diff --git a/.changeset/system-overview-by-action-title-parity.md b/.changeset/system-overview-by-action-title-parity.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c8900f1945
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/system-overview-by-action-title-parity.md
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/platform-objects": patch
+---
+
+fix(platform-objects): the System Overview by-action table serves its declared title again, and the default locale bundle is now pinned to the source string (#8721)
+
+`widget_recent_events` was converted into an ADR-0021 single-form — a
+dataset-bound breakdown of `sys_audit_log` events by action — but all four
+hand-authored locale bundles kept serving the title the widget had *before* the
+conversion (`Recent Audit Events` / `最近审计事件` / `最近の監査イベント` /
+`Eventos de Auditoría Recientes`). The translation is what renders, so the
+declared string reached nobody in any locale. Its `description` had drifted the
+same way and in the same direction, one field over.
+
+**The duplicate the stale translation was hiding.** With the source string
+restored, the board carried the same label twice: `widget_events_by_type` (a
+pie) and `widget_recent_events` (a table) both declared `Audit Events by
+Action`, over the same dataset and the same dimension. They looked distinct in a
+running instance only because one of them was serving a stale translation. The
+pair now splits on what each adds — the pie keeps `Audit Events by Action` (the
+share picture), the table becomes **`Event Volume by Action`** (the exact
+per-action count, which is what its `values: ['event_count']` produces and what
+its description already said). All four locales are translated to the new
+strings; the widget **ids are unchanged**, so no translation key, persisted
+widget state or dataset binding moves.
+
+**Why nothing caught it, and what now does.** This package's `apps` /
+`dashboards` / `pages` i18n is hand-authored and cannot be regenerated —
+regenerating would delete ~40 runtime-contributed nav translations per locale —
+so it never had the source-tracking the generated half gets from the extractor.
+Every gate over it made a **key-set** claim (`app-nav-translation-parity.test.ts`
+asserts a translation exists and does not outlive its declaration;
+`check:i18n-coverage` ratchets *untranslated* labels; `check:app-nav-i18n` judges
+the merged nav tree), and a key whose value is stale satisfies all of them.
+
+`app-nav-translation-parity.test.ts` now also asserts the **default locale's
+content**: every statically declared app label, description and nav label, plus
+the dashboard's label, description and every widget title/description, must
+appear in `en.ts` **verbatim**. That claim is available for `en` alone because
+`en` is a copy of the source rather than a translation of it — the same
+invariant the generated half already enforces by rewriting its `en` bundle on
+every extract. What a *translated* locale should do when its source string
+changes is a separate product decision and is deliberately not decided here.
diff --git a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/dashboards/system_overview.dashboard.ts b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/dashboards/system_overview.dashboard.ts
index 006616e43e..3444605e8a 100644
--- a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/dashboards/system_overview.dashboard.ts
+++ b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/dashboards/system_overview.dashboard.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import { Dashboard } from '@objectstack/spec/ui';
  *   1. Platform KPIs       — users / orgs / sessions / packages
  *   2. Security KPIs       — login / config audit counts
  *   3. Distribution charts — audit events by action + by user
- *   4. Recent audit events table
+ *   4. Event volume by action (table)
  *
  * This is a MIXED board, and the split decides who the date bar applies to
  * (#7531, #7613). Row 1 is INVENTORY — "how much of this exists right now" —
@@ -201,13 +201,27 @@ export const SystemOverviewDashboard = Dashboard.create({
       layout: { x: 6, y: 4, w: 6, h: 4 },
     },
 
-    // ── Row 4: Audit events by action ───────────────────────────────
+    // ── Row 4: Event volume by action ───────────────────────────────
     // ADR-0021 single-form: a dataset-bound breakdown of events by action.
     // (The raw recent-events record list belongs in a ListView on
     // sys_audit_log — a row-level lens, not a dashboard analytics widget.)
+    //
+    // The title says "volume", not "events by action", because the Row 3 pie
+    // (`widget_events_by_type`) breaks down the SAME dataset by the SAME
+    // dimension and had the identical title until now — two tiles on one board
+    // labelled `Audit Events by Action`. They read as distinct in a running
+    // instance only because this one was serving a stale translation from
+    // before the ADR-0021 conversion, so the duplicate was invisible in the UI
+    // and visible only in the source. The pair now splits on what each adds:
+    // the pie is the share picture, this table is the exact per-action count
+    // (`values: ['event_count']`).
+    //
+    // The id stays `widget_recent_events` deliberately — it predates the
+    // conversion, and renaming it would break every locale bundle's key and
+    // any persisted per-widget state for a cosmetic gain.
     {
       id: 'widget_recent_events',
-      title: 'Audit Events by Action',
+      title: 'Event Volume by Action',
       // The example actions named here have to be actions the platform can
       // actually emit — this string used to lead with `permission`, which
       // advertised the retired value from a second place on the same board.
diff --git a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/app-nav-translation-parity.test.ts b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/app-nav-translation-parity.test.ts
index 72ad265492..a218480c05 100644
--- a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/app-nav-translation-parity.test.ts
+++ b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/app-nav-translation-parity.test.ts
@@ -20,9 +20,12 @@
 // complete and the ratchet at 0, that tool now reports the truth; this test is
 // the local, CLI-independent version of the same invariant.
 //
-// Setup is deliberately NOT covered here: its nav ids do not exist on the app
-// object at all until the runtime merges contributions in, so this file would
-// have nothing to walk.
+// Setup's nav LEAVES are deliberately NOT covered by the presence direction
+// below: they do not exist on the app object at all until the runtime merges
+// contributions in, so this file would have nothing to walk. (Its nine static
+// group anchors do exist statically, and the default-locale content check at
+// the bottom of this file walks exactly those — see that block's own note for
+// why a content claim can be made where a coverage claim cannot.)
 //
 // Where they ARE covered: `pnpm check:app-nav-i18n`
 // (`packages/cli/scripts/check-app-nav-i18n.mjs`), which boots the real
@@ -42,6 +45,7 @@
 import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
 import { STUDIO_APP } from '../studio.app.js';
 import { ACCOUNT_APP } from '../account.app.js';
+import { SETUP_APP } from '../setup.app.js';
 import { SystemOverviewDashboard } from '../dashboards/index.js';
 import { en } from './en.js';
 import { zhCN } from './zh-CN.js';
@@ -50,13 +54,13 @@ import { esES } from './es-ES.js';
 
 const LOCALES = { en, 'zh-CN': zhCN, 'ja-JP': jaJP, 'es-ES': esES } as const;
 
-/** Every nav id in an app's statically declared navigation tree, depth-first. */
-function navIds(app: { navigation?: unknown[] }): string[] {
-  const out: string[] = [];
+/** Every statically declared nav item of an app, depth-first, with its label. */
+function navItems(app: { navigation?: unknown[] }): Array<{ id: string; label?: string }> {
+  const out: Array<{ id: string; label?: string }> = [];
   const walk = (items: unknown[]) => {
     for (const raw of items ?? []) {
-      const item = raw as { id?: string; children?: unknown[] };
-      if (item?.id) out.push(item.id);
+      const item = raw as { id?: string; label?: string; children?: unknown[] };
+      if (item?.id) out.push({ id: item.id, label: item.label });
       if (Array.isArray(item?.children)) walk(item.children);
     }
   };
@@ -64,6 +68,11 @@ function navIds(app: { navigation?: unknown[] }): string[] {
   return out;
 }
 
+/** Every nav id in an app's statically declared navigation tree, depth-first. */
+function navIds(app: { navigation?: unknown[] }): string[] {
+  return navItems(app).map((item) => item.id);
+}
+
 describe('statically declared app navigation is translated in every locale', () => {
   for (const app of [STUDIO_APP, ACCOUNT_APP] as Array<{ name: string; navigation?: unknown[] }>) {
     for (const [locale, data] of Object.entries(LOCALES)) {
@@ -135,3 +144,131 @@ describe('dashboard widgets are translated in every locale', () => {
     });
   }
 });
+
+// ── The default locale serves the SOURCE string, not an old copy of it ───────
+//
+// Every claim above is a key-set claim: it judges whether a key exists on one
+// side or both. A key whose VALUE has gone stale satisfies all of them, and one
+// did — `widget_recent_events` kept `Recent Audit Events` in all four bundles
+// after the widget was converted into an ADR-0021 by-action breakdown whose
+// declared title says so. Since the translation is what renders, the declared
+// string reached nobody in any locale, under a fully green build.
+//
+// What can be asserted mechanically is the DEFAULT locale, because `en.ts` is a
+// copy of the source rather than a translation of it. That is the same
+// invariant the generated half of this package's i18n already enforces by
+// rewriting the `en` bundle from the source on every extract (see
+// `scripts/i18n-extract.config.ts`); this half is hand-authored and cannot be
+// regenerated — regenerating it would delete ~40 runtime-contributed nav
+// translations per locale — so the invariant is asserted here instead of being
+// produced by a generator.
+//
+// Deliberately NOT claimed here: anything about zh-CN / ja-JP / es-ES. What a
+// translated locale should do when its source string changes (keep serving the
+// stale value, fall back to the source, fail the build) is a product decision,
+// not a test's to invent. This block is the half that needs no decision; the
+// half that does is #8765, and note what pinning `en` does to it — the drift
+// stops being uniform across all four bundles and becomes locale-specific,
+// invisible to every reviewer who reads the product in English.
+//
+// Direction: source ⇒ en, one-way. A key in `en.ts` with no declaring source is
+// NOT judged — that set is exactly Setup's runtime-contributed nav leaves,
+// which no static walk can see and which `pnpm check:app-nav-i18n` and
+// `setup-nav-dead-key-tombstone.test.ts` own. Setup's nine static group anchors
+// ARE walked: a coverage claim over Setup is impossible here (most of its ids
+// are absent at import time), but a content claim over the few it does declare
+// is sound — the walk judges what it finds, and finds nothing it cannot judge.
+//
+// `pages.*` is out of the walk on purpose: those entries mirror page metadata
+// authored in OTHER packages (@objectstack/cloud-connection, @objectstack/mcp),
+// which this package does not import and must not depend on to run its tests.
+// That leaves the third of this bundle with no source comparison in ANY locale,
+// `en` included — the same shape as the defect above, one section over, and a
+// static walk in this package cannot close it. Tracked as #8764; the gate that
+// can see those pages is `check:app-nav-i18n`, which already boots the real
+// composition. All three were in parity when this block was written.
+describe('the default locale bundle serves the declared source string verbatim', () => {
+  type Drift = { path: string; source: string; en: string | undefined };
+
+  const collect = (
+    drift: Drift[],
+    path: string,
+    source: string | undefined,
+    served: string | undefined,
+  ) => {
+    // An undeclared source string makes no claim — only a declared one does.
+    if (typeof source !== 'string') return;
+    if (served !== source) drift.push({ path, source, en: served });
+  };
+
+  const APPS = [SETUP_APP, STUDIO_APP, ACCOUNT_APP] as unknown as Array<{
+    name: string;
+    label?: string;
+    description?: string;
+    navigation?: unknown[];
+  }>;
+
+  for (const app of APPS) {
+    it(`apps.${app.name} — label, description and every statically declared nav label`, () => {
+      const served = (en.apps?.[app.name] ?? {}) as {
+        label?: string;
+        description?: string;
+        navigation?: Record<string, { label?: string }>;
+      };
+      const drift: Drift[] = [];
+      collect(drift, `apps.${app.name}.label`, app.label, served.label);
+      collect(drift, `apps.${app.name}.description`, app.description, served.description);
+      for (const item of navItems(app)) {
+        collect(
+          drift,
+          `apps.${app.name}.navigation.${item.id}.label`,
+          item.label,
+          served.navigation?.[item.id]?.label,
+        );
+      }
+      expect(
+        drift,
+        `en.ts no longer matches the declared source in apps.${app.name} — `
+          + 'edit the bundle to the source string (this half is hand-authored; do NOT regenerate it)',
+      ).toEqual([]);
+    });
+  }
+
+  it('dashboards.system_overview — label, description and every widget title/description', () => {
+    const dashboard = SystemOverviewDashboard as unknown as {
+      name: string;
+      label?: string;
+      description?: string;
+      widgets?: Array<{ id?: string; title?: string; description?: string }>;
+    };
+    const served = (en.dashboards?.[dashboard.name] ?? {}) as {
+      label?: string;
+      description?: string;
+      widgets?: Record<string, { title?: string; description?: string }>;
+    };
+    const drift: Drift[] = [];
+    collect(drift, `dashboards.${dashboard.name}.label`, dashboard.label, served.label);
+    collect(
+      drift,
+      `dashboards.${dashboard.name}.description`,
+      dashboard.description,
+      served.description,
+    );
+    for (const widget of dashboard.widgets ?? []) {
+      if (!widget.id) continue;
+      const base = `dashboards.${dashboard.name}.widgets.${widget.id}`;
+      collect(drift, `${base}.title`, widget.title, served.widgets?.[widget.id]?.title);
+      collect(
+        drift,
+        `${base}.description`,
+        widget.description,
+        served.widgets?.[widget.id]?.description,
+      );
+    }
+    expect(
+      drift,
+      'en.ts no longer matches the declared source in dashboards.system_overview — '
+        + 'edit the bundle to the source string (this half is hand-authored; do NOT regenerate it)',
+    ).toEqual([]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/en.ts b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/en.ts
index 76096632a1..bbbf8256cf 100644
--- a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/en.ts
+++ b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/en.ts
@@ -224,8 +224,8 @@ export const en: TranslationData = {
           description: 'Activity distribution across users',
         },
         widget_recent_events: {
-          title: 'Recent Audit Events',
-          description: 'Latest platform events (login, logout, config, …)',
+          title: 'Event Volume by Action',
+          description: 'Event volume grouped by action (login, logout, config, …)',
         },
       },
     },
diff --git a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/es-ES.ts b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/es-ES.ts
index cdfd3c5cb8..3eb8e4c783 100644
--- a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/es-ES.ts
+++ b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/es-ES.ts
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ export const esES: TranslationData = {
         widget_config_changes: { title: 'Cambios de Configuración', description: 'Modificaciones de configuración del sistema' },
         widget_events_by_type: { title: 'Eventos de Auditoría por Acción', description: 'Distribución de eventos de auditoría por tipo de acción' },
         widget_events_by_user: { title: 'Eventos por Usuario', description: 'Distribución de actividad entre usuarios' },
-        widget_recent_events: { title: 'Eventos de Auditoría Recientes', description: 'Últimos eventos de la plataforma (inicio de sesión, cierre de sesión, configuración, …)' },
+        widget_recent_events: { title: 'Volumen de Eventos por Acción', description: 'Volumen de eventos agrupado por acción (inicio de sesión, cierre de sesión, configuración, …)' },
       },
     },
   },
diff --git a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/ja-JP.ts b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/ja-JP.ts
index 29bc84ac29..3b808d504a 100644
--- a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/ja-JP.ts
+++ b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/ja-JP.ts
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ export const jaJP: TranslationData = {
         widget_config_changes: { title: '構成変更', description: 'システム構成の変更' },
         widget_events_by_type: { title: 'アクション別監査イベント', description: 'アクションタイプ別の監査イベント分布' },
         widget_events_by_user: { title: 'ユーザー別イベント', description: 'ユーザー別アクティビティ分布' },
-        widget_recent_events: { title: '最近の監査イベント', description: '最新のプラットフォームイベント（ログイン、ログアウト、構成など）' },
+        widget_recent_events: { title: 'アクション別イベント件数', description: 'アクション別にグループ化されたイベント件数（ログイン、ログアウト、構成など）' },
       },
     },
   },
diff --git a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/zh-CN.ts b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/zh-CN.ts
index 70b0398459..4fc8718cee 100644
--- a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/zh-CN.ts
+++ b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/translations/zh-CN.ts
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ export const zhCN: TranslationData = {
         widget_config_changes: { title: '配置变更', description: '系统配置修改' },
         widget_events_by_type: { title: '按操作分布的审计事件', description: '审计事件按操作类型分布' },
         widget_events_by_user: { title: '按用户分布的事件', description: '用户活动分布' },
-        widget_recent_events: { title: '最近审计事件', description: '最新的平台事件（登录、登出、配置等）' },
+        widget_recent_events: { title: '按操作统计的事件量', description: '按操作分组的事件量（登录、登出、配置等）' },
       },
     },
   },