diff --git a/.changeset/18331-objectql-hook-wrappers-per-row-docblocks.md b/.changeset/18331-objectql-hook-wrappers-per-row-docblocks.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a64f616518f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/18331-objectql-hook-wrappers-per-row-docblocks.md
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+---
+'@objectstack/objectql': patch
+---
+
+docs(objectql): the hook-wrapper docblocks state the per-row `before*` contract (#18331)
+
+Two docblocks in `hook-wrappers.ts` stated the RETIRED batch model in the
+present tense: `pickRecordPayload`'s said a predicate (`multi: true`) bulk
+update's `before*` dispatch "still fires once for the batch with no prior row",
+and `pickPreviousPayload`'s "when `previous` is ABSENT" list named that same
+dispatch as an absence case because "it fires ONCE for N matched rows".
+
+Ruling #16074 / ADR-0058 Addendum II (clauses D1/D2) retired that model, and the
+engine already implements the replacement: `dispatchPerRowBeforeHooks` dispatches
+`before*` once per matched row on the single-record shape and binds that row's
+pre-image (`previous: coerceBooleanFields(schema, row)`). So both phases of a
+predicate write now merge, materialise and bind `previous` exactly as a
+single-record write does; what remains unbound is any update-shaped context
+whose prior row is not in hand, which is what the second docblock now says.
+
+This is published text, not an internal comment. Measured against the shipped
+`@objectstack/objectql@17.4.0` tarball: the first docblock is emitted verbatim
+onto the exported `hookRecordState` declaration (`dist/util-Dw5ZTIII.d.ts:8039`,
+and the matching `.d.mts`), reachable from both the `.` and `./core`
+entrypoints, so every consumer's editor surfaces the retired sentence on hover.
+The second docblock does NOT ship — `pickPreviousPayload` is module-private and
+appears in `dist/` only as an `{@link}` reference — but it is the source a
+maintainer reads, and two docblocks one screen apart stating opposite contracts
+is the drift this repairs.
+
+No behaviour change and no assertion change: prose only.
+
+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 (`Clause-②: no`).
diff --git a/packages/objectql/src/hook-wrappers.ts b/packages/objectql/src/hook-wrappers.ts
index 141c57b64f5..89d83464d48 100644
--- a/packages/objectql/src/hook-wrappers.ts
+++ b/packages/objectql/src/hook-wrappers.ts
@@ -1080,12 +1080,13 @@ function declaredFieldsFor(ctx: HookContext): Record<string, unknown> | undefine
  * Materialisation is applied only when the record's persisted state is in hand
  * — an insert (nothing to know) or an update whose prior row was fetched.
  *
- * Since #5038 a predicate bulk update's AFTER dispatch is per row and DOES
- * carry the row's prior state, so it merges and materialises like any
- * single-record write — which is exactly what "`record` is the row's real state,
- * not the bare payload" means (#4862). Its `before*` dispatch still fires once
- * for the batch with no prior row, so that payload is left exactly as it is
- * rather than gaining `null`s that contradict N stored rows.
+ * A predicate bulk update's AFTER dispatch is per row since #5038, and its
+ * `before*` dispatch since #5574 (ADR-0058 Addendum II, D1/D2): both carry the
+ * row's prior state, so both merge and materialise like any single-record
+ * write — which is exactly what "`record` is the row's real state, not the
+ * bare payload" means (#4862). A context whose prior row is not in hand keeps
+ * its payload exactly as it is rather than gaining `null`s that contradict
+ * stored state.
  *
  * Copies, never mutates: `ctx.previous` and `ctx.input.data` are the engine's
  * own objects, observed by the handlers that run after this gate.
@@ -1174,12 +1175,13 @@ function pickRecordPayload(ctx: HookContext): any {
  * identifier from the CEL scope. Same here:
  *   - **insert** — there is no prior state, so `previous` is unbound and any
  *     reference to it is an author error, reported as such;
- *   - **the `before*` dispatch of a predicate (`multi: true`) bulk write** —
- *     it fires ONCE for N matched rows, so there is no single prior record to
- *     bind; `previous` stays unbound rather than being invented. The `after*`
- *     dispatch of that same write is per row since #5038 and binds the row's
- *     own pre-image, so a transition condition there reads exactly as it does
- *     on a single-record write.
+ *   - **any update-shaped context whose prior row is not in hand** — with no
+ *     row there is no single prior record to bind, so `previous` stays unbound
+ *     rather than being invented. A predicate (`multi: true`) bulk write is no
+ *     longer one of these: since #5574 (ADR-0058 Addendum II, D1/D2) it
+ *     dispatches BOTH phases per matched row — `after*` since #5038 — each
+ *     context binding that row's own pre-image, so a transition condition
+ *     reads exactly as it does on a single-record write.
  * Binding `null`/`{}` instead would make `previous.x == null` answer "yes"
  * for a record whose prior state is simply unknown — a fabricated fact, the
  * one thing materialisation is careful never to do.