diff --git a/packages/rest/src/rest-server.ts b/packages/rest/src/rest-server.ts
index 96503ffc4b..95c26ffd28 100644
--- a/packages/rest/src/rest-server.ts
+++ b/packages/rest/src/rest-server.ts
@@ -6296,10 +6296,16 @@ export class RestServer {
                         });
                         return;
                     }
-                    // `next: null` = no FSM governs the field; `next: []` =
-                    // a declared dead end. Same three-valued answer the
-                    // dispatcher gives, because a UI asking "where can this
-                    // record go" must be able to tell those apart.
+                    // Three answer values — `next: null`, `next: []` (a
+                    // declared dead end), and the legal-next list — the same
+                    // answer the dispatcher gives, because a UI asking "where
+                    // can this record go" must tell those apart. But `null`
+                    // is overloaded across TWO input conditions: no FSM
+                    // governs the field, or the caller omitted `?from=` (no
+                    // `from` => no transition table to answer with), which
+                    // the line below folds onto the same `null` without
+                    // consulting the rule. A UI therefore cannot read `null`
+                    // as "no state machine" unless it passed a `from`.
                     const next = from === undefined ? null : legalNextStates(schema, field, from);
                     res.json({ object: name, field, from: from ?? null, next });
                 } catch (error: any) {
diff --git a/packages/runtime/src/domains/meta.ts b/packages/runtime/src/domains/meta.ts
index 6de7ad462f..a8bc150b8a 100644
--- a/packages/runtime/src/domains/meta.ts
+++ b/packages/runtime/src/domains/meta.ts
@@ -232,8 +232,13 @@ export async function handleMetadataRequest(deps: DomainHandlerDeps, path: strin
     // ADR-0020 D3.3 introspection: the legal next states declared by the
     // object's `state_machine` validation rule for `:field`. Lets UIs /
     // AI authors ask "from here, where can this record go?" instead of
-    // hard-coding the transition table. Returns `next: null` when no FSM
-    // governs the field, `next: []` for a declared dead-end state.
+    // hard-coding the transition table. `next: []` is a declared
+    // dead-end state. `next: null` has TWO causes: no FSM governs the
+    // field, or the caller omitted `?from=` (no `from` => no transition
+    // table to answer with) — the handler short-circuits on that before
+    // it ever consults the rule. So a `null` answered to a call
+    // that passed no `from` is not evidence the field has no state
+    // machine; re-ask with `?from=`.
     if (parts.length === 4 && (parts[0] === 'objects' || parts[0] === 'object') && parts[2] === 'state' && (!method || method === 'GET')) {
         const name = parts[1];
         const field = parts[3];