diff --git a/examples/app-showcase/src/views/project.view.ts b/examples/app-showcase/src/views/project.view.ts
index e79b735e3..68d96bdb7 100644
--- a/examples/app-showcase/src/views/project.view.ts
+++ b/examples/app-showcase/src/views/project.view.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,11 @@ export const ProjectViews = defineView({
       type: 'chart',
       data,
       columns: ['account', 'budget'],
-      chart: { chartType: 'bar', xAxisField: 'account', yAxisFields: ['budget', 'spent'], aggregation: 'sum' },
+      chart: {
+        chartType: 'bar', xAxisField: 'account', yAxisFields: ['budget', 'spent'], aggregation: 'sum',
+        // ADR-0021 dual-form — bind to the project dataset.
+        dataset: 'showcase_project_metrics', dimensions: ['account'], values: ['budget_sum', 'spent_sum'],
+      },
     },
   },
   formViews: {
diff --git a/examples/app-showcase/src/views/task.view.ts b/examples/app-showcase/src/views/task.view.ts
index 7cbfdeed7..1b5206cf5 100644
--- a/examples/app-showcase/src/views/task.view.ts
+++ b/examples/app-showcase/src/views/task.view.ts
@@ -150,6 +150,10 @@ export const TaskViews = defineView({
         yAxisFields: ['estimate_hours'],
         aggregation: 'sum',
         groupByField: 'priority',
+        // ADR-0021 dual-form — bind to the task dataset.
+        dataset: 'showcase_task_metrics',
+        dimensions: ['status', 'priority'],
+        values: ['est_hours'],
       },
     },
   },
diff --git a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/dashboards/index.ts b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/dashboards/index.ts
index 9e6dce958..ce6d4a93c 100644
--- a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/dashboards/index.ts
+++ b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/dashboards/index.ts
@@ -6,3 +6,4 @@
  */
 
 export { SystemOverviewDashboard } from './system_overview.dashboard.js';
+export { SystemOverviewDatasets } from './system.datasets.js';
diff --git a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/dashboards/system.datasets.ts b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/dashboards/system.datasets.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a5b464a34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/dashboards/system.datasets.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2025 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+
+import { defineDataset } from '@objectstack/spec/ui';
+
+/**
+ * Datasets backing the System Overview dashboard (ADR-0021). Each is a single-
+ * object count/breakdown over a platform `sys_*` object. The audit objects live
+ * in `@objectstack/plugin-audit` and `sys_package_installation` is cloud-only —
+ * datasets reference objects BY NAME, so co-locating them with the dashboard
+ * (registered by plugin-auth) is fine; the widgets that target absent objects
+ * are runtime-gated via `requiresObject`.
+ */
+
+export const SysUserDataset = defineDataset({
+  name: 'sys_user_metrics',
+  label: 'User Metrics',
+  object: 'sys_user',
+  dimensions: [],
+  measures: [{ name: 'user_count', label: 'Users', aggregate: 'count' }],
+});
+
+export const SysOrganizationDataset = defineDataset({
+  name: 'sys_organization_metrics',
+  label: 'Organization Metrics',
+  object: 'sys_organization',
+  dimensions: [],
+  measures: [{ name: 'org_count', label: 'Organizations', aggregate: 'count' }],
+});
+
+export const SysSessionDataset = defineDataset({
+  name: 'sys_session_metrics',
+  label: 'Session Metrics',
+  object: 'sys_session',
+  dimensions: [],
+  measures: [{ name: 'session_count', label: 'Sessions', aggregate: 'count' }],
+});
+
+export const SysPackageInstallationDataset = defineDataset({
+  name: 'sys_package_installation_metrics',
+  label: 'Package Installation Metrics',
+  object: 'sys_package_installation',
+  dimensions: [],
+  measures: [{ name: 'package_count', label: 'Installations', aggregate: 'count' }],
+});
+
+export const SysAuditLogDataset = defineDataset({
+  name: 'sys_audit_log_metrics',
+  label: 'Audit Log Metrics',
+  object: 'sys_audit_log',
+  dimensions: [
+    { name: 'action', label: 'Action', field: 'action', type: 'string' },
+    { name: 'user_id', label: 'User', field: 'user_id', type: 'lookup' },
+  ],
+  measures: [{ name: 'event_count', label: 'Events', aggregate: 'count' }],
+});
+
+export const SystemOverviewDatasets = [
+  SysUserDataset,
+  SysOrganizationDataset,
+  SysSessionDataset,
+  SysPackageInstallationDataset,
+  SysAuditLogDataset,
+];
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 51bff4c33..1b7c25e8e 100644
--- a/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/dashboards/system_overview.dashboard.ts
+++ b/packages/platform-objects/src/apps/dashboards/system_overview.dashboard.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ export const SystemOverviewDashboard = Dashboard.create({
     // ── Row 1: Platform KPIs ────────────────────────────────────────
     {
       id: 'widget_total_users',
+      dataset: 'sys_user_metrics', values: ['user_count'],
       title: 'Total Users',
       type: 'metric',
       object: 'sys_user',
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@ export const SystemOverviewDashboard = Dashboard.create({
     },
     {
       id: 'widget_organizations',
+      dataset: 'sys_organization_metrics', values: ['org_count'],
       title: 'Organizations',
       type: 'metric',
       object: 'sys_organization',
@@ -50,6 +52,7 @@ export const SystemOverviewDashboard = Dashboard.create({
     },
     {
       id: 'widget_active_sessions',
+      dataset: 'sys_session_metrics', values: ['session_count'],
       title: 'Active Sessions',
       type: 'metric',
       object: 'sys_session',
@@ -60,6 +63,7 @@ export const SystemOverviewDashboard = Dashboard.create({
     },
     {
       id: 'widget_packages_installed',
+      dataset: 'sys_package_installation_metrics', values: ['package_count'],
       title: 'Packages Installed',
       type: 'metric',
       object: 'sys_package_installation',
@@ -80,6 +84,7 @@ export const SystemOverviewDashboard = Dashboard.create({
     // need a richer enum or a separate detail field first.
     {
       id: 'widget_login_events',
+      dataset: 'sys_audit_log_metrics', values: ['event_count'],
       title: 'Login Events',
       type: 'metric',
       object: 'sys_audit_log',
@@ -91,6 +96,7 @@ export const SystemOverviewDashboard = Dashboard.create({
     },
     {
       id: 'widget_permission_changes',
+      dataset: 'sys_audit_log_metrics', values: ['event_count'],
       title: 'Permission Changes',
       type: 'metric',
       object: 'sys_audit_log',
@@ -102,6 +108,7 @@ export const SystemOverviewDashboard = Dashboard.create({
     },
     {
       id: 'widget_config_changes',
+      dataset: 'sys_audit_log_metrics', values: ['event_count'],
       title: 'Config Changes',
       type: 'metric',
       object: 'sys_audit_log',
@@ -120,6 +127,7 @@ export const SystemOverviewDashboard = Dashboard.create({
     // to scope these widgets.
     {
       id: 'widget_events_by_type',
+      dataset: 'sys_audit_log_metrics', dimensions: ['action'], values: ['event_count'],
       title: 'Audit Events by Action',
       description: 'Distribution of audit events by action type',
       type: 'pie',
@@ -130,6 +138,7 @@ export const SystemOverviewDashboard = Dashboard.create({
     },
     {
       id: 'widget_events_by_user',
+      dataset: 'sys_audit_log_metrics', dimensions: ['user_id'], values: ['event_count'],
       title: 'Events by User',
       description: 'Activity distribution across users',
       type: 'bar',
diff --git a/packages/plugins/plugin-auth/src/auth-plugin.ts b/packages/plugins/plugin-auth/src/auth-plugin.ts
index 9d93d0285..f42471a03 100644
--- a/packages/plugins/plugin-auth/src/auth-plugin.ts
+++ b/packages/plugins/plugin-auth/src/auth-plugin.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import {
   STUDIO_APP,
   ACCOUNT_APP,
   SystemOverviewDashboard,
+  SystemOverviewDatasets,
 } from '@objectstack/platform-objects/apps';
 import { SysOrganizationDetailPage, SysUserDetailPage } from '@objectstack/platform-objects/pages';
 import { AuthManager, type AuthManagerOptions } from './auth-manager.js';
@@ -203,6 +204,8 @@ export class AuthPlugin implements Plugin {
       // not exist on sys_user). Schema-embedded listViews is the single
       // source of truth.
       dashboards: [SystemOverviewDashboard],
+      // ADR-0021 — datasets backing the System Overview dashboard's widgets.
+      datasets: SystemOverviewDatasets,
     });
 
     ctx.logger.info('Auth Plugin initialized successfully');
diff --git a/packages/spec/src/ui/view.zod.ts b/packages/spec/src/ui/view.zod.ts
index 003ee3ad3..93a42afaa 100644
--- a/packages/spec/src/ui/view.zod.ts
+++ b/packages/spec/src/ui/view.zod.ts
@@ -303,10 +303,35 @@ export const KanbanConfigSchema = lazySchema(() => z.object({
  */
 export const ListChartConfigSchema = lazySchema(() => z.object({
   chartType: z.enum(['bar', 'line', 'pie', 'area', 'scatter']).default('bar').describe('Chart visualisation type'),
-  xAxisField: z.string().describe('Field used as the X axis / category dimension'),
-  yAxisFields: z.array(z.string()).min(1).describe('Field(s) used as the Y axis / measures'),
-  aggregation: z.enum(['sum', 'avg', 'count', 'min', 'max']).optional().describe('Aggregation function applied to Y axis fields'),
-  groupByField: z.string().optional().describe('Optional field used to split / stack the chart'),
+  // Inline shape — optional since ADR-0021: a charted list view may instead bind
+  // to a semantic-layer `dataset` (see `dataset`/`dimensions`/`values` below).
+  xAxisField: z.string().optional().describe('Field used as the X axis / category dimension (inline)'),
+  yAxisFields: z.array(z.string()).min(1).optional().describe('Field(s) used as the Y axis / measures (inline)'),
+  aggregation: z.enum(['sum', 'avg', 'count', 'min', 'max']).optional().describe('Aggregation function applied to Y axis fields (inline)'),
+  groupByField: z.string().optional().describe('Optional field used to split / stack the chart (inline)'),
+
+  /**
+   * ADR-0021 — bind this chart to a semantic-layer `dataset` (the governed
+   * alternative to the inline `xAxisField` + `yAxisFields` + `aggregation`
+   * query), mirroring dashboard widgets. Selects dimensions/measures BY NAME so
+   * the chart's numbers stay consistent with every other surface using the same
+   * dataset. Additive / dual-form: inline charts are unchanged.
+   */
+  dataset: SnakeCaseIdentifierSchema.optional().describe('Dataset name to bind (ADR-0021)'),
+  /** Dimension names (from the dataset) for X / group / split. Dataset-bound only. */
+  dimensions: z.array(z.string()).optional().describe('Dimension names — X/group/split (dataset-bound)'),
+  /** Measure names (from the dataset) for the value axis. Dataset-bound only. */
+  values: z.array(z.string()).optional().describe('Measure names — Y (dataset-bound)'),
+}).superRefine((c, ctx) => {
+  // ADR-0021 dual-form: a chart is EITHER dataset-bound (needs `values`) OR an
+  // inline query (needs `xAxisField` + `yAxisFields`).
+  if (c.dataset) {
+    if (!c.values || c.values.length === 0) {
+      ctx.addIssue({ code: 'custom', message: 'a dataset-bound chart needs `values` (measure names).', path: ['values'] });
+    }
+  } else if (!c.xAxisField || !c.yAxisFields || c.yAxisFields.length === 0) {
+    ctx.addIssue({ code: 'custom', message: 'an inline chart needs `xAxisField` + `yAxisFields` (or bind a `dataset`).', path: ['xAxisField'] });
+  }
 }).describe('List chart view configuration'));
 
 /**