diff --git a/packages/dogfood/test/dashboard-designer-roundtrip.dogfood.test.ts b/packages/dogfood/test/dashboard-designer-roundtrip.dogfood.test.ts
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/packages/dogfood/test/dashboard-designer-roundtrip.dogfood.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+//
+// GOLDEN REGRESSION — "a dashboard authored in the Studio designer round-trips
+// through draft save -> publish", exercised end-to-end through the real HTTP +
+// metadata stack.
+//
+// The Studio dashboard designer's `addWidget` creates widgets with NO `layout`
+// (objectui's DashboardGridLayout auto-flows them). Before the fix that made
+// `DashboardWidget.layout` optional, the draft save returned 422
+// ("widgets: Invalid type: expected object, received undefined"), so EVERY
+// designer-authored dashboard was unsavable and Publish stayed disabled — even
+// though the widget rendered correctly in the canvas.
+//
+// This bug passed every static gate: code-authored example dashboards ALWAYS
+// specify a layout, so nothing exercised the layout-less shape. Only driving the
+// real create -> save -> publish path with a designer-shaped (layout-less)
+// dashboard surfaces it. This is the test that would have caught it before merge.
+
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeAll, afterAll } from 'vitest';
+import showcaseStack from '@objectstack/example-showcase';
+import { bootStack, type VerifyStack } from '@objectstack/verify';
+
+// Designer-shaped: each widget binds a dataset + dimensions/values but carries
+// NO `layout` — exactly what the Studio designer writes. `columns` is set, as
+// the designer's Layout panel does, which is what made the layout-less widgets
+// render in a positioned grid (and previously fail validation on save).
+const DASH = 'dogfood_designer_roundtrip';
+const designerDashboard = {
+  name: DASH,
+  label: 'Dogfood Designer Roundtrip',
+  description: 'Layout-less widgets, exactly as authored in the Studio designer.',
+  columns: 12,
+  widgets: [
+    { id: 'kpi_tasks', type: 'metric', title: 'Total Tasks', dataset: 'showcase_task_metrics', values: ['task_count'] },
+    { id: 'by_status', type: 'bar', title: 'Tasks by Status', dataset: 'showcase_task_metrics', dimensions: ['status'], values: ['task_count'] },
+    { id: 'priority_split', type: 'donut', title: 'Priority Split', dataset: 'showcase_task_metrics', dimensions: ['priority'], values: ['task_count'] },
+  ],
+};
+
+describe('dogfood: a Studio-designer-shaped (layout-less) dashboard saves + publishes', () => {
+  let stack: VerifyStack;
+  let token: string;
+
+  beforeAll(async () => {
+    stack = await bootStack(showcaseStack);
+    token = await stack.signIn();
+  }, 90_000);
+
+  afterAll(async () => {
+    await stack?.stop();
+  });
+
+  it('saves the layout-less draft (was 422 before DashboardWidget.layout became optional)', async () => {
+    const res = await stack.apiAs(token, 'PUT', `/meta/dashboard/${DASH}?mode=draft`, designerDashboard);
+    // The regression: a widget with no `layout` made this 422
+    // ("widgets: Invalid type: expected object, received undefined").
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+  });
+
+  it('publishes the saved draft to live (Publish was disabled while the draft could not save)', async () => {
+    const res = await stack.apiAs(token, 'POST', `/meta/dashboard/${DASH}/publish`, {});
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+  });
+
+  it('reads the published dashboard back with its layout-less widgets intact', async () => {
+    const res = await stack.apiAs(token, 'GET', `/meta/dashboard/${DASH}`);
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+    const body = (await res.json()) as
+      | { widgets?: Array<{ id: string; layout?: unknown }> }
+      | { item?: { widgets?: Array<{ id: string; layout?: unknown }> } };
+    const widgets =
+      (body as { widgets?: Array<{ id: string; layout?: unknown }> }).widgets ??
+      (body as { item?: { widgets?: Array<{ id: string; layout?: unknown }> } }).item?.widgets ??
+      [];
+    expect(widgets).toHaveLength(3);
+    // The exact shape that broke save: widgets persisted WITHOUT a layout.
+    expect(widgets.every((w) => w.layout === undefined)).toBe(true);
+  });
+});