ADR-199: A copy is a hidden draft, and a page is copied without its branch 

Context 

ADR-180 held that one call creates one record, so an approver judges one thing. copy_record (ADR-198) runs core's copy command, and that command is more than one row: it copies the translations of a default-language record — since 13.4.25 only where the target site carries their language — the file references and inline children of every copied row, and for a page the records stored on it — for a non-admin, those of the tables in tables_modify. It can also copy a page's whole branch, and it hides only what it copies FIRST: hideAtCopy applies to the top record, unless the user's neverHideAtCopy preference switches even that off.

Decision 

1. The copy is core's copy. The rows it brings along are the ones the page module's copy would bring; the tool does not pick among them, and the approval card counts them — the translations, and for a page the content elements on it.
2. The copy is hidden, whatever core and the user's preferences say — and so is every translation copied with it. The hidden column is set in the paste update of the same command, which reaches the copy only; the copied translations get it from core's hideAtCopy, which the user preference neverHideAtCopy (pinned to 0 for the call) and page TSconfig disableHideAtCopy switch off, so the tool sets it on every copied translation that came out visible, in a second write of the same call. Readback checks the main record's pid, hidden and colPos and returned translations. A failing checked record is deleted again with its translations, and the answer says whether that worked. Between the copy and the second write a copied translation can be visible for the duration of one request. This workflow does not guarantee invisibility at every intermediate instant. Inline children, page content and other core-copied records are not all read back; the hidden main copy may survive a core complaint about those records, with a warning about incomplete copying.
3. A page is copied without its subpages, always. Core would hide only the top page of a copied branch and leave every copied subpage as visible as its original — reachable under a hidden parent, with a new URL. The depth is pinned to 0 for the call: TYPO3 14 reads it from the acting user's copyLevels preference, which the tool sets for the call and puts back without saving it; TYPO3 13 reads the DataHandler's copyTree, which is 0 unless set.
4. Translations follow core. A translation is never copied by itself. In TYPO3 14 and 13.4.25 or later no translation is copied outside a site; inside one, a translation is copied where the site has its language (for an element, where the target page is translated into it), and core complaints are reported. A complaint does not always remove a valid hidden main copy; rollback follows the explicit readback checks (DataHandler::copyL10nOverlayRecords()). Before 13.4.25 core asks no site: it copies every page translation, and drops an element translation the target page is not translated into without an error. The tool adds no rule of its own; the card states the running core's rule, and the answer counts the translations that were placed. A page translation is no target.

Consequences 

✓ The one-record rule becomes "one record the approver named, and what core copies with it, counted on the card" — the rule a human applies in the page module.

✕ A branch is copied page by page, one approval each. That is slower than core's recursive copy and is the price of every copied page being hidden.

Revisit when 

A branch copy is wanted often enough that one approval per page is a burden; the rule then needs every copied page hidden in the same command, which core's copy does not offer.