diff --git a/src/lib/insights/__tests__/locale-pipeline.test.ts b/src/lib/insights/__tests__/locale-pipeline.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..356539dc0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/insights/__tests__/locale-pipeline.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,177 @@
+/**
+ * The assessment pipeline must carry the reader's locale end-to-end.
+ *
+ * The bug these tests would have caught: every stage typed its locale as
+ * `de | en` and narrowed on the way in, so a French account's locale was
+ * destroyed before any prompt saw it. The output-language directive in the
+ * prompt layer is INERT unless `fr` actually arrives there, so the assertion
+ * that matters is not "the pipeline compiles" but "the locale handed to the
+ * prompt builder is the one the reader has".
+ *
+ * Three things are pinned here:
+ *   1. `normalizeLocale` passes all six through and defaults unknown values to
+ *      ENGLISH — a German default is the whole bug class.
+ *   2. Cache-key stability: an existing de/en account keeps reading its
+ *      existing `insights.<scope>-status.<locale>` rows; only the four new
+ *      locales get new (cold) keys.
+ *   3. End-to-end: a `fr` locale entering a generator reaches the prompt
+ *      builder as `fr`, and a `fr` forced-warm job reaches `forceWarmUser`
+ *      as `fr` (that site previously defaulted to German).
+ */
+import { describe, expect, it, vi, beforeEach } from "vitest";
+
+import { locales } from "@/lib/i18n/config";
+import { normalizeLocale } from "@/lib/insights/status-shared";
+import { statusCacheAction } from "@/lib/insights/status-cache";
+
+describe("normalizeLocale", () => {
+  it("passes every shipped UI locale through unchanged", () => {
+    for (const locale of locales) {
+      expect(normalizeLocale(locale)).toBe(locale);
+    }
+    // The four that used to be flattened away are explicitly covered.
+    expect(normalizeLocale("fr")).toBe("fr");
+    expect(normalizeLocale("es")).toBe("es");
+    expect(normalizeLocale("it")).toBe("it");
+    expect(normalizeLocale("pl")).toBe("pl");
+  });
+
+  it("defaults an unknown, empty, or missing locale to English, never German", () => {
+    for (const value of [null, undefined, "", "xx", "de-DE", "en_US", "🙂"]) {
+      expect(normalizeLocale(value)).toBe("en");
+      expect(normalizeLocale(value)).not.toBe("de");
+    }
+  });
+});
+
+describe("status cache keys", () => {
+  it("leaves the de/en cache keys byte-identical (no drift for existing accounts)", () => {
+    expect(statusCacheAction("weight", normalizeLocale("de"))).toBe(
+      "insights.weight-status.de",
+    );
+    expect(statusCacheAction("weight", normalizeLocale("en"))).toBe(
+      "insights.weight-status.en",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("gives the four widened locales their own keys instead of reusing the English row", () => {
+    expect(statusCacheAction("weight", normalizeLocale("fr"))).toBe(
+      "insights.weight-status.fr",
+    );
+    // Before the widening this collapsed onto the English row.
+    expect(statusCacheAction("weight", normalizeLocale("fr"))).not.toBe(
+      statusCacheAction("weight", "en"),
+    );
+  });
+});
+
+// ── end-to-end: entry point → prompt builder ──────────────────────────────
+
+vi.mock("@/lib/db", () => ({
+  prisma: {
+    user: { findUnique: vi.fn() },
+    auditLog: { findFirst: vi.fn(), create: vi.fn() },
+    measurement: { findMany: vi.fn() },
+    medicationIntakeEvent: { findMany: vi.fn() },
+    moodEntry: { findMany: vi.fn() },
+  },
+}));
+
+vi.mock("@/lib/insights/status-provider", () => ({
+  runStatusCompletion: vi.fn(),
+  statusConsentBlocksGeneration: vi.fn(async () => false),
+}));
+
+vi.mock("@/lib/insights/memory", () => ({
+  getPreviousInsightContext: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(null),
+  formatPreviousContextForPrompt: vi.fn().mockReturnValue(""),
+}));
+
+/**
+ * The capture seam. `getGeneralStatusSystemPrompt` is the LAST hop before the
+ * provider call — whatever locale arrives here is the locale the prompt (and
+ * therefore its output-language directive) is composed for.
+ */
+const systemPromptLocales: string[] = [];
+vi.mock("@/lib/ai/prompts/general-status", () => ({
+  getGeneralStatusSystemPrompt: (locale: string) => {
+    systemPromptLocales.push(locale);
+    return "SYSTEM";
+  },
+  getGeneralStatusUserPrompt: () => "USER",
+}));
+
+import { prisma } from "@/lib/db";
+import { runStatusCompletion } from "@/lib/insights/status-provider";
+import { generateGeneralStatusForUser } from "@/lib/insights/general-status";
+
+const dayMs = 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000;
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+  // Clear recorded calls so each case asserts only its own cache writes.
+  vi.clearAllMocks();
+  systemPromptLocales.length = 0;
+  vi.mocked(prisma.user.findUnique).mockResolvedValue({
+    dateOfBirth: null,
+    gender: null,
+    heightCm: null,
+    insightsExcludeMetrics: [],
+  } as never);
+  vi.mocked(prisma.auditLog.findFirst).mockResolvedValue(null as never);
+  vi.mocked(prisma.auditLog.create).mockResolvedValue({
+    createdAt: new Date(),
+  } as never);
+  vi.mocked(prisma.medicationIntakeEvent.findMany).mockResolvedValue(
+    [] as never,
+  );
+  vi.mocked(prisma.moodEntry.findMany).mockResolvedValue([] as never);
+
+  const now = Date.now();
+  vi.mocked(prisma.measurement.findMany).mockResolvedValue(
+    Array.from({ length: 40 }, (_, day) => ({
+      type: "WEIGHT",
+      value: 80 + (day % 3),
+      measuredAt: new Date(now - day * dayMs),
+    })) as never,
+  );
+
+  vi.mocked(runStatusCompletion).mockResolvedValue({
+    kind: "ok",
+    content: JSON.stringify({ summary: "Résumé." }),
+    providerType: "anthropic",
+    model: "x",
+    tokensUsed: 1,
+  } as never);
+});
+
+describe("a fr locale survives from the generator entry point to the prompt", () => {
+  it("hands 'fr' to the prompt builder rather than collapsing it to en or de", async () => {
+    await generateGeneralStatusForUser("u-fr", { locale: "fr", force: true });
+
+    expect(systemPromptLocales).toContain("fr");
+    // The two failure modes the old binary produced.
+    expect(systemPromptLocales).not.toContain("de");
+    expect(systemPromptLocales).not.toContain("en");
+  });
+
+  it("still hands 'de' to a German reader and 'en' to an English one", async () => {
+    await generateGeneralStatusForUser("u-de", { locale: "de", force: true });
+    expect(systemPromptLocales).toEqual(["de"]);
+
+    systemPromptLocales.length = 0;
+    await generateGeneralStatusForUser("u-en", { locale: "en", force: true });
+    expect(systemPromptLocales).toEqual(["en"]);
+  });
+
+  it("writes the fr assessment to the fr cache row, leaving the en row untouched", async () => {
+    await generateGeneralStatusForUser("u-fr", { locale: "fr", force: true });
+
+    const actions = vi
+      .mocked(prisma.auditLog.create)
+      .mock.calls.map(
+        (call) => (call[0] as { data: { action: string } }).data.action,
+      );
+    expect(actions).toContain("insights.general-status.fr");
+    expect(actions).not.toContain("insights.general-status.en");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/jobs/__tests__/insight-pregenerate.test.ts b/src/lib/jobs/__tests__/insight-pregenerate.test.ts
index d3b359212..e8bb06131 100644
--- a/src/lib/jobs/__tests__/insight-pregenerate.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/jobs/__tests__/insight-pregenerate.test.ts
@@ -783,6 +783,36 @@ describe("forceWarmUser — on-demand single-user warm (v1.8.7.1)", () => {
     });
   });
 
+  it("carries a fr locale into the comprehensive and status warms instead of collapsing it", async () => {
+    // The regression this pins: the warm typed its locale `de | en`, so a
+    // French account's warm ran (and cached) in the wrong language — and the
+    // prompt layer's output-language directive never saw `fr` to act on.
+    const { prisma } = makePrisma([]);
+    const generate = vi
+      .fn()
+      .mockResolvedValue({ status: "generated", providerType: "x" });
+    const statusGenerators = Array.from({ length: 7 }, () =>
+      vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ hasProvider: true, cached: false }),
+    );
+    const warmGenericMetrics = vi.fn().mockResolvedValue(3);
+
+    await forceWarmUser(prisma as never, "u1", "fr", {
+      generate,
+      statusGenerators,
+      warmGenericMetrics,
+    });
+
+    expect(generate).toHaveBeenCalledWith("u1", {
+      locale: "fr",
+      force: true,
+      signal: expect.any(AbortSignal),
+    });
+    for (const g of statusGenerators) {
+      expect(g).toHaveBeenCalledWith("u1", { locale: "fr", force: false });
+    }
+    expect(warmGenericMetrics).toHaveBeenCalledWith("u1", ["fr"]);
+  });
+
   it("skips the comprehensive when the cache was warmed within the freshness window (idempotent re-enqueue)", async () => {
     // A revalidation poll that outlives the enqueue singleton can stack
     // several force jobs; the job-start freshness re-check collapses the