diff --git a/.changeset/18401-meta-generic-branch-itemless-success.md b/.changeset/18401-meta-generic-branch-itemless-success.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e9125b75364
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/18401-meta-generic-branch-itemless-success.md
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/runtime": patch
+---
+
+The dispatcher's `/meta` domain answers `GET /meta/:type/:name` for a name with nothing behind it with `404 RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND` on its generic `:type/:name` branch, instead of announcing the miss as a `200` (#18401).
+
+**Clause-②: no** — no schema key moves, no accept set widens or narrows, no export changes, and no error code is minted: the refusal reuses the branch's own existing `deps.error('Not found', 404)`, whose code `standardErrorCodeForHttpStatus` already derives.
+
+`protocol.getMetaItem` answers a miss with the protection envelope wrapped around an absent item — `{ type, name, item: undefined, lock, editable, deletable, resettable }`, because `resolveLockState(undefined, false)` is unconditional — never with `undefined`. The generic branch returned that straight through, and `JSON.stringify` at the transport then dropped the `item` member, so a caller was handed a `200` whose body is the declared `GetMetaItemResponseSchema` envelope **minus its required member**.
+
+- **The branch disagreed with its own sibling.** The `object` branch of the same function already refused that exact shape and answered `404`, so one function answered "does absence mean success?" both ways, decided by which type you asked for. The generic branch now runs the same hit test.
+- **A miss still falls through, it is not a hard refusal.** An item-less protocol answer hands the read on to the `MetadataService` resolver exactly as the object branch hands its own on to the ObjectQL registry; only a read that no resolver can satisfy reaches the `404`.
+- **No new refusal dialect.** The fall-through ends at the branch's own pre-existing `404`, the ADR-0112 nested `{ success:false, error:{ code, message, httpStatus } }` this file already speaks — so the separate question of how this route spells its refusals is untouched.
+- **What a caller observes**: a name with no item behind it. A request that was previously answered `200` with an item-less body is now answered `404`; a request that resolves to a real item is byte-identical to before, protection envelope included.
diff --git a/packages/runtime/src/domains/meta-item-absent-404.test.ts b/packages/runtime/src/domains/meta-item-absent-404.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..50536893c87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/runtime/src/domains/meta-item-absent-404.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,205 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+/**
+ * [#18401] `GET /meta/:type/:name` on the dispatcher's `/meta` domain, for a
+ * name with NOTHING behind it — on the GENERIC `:type/:name` branch.
+ *
+ * The generic branch returned `protocol.getMetaItem`'s answer straight through
+ * with `deps.success(data)`. That producer answers a miss with the protection
+ * envelope wrapped around an absent item — `{ type, name, item: undefined,
+ * lock, editable, deletable, resettable }`, because `resolveLockState(undefined,
+ * false)` is unconditional — never with `undefined`. So the miss arrived at the
+ * caller as a `200`, and `JSON.stringify` at the transport dropped the `item`
+ * member on the way out: the declared envelope MINUS its required member,
+ * announced as a hit.
+ *
+ * ── Why this is execution and not a design question ─────────────────────────
+ *
+ * Three declarations already agreed with each other and against this one
+ * branch; only the branch was wrong.
+ *
+ *  1. The `object` branch of the SAME function refuses the identical shape
+ *     ("only treat the lookup as a hit when `item` is really there") and 404s.
+ *     §3 below pins the two branches answering one question one way.
+ *  2. `GetMetaItemResponseSchema` declares `item` a required member while every
+ *     genuinely-optional key beside it is spelled `.optional()`. §2 asserts that
+ *     against the wire body rather than restating it.
+ *  3. The REST twin of this door refuses the same shape (#18066).
+ *
+ * ── What this file deliberately does NOT do ─────────────────────────────────
+ *
+ * It adds no refusal DIALECT. The fall-through ends at the branch's own
+ * `deps.error('Not found', 404)` — the ADR-0112 nested `{ success:false,
+ * error:{ code, message, httpStatus } }` this file already speaks everywhere —
+ * so the three-dialect question #18402 raises about this route is neither
+ * answered nor pre-empted here.
+ */
+
+import { describe, it, expect, vi } from 'vitest';
+import { GetMetaItemResponseSchema } from '@objectstack/spec/api';
+import { HttpDispatcher } from '../http-dispatcher.js';
+
+const AGENT = { name: 'triage_bot', label: 'Triage Bot', model: 'claude' };
+const CUSTOMER = { name: 'customer', label: 'Customer', fields: { id: { type: 'text' } } };
+
+/**
+ * ⭐ THE FIXTURE THAT MATTERS: what `metadata-protocol`'s `getMetaItem` really
+ * resolves for a miss, key for key — the envelope with `item` present and
+ * holding `undefined`, NOT `undefined` itself. A double that answers
+ * `undefined` never reproduces this defect, because it never had an envelope to
+ * lose a member from.
+ */
+function absentItemEnvelope(type: string, name: string) {
+    return {
+        type, name,
+        item: undefined,
+        lock: 'none', editable: true, deletable: true, resettable: false,
+    };
+}
+
+/** Build a dispatcher whose kernel resolves exactly the named services. */
+function make(services: Record<string, any>) {
+    const kernel = {
+        getServiceAsync: async (name: string) => services[name] ?? null,
+        getService: (name: string) => services[name] ?? null,
+        context: { getService: (name: string) => services[name] ?? null },
+    } as any;
+    return new HttpDispatcher(kernel);
+}
+
+const ctx = (): any => ({
+    request: {},
+    environmentId: 'platform',
+    executionContext: { userId: 'u1', systemPermissions: [] },
+});
+
+/**
+ * A protocol double whose `getMetaItem` knows `corpus` and answers
+ * {@link absentItemEnvelope} — the live producer's miss — for anything else.
+ */
+function protocolDouble(corpus: Record<string, unknown> = {}, extra: Record<string, unknown> = {}) {
+    return {
+        getMetaItem: vi.fn(async ({ type, name }: any) => {
+            const hit = corpus[`${type}/${name}`];
+            return hit === undefined
+                ? absentItemEnvelope(type, name)
+                : { type, name, item: hit, lock: 'none', editable: true, deletable: true, resettable: false };
+        }),
+        ...extra,
+    };
+}
+
+/** The wire body, after the serialization that drops an `undefined` member. */
+const onWire = (body: any) => JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(body));
+
+type Answered = NonNullable<Awaited<ReturnType<HttpDispatcher['handleMetadata']>>['response']>;
+
+/**
+ * The dispatcher's answer, or a loud failure. The optional-chained
+ * `res.response?.` spelling is what the siblings in this directory use, but
+ * every NEGATIVE assertion below
+ * (`toBeUndefined()`, `not.toBe(200)`) passes vacuously against an unhandled
+ * result, which is the one outcome that must not read as a pass here. So this
+ * file refuses the optional rather than reaching through it.
+ */
+function answered(res: { response?: Answered }): Answered {
+    if (!res.response) throw new Error('the dispatcher did not handle the request - there is no answer to assert on');
+    return res.response;
+}
+
+describe('#18401 dispatcher /meta generic branch — an item-less envelope is a MISS, not a success', () => {
+    it('§1 refuses an absent name with 404 RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND instead of the item-less 200', async () => {
+        const protocol = protocolDouble();
+        const res = await make({ protocol }).handleMetadata('/agent/no_such_agent_xyz', ctx(), 'GET');
+
+        // The refusal comes from the item-less guard, not from an absent
+        // protocol handle: the producer really was consulted.
+        expect(protocol.getMetaItem).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+            expect.objectContaining({ type: 'agent', name: 'no_such_agent_xyz' }),
+        );
+        const answer = answered(res);
+        expect(answer.status).toBe(404);
+        // ADR-0112 nested envelope: `code` and `status` are the minimal pin.
+        expect(answer.body.error.code).toBe('RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND');
+        expect(answer.body.error.httpStatus).toBe(404);
+        expect(answer.body.success).toBe(false);
+    });
+
+    it('§2 the item-less envelope never reaches the wire as a 200 — it does not satisfy the response contract', async () => {
+        const res = await make({ protocol: protocolDouble() })
+            .handleMetadata('/agent/no_such_agent_xyz', ctx(), 'GET');
+
+        // The shape the branch used to serve, measured against the schema the
+        // route declares. Asserted here so the pin states WHY 200 was wrong,
+        // not merely that the number changed.
+        const wouldHaveShipped = onWire(absentItemEnvelope('agent', 'no_such_agent_xyz'));
+        expect('item' in wouldHaveShipped).toBe(false);
+        expect(GetMetaItemResponseSchema.safeParse(wouldHaveShipped).success).toBe(false);
+
+        // And it is not what the caller gets.
+        const answer = answered(res);
+        expect(answer.status).not.toBe(200);
+        expect(answer.body.data).toBeUndefined();
+    });
+
+    it('§3 the `object` branch and the generic branch answer absence THE SAME WAY (the finding)', async () => {
+        // Same function, same question, entered through two different types.
+        // `getProjectId` puts the object branch on its scoped path — the one
+        // that consults the protocol first, exactly as the generic branch does.
+        const generic = await make({ protocol: protocolDouble() })
+            .handleMetadata('/agent/nobody_home', ctx(), 'GET');
+        const object = await make({ protocol: protocolDouble({}, { getProjectId: () => 'env_1' }) })
+            .handleMetadata('/object/nobody_home', ctx(), 'GET');
+
+        const g = answered(generic);
+        const o = answered(object);
+        expect(g.status).toBe(o.status);
+        expect(g.body.error.code).toBe(o.body.error.code);
+        expect(g.status).toBe(404);
+    });
+
+    it('§4 an item-less protocol answer FALLS THROUGH to the MetadataService rather than terminating the read', async () => {
+        // The guard is a miss test, not a hard refusal: the later resolvers in
+        // the chain must still get their turn, the way the object branch's
+        // registry fallback does.
+        const protocol = protocolDouble();
+        const getItem = vi.fn(async () => AGENT);
+        const res = await make({ protocol, metadata: { getItem } })
+            .handleMetadata('/agents/triage_bot', ctx(), 'GET');
+
+        expect(protocol.getMetaItem).toHaveBeenCalled();
+        expect(getItem).toHaveBeenCalled();
+        const answer = answered(res);
+        expect(answer.status).toBe(200);
+        // The plural URL segment still resolves to the canonical singular.
+        expect(answer.body.data).toMatchObject({ type: 'agent', name: 'triage_bot' });
+        expect(answer.body.data.item).toMatchObject({ label: 'Triage Bot', model: 'claude' });
+    });
+
+    it('§5 a real hit is untouched — the whole protection envelope still passes through', async () => {
+        // The control: if the guard were reading the wrong member, or reading it
+        // too strictly, this is the assertion that fails. Every value read comes
+        // from INSIDE the answer, so a vacuous pass is not available.
+        const protocol = protocolDouble({ 'agent/triage_bot': AGENT });
+        const res = await make({ protocol }).handleMetadata('/agent/triage_bot', ctx(), 'GET');
+
+        const answer = answered(res);
+        expect(answer.status).toBe(200);
+        expect(answer.body.data).toMatchObject({
+            type: 'agent', name: 'triage_bot', lock: 'none', editable: true, deletable: true,
+        });
+        expect(answer.body.data.item).toMatchObject({ label: 'Triage Bot', model: 'claude' });
+        // And the answer this branch DOES serve satisfies the route's declared
+        // response contract on the wire, `item` member included.
+        expect(GetMetaItemResponseSchema.safeParse(onWire(answer.body.data)).success).toBe(true);
+    });
+
+    it('§6 the object branch still serves its own hit — the sibling is not collateral', async () => {
+        const protocol = protocolDouble({ 'object/customer': CUSTOMER }, { getProjectId: () => 'env_1' });
+        const res = await make({ protocol }).handleMetadata('/object/customer', ctx(), 'GET');
+
+        const answer = answered(res);
+        expect(answer.status).toBe(200);
+        expect(answer.body.data.item).toMatchObject({ label: 'Customer' });
+    });
+});
diff --git a/packages/runtime/src/domains/meta.ts b/packages/runtime/src/domains/meta.ts
index b2c9a06fb1a..4e5e86dde30 100644
--- a/packages/runtime/src/domains/meta.ts
+++ b/packages/runtime/src/domains/meta.ts
@@ -870,7 +870,35 @@ export async function handleMetadataRequest(deps: DomainHandlerDeps, path: strin
                     // Admin gating is layered on top in a follow-up (step 2).
                     const previewDrafts = query?.preview === 'draft';
                     const data = await protocol.getMetaItem({ type: singularType, name, packageId, organizationId, previewDrafts });
-                    return { handled: true, response: deps.success(data) };
+                    // [#18401] The SAME hit test the `object` branch above runs,
+                    // asked here for the same reason. `getMetaItem` answers a
+                    // miss with the protection envelope around an absent item —
+                    // `{ type, name, item: undefined, lock, editable, deletable,
+                    // resettable }`, because `resolveLockState(undefined, false)`
+                    // is unconditional — never with `undefined`. Returned
+                    // straight through, `JSON.stringify` at the transport drops
+                    // the `item` member and the caller is handed a 200 whose body
+                    // is the declared envelope MINUS its required member: the
+                    // route reports a hit for a name with nothing behind it.
+                    //
+                    // ⭐ What made this a defect rather than a rough edge is that
+                    // this function already answered the same question the other
+                    // way one branch up: `object` refuses the item-less envelope
+                    // and 404s. One function, two opposite answers to "does
+                    // absence mean success?", selected by which type you asked
+                    // for. `GetMetaItemResponseSchema` declares `item` required,
+                    // and the REST twin of this door refuses the identical shape
+                    // (#18066) — three declarations agreeing against one branch.
+                    //
+                    // ⛔ This adds no new refusal dialect. The fall-through ends
+                    // at this block's OWN `deps.error('Not found', 404)` below —
+                    // the ADR-0112 nested envelope every other refusal in this
+                    // file already speaks — so the dialect question #18402 raises
+                    // about this route is untouched here, neither answered nor
+                    // pre-empted.
+                    if (data?.item != null) {
+                        return { handled: true, response: deps.success(data) };
+                    }
                  } catch (e: any) {
                     // Protocol might throw if not found or not supported
                  }