diff --git a/‎.changeset/22257-auth-settings-read-after-bind.md‎
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diff --git a/‎packages/plugins/plugin-auth/package.json‎
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diff --git a/‎packages/plugins/plugin-auth/src/auth-plugin.ts‎
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diff --git a/‎packages/plugins/plugin-auth/src/auth-settings-ordering.pin.test.ts‎
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diff --git a/‎packages/plugins/plugin-auth/src/auth-settings-seeded-boot.pin.test.ts‎
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diff --git a/‎packages/plugins/plugin-auth/vitest.config.ts‎
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diff --git a/‎pnpm-lock.yaml‎
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@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/plugin-auth': patch
+---
+
+A seeded boot no longer reads the `auth` settings before the settings engine binds
+
+Clause-②: no
+
+Under `os serve` and `os dev`, an app with inline seed data emits `app:seeded` while plugins are still starting. The auth plugin's one-time membership backfill (ADR-0093 D6) ran on that event. Through it, the plugin bound the `auth` settings namespace before `SettingsServicePlugin` had bound its data engine. The boot logged `[SettingsService] Pre-bind READ of namespace 'auth'`, and the binding was computed from the manifest defaults, not from the saved `auth` settings. Measured on the showcase: one such line on every boot.
+
+The backfill is now armed by its own `kernel:ready` hook, which runs after the settings plugin binds its engine. A trigger of the pass before that hook does nothing: the `kernel:ready` pass runs afterwards and scans the same rows. A seed that settles after `kernel:ready` still re-runs the pass, as before.
+
+- **Which settings are read is unchanged.** Only the moment of the first read moves.
+- **A saved `auth.membership_policy` governs the one-time pass.** Before, the pass's first run could read the manifest default `auto` while a saved `invite-only` sat unread.
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@
     "@objectstack/objectql": "workspace:*",
     "@objectstack/plugin-hono-server": "workspace:*",
     "@objectstack/plugin-security": "workspace:*",
+    "@objectstack/service-settings": "workspace:*",
     "@types/node": "^26.6.3",
     "hono": "^4.13.9",
     "tsx": "^4.23.15",
 
@@ -1232,15 +1232,29 @@ export class AuthPlugin implements Plugin {
       // ('ran-unrecorded') does not unlatch it: a second trigger in this
       // process must not run the pass again (ADR-0093 D7).
       let backfillDecided = false;
+      // [#22257] Armed by this pass's own `kernel:ready` hook below; every
+      // trigger before it is a no-op. The pass's policy is a SETTING, and the
+      // settings data engine binds in `SettingsServicePlugin`'s `kernel:ready`
+      // hook. The `optionalDependencies` edge orders that hook ahead of this
+      // plugin's hooks, and orders nothing else: an event fired during Phase 2
+      // reaches this pass before the bind. `app:seeded` is one —
+      // `AppPlugin.start()` emits it when its inline seed lands, after this
+      // plugin started — and on a seeded boot it bound the `auth` namespace
+      // from the manifest defaults (the `Pre-bind READ` warning), so the
+      // one-time pass could decide under a policy the deployment never chose.
+      // A pre-ready trigger loses nothing: the `kernel:ready` pass is still
+      // ahead, and it scans every row such a trigger was about.
+      let backfillArmed = false;
       const runBackfill = (source: string): Promise<void> => {
+        if (!backfillArmed) return backfillChain;
         backfillChain = backfillChain.then(async () => {
           if (backfillDecided) return;
           try {
             // #5152 — the policy this pass runs under is a SETTING, so bind the
-            // namespace before reading it. This hook is registered in `init()`
-            // and therefore fires ahead of the one in `start()` that normally
-            // binds; without this the first pass of a fresh boot would run the
-            // pre-settings policy. Idempotent and shared with that hook.
+            // namespace before reading it. The composition `kernel:ready` hook
+            // registered earlier in `start()` has normally bound it by the time
+            // the pass is armed; awaiting it here keeps the policy independent
+            // of hook order. Idempotent and shared with that hook.
             await this.ensureAuthSettingsBound(ctx);
             const ql = ctx.getService<IDataEngine>('objectql');
             const tenancy = this.tenancy;
@@ -1288,13 +1302,17 @@ export class AuthPlugin implements Plugin {
         return backfillChain;
       };
       runBackfillOnDefaultOrg = runBackfill;
-      ctx.hook('kernel:ready', () => runBackfill('kernel:ready'));
+      ctx.hook('kernel:ready', () => {
+        backfillArmed = true;
+        return runBackfill('kernel:ready');
+      });
       // #2996: app seeds insert `sys_user` via raw engine.insert, bypassing
       // better-auth's `user.create.after` reconciler. A seed that overruns
       // OS_INLINE_SEED_BUDGET_MS finishes in the background AFTER kernel:ready,
       // so its users would miss a kernel:ready pass that had no target yet.
       // The trigger stays; the ledger makes it a no-op once the one-time pass
-      // has been recorded.
+      // has been recorded. An in-budget seed settles during Phase 2, before the
+      // pass is armed, and the `kernel:ready` pass covers its rows.
       ctx.hook('app:seeded', () => runBackfill('app:seeded'));
     }
 
 
@@ -53,13 +53,13 @@
  * subject.
  *
  * The settings plugin is a NAME-ONLY stub rather than the real
- * `SettingsServicePlugin`: `@objectstack/service-settings` is not a dependency
- * of `@objectstack/plugin-auth`, and adding one so a test could import it
- * would both create a workspace edge that exists for nothing else and force a
- * new entry into the shrink-only registry above. `resolvePluginOrder` reads
- * only the `OrderablePlugin` surface — `name`, `dependencies`,
- * `optionalDependencies` — and the property under test is `AuthPlugin`'s
- * declaration, so the stub is the whole of what the resolver would see.
+ * `SettingsServicePlugin`: `resolvePluginOrder` reads only the
+ * `OrderablePlugin` surface — `name`, `dependencies`, `optionalDependencies` —
+ * and the property under test is `AuthPlugin`'s declaration, so the stub is
+ * the whole of what the resolver would see. The real plugin is composed where
+ * its bind hook is the subject: `auth-settings-seeded-boot.pin.test.ts` boots
+ * it (a devDependency, aliased to `src/` in this package's `vitest.config.ts`)
+ * and pins the read that this edge does NOT order — a Phase-2 `app:seeded`.
  */
 
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
 
@@ -0,0 +1,244 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+/**
+ * A seeded boot reads the `auth` settings AFTER the settings engine binds
+ * (#22257).
+ *
+ * ## The defect
+ *
+ * `SettingsServicePlugin` binds its data engine from a `kernel:ready` hook it
+ * registers in `start()`. `AuthPlugin` declares
+ * `optionalDependencies: ['com.objectstack.service.settings']`, so its own
+ * `kernel:ready` hooks are registered later and fire after the bind
+ * (`auth-settings-ordering.pin.test.ts`). That edge orders HOOKS and nothing
+ * else. `AppPlugin.start()` emits `app:seeded` when its inline seed lands, and
+ * on `os serve` / `os dev` the app plugin starts after the auth plugin, so the
+ * event arrives during Phase 2 — and the ADR-0093 D6 backfill's `app:seeded`
+ * handler went `runBackfill` → `ensureAuthSettingsBound` → `bindAuthSettings` →
+ * `getNamespace('auth')` while the engine was still unbound. Measured on the
+ * showcase (`os dev --seed-admin --fresh`): one `[SettingsService] Pre-bind READ
+ * of namespace 'auth'` on every boot, logged between the seed's completion and
+ * the `kernel:ready` trigger, and the auth binding computed from the manifest
+ * defaults. `check:settings-bind-window` walks `kernel:ready` handlers only, so
+ * an `app:seeded` handler was outside its population.
+ *
+ * ## The composition
+ *
+ * The cheapest real one that reproduces it: a real `ObjectKernel`, a real
+ * ObjectQL engine on in-memory SQLite, the REAL `SettingsServicePlugin` (its
+ * bind hook and its reporter are the subject), the real `AuthPlugin` used
+ * BEFORE the settings plugin (the `os serve` order), and an app plugin in
+ * `AppPlugin`'s place: it starts after the auth plugin, writes the row a
+ * previous boot persisted, and emits `app:seeded` from its own `start()`.
+ *
+ * It awaits the event, which `AppPlugin` does not. That is the stricter form:
+ * the handler's whole chain then runs inside Phase 2, so a read it makes cannot
+ * slip past the bind by timing.
+ *
+ * ## What is asserted
+ *
+ *  1. the window is real in this composition — at the moment `app:seeded`
+ *     fires, the settings engine is NOT bound. Without it the next assertion
+ *     could pass vacuously;
+ *  2. no `Pre-bind READ` is reported (the card's Done-when);
+ *  3. the first `getNamespace('auth')` the auth plugin issues answers the
+ *     PERSISTED value, and the one-time pass decides under it — the value is
+ *     observable, so the pin names it rather than inferring it from silence.
+ *
+ * The control case forces a pre-bind read of `auth` in the same composition
+ * and expects exactly one report: proof that the logger spy here sees the
+ * reporter at all. The reporter's own suite
+ * (`settings-prebind-read-warning.test.ts`) keeps pinning its text.
+ *
+ * ## Resolution
+ *
+ * `AuthPlugin` is imported from SOURCE (relative). `@objectstack/service-settings`
+ * is aliased to its `src/` in this package's `vitest.config.ts`, so the
+ * reporter and the bind hook are the checkout's too. `ObjectKernel`,
+ * `ObjectQLPlugin` and `SqlDriver` are the fixed instruments, read from `dist/`
+ * as this package's other kernel tests read them.
+ */
+
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
+import { ObjectKernel, type Plugin, type PluginContext } from '@objectstack/core';
+import { ObjectQLPlugin } from '@objectstack/objectql';
+import { SqlDriver } from '@objectstack/driver-sql';
+import {
+  InMemoryCryptoProvider,
+  SettingsService,
+  SettingsServicePlugin,
+} from '@objectstack/service-settings';
+import { AuthPlugin } from './auth-plugin.js';
+
+vi.mock('./membership-backfill-ledger.js', async (importOriginal) => {
+  const actual = await importOriginal<typeof import('./membership-backfill-ledger.js')>();
+  return {
+    ...actual,
+    runOneTimeMembershipBackfill: vi.fn(actual.runOneTimeMembershipBackfill),
+  };
+});
+
+import { runOneTimeMembershipBackfill } from './membership-backfill-ledger.js';
+
+const backfillSpy = vi.mocked(runOneTimeMembershipBackfill);
+
+const SYS = { isSystem: true } as const;
+
+/**
+ * The persisted value. The manifest default for `auth.membership_policy` is
+ * `auto`, so a read answered from the in-memory fallback cannot produce this.
+ */
+const PERSISTED_POLICY = 'invite-only';
+
+/** Env the auth settings read or the backfill branches on; cleared per case. */
+const ENV_KEYS = [
+  'OS_AUTH_MEMBERSHIP_POLICY',
+  'OS_SKIP_MEMBERSHIP_BACKFILL',
+  'OS_TENANCY_POSTURE',
+  'OS_MULTI_ORG_ENABLED',
+] as const;
+
+/** Publishes an in-memory SQLite driver the way a datasource plugin does. */
+function sqliteDriverPlugin(): Plugin {
+  return {
+    name: 'test.driver.sqlite',
+    type: 'standard',
+    version: '1.0.0',
+    async init(ctx: PluginContext) {
+      ctx.registerService(
+        'driver.default',
+        new SqlDriver({ client: 'better-sqlite3', connection: { filename: ':memory:' }, useNullAsDefault: true }),
+      );
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+/** What the app plugin saw at the moment it emitted `app:seeded`. */
+interface SeedObservation {
+  /** Whether `SettingsService` had its data engine bound at that instant. */
+  engineBound?: boolean;
+}
+
+/**
+ * An app plugin in `AppPlugin`'s place: it starts after the auth plugin (no
+ * edge between them, registered later), and its `start()` writes rows and then
+ * emits `app:seeded`, as `AppPlugin.start()` does when its inline seed lands.
+ *
+ * The row is the `auth.membership_policy` a previous boot persisted — the
+ * `global` rung, so `sys_platform_setting` (ADR-0131 D7).
+ *
+ * `forcePreBindRead` is the control: the same plugin reads the `auth`
+ * namespace itself, inside the window.
+ */
+function seedingAppPlugin(seen: SeedObservation, opts: { forcePreBindRead?: boolean } = {}): Plugin {
+  return {
+    name: 'com.example.seeded-app',
+    type: 'app',
+    version: '1.0.0',
+    dependencies: ['com.objectstack.engine.objectql'],
+    async init() {},
+    async start(ctx: PluginContext) {
+      const ql = ctx.getService<{ insert(o: string, d: unknown, opts?: unknown): Promise<unknown> }>('objectql');
+      await ql.insert(
+        'sys_platform_setting',
+        { namespace: 'auth', key: 'membership_policy', value: PERSISTED_POLICY, encrypted: false, locked: false },
+        { context: SYS },
+      );
+      const settings = ctx.getService<SettingsService>('settings');
+      // Reaching into the private field on purpose, as the reporter's own suite
+      // does: "was the engine bound at this instant" is the fact the window is
+      // defined by, and there is no public spelling of it.
+      seen.engineBound = Boolean((settings as unknown as { engine?: unknown }).engine);
+      if (opts.forcePreBindRead) await settings.getNamespace('auth');
+      await ctx.trigger('app:seeded', { appId: 'com.example.seeded-app', overBudget: false });
+    },
+  };
+}
+
+describe('a seeded boot reads the auth settings after the settings engine binds (#22257)', () => {
+  let kernel: ObjectKernel | undefined;
+  const savedEnv: Partial<Record<(typeof ENV_KEYS)[number], string | undefined>> = {};
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    for (const key of ENV_KEYS) {
+      savedEnv[key] = process.env[key];
+      delete process.env[key];
+    }
+    backfillSpy.mockClear();
+  });
+
+  afterEach(async () => {
+    try {
+      await kernel?.shutdown();
+    } catch {
+      /* a refused boot leaves the kernel stopped */
+    }
+    kernel = undefined;
+    for (const key of ENV_KEYS) {
+      if (savedEnv[key] === undefined) delete process.env[key];
+      else process.env[key] = savedEnv[key];
+    }
+    vi.restoreAllMocks();
+  });
+
+  /**
+   * Boot the composition. The kernel logger's `warn` is spied on the INSTANCE:
+   * `SettingsServicePlugin.init` stores `ctx.logger`, which is that same object,
+   * so this is what the reporter really calls.
+   */
+  async function boot(opts: { forcePreBindRead?: boolean } = {}) {
+    const namespaceReads = vi.spyOn(SettingsService.prototype, 'getNamespace');
+    kernel = new ObjectKernel({ logger: { level: 'silent' } });
+    const kernelLogger = (kernel as unknown as {
+      logger: { warn: (message: string, meta?: unknown) => void };
+    }).logger;
+    const warn = vi.spyOn(kernelLogger, 'warn').mockImplementation(() => {});
+
+    const seen: SeedObservation = {};
+    await kernel.use(sqliteDriverPlugin());
+    await kernel.use(new ObjectQLPlugin());
+    // `os serve` uses the auth plugin before its capability loop registers the
+    // settings plugin; the declared edge, not this order, puts settings first.
+    await kernel.use(new AuthPlugin({ secret: 'test-secret-at-least-32-chars-long', baseUrl: 'http://localhost:3000' }));
+    await kernel.use(new SettingsServicePlugin({ registerRoutes: false, cryptoProvider: new InMemoryCryptoProvider() }));
+    await kernel.use(seedingAppPlugin(seen, opts));
+    await kernel.bootstrap();
+
+    const preBindReads = () =>
+      warn.mock.calls.map((c) => String(c[0])).filter((m) => m.includes('Pre-bind READ'));
+    return { seen, preBindReads, namespaceReads };
+  }
+
+  it('reports no Pre-bind READ, and the auth binding and the one-time pass read the persisted value', async () => {
+    const { seen, preBindReads, namespaceReads } = await boot();
+
+    // 1. The window is real here: `app:seeded` fired before the bind.
+    expect(seen.engineBound, 'app:seeded must fire inside the pre-bind window, or this case measures nothing').toBe(false);
+
+    // 2. The card's Done-when.
+    expect(preBindReads()).toEqual([]);
+
+    // 3. The value the auth binding saw is the persisted one, not the default.
+    const authReadIndex = namespaceReads.mock.calls.findIndex(([namespace]) => namespace === 'auth');
+    expect(authReadIndex, 'the auth plugin never read the auth namespace').toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(0);
+    const firstAuthRead = (await namespaceReads.mock.results[authReadIndex]!.value) as {
+      values: Record<string, { value?: unknown; source?: unknown }>;
+    };
+    expect(firstAuthRead.values.membership_policy).toMatchObject({ value: PERSISTED_POLICY, source: 'global' });
+
+    // …and the one-time membership pass decided under it, on every run.
+    expect(backfillSpy).toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(backfillSpy.mock.calls.map(([, deps]) => deps.policy)).toEqual(
+      backfillSpy.mock.calls.map(() => PERSISTED_POLICY),
+    );
+  }, 30_000);
+
+  it('control: a pre-bind read forced in the same composition IS reported, once, for auth', async () => {
+    const { seen, preBindReads } = await boot({ forcePreBindRead: true });
+
+    expect(seen.engineBound).toBe(false);
+    const reports = preBindReads();
+    expect(reports).toHaveLength(1);
+    expect(reports[0]).toContain("Pre-bind READ of namespace 'auth'");
+  }, 30_000);
+});
@@ -48,6 +48,14 @@ export default defineConfig({
         find: /^@objectstack\/formula$/,
         replacement: path.resolve(here, '../../formula/src/index.ts'),
       },
+      // [#22257] `auth-settings-seeded-boot.pin.test.ts` boots the REAL
+      // `SettingsServicePlugin` beside `AuthPlugin`: the pre-bind window it
+      // pins is that plugin's bind hook and that service's reporter. Same
+      // reason and the same anchoring as the entries above.
+      {
+        find: /^@objectstack\/service-settings$/,
+        replacement: path.resolve(here, '../../services/service-settings/src/index.ts'),
+      },
     ],
   },
 });