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diff --git a/‎packages/core/src/utils/import-runner-reference-exposure.test.ts‎
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diff --git a/‎packages/rest/src/import-template.test.ts‎
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@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/core': minor
+---
+
+fix(core)!: an import reads WHICH fields are references through the spec's arbiter, so a `user` field written without `reference` resolves against `sys_user` (#22785)
+
+Clause-②: yes (narrowing)
+
+<!-- adr-0087: not-required (no-migration-prescription) No metadata moves: no spec key, authorable spelling, exported declaration or stored shape is removed, renamed or re-shaped, so there is nothing for `objectstack migrate meta` to rewrite. What changes is the runtime answer of one field map, `buildFieldMetaMap`, for a `user` field written without `reference`: the import resolves its cell against `sys_user`, which refuses the id of a user the caller cannot see, and the export expands its column into the user's name. Both answers are the ones a `Field.user` field already gets; the author's metadata stays as written. The other categories are closed on facts: the package publishes (not unpublished); no ADR-0087 id is named or touched (not registered or already-registered); no exported declaration is removed or narrowed, `ExportFieldMeta` and `buildFieldMetaMap` keep their signatures (not runtime-interface-only or type-surface-only). -->
+
+**BREAKING** (an accept-set narrowing and a change to published output), shipped as `minor` under the launch-window convention for breaking changes. Two populations are affected, both only for a `user` field written without `reference`:
+
+- an import row whose cell holds the id of a user the caller cannot see (a user outside the caller's organizations): stored before, `reference_not_found` now, as on a `Field.user` field;
+- a downstream reader of that column in `GET /api/v1/data/:object/export`: the cell held the stored user id and now holds the user's name, as a `Field.user` column already does.
+
+A `user` field's target is fixed by its type: the spec's arbiter `referenceTargetOf` gives `{ type: 'user' }` the target `sys_user` whether or not `reference` is written (`Field.user()` writes it; hand-written JSON, a form or an AI author may not), and the data door's `$expand` already reads it that way. `buildFieldMetaMap`, the field map behind the import, export and import-template doors, counted a field as a reference only when it carried a `reference` string, so those doors disagreed with the arbiter for such a field. It now asks the arbiter both whether a field is a reference and what its target is.
+
+**Door by door, before and after.** Measured on a real boot, as an administrator and as a member, on a fixture object holding a `user` field written without `reference` beside a `Field.user` one; the connector pull through its executor over a stub protocol.
+
+- **Import: `POST /api/v1/data/:object/import`, `POST /api/v1/data/:object/import/jobs`, and a mapping's `connectorSource` pull (same runner).**
+  - FROM: a cell holding a user's email or name was written as the field's id, so the row failed `reference_not_found` ("no sys_user record has id …") and nothing was stored.
+  - TO: the cell is matched against `sys_user` exactly as on a `Field.user` field, so an email or a name stores the user's id. A pasted id of a user the caller can see still stores. A value matching no user still fails `reference_not_found`, now in the import's own words ("no record matches …"), and a name matching several users fails `reference_ambiguous`.
+  - `sys_user` is asked its declared exposure first, as every lookup target is: where its `enable` declaration refuses `list`, the cell is refused.
+- **The one population that narrows, to `Field.user`'s answer.** A pasted id of a user the caller's row scope hides (a user outside the caller's organizations) used to store, since the write's own reference check runs elevated. It now fails `reference_not_found`, as it already did on a `Field.user` field. The data door's `POST /api/v1/data/:object` is unchanged and still accepts that id.
+- **Export: `GET /api/v1/data/:object/export`.** FROM: the column carried the stored user id (JSON and CSV). TO: it is expanded like a `Field.user` column and renders the user's name, so an exported file imports back through the name.
+- **Import template: `GET /api/v1/data/:object/export?template=true`.** FROM: the column's instructions named no target ("The name of a  record, or its id."). TO: they name `sys_user` by its label ("The name of a User record, or its id.").
+- **Unchanged:**
+  - `Field.user` and every field declaring `reference`.
+  - A `lookup`, `master_detail` or `tree` field without `reference`: the arbiter names no target for it.
+  - A non-reference type declaring `reference`: still no target.
+  - A present `reference` that is not a string: still no target, and no throw.
+  - plugin-auth's identity import, which reads `sys_user`'s own map. That map has no reference-typed field without `reference`, so it is identical.
+
+**Fix, if a pipeline relied on the old answer:** none is needed for one that wrote visible user ids. A pipeline that imported ids of users outside the caller's organizations runs as a caller who can see them, as a `Field.user` field already required. A reader that needs the stored user id takes it from the record read (`GET /api/v1/data/:object`, without `expand`), not from the export.
@@ -18,11 +18,12 @@ export interface ExportFieldMeta {
   label?: string;
   options?: Array<{ label?: string; value?: unknown; color?: string }>;
   /**
-   * Target object of a field that declares a `reference` string, read through
-   * the spec's one arbiter `referenceTargetOf` (so a non-reference type names
-   * none). The import's reference resolution matches cells against it and asks
-   * it its exposure first (#22739). Only a declared `reference` makes a field
-   * one: a `user` field written without it keeps no target here, as before.
+   * Target object of a reference field: WHICH fields are references, and their
+   * target, are both the spec's one arbiter `referenceTargetOf`'s answer — so a
+   * non-reference type names none, and a `user` field written without
+   * `reference` names `sys_user`, as `$expand` reads it (#22785). The import's
+   * reference resolution matches cells against it and asks it its exposure
+   * first (#22739).
    */
   reference?: string;
   /** Field on the referenced record to show as its label. */
@@ -87,7 +88,9 @@ export function buildFieldMetaMap(schema: unknown): Map<string, ExportFieldMeta>
       type: typeof f.type === 'string' ? f.type : undefined,
       label: typeof f.label === 'string' ? f.label : undefined,
       options: Array.isArray(f.options) ? f.options : undefined,
-      reference: typeof f.reference === 'string' ? referenceTargetOf(f) : undefined,
+      // A present non-string carrier stays out of the arbiter, which throws on
+      // it: such a field names no target here, as before.
+      reference: f.reference == null || typeof f.reference === 'string' ? referenceTargetOf(f) : undefined,
       displayField: typeof f.displayField === 'string' ? f.displayField : undefined,
       multiple: f.multiple === true,
     });
 
@@ -91,32 +91,51 @@ describe('[#22739] import reference resolution asks the target its declared expo
 });
 
 /**
- * CONTROL — which fields the import treats as references is unchanged: a field
- * declaring a `reference` string. A `user` field written without one is NOT
- * resolved (its raw cell reaches the write, as on `main`), although the spec's
- * arbiter gives it `sys_user`; adopting that target widens the accept set and
- * is not this change. A non-reference type declaring `reference` names no target.
+ * [#22785] WHICH fields are references is the spec arbiter's answer too: a
+ * `user` field written without `reference` targets `sys_user`, as `$expand`
+ * reads it, so its cell is resolved like a `Field.user` one. The widened
+ * target is still asked its exposure first. A non-reference type declaring
+ * `reference`, and a non-string carrier, name no target (and do not throw).
+ * The real import and export doors: `import-user-field-target.dogfood.test.ts`.
  */
-describe('[#22739] the reference field set stays the declared-reference set', () => {
-  it('a user field without reference passes its cell through unresolved; one declaring it is resolved', async () => {
-    const meta = buildFieldMetaMap({ fields: {
-      owner: { type: 'user', label: 'Owner' },
-      assignee: { type: 'user', label: 'Assignee', reference: 'sys_user' },
-      amount: { type: 'number', label: 'Amount', reference: 'rx_target' },
-    } });
-    expect([meta.get('owner')!.reference, meta.get('assignee')!.reference, meta.get('amount')!.reference]).toEqual([undefined, 'sys_user', undefined]);
-
-    const findData = vi.fn(async (args: FindArgs) => (args.object === 'sys_user' && Object.values(args.query!.where!)[0] === 'Ann' ? [{ id: 'u_ann' }] : []));
-    const getMetaItem = vi.fn(async ({ name }: { type: string; name: string }) => ({ type: 'object', name, item: { name } }));
+describe('[#22785] a user field without reference resolves through the arbiter target', () => {
+  const EMAIL = 'ann@iuf.test';
+  const fields = {
+    owner: { type: 'user', label: 'Owner' },
+    assignee: { type: 'user', label: 'Assignee', reference: 'sys_user' },
+    amount: { type: 'number', label: 'Amount', reference: 'rx_target' },
+    broken: { type: 'user', label: 'Broken', reference: { object: 'sys_user' } },
+  };
+  const userProtocol = (rows: Array<Record<string, unknown>>, enable?: unknown) => {
+    const findData = vi.fn(async (args: FindArgs) => (args.object === 'sys_user' && (args.query!.where as Record<string, unknown>).email === EMAIL ? [{ id: 'u_ann' }] : []));
+    const getMetaItem = vi.fn(async ({ name }: { type: string; name: string }) => ({ type: 'object', name, item: { name, ...(enable ? { enable } : {}) } }));
     const createData = vi.fn(async (a: { data: Record<string, unknown> }) => ({ id: 'new', ...a.data }));
     const p: ImportProtocolLike = { findData, getMetaItem, createData, updateData: vi.fn() };
-    const summary = await runImport({
-      p, objectName: 'rx_source', metaMap: meta, writeMode: 'insert', matchFields: [], dryRun: false,
-      runAutomations: false, trimWhitespace: true, createMissingOptions: false, skipBlankMatchKey: false,
-      rows: [{ owner: 'Ann', assignee: 'Ann' }],
+    const summary = runImport({
+      p, objectName: 'rx_source', metaMap: buildFieldMetaMap({ fields }), writeMode: 'insert', matchFields: [], dryRun: false,
+      runAutomations: false, trimWhitespace: true, createMissingOptions: false, skipBlankMatchKey: false, rows,
+    });
+    return { summary, findData, getMetaItem, createData };
+  };
+  const OK = { ok: true, code: undefined, field: undefined };
+
+  it('names sys_user for both user fields, and no target for a non-reference type or a non-string carrier', () => {
+    const meta = buildFieldMetaMap({ fields });
+    expect(['owner', 'assignee', 'amount', 'broken'].map((f) => meta.get(f)!.reference)).toEqual(['sys_user', 'sys_user', undefined, undefined]);
+  });
+
+  for (const field of ['owner', 'assignee'] as const) {
+    it(`${field === 'owner' ? 'the field without reference' : 'CONTROL Field.user'}: an email stores the user id, sys_user asked once`, async () => {
+      const { summary, getMetaItem, createData } = userProtocol([{ [field]: EMAIL }]);
+      expect((await summary).results.map(verdict)).toEqual([OK]);
+      expect(createData.mock.calls.map(([a]) => a.data)).toEqual([{ [field]: 'u_ann' }]);
+      expect(getMetaItem.mock.calls.map(([r]) => r.name)).toEqual(['sys_user']);
     });
-    expect(summary.results.map(verdict)).toEqual([{ ok: true, code: undefined, field: undefined }]);
-    expect(createData.mock.calls[0]![0].data).toMatchObject({ owner: 'Ann', assignee: 'u_ann' });
-    expect(getMetaItem.mock.calls.map(([r]) => r.name)).toEqual(['sys_user']);
+  }
+
+  it('CONTROL — a sys_user the decision does not serve refuses both cells and is never read', async () => {
+    const { summary, findData } = userProtocol([{ owner: EMAIL }, { assignee: EMAIL }], { apiEnabled: false });
+    expect((await summary).results.map(verdict)).toEqual([{ ...NOT_FOUND, field: 'owner' }, { ...NOT_FOUND, field: 'assignee' }]);
+    expect(findData).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 });
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+//
+// [#22785] A `user` field written without `reference` is a reference to
+// `sys_user` at the import and export doors, as the spec's arbiter
+// (`referenceTargetOf`) and the data door's `$expand` read it — on a real boot.
+// The `Field.user` field (which writes `reference: 'sys_user'`) is the control:
+// its answers do not move. The refusal of an unserved target is pinned in
+// core's `import-runner-reference-exposure.test.ts`.
+//
+// `@objectstack/core` (the field map and the runner) resolves through its
+// BUILT output here, so a verdict on a change to it is a verdict on its last
+// build.
+
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeAll, afterAll } from 'vitest';
+import { bootStack, type VerifyStack } from '@objectstack/verify';
+import { defineStack } from '@objectstack/spec';
+import { ObjectSchema, Field } from '@objectstack/spec/data';
+import { PermissionSetSchema } from '@objectstack/spec/security';
+import { SecurityPlugin, securityDefaultPermissionSets } from '@objectstack/plugin-security';
+
+const SYS = { context: { isSystem: true } } as const;
+const ADMIN = 'admin@objectos.ai';
+
+const Task = ObjectSchema.create({
+  name: 'iuf_task',
+  sharingModel: 'public_read_write',
+  label: 'Task',
+  pluralLabel: 'Tasks',
+  fields: {
+    name: Field.text({ label: 'Name', required: true }),
+    owner: { type: 'user' as const, label: 'Owner' },
+    assignee: Field.user({ label: 'Assignee' }),
+  },
+});
+
+const stackDef = defineStack({
+  manifest: {
+    id: 'com.dogfood.import-user-field-target',
+    namespace: 'iuf',
+    version: '0.0.0',
+    type: 'app',
+    name: 'Import User Field Target Fixture',
+    description: 'A user field written without reference beside a Field.user one, at the import and export doors.',
+  },
+  objects: [Task],
+});
+
+/** Read, create and export on the fixture object, so the export door answers. */
+const exporter = PermissionSetSchema.parse({
+  name: 'iuf_fixture_exporter',
+  label: 'Import user field fixture exporter',
+  objects: { iuf_task: { allowRead: true, allowCreate: true, allowExport: true } },
+});
+
+type Row = { ok: boolean; code?: string; field?: string; id?: string };
+
+describe('[#22785] a user field without reference resolves to sys_user at the import and export doors', () => {
+  let stack: VerifyStack;
+  let token = '';
+  let adminId = '';
+  let ql: any;
+
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    stack = await bootStack(stackDef as never, {
+      security: new SecurityPlugin({ defaultPermissionSets: [...securityDefaultPermissionSets, exporter], fallbackPermissionSet: exporter.name }),
+    });
+    token = await stack.signIn();
+    ql = await stack.kernel.getServiceAsync('objectql');
+    adminId = String((await ql.find('sys_user', { where: { email: ADMIN }, ...SYS }))[0].id);
+  }, 180_000);
+
+  afterAll(async () => {
+    await stack?.stop?.();
+  });
+
+  const doors = {
+    sync: async (rows: object[]): Promise<Row[]> => {
+      const res = await stack.apiAs(token, 'POST', '/data/iuf_task/import', { format: 'json', rows, runAutomations: false });
+      expect(res.status, await res.clone().text()).toBe(200);
+      return ((await res.json()) as { results: Row[] }).results;
+    },
+    jobs: async (rows: object[]): Promise<Row[]> => {
+      const res = await stack.apiAs(token, 'POST', '/data/iuf_task/import/jobs', { format: 'json', rows, runAutomations: false });
+      expect(res.status, await res.clone().text()).toBe(201);
+      const { jobId } = (await res.json()) as { jobId: string };
+      for (let i = 0; i < 200; i++) {
+        const body: any = await (await stack.apiAs(token, 'GET', `/data/import/jobs/${jobId}/results`)).json();
+        if (body.status === 'succeeded') return body.results;
+        expect(['pending', 'running'], JSON.stringify(body)).toContain(body.status);
+        await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 25));
+      }
+      throw new Error(`import job ${jobId} did not finish`);
+    },
+  };
+
+  for (const door of ['sync', 'jobs'] as const) {
+    for (const field of ['owner', 'assignee'] as const) {
+      it(`${door}: an email in ${field === 'owner' ? 'the field without reference' : 'CONTROL Field.user'} stores the user id`, async () => {
+        const [row] = await doors[door]([{ name: `${door}-${field}`, [field]: ADMIN }]);
+        expect(row!.ok, JSON.stringify(row)).toBe(true);
+        expect((await ql.find('iuf_task', { where: { id: row!.id }, ...SYS }))[0]?.[field]).toBe(adminId);
+      });
+    }
+  }
+
+  it('export: the field without reference renders the user as Field.user does, not the stored id', async () => {
+    await ql.insert('iuf_task', { name: 'export-row', owner: adminId, assignee: adminId }, SYS);
+    const filter = encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify({ name: 'export-row' }));
+    const res = await stack.apiAs(token, 'GET', `/data/iuf_task/export?format=json&filter=${filter}`);
+    expect(res.status, await res.clone().text()).toBe(200);
+    const [row] = (await res.json()) as Array<Record<string, unknown>>;
+    expect(row!.assignee, 'CONTROL Field.user renders a name').not.toBe(adminId);
+    expect(row!.owner).toBe(row!.assignee);
+  });
+});
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import {
   exportContentDisposition,
   formatCellValue,
   buildFieldMetaMap,
+  referenceFieldNames,
   type ExportFieldMeta,
 } from './export-format';
 
@@ -296,3 +297,19 @@ describe('buildFieldMetaMap — presentation keys only (#6536)', () => {
     });
   });
 });
+
+/**
+ * [#22785] The export expands a `user` field written without `reference` like a
+ * `Field.user` one: the map names its target through the spec's arbiter, so its
+ * cell renders the user's name instead of the stored id.
+ */
+describe('referenceFieldNames — the fields the export expands (#22785)', () => {
+  it('a user field without reference is expanded, as Field.user is; a non-reference type is not', () => {
+    const map = buildFieldMetaMap({ fields: {
+      owner: { type: 'user', label: 'Owner' },
+      assignee: { type: 'user', label: 'Assignee', reference: 'sys_user' },
+      amount: { type: 'number', label: 'Amount', reference: 'contracts' },
+    } });
+    expect(referenceFieldNames(map)).toEqual(['owner', 'assignee']);
+  });
+});
@@ -440,6 +440,12 @@ describe('describeTemplateColumns', () => {
     }
   });
 
+  it('[#22785] a user field without reference names sys_user by its label, as Field.user does', () => {
+    const schema = { fields: { owner: { name: 'owner', type: 'user', label: 'Owner' } } };
+    const [owner] = describeTemplateColumns(schema, ['owner'], { locale: 'en', referenceLabels: new Map([['sys_user', 'User']]) });
+    expect(owner.howToFill).toContain('The name of a User record');
+  });
+
   it('a name in ?fields= that is no field of the object is described as such', () => {
     const [unknown] = describeTemplateColumns(KITCHEN_SINK, ['nope'], { locale: 'en' });
     expect(unknown).toMatchObject({ header: 'nope', type: '', howToFill: 'Not a field of this object.' });