diff --git a/hermes_cli/gateway.py b/hermes_cli/gateway.py
index 6c2b59c96..c049c0f96 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/gateway.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/gateway.py
@@ -768,14 +768,22 @@ def _remap_path_for_user(path: str, target_home_dir: str) -> str:
 
       /root/.hermes/hermes-agent  -> /home/alice/.hermes/hermes-agent
       /opt/hermes                 -> /opt/hermes  (kept as-is)
+
+    Note: this function intentionally does NOT resolve symlinks. A venv's
+    ``bin/python`` is typically a symlink to the base interpreter (e.g. a
+    uv-managed CPython at ``~/.local/share/uv/python/.../python3.11``);
+    resolving that symlink swaps the unit's ``ExecStart`` to a bare Python
+    that has none of the venv's site-packages, so the service crashes on
+    the first ``import``. Keep the symlinked path so the venv activates
+    its own environment. Lexical expansion only via ``expanduser``.
     """
-    current_home = Path.home().resolve()
-    resolved = Path(path).resolve()
+    current_home = Path.home()
+    p = Path(path).expanduser()
     try:
-        relative = resolved.relative_to(current_home)
+        relative = p.relative_to(current_home)
         return str(Path(target_home_dir) / relative)
     except ValueError:
-        return str(resolved)
+        return str(p)
 
 
 def _hermes_home_for_target_user(target_home_dir: str) -> str: