: Record<string, unknown>;
+    payload: ApprovalNotificationPayload;
     dedupKey?: string;
     source?: { object: string; id: string };
     actorContext?: ExecutionContext;
@@ -1388,7 +1410,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
     // the console inbox to auto-open the drawer.
     let payload = event.payload;
     if (
-      payload?.actionUrl === '/system/approvals'
+      payload.actionUrl === '/system/approvals'
       && event.source?.object === 'sys_approval_request'
       && event.source.id
     ) {
@@ -3073,7 +3095,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
         dedupKey: `approval-ooo-${id}-${sub.to}`,
         payload: {
           title: 'Approval routed to you (out-of-office cover)',
-          message: `You are covering an approval on ${input.object}/${input.recordId} while ${sub.from} is out of office.`,
+          body: `You are covering an approval on ${input.object}/${input.recordId} while ${sub.from} is out of office.`,
           actionUrl: '/system/approvals',
         },
       });
@@ -3084,7 +3106,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
         dedupKey: `approval-ooo-skip-${id}-${sub.from}`,
         payload: {
           title: 'Approval routed to your delegate',
-          message: `An approval on ${input.object}/${input.recordId} was routed to ${sub.to} while you are out of office.`,
+          body: `An approval on ${input.object}/${input.recordId} was routed to ${sub.to} while you are out of office.`,
           actionUrl: '/system/approvals',
         },
       });
@@ -4206,7 +4228,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
           source: { object: 'sys_approval_request', id: requestId },
           payload: {
             title: 'Approval auto-rejected',
-            message: `Your ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id} exceeded the revision limit (${maxRevisions}) and was rejected.`,
+            body: `Your ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id} exceeded the revision limit (${maxRevisions}) and was rejected.`,
             actionUrl: '/system/approvals',
           },
         });
@@ -4249,7 +4271,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
         source: { object: 'sys_approval_request', id: requestId },
         payload: {
           title: 'Sent back for revision',
-          message: input.comment?.trim() || `Your ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id} needs rework before it can be approved.`,
+          body: input.comment?.trim() || `Your ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id} needs rework before it can be approved.`,
           actionUrl: '/system/approvals',
         },
       });
@@ -4509,7 +4531,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
       dedupKey: `approval-reassign-${requestId}-${to}`,
       payload: {
         title: 'Approval handed to you',
-        message: `You are now an approver on ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id}.`,
+        body: `You are now an approver on ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id}.`,
         actionUrl: '/system/approvals',
       },
     });
@@ -4568,7 +4590,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
           dedupKey: `approval-remind-${requestId}-${nowIso}-${approver}`,
           payload: {
             title: 'Approval reminder',
-            message: `A decision on ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id} is still waiting on you.`,
+            body: `A decision on ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id} is still waiting on you.`,
             actionUrl: '/system/approvals',
             actions: [
               { label: 'Approve', url: this.actionLinkUrl(tokens.approve) },
@@ -4591,7 +4613,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
         dedupKey: `approval-remind-${requestId}-${nowIso}`,
         payload: {
           title: 'Approval reminder',
-          message: `A decision on ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id} is still waiting on you.`,
+          body: `A decision on ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id} is still waiting on you.`,
           actionUrl: '/system/approvals',
         },
       });
@@ -4785,7 +4807,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
         source: { object: 'sys_approval_request', id: requestId },
         payload: {
           title: 'More information requested',
-          message: input.comment.trim(),
+          body: input.comment.trim(),
           actionUrl: '/system/approvals',
         },
       });
@@ -4832,7 +4854,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
       source: { object: 'sys_approval_request', id: requestId },
       payload: {
         title: 'New comment on an approval',
-        message: input.comment.trim(),
+        body: input.comment.trim(),
         actionUrl: '/system/approvals',
       },
     });
@@ -5877,7 +5899,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
         source: { object: 'sys_approval_request', id: raw.id },
         payload: {
           title: 'Approval escalated to you',
-          message: `An overdue approval on ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id} was escalated to you.`,
+          body: `An overdue approval on ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id} was escalated to you.`,
           actionUrl: '/system/approvals',
         },
       });
@@ -5895,7 +5917,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
         source: { object: 'sys_approval_request', id: raw.id },
         payload: {
           title: 'Approval SLA breached',
-          message: `A decision on ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id} is overdue.`,
+          body: `A decision on ${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id} is overdue.`,
           actionUrl: '/system/approvals',
         },
       });
@@ -5908,7 +5930,7 @@ export class ApprovalService implements IApprovalService {
         source: { object: 'sys_approval_request', id: raw.id },
         payload: {
           title: 'Your approval request breached its SLA',
-          message: `${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id}: escalation action '${action}' was taken.`,
+          body: `${raw.object_name}/${raw.record_id}: escalation action '${action}' was taken.`,
           actionUrl: '/system/approvals',
         },
       });
diff --git a/packages/qa/dogfood/test/approval-notification-body.dogfood.test.ts b/packages/qa/dogfood/test/approval-notification-body.dogfood.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fdd18e49945
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/qa/dogfood/test/approval-notification-body.dogfood.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,190 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+//
+// An approval notification reaches its recipient WITH its text.
+//
+// Every approval notification arrived as a title over an empty body. The
+// approvals service put its text in `payload.message`, and the messaging
+// service builds the delivered notification from `payload.title` and
+// `payload.body` only — the field its `EmitInput` documents — so the comment,
+// the request-info question and every escalation line were dropped on the way
+// to the inbox: `GET /api/v1/notifications` answered `body: ""` under a
+// correct title. The flow `notify` node and the @mention producer already send
+// `body`; approvals was the one producer speaking another dialect.
+//
+// The fix is at the producer, with no alias in messaging: one field, as
+// documented. This pins it at the door a recipient actually reads, on a booted
+// app with the real approvals + messaging + REST chain:
+//
+//   ⭐ a submitter's comment is read back as the BODY of the approver's
+//      `approval.comment` notification;
+//   ⭐ an approver's request-info question is read back as the BODY of the
+//      submitter's `approval.request_info` notification;
+//   ⭐ each is the ONE notification of its topic in that inbox and carries its
+//      title — so an empty body is a body that lost its text, never a
+//      notification that never arrived (the control the defect needed: its
+//      title was always there).
+//
+// The fixture is owned by this pin and kept inline: one object whose create
+// opens a request routed to a `user` approver authored as an EMAIL, so the
+// approver is a real account reached through the address an author writes.
+// Messaging runs its inline fan-out (`reliableDelivery: false`) so the inbox
+// row exists when the thread call returns; the outbox path builds the same
+// notification from the same `payload.body` (`messaging-service.ts` /
+// `dispatcher.ts`), and the producer-side pin across the service's call sites
+// is `plugin-approvals/src/approval-notification-body.integration.test.ts`.
+
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import { bootStack } from '@objectstack/verify';
+import { defineStack, defineFlow } from '@objectstack/spec';
+import { ObjectSchema, Field } from '@objectstack/spec/data';
+import { PermissionSetSchema } from '@objectstack/spec/security';
+import { SecurityPlugin, securityDefaultPermissionSets } from '@objectstack/plugin-security';
+import { ApprovalsServicePlugin } from '@objectstack/plugin-approvals';
+import { RecordChangeTriggerPlugin } from '@objectstack/trigger-record-change';
+import { MessagingServicePlugin } from '@objectstack/service-messaging';
+
+const OBJECT = 'anb_request';
+const SUBMITTER = 'anb-submitter@example.com';
+const REVIEWER = 'anb-reviewer@example.com';
+
+/** The text each side writes — distinct, so neither can pass for the other. */
+const COMMENT = 'The signed contract is attached to the record now.';
+const QUESTION = 'Which cost centre should this be booked against?';
+
+const AnbRequest = ObjectSchema.create({
+  name: OBJECT,
+  label: 'Notification Body Request',
+  pluralLabel: 'Notification Body Requests',
+  sharingModel: 'public_read_write',
+  fields: {
+    name: Field.text({ label: 'Name', required: true }),
+  },
+});
+
+const AnbFlow = defineFlow({
+  name: 'anb_flow',
+  label: 'Notification Body Flow',
+  description: 'Fires on insert and routes to one user approver, authored as an email.',
+  type: 'autolaunched',
+  status: 'active',
+  nodes: [
+    { id: 'start', type: 'start', label: 'On Create', config: { objectName: OBJECT, triggerType: 'record-after-create' } },
+    {
+      id: 'review',
+      type: 'approval',
+      label: 'Review',
+      config: { approvers: [{ type: 'user', value: REVIEWER }], behavior: 'first_response' },
+    },
+    { id: 'approved', type: 'end', label: 'Approved' },
+    { id: 'rejected', type: 'end', label: 'Rejected' },
+  ],
+  edges: [
+    { id: 'e1', source: 'start', target: 'review' },
+    { id: 'e2', source: 'review', target: 'approved', label: 'approve' },
+    { id: 'e3', source: 'review', target: 'rejected', label: 'reject' },
+  ],
+});
+
+const anbStack = defineStack({
+  manifest: {
+    id: 'com.dogfood.approval-notification-body',
+    namespace: 'anb',
+    version: '0.0.0',
+    type: 'app',
+    name: 'Approval Notification Body Fixture',
+    description: 'One object, one flow routed to an email-authored user approver.',
+  },
+  // ADR-0097: the `record-after-create` start node needs the trigger pair
+  // declared; the pin mounts both explicitly.
+  requires: ['automation', 'triggers'],
+  objects: [AnbRequest],
+  flows: [AnbFlow],
+});
+
+/** Every fresh member resolves to create + read on the request object only. */
+const anbMemberSet = PermissionSetSchema.parse({
+  name: 'anb_member',
+  label: 'Notification Body Member — create + read on anb_request only',
+  objects: {
+    [OBJECT]: { allowRead: true, allowCreate: true, allowEdit: false, allowDelete: false },
+  },
+});
+
+interface InboxRow {
+  id: string;
+  type: string;
+  title: string;
+  body: string;
+}
+
+describe('an approval notification reaches its recipient with its text in the body', () => {
+  it(
+    "a comment and a request-info question are read back from the recipient's GET /api/v1/notifications",
+    async () => {
+      const stack = await bootStack(anbStack as unknown as Parameters<typeof bootStack>[0], {
+        automation: true,
+        security: new SecurityPlugin({
+          defaultPermissionSets: [...securityDefaultPermissionSets, anbMemberSet],
+          fallbackPermissionSet: anbMemberSet.name,
+        }),
+        extraPlugins: [
+          new MessagingServicePlugin({ reliableDelivery: false }),
+          new RecordChangeTriggerPlugin(),
+          new ApprovalsServicePlugin(),
+        ],
+      });
+      try {
+        const submitterToken = await stack.signUp(SUBMITTER);
+        const reviewerToken = await stack.signUp(REVIEWER);
+
+        const created = await stack.apiAs(submitterToken, 'POST', `/data/${OBJECT}`, { name: 'contract' });
+        expect(created.status).toBe(201);
+
+        // The request opened, on the email slot — a missing request would
+        // otherwise read below as "no notification", not as the defect.
+        const pending = await stack.apiAs(reviewerToken, 'GET', `/approvals/requests?${new URLSearchParams({
+          status: 'pending', approverId: REVIEWER,
+        })}`);
+        expect(pending.status).toBe(200);
+        const rows = ((await pending.json()) as { data: Array<{ id: string; pending_approvers?: string[] }> }).data;
+        expect(rows.map((r) => r.pending_approvers)).toEqual([[REVIEWER]]);
+        const requestId = rows[0].id;
+
+        const inboxOf = async (token: string, topic: string): Promise<InboxRow[]> => {
+          const res = await stack.apiAs(token, 'GET', `/notifications?${new URLSearchParams({ type: topic })}`);
+          expect(res.status, `GET /notifications?type=${topic}`).toBe(200);
+          const json = (await res.json()) as { data: { notifications: InboxRow[] } };
+          return json.data.notifications;
+        };
+
+        // ⭐ The submitter comments; the approver's notification carries it.
+        const commented = await stack.apiAs(submitterToken, 'POST', `/approvals/requests/${requestId}/comment`, {
+          comment: COMMENT,
+        });
+        expect(commented.status).toBe(200);
+        const toReviewer = await inboxOf(reviewerToken, 'approval.comment');
+        expect(toReviewer.length, "the approver's inbox holds the one comment notification").toBe(1);
+        expect(toReviewer[0].title).not.toBe('');
+        expect(toReviewer[0].body, "the comment is the notification's body").toBe(COMMENT);
+
+        // ⭐ The approver asks; the submitter's notification carries the question.
+        const asked = await stack.apiAs(reviewerToken, 'POST', `/approvals/requests/${requestId}/request-info`, {
+          comment: QUESTION,
+        });
+        expect(asked.status).toBe(200);
+        const toSubmitter = await inboxOf(submitterToken, 'approval.request_info');
+        expect(toSubmitter.length, "the submitter's inbox holds the one request-info notification").toBe(1);
+        expect(toSubmitter[0].title).not.toBe('');
+        expect(toSubmitter[0].body, "the question is the notification's body").toBe(QUESTION);
+
+        // Each side reads only what was addressed to it: the submitter wrote
+        // the comment and is not its recipient, and the reverse.
+        expect(await inboxOf(submitterToken, 'approval.comment')).toEqual([]);
+        expect(await inboxOf(reviewerToken, 'approval.request_info')).toEqual([]);
+      } finally {
+        await stack.stop();
+      }
+    },
+    120_000,
+  );
+});