docs(i18n,plugin-dashboard): state the single-locale write rule instead of deferring to a closed card

.changeset/stale-4163-pointers-5591.md

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+---
+'@object-ui/i18n': patch
+---
+
+`setLocalized`'s published docblock states the single-locale write rule that is
+actually in force, instead of deferring the multi-locale-authoring question to a
+closed card (objectui#5591).
+
+The docblock read "is not a multi-locale authoring UI (objectui#4163)". objectui#4163
+closed as completed on 2026-08-15 with that product question still unanswered, so the
+parenthetical pointed at nothing — and it read as though the question had been settled
+somewhere a reader could go and check. This is the failure mode objectui#5428
+demonstrated is not harmless: there, a dangling deferral of exactly this shape let an
+expired justification sit unread for a release cycle at two surfaces.
+
+The remedy is objectui#5428's, not a re-pointing at a successor card: state the rule in
+force (`setLocalized` reaches only the entry for the locale the author is in), keep the
+open product question open **in place**, and record why there is deliberately no tracker
+reference — so the next reader cannot restore one. Re-pointing is how the class
+regenerates, because the next card closes too. The same wording form already landed in
+`plugin-designer`'s `writeWidgetTitle` and `DashboardWidgetInspector`.
+
+Prose only. No behaviour, no signature, no test changes — `setLocalized`'s pairing with
+`pickLocalized` is unchanged and still pinned by `src/__tests__/setLocalized.test.ts`.
+
+Declared as a `patch` for `@object-ui/i18n` alone because the emit was measured per
+package rather than assumed, and the two packages this change touches differ:
+
+- `@object-ui/i18n` — the docblock sits on the **exported** `setLocalized`, so it reaches
+ the published artifacts. Rebuilt with `tsconfig.tsbuildinfo` cleared first (the build is
+ `composite`, which otherwise skips emit), and compared by SHA-256 rather than byte count:
+ `dist/pickLocalized.d.ts` `1e2170ad…` -> `124a1c07…` and `dist/pickLocalized.js`
+ `06eb88bd…` -> `568cb703…`. A consumer reads this text on hover and in the API docs, so
+ it publishes something.
+- `@object-ui/plugin-dashboard` — the two comments changed there are a `//` banner between
+ declarations and a test docblock, neither attached to an exported declaration.
+ `dist/WidgetConfigPanel.d.ts` is **byte-identical** across the rebuild
+ (`93252e8cdf5a6faa…` both sides). The only artifact that moved is
+ `dist/WidgetConfigPanel.d.ts.map`, whose mappings shift because lines were added above
+ the declarations; no declaration text changed. Nothing user-visible publishes from that
+ package, so it is not named here.

packages/i18n/src/pickLocalized.ts

@@ -129,8 +129,15 @@ function localeWriteKey(
  * the "saved" string vanishes — which is why they live in one file.
  *
  * ⚠️ This is the minimal non-destructive write for a SINGLE-locale editor. It
- * is not a multi-locale authoring UI (objectui#4163) and does not pretend to
- * be: an author can only ever reach the entry for the locale they are in.
+ * is not a multi-locale authoring UI and does not pretend to be: an author can
+ * only ever reach the entry for the locale they are in.
+ *
+ * Authoring every locale from one surface remains an OPEN product question, and
+ * is deliberately not deferred to a tracker here: the deferral this replaced
+ * named objectui#4163, which closed as completed on 2026-08-15 with the question
+ * still unanswered. A comment pointing at a closed card reads as though the
+ * question were settled somewhere, which is how the previous stale premise in
+ * this area survived unread.
  */
 export function setLocalized(
  value: unknown,

packages/plugin-dashboard/src/WidgetConfigPanel.tsx

@@ -514,8 +514,11 @@ export interface WidgetConfigPanelProps {
 // WRITE `setLocalized(stored, language, edited)` — replace ONLY the active
 // locale's entry and carry every other locale across untouched.
 //
-// A full multi-locale editor (authoring every locale in the panel) is
-// objectui#4163's territory, not this one.
+// A full multi-locale editor — authoring every locale from this panel — is NOT
+// what this panel offers; it edits the active locale only. That remains an OPEN
+// product question and is deliberately not deferred to a tracker here: the
+// deferral this replaced named objectui#4163, which closed as completed on
+// 2026-08-15 with the question still unanswered.
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 /**

packages/plugin-dashboard/src/__tests__/WidgetConfigPanel.inlineLocaleMap.test.tsx

@@ -40,8 +40,11 @@
  * a different guarantee (a rebuild would add an entry for the active locale
  * to a map that never carried one).
  *
- * A full multi-locale editor is objectui#4163's territory and is deliberately
- * NOT asserted here.
+ * A full multi-locale editor is deliberately NOT asserted here — this suite pins
+ * the single-locale write rule above and nothing wider. Authoring every locale
+ * from one panel remains an OPEN product question, not deferred to a tracker
+ * here: the deferral this replaced named objectui#4163, which closed as
+ * completed on 2026-08-15 with the question still unanswered.
  */
 
 import * as React from 'react';