diff --git a/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol-metadata-service-read.ts b/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol-metadata-service-read.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e103954d78e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol-metadata-service-read.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+/**
+ * [#25467 cut 20] The code-layer read of `ObjectStackProtocolImplementation`
+ * through the `metadata` service (`readItemFromMetadataService`): one item,
+ * package-scoped (ADR-0048), its diagnosis when the service gives one, the
+ * singular/plural spelling as a fallback, and a stored object row's copy not
+ * counted as a code layer (#23645). Moved out of `protocol.ts` whole.
+ *
+ * A MOVE, not a redesign. The function below is the body of the
+ * `ObjectStackProtocolImplementation` method of the same name as it stood,
+ * re-indented one level and otherwise unedited: the same service lookup, the
+ * same two reads in the same order, and the same merged answer.
+ *
+ * ## How the moved body reaches the class
+ *
+ * The shape #23050 set for `rest-server.ts` (its `data-action-routes.ts`
+ * header carries the full reasoning), as `protocol-batch-data.ts` applies it.
+ * The class keeps the method — the published `dist/*.d.ts` lists its name,
+ * docblock and declared signature — and its body is one literal of exactly
+ * the {@link MetadataServiceReadHost} members it reads, plus a `.call`. The
+ * `getServicesRegistry` field is handed over as a getter, as
+ * `protocol-package-install.ts` and `protocol-save-door-refusals.ts` hand it,
+ * so the body reads the protocol's field at call time. Every other reader of
+ * the method keeps calling the class method.
+ *
+ * What the body reads of `protocol.ts`'s own module-level declarations it
+ * imports from it; what it imports from elsewhere, it imports from where
+ * `protocol.ts` imported it. Nothing re-exports this module, so the published
+ * surface does not move.
+ */
+
+import { isTenantAuthored } from '@objectstack/metadata-core';
+import { PLURAL_TO_SINGULAR, SINGULAR_TO_PLURAL } from '@objectstack/spec/shared';
+import type { ObjectStackProtocolImplementation } from './protocol.js';
+import { canonicalMetaType } from './protocol.js';
+
+/**
+ * The `ObjectStackProtocolImplementation` members the function below reads —
+ * every one of them, and no other; the function's `this` is the `Pick` of the
+ * members it reads. Each is typed AS the class member (an indexed access on
+ * the class), so a change to a member's signature on the class is a change
+ * here too, and naming a member the class does not have is a compile error.
+ */
+export interface MetadataServiceReadHost {
+    readonly getServicesRegistry: ObjectStackProtocolImplementation['getServicesRegistry'];
+}
+
+/** The body of `ObjectStackProtocolImplementation#readItemFromMetadataService`; the method's docblock there is its contract. */
+export async function readItemFromMetadataService(
+    this: Pick<MetadataServiceReadHost, 'getServicesRegistry'>,
+    type: string,
+    name: string,
+    packageId?: string,
+): Promise<{ data: unknown; degraded: boolean; errors: string[] }> {
+    const services = this.getServicesRegistry?.();
+    const metadataService: any = services?.get('metadata');
+    if (!metadataService || typeof metadataService.get !== 'function') {
+        return { data: undefined, degraded: false, errors: [] };
+    }
+    // ADR-0048 — thread the caller's package id so a single-item fetch is
+    // package-scoped. Passed positionally to BOTH reads, so whatever the
+    // occupant of the `metadata` slot makes of a third argument today is
+    // unchanged by which of the two methods answers.
+    const read = async (t: string): Promise<{ data: unknown; degraded: boolean; errors: string[] }> => {
+        let answer: { data: unknown; degraded: boolean; errors: string[] };
+        if (typeof metadataService.getDiagnosed === 'function') {
+            const diagnosed = await metadataService.getDiagnosed(t, name, packageId);
+            answer = {
+                data: diagnosed?.data,
+                degraded: diagnosed?.degraded === true,
+                errors: Array.isArray(diagnosed?.errors) ? diagnosed.errors : [],
+            };
+        } else {
+            answer = { data: await metadataService.get(t, name, packageId), degraded: false, errors: [] };
+        }
+        // [#23645] A stored object row's copy is not a code layer. See the header.
+        return canonicalMetaType(t) === 'object' && isTenantAuthored(answer.data)
+            ? { ...answer, data: undefined }
+            : answer;
+    };
+
+    const primary = await read(type);
+    if (primary.data !== undefined && primary.data !== null) return primary;
+    const alt = PLURAL_TO_SINGULAR[type] ?? SINGULAR_TO_PLURAL[type];
+    if (!alt) return { data: undefined, degraded: primary.degraded, errors: primary.errors };
+    const secondary = await read(alt);
+    if (secondary.data !== undefined && secondary.data !== null) return secondary;
+    return {
+        data: undefined,
+        degraded: primary.degraded || secondary.degraded,
+        errors: [...primary.errors, ...secondary.errors],
+    };
+}
diff --git a/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts b/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts
index 8b656673718..cfd19952ed9 100644
--- a/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts
+++ b/packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts
@@ -404,6 +404,8 @@ import { classifyObjectContribution, releaseAdoptedObjectOwner } from './protoco
 import { flowSaveReplaysRetired } from './protocol-flow-save-replay.js';
 // [#25467 cut 19] A package write's validation scope: the written package and its declared dependency closure, from the registry.
 import { resolveWritePackageScope } from './protocol-write-package-scope.js';
+// [#25467 cut 20] The code-layer read through the `metadata` service: package-scoped, singular/plural fallback, a stored object row's copy not counted as code.
+import { readItemFromMetadataService } from './protocol-metadata-service-read.js';
 
 /**
  * Canonical Zod schema per metadata type lives in
@@ -9330,44 +9332,12 @@ export class ObjectStackProtocolImplementation implements
         name: string,
         packageId?: string,
     ): Promise<{ data: unknown; degraded: boolean; errors: string[] }> {
-        const services = this.getServicesRegistry?.();
-        const metadataService: any = services?.get('metadata');
-        if (!metadataService || typeof metadataService.get !== 'function') {
-            return { data: undefined, degraded: false, errors: [] };
-        }
-        // ADR-0048 — thread the caller's package id so a single-item fetch is
-        // package-scoped. Passed positionally to BOTH reads, so whatever the
-        // occupant of the `metadata` slot makes of a third argument today is
-        // unchanged by which of the two methods answers.
-        const read = async (t: string): Promise<{ data: unknown; degraded: boolean; errors: string[] }> => {
-            let answer: { data: unknown; degraded: boolean; errors: string[] };
-            if (typeof metadataService.getDiagnosed === 'function') {
-                const diagnosed = await metadataService.getDiagnosed(t, name, packageId);
-                answer = {
-                    data: diagnosed?.data,
-                    degraded: diagnosed?.degraded === true,
-                    errors: Array.isArray(diagnosed?.errors) ? diagnosed.errors : [],
-                };
-            } else {
-                answer = { data: await metadataService.get(t, name, packageId), degraded: false, errors: [] };
-            }
-            // [#23645] A stored object row's copy is not a code layer. See the header.
-            return canonicalMetaType(t) === 'object' && isTenantAuthored(answer.data)
-                ? { ...answer, data: undefined }
-                : answer;
-        };
-
-        const primary = await read(type);
-        if (primary.data !== undefined && primary.data !== null) return primary;
-        const alt = PLURAL_TO_SINGULAR[type] ?? SINGULAR_TO_PLURAL[type];
-        if (!alt) return { data: undefined, degraded: primary.degraded, errors: primary.errors };
-        const secondary = await read(alt);
-        if (secondary.data !== undefined && secondary.data !== null) return secondary;
-        return {
-            data: undefined,
-            degraded: primary.degraded || secondary.degraded,
-            errors: [...primary.errors, ...secondary.errors],
+        // [#25467 cut 20] The body moved to `protocol-metadata-service-read.ts` (see `MetadataServiceReadHost`).
+        const readGetServicesRegistry = () => this.getServicesRegistry;
+        const host: ThisParameterType<typeof readItemFromMetadataService> = {
+            get getServicesRegistry() { return readGetServicesRegistry(); },
         };
+        return readItemFromMetadataService.call(host, type, name, packageId);
     }
 
     /**