diff --git a/.changeset/17975-objectql-per-row-previous-docblock.md b/.changeset/17975-objectql-per-row-previous-docblock.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2051b99186b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/17975-objectql-per-row-previous-docblock.md
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/objectql': patch
+---
+
+docs(objectql): the per-row `before*` docblock states the #16074 rule — a row-invariant-in-effect rewrite is ADMITTED (#17975)
+
+`dispatchPerRowBeforeHooks`'s docblock (ADR-0058 Addendum II, clause D3) still
+said per-row `previous` was supplied *"so a guard can REFUSE the write (throw),
+not so a rewrite can be aimed"*, and a test comment in
+`bulk-write-per-row-hooks.test.ts` said the same. Ruling #16074, landed in
+`@objectstack/spec` by PR #17249, retired that: a per-row `previous`-conditioned
+rewrite is admitted when its written KEY SET is the same on every matched row
+and is assigned IN PLACE, kept safe by the engine's
+`MULTI_UPDATE_HOOK_KEY_DIVERGENCE` refusal (#14099). Key-set divergence, a
+per-row VALUE and a row-conditioned REPLACEMENT of `ctx.input.data` all stay
+outside the contract.
+
+This is published text, not an internal comment: JSDoc on a `private` member
+survives `.d.ts` emit. Measured in the shipped `@objectstack/objectql@17.4.0`
+tarball — the retired sentence is present in six published files, including
+`dist/util-Dw5ZTIII.d.ts:3554`, on a member of the `ObjectQL` class that both
+the `.` and `./core` entrypoints export. Every consumer's editor surfaces it on
+hover, so as soon as spec's changeset is consumed the two packages would state
+opposite contracts.
+
+No behaviour change: the engine already follows the new rule, and the three
+shipped provenance stamps (`email-template-provenance.ts`,
+`sharing-rule-provenance.ts`, `webhook-provenance.ts`) all assign in place. The
+admitted shape's coverage already exists in
+`multi-update-hook-key-divergence.test.ts`; the test comment now points at it.
+
+Graded `patch`: the act moves published PROSE. It adds no exported symbol, no
+key and no accepted value — the accept set was widened by PR #17249 in
+`@objectstack/spec`, not here — so this PR declares no clause ②.
diff --git a/packages/objectql/src/bulk-write-per-row-hooks.test.ts b/packages/objectql/src/bulk-write-per-row-hooks.test.ts
index 8a668c68c30..236be89bfcc 100644
--- a/packages/objectql/src/bulk-write-per-row-hooks.test.ts
+++ b/packages/objectql/src/bulk-write-per-row-hooks.test.ts
@@ -566,8 +566,12 @@ describe('[#5574 / D2] the per-row before context is the SINGLE-RECORD shape', (
   });
 
   it('a `previous`-reading GUARD can now refuse a bulk write per row', async () => {
-    // What per-row `previous` is FOR (D3 says so in as many words): so a guard
-    // can REFUSE, not so a rewrite can be aimed at one row.
+    // ONE of the two things per-row `previous` is FOR (D3 says so in as many
+    // words): so a guard can REFUSE. The other, ruled on #16074, is a
+    // ROW-INVARIANT-IN-EFFECT rewrite — the same written key set on every
+    // matched row, assigned in place — which
+    // `multi-update-hook-key-divergence.test.ts` covers. What stays outside
+    // the contract is a rewrite AIMED at one row.
     const { engine } = await boot([hook('guard', 'beforeUpdate', (ctx) => {
       if ((ctx.previous as any)?.status === 'locked') throw new Error('row is locked');
     })]);
diff --git a/packages/objectql/src/engine.ts b/packages/objectql/src/engine.ts
index aa6ec36f32e..edf4a5eec5c 100644
--- a/packages/objectql/src/engine.ts
+++ b/packages/objectql/src/engine.ts
@@ -3445,10 +3445,15 @@ export class ObjectQL implements IObjectQLEngine {
    * its dispatch — that write-back is what makes "accumulate in dispatch order"
    * true for both spellings rather than only the first.
    *
-   * A rewrite CONDITIONED on the row (`ctx.previous`, `ctx.input.id`) is
-   * outside the contract: it does not scope itself to the row it was decided
-   * on, it widens to every matched row. Per-row `previous` is supplied so a
-   * guard can REFUSE the write (throw), not so a rewrite can be aimed.
+   * A rewrite CONDITIONED on the row (`ctx.previous`, `ctx.input.id`) cannot
+   * scope itself to the row it was decided on: it widens to every matched row.
+   * Per-row `previous` is supplied so a guard can REFUSE the write (throw),
+   * and — ruled on #16074 — so a hook can make a ROW-INVARIANT-IN-EFFECT
+   * rewrite: one whose written KEY SET is the same on every matched row AND is
+   * assigned IN PLACE (`ctx.input.data.x = 1`, never `ctx.input.data = {…}`,
+   * which the recording below cannot attribute). A rewrite AIMED at one row
+   * stays outside the contract, and what makes the admitted shape safe is that
+   * enforcement rather than the hook's good faith.
    *
    * ## D3, ENFORCED — divergent key sets refuse the batch [#14099]
    *