diff --git a/.changeset/showcase-approver-and-picker-specimens.md b/.changeset/showcase-approver-and-picker-specimens.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9d589ee077
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/showcase-approver-and-picker-specimens.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+---
+---
+
+test(showcase): dogfood specimens for the inline record picker (#3405) and the record-backed approver kinds (#3508) — releases nothing. Both live in `@objectstack/example-showcase`, which is private.
diff --git a/examples/app-showcase/src/automation/flows/approver-bindings.flow.ts b/examples/app-showcase/src/automation/flows/approver-bindings.flow.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..338e72ed57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/app-showcase/src/automation/flows/approver-bindings.flow.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+import { defineFlow } from '@objectstack/spec';
+
+/**
+ * #3508 dogfood: one node per RECORD-BACKED approver kind.
+ *
+ * The designer's Approvers → Value control used to query the metadata registry
+ * (`GET /api/v1/meta/:type`) for every kind. `user` / `team` / `department` /
+ * `position` are DATA rows in the platform's directory objects, not registry
+ * entries, so candidates came back empty and the control degraded to a free-text
+ * box — the author could only hand-type a userid. `APPROVER_VALUE_BINDINGS`
+ * now publishes the data contract per kind (`xRef.sources`), and the designer
+ * renders a real record lookup off it.
+ *
+ * This flow is the authoring specimen for that surface: every kind whose control
+ * changed gets a node, so opening it in the flow designer exercises each one.
+ * The existing approval flows in `./index.ts` already cover `position` heavily
+ * (it is the kind showcase actually routes on) and `./dynamic-approval.flow.ts`
+ * covers `org_membership_level` + `expression`; the kinds below are the ones no
+ * other flow declares.
+ *
+ * ## Why `draft`
+ *
+ * Deliberate, not an oversight. The record-backed kinds point at rows a fresh
+ * boot does not have: `sys_user` holds only the seeded admin, `sys_team` is
+ * empty (the seeded `Team` rows are the DEMO `showcase_team` object), and both
+ * unit membership (`sys_business_unit_member`) and position assignment
+ * (`sys_user_position`) are runtime admin actions by design — see the seed
+ * notes in `src/data/seed/index.ts`. An `active` flow over them would resolve
+ * to nobody, which is precisely the silent dead slot #3508 exists to remove.
+ * Shipping that as a demo would re-teach the bug. `draft` keeps it out of the
+ * runtime while still loading in the designer, which is the surface under test.
+ *
+ * `queue` is absent on purpose: #3536 made it non-authorable
+ * (`NON_AUTHORABLE_APPROVER_TYPES` → `xEnumDeprecated`) because the engine has
+ * no queue branch, so the designer no longer offers it.
+ */
+export const ApproverBindingsFlow = defineFlow({
+  name: 'showcase_approver_bindings',
+  label: 'Approver Binding Specimens (#3508)',
+  description:
+    'Authoring specimen: one approval node per record-backed approver kind, so the designer '
+    + 'renders each Value control. Draft on purpose — a fresh org has no rows for these kinds.',
+  type: 'autolaunched',
+  status: 'draft',
+  nodes: [
+    {
+      id: 'start',
+      type: 'start',
+      label: 'On Field Zoo Updated',
+      config: {
+        objectName: 'showcase_field_zoo',
+        triggerType: 'record-after-update',
+      },
+    },
+    {
+      id: 'by_user',
+      type: 'approval',
+      label: 'Named user',
+      config: {
+        // `sys_user` row id. The most portable-hostile choice there is — an id
+        // does not survive an environment migration and dies with the person —
+        // which is why the designer's Type dropdown lists it LAST.
+        approvers: [{ type: 'user', value: '' }],
+        behavior: 'first_response',
+      },
+    },
+    {
+      id: 'by_team',
+      type: 'approval',
+      label: 'Team members',
+      config: {
+        // `sys_team` row id; the engine expands it through `sys_team_member`.
+        approvers: [{ type: 'team', value: '' }],
+        behavior: 'first_response',
+      },
+    },
+    {
+      id: 'by_department',
+      type: 'approval',
+      label: 'Department members',
+      config: {
+        // `sys_business_unit` row id — NOT `sys_department`. The seeded org tree
+        // (bu_acme / bu_field_ops / bu_west_coast / …) is what this picker lists.
+        approvers: [{ type: 'department', value: '' }],
+        behavior: 'first_response',
+      },
+    },
+    {
+      id: 'by_position',
+      type: 'approval',
+      label: 'Position holders',
+      config: {
+        // Commits the position's machine NAME, not its row id: the engine routes
+        // on `sys_user_position.position`, and a machine name is what stays
+        // valid across environments. `manager` is a showcase position.
+        approvers: [{ type: 'position', value: 'manager' }],
+        behavior: 'first_response',
+      },
+    },
+    {
+      id: 'by_manager',
+      type: 'approval',
+      label: "Submitter's manager",
+      config: {
+        // Resolved at run time from the submitter — there is no value to author,
+        // so the designer disables the cell instead of offering a free-text box.
+        approvers: [{ type: 'manager' }],
+        behavior: 'first_response',
+      },
+    },
+    {
+      id: 'by_field',
+      type: 'approval',
+      label: 'User in a trigger field',
+      config: {
+        // Value is a FIELD NAME on the trigger object, not a record reference —
+        // so this one keeps the object-field selector rather than a record
+        // lookup. `f_user` is Field Zoo's single-value `sys_user` reference.
+        approvers: [{ type: 'field', value: 'f_user' }],
+        behavior: 'first_response',
+      },
+    },
+    { id: 'approved', type: 'end', label: 'Approved' },
+    { id: 'rejected', type: 'end', label: 'Rejected' },
+  ],
+  edges: [
+    { id: 'e1', source: 'start', target: 'by_user' },
+    { id: 'e2', source: 'by_user', target: 'by_team', label: 'approve' },
+    { id: 'e3', source: 'by_team', target: 'by_department', label: 'approve' },
+    { id: 'e4', source: 'by_department', target: 'by_position', label: 'approve' },
+    { id: 'e5', source: 'by_position', target: 'by_manager', label: 'approve' },
+    { id: 'e6', source: 'by_manager', target: 'by_field', label: 'approve' },
+    { id: 'e7', source: 'by_field', target: 'approved', label: 'approve' },
+    { id: 'e8', source: 'by_user', target: 'rejected', label: 'reject' },
+    { id: 'e9', source: 'by_team', target: 'rejected', label: 'reject' },
+    { id: 'e10', source: 'by_department', target: 'rejected', label: 'reject' },
+    { id: 'e11', source: 'by_position', target: 'rejected', label: 'reject' },
+    { id: 'e12', source: 'by_manager', target: 'rejected', label: 'reject' },
+    { id: 'e13', source: 'by_field', target: 'rejected', label: 'reject' },
+  ],
+});
diff --git a/examples/app-showcase/src/automation/flows/index.ts b/examples/app-showcase/src/automation/flows/index.ts
index 2d6be803fe..49176ba157 100644
--- a/examples/app-showcase/src/automation/flows/index.ts
+++ b/examples/app-showcase/src/automation/flows/index.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import { defineFlow } from '@objectstack/spec';
 import { DynamicApprovalFlow } from './dynamic-approval.flow';
+import { ApproverBindingsFlow } from './approver-bindings.flow';
 
 /**
  * Task Completed → Notify — an autolaunched, record-triggered flow that fires
@@ -1635,4 +1636,8 @@ export const allFlows = [
   InboundTaskWebhookFlow,
   // #3447 P2 dogfood: expression approvers + decision outputs, end to end.
   DynamicApprovalFlow,
+  // #3508 dogfood: one approval node per record-backed approver kind, so the
+  // designer's Value control has a specimen for each. Draft on purpose — see
+  // the module docstring.
+  ApproverBindingsFlow,
 ];
diff --git a/examples/app-showcase/src/system/translations/index.ts b/examples/app-showcase/src/system/translations/index.ts
index a40ffaaeaa..1a3de0e90e 100644
--- a/examples/app-showcase/src/system/translations/index.ts
+++ b/examples/app-showcase/src/system/translations/index.ts
@@ -267,6 +267,23 @@ export const ShowcaseTranslationBundle = {
       showcase_field_zoo: {
         label: '字段动物园', pluralLabel: '字段动物园',
         fields: { f_lookups: { label: '查找 → 客户（多值）' } },
+        // #3405 — the inline system-object picker specimen. Translated at birth
+        // because `check-i18n-coverage` ratchets this example at its current
+        // untranslated count: a newly declared label that skips zh-CN pushes the
+        // count up and fails the gate. (The gallery's older params sit inside
+        // that baseline; this one is not allowed to widen it.) `负责人` matches
+        // what the bundle already renders for `showcase_task.assignee`, rather
+        // than introducing a second word for the same idea.
+        _actions: {
+          showcase_action_param_gallery: {
+            params: {
+              p_assignee: {
+                label: '负责人',
+                helpText: '指向系统对象的内联查找 —— 可按姓名或邮箱搜索,无需填写 UUID。',
+              },
+            },
+          },
+        },
       },
     },
   },
diff --git a/examples/app-showcase/src/ui/actions/index.ts b/examples/app-showcase/src/ui/actions/index.ts
index 50a6bf4a2e..fe44e37a6a 100644
--- a/examples/app-showcase/src/ui/actions/index.ts
+++ b/examples/app-showcase/src/ui/actions/index.ts
@@ -212,6 +212,15 @@ export const ActionParamGalleryAction = defineAction({
       name: 'p_account', type: 'lookup', reference: 'showcase_account', label: 'Related account',
       helpText: 'Inline lookup param — searchable record picker, no UUID typing.',
     },
+    // #3405 — the same inline picker aimed at a SYSTEM object. This is the
+    // shape the bug was reported against (PLAT-DEF-005: "assign an inspector"
+    // handed the supervisor a box wanting a pasted UUID), so it earns its own
+    // specimen: `sys_user` is not one of the app's own objects, and a person is
+    // the reference a human is least able to identify by id.
+    {
+      name: 'p_assignee', type: 'lookup', reference: 'sys_user', label: 'Assignee',
+      helpText: 'Inline lookup at a system object — searchable by name/email, never a UUID.',
+    },
     { name: 'p_color', type: 'color', label: 'Accent color', defaultValue: '#7C3AED' },
     // Spec `autonumber` param → the AutoNumber widget (read-only, auto-assigned).
     { name: 'p_reference', type: 'autonumber', label: 'Reference #' },