[cixzhang]

Proposed; pending owner decision. This PR records a proposed rule for review; it is not approved.

Exact decision needed

Should a pan or drag that starts outside an open light-dismiss Popover close it, for mouse, pen, and touch alike?

Existing authority searched

• component:Popover: outside light dismiss uses native popover="auto"; hasLightDismiss (default true) turns it off. No rule names pans or drags.
• family:overlay-dismissal AV4: each member owns whether and how pointer, touch, or gesture interaction dismisses it.
• spec:AST-003 FR7–FR13: outside interaction resolves against owner surfaces, associated triggers, and branches; the gesture that dismissed or opened a surface is claimed so it cannot reopen or re-close it.
• spec:AST-017 FR1, FR3: a changed functional default is judged under FR1 and names the restoring option; FR59: touch work changes desktop behavior only for a defect or deliberate cross-device consistency, with desktop evidence.
• Search terms: light dismiss, outside, pointerdown, pointercancel, pan, drag, scrollbar, text selection.
• Overlapping open work: AST-094 (spec(AST-094): touch presentations feel native by default #8409) touch presentation; menus below.

Decision (proposed)

component:Popover FR9 and DEC-8, both marked proposed:

• A pan or drag that starts outside an open light-dismiss Popover closes it, for mouse, pen, and touch.
• The opening gesture, and a gesture that starts inside the Popover or on its associated trigger, never closes it under this rule (AST-003 FR11, FR12).
• hasLightDismiss={false} keeps it open.
• OQ1 records the decision and its options.

Who is affected

Today native popover="auto" closes on a press that both starts and ends outside (pointerup). A gesture the browser takes over for scrolling ends in pointercancel, so it does not close.

Input	Today	Proposed	Impact
Touch	A page pan leaves the Popover floating open over moved content	A page pan closes it	Matches native touch popovers; someone panning to read nearby content loses the Popover
Pen	A pen pan that scrolls leaves it open; a pen drag that does not scroll closes on release	Any outside pen drag closes it	Same rule as touch
Mouse	A text-selection drag outside closes on release; a scrollbar drag likely leaves it open (no page pointer events; to verify per browser)	Both close it	Someone dragging the page scrollbar with a Popover open loses it; desktop change is deliberate cross-device consistency (AST-017 FR59), so the implementation PR needs desktop before/after evidence

Migration

• Changed released default of documented interaction, judged under AST-017 FR1: a valid scenario (a Popover that stays open while the page pans) must change configuration, so the change is [breaking] and ships in a declared minor. The Changeset names the old and new default.
• Restoring option: hasLightDismiss={false}. It is blunt: it also stops tap-outside dismissal. A narrower option that keeps tap-outside dismissal would be new public API under AST-002; OQ1 lists it.

Menus (AST-094, #8409)

• DropdownMenu is built on usePopover, so it follows FR9 unless its record decides otherwise.
• ContextMenu closes on its own outside mousedown and uses popover="manual", so it does not inherit FR9; a touch pan does not reach it today. Adopting the rule is ContextMenu's own decision.
• Press and drag-to-select (module:DropdownMenu/useMenuPress): a press that opens a menu and drags to a row starts on the trigger, and a ContextMenu long-press starts on the trigger area; both are the opening gesture, which FR9 never treats as outside. No conflict.

Rejected alternatives

• Closing only for touch.

Claim scope and non-goals

Outside pan and drag dismissal for Popover only. Escape, platform close, focus loss, and menu-specific dismissal stay with their owners.

Writing rubric results

• R1 narration: none.
• R2 research in the record: none; the per-input analysis stays in this description.
• R3 evidence naming a change: none; verification names test states.
• R4 rejected alternatives over one line or outside a decision: none; one line inside DEC-8.
• R5 pull request or issue references remaining: none.
• R6 ruled open questions still listing options: none; OQ1 is unanswered and keeps its options.

Scope

• This PR contains specification records only.
• It records observable behavior and preserves equivalent internal implementations.
• Any named internal mechanism is intentionally public, names its dependent caller/system, and explains why an equivalent implementation would not satisfy the contract.
• Verification states the evidence layer and failure signal without prescribing CI job/workflow topology.
• It records one intentional durable decision, not a rescue for a separable tagalong.
• The canonical knowledge owner, affected current claims, and overlapping open work are named; any ownership collision is resolved or called out for human decision.
• Adjacent API, visual, accessibility, composition, and implementation facts remain outside scope unless this exact decision depends on them.
• Public text and artifacts contain no internal Meta context.

Validation

• pnpm check:knowledge (CI lint)
• Prettier
• git diff --check

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