diff --git a/hermes_cli/config.py b/hermes_cli/config.py
index 8748db2cb13..7bbec92cf62 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/config.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/config.py
@@ -847,6 +847,15 @@ def ensure_hermes_home():
     any files created (e.g. SOUL.md) are group-writable (0660).
     """
     home = get_hermes_home()
+    # Named profiles must be created explicitly (e.g. ``hermes profile create``).
+    # If a stale process keeps running after the profile was renamed/deleted,
+    # silently mkdir-ing the old HERMES_HOME would resurrect an empty skeleton
+    # and make the deleted profile reappear in Desktop/profile lists.
+    if home.parent.name == "profiles" and not home.exists():
+        raise FileNotFoundError(
+            f"Named profile home does not exist: {home}. "
+            "Create the profile explicitly before using it."
+        )
     if is_managed():
         old_umask = os.umask(0o007)
         try:
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_config.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_config.py
index 41eef04a1ba..37740c2ea75 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_config.py
@@ -89,6 +89,22 @@ class TestEnsureHermesHome:
             ensure_hermes_home()
             assert soul_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8") == mixed
 
+    def test_existing_named_profile_still_bootstraps_subdirs(self, tmp_path):
+        profile_home = tmp_path / ".hermes" / "profiles" / "coder"
+        profile_home.mkdir(parents=True)
+        with patch.dict(os.environ, {"HERMES_HOME": str(profile_home)}):
+            ensure_hermes_home()
+            assert (profile_home / "cron").is_dir()
+            assert (profile_home / "sessions").is_dir()
+            assert (profile_home / "memories").is_dir()
+
+    def test_missing_named_profile_is_not_recreated(self, tmp_path):
+        profile_home = tmp_path / ".hermes" / "profiles" / "coder"
+        with patch.dict(os.environ, {"HERMES_HOME": str(profile_home)}):
+            with pytest.raises(FileNotFoundError, match="Named profile home does not exist"):
+                ensure_hermes_home()
+        assert not profile_home.exists()
+
 
 class TestLoadConfigDefaults:
     def test_returns_defaults_when_no_file(self, tmp_path):