diff --git a/hermes_cli/kanban_db.py b/hermes_cli/kanban_db.py
index 9ed9f512b1..e39808546f 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/kanban_db.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/kanban_db.py
@@ -3277,30 +3277,38 @@ def read_worker_log(
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 def list_profiles_on_disk() -> list[str]:
-    """Return the set of named profiles discovered on disk.
+    """Return the set of assignee/profile names discovered on disk.
 
-    Reads ``~/.hermes/profiles/`` directly so this module has no import
-    dependency on ``hermes_cli.profiles`` (which pulls in a large chunk
-    of the CLI startup path). Only returns directories that contain a
-    ``config.yaml`` — a bare dir without config isn't a real profile.
+    Includes:
+    - named profiles under ``<default-root>/profiles/<name>/config.yaml``
+    - the implicit ``default`` profile when the default Hermes root exists
+
+    Reads profile paths directly so this module has no import dependency on
+    ``hermes_cli.profiles`` (which pulls in a large chunk of the CLI startup
+    path).
     """
     try:
         from hermes_constants import get_default_hermes_root
-        home = get_default_hermes_root() / "profiles"
+        default_root = get_default_hermes_root()
+        profiles_dir = default_root / "profiles"
     except Exception:
         return []
-    if not home.is_dir():
-        return []
-    names: list[str] = []
-    try:
-        for entry in sorted(home.iterdir()):
-            if not entry.is_dir():
-                continue
-            if (entry / "config.yaml").is_file():
-                names.append(entry.name)
-    except OSError:
-        return names
-    return names
+
+    names: set[str] = set()
+    if default_root.exists():
+        names.add("default")
+
+    if profiles_dir.is_dir():
+        try:
+            for entry in sorted(profiles_dir.iterdir()):
+                if not entry.is_dir():
+                    continue
+                if (entry / "config.yaml").is_file():
+                    names.add(entry.name)
+        except OSError:
+            pass
+
+    return sorted(names)
 
 
 def known_assignees(conn: sqlite3.Connection) -> list[dict]:
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_core_functionality.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_core_functionality.py
index 3c5454b35c..3fe09086e5 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_core_functionality.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_kanban_core_functionality.py
@@ -899,8 +899,8 @@ def test_migration_renames_legacy_event_kinds(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 def test_list_profiles_on_disk(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
-    """list_profiles_on_disk returns directories under ~/.hermes/profiles/
-    that contain a config.yaml."""
+    """list_profiles_on_disk returns the implicit default profile plus
+    named profiles under ~/.hermes/profiles/ that contain a config.yaml."""
     monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "home", lambda: tmp_path)
     monkeypatch.delenv("HERMES_HOME", raising=False)
     profiles = tmp_path / ".hermes" / "profiles"
@@ -914,7 +914,7 @@ def test_list_profiles_on_disk(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
     (profiles / "stray.txt").write_text("noise")
 
     names = kb.list_profiles_on_disk()
-    assert names == ["researcher", "writer"]
+    assert names == ["default", "researcher", "writer"]
 
 
 def test_list_profiles_on_disk_custom_root(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
@@ -928,7 +928,7 @@ def test_list_profiles_on_disk_custom_root(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
         (d / "config.yaml").write_text("model: {}\n")
 
     names = kb.list_profiles_on_disk()
-    assert names == ["researcher", "writer"]
+    assert names == ["default", "researcher", "writer"]
 
 
 def test_known_assignees_merges_disk_and_board(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
@@ -955,6 +955,8 @@ def test_known_assignees_merges_disk_and_board(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
         conn.close()
 
     by_name = {d["name"]: d for d in data}
+    assert by_name["default"]["on_disk"] is True
+    assert by_name["default"]["counts"] == {}
     assert by_name["researcher"]["on_disk"] is True
     assert by_name["researcher"]["counts"] == {}
     assert by_name["writer"]["on_disk"] is True