diff --git a/plugin-designs/dashboard-plus-grid/dashboard-plus-grid.vue b/plugin-designs/dashboard-plus-grid/dashboard-plus-grid.vue
index 7a410d29d..978813493 100644
--- a/plugin-designs/dashboard-plus-grid/dashboard-plus-grid.vue
+++ b/plugin-designs/dashboard-plus-grid/dashboard-plus-grid.vue
@@ -298,9 +298,19 @@ const textDir = computed(() => {
   const l = hostLang.value || getRuntimeLocale() || detectLocale()
   return RTL_LOCALES.has(l) ? 'rtl' : 'ltr'
 })
+// ★ THE INSTANCE IS CAPTURED IN SETUP, NOT READ WHEN THIS RUNS, and that is the whole bug.
+// getCurrentInstance() answers only while setup or a lifecycle hook is on the stack. reflectDir is
+// called from BOTH — onMounted (where it works) and watch(textDir) (where there is no current
+// instance, so the read returned null and nothing was reflected). So a host that set lang=ar before
+// mount got dir=rtl correctly, and a host that SWITCHED to ar afterwards silently got nothing:
+// first paint was right, which is exactly why this read as correct. Arabic then rendered in a
+// left-to-right layout — the failure the comment above calls "a styling quirk rather than the bug
+// it is". Measured in this tree before, under Vue 3.5.42, when research-map.vue's emitFilterState
+// died the same way; the fix is its _selfInstance, and this is the same fix.
+const _selfInstance = getCurrentInstance()
 function reflectDir() {
   try {
-    const host = getCurrentInstance()?.proxy?.$el?.getRootNode?.()?.host
+    const host = _selfInstance?.proxy?.$el?.getRootNode?.()?.host
     if (host && textDir.value === 'rtl') host.setAttribute('dir', 'rtl')
   } catch (_) { /* no host (SSR/tests) — nothing to reflect */ }
 }
diff --git a/plugin-designs/research-map-plus-grid/research-map-plus-grid.vue b/plugin-designs/research-map-plus-grid/research-map-plus-grid.vue
index 305eebad5..6a466d869 100644
--- a/plugin-designs/research-map-plus-grid/research-map-plus-grid.vue
+++ b/plugin-designs/research-map-plus-grid/research-map-plus-grid.vue
@@ -147,9 +147,19 @@ const textDir = computed(() => {
   const l = hostLang.value || getRuntimeLocale() || detectLocale()
   return RTL_LOCALES.has(l) ? 'rtl' : 'ltr'
 })
+// ★ THE INSTANCE IS CAPTURED IN SETUP, NOT READ WHEN THIS RUNS, and that is the whole bug.
+// getCurrentInstance() answers only while setup or a lifecycle hook is on the stack. reflectDir is
+// called from BOTH — onMounted (where it works) and watch(textDir) (where there is no current
+// instance, so the read returned null and nothing was reflected). So a host that set lang=ar before
+// mount got dir=rtl correctly, and a host that SWITCHED to ar afterwards silently got nothing:
+// first paint was right, which is exactly why this read as correct. Arabic then rendered in a
+// left-to-right layout — the failure the comment above calls "a styling quirk rather than the bug
+// it is". Measured in this tree before, under Vue 3.5.42, when research-map.vue's emitFilterState
+// died the same way; the fix is its _selfInstance, and this is the same fix.
+const _selfInstance = getCurrentInstance()
 function reflectDir() {
   try {
-    const host = getCurrentInstance()?.proxy?.$el?.getRootNode?.()?.host
+    const host = _selfInstance?.proxy?.$el?.getRootNode?.()?.host
     if (host && textDir.value === 'rtl') host.setAttribute('dir', 'rtl')
   } catch (_) { /* no host (SSR/tests) — nothing to reflect */ }
 }