diff --git a/tests/tools/test_delegate.py b/tests/tools/test_delegate.py
index 5deb6c24946..43c8089f112 100644
--- a/tests/tools/test_delegate.py
+++ b/tests/tools/test_delegate.py
@@ -2412,7 +2412,9 @@ class TestConcurrencyDefaults(unittest.TestCase):
         }
 
         with patch.dict("sys.modules", {"cli": stale_cli}):
-            with patch("hermes_cli.config.load_config", return_value=active_config):
+            with patch(
+                "hermes_cli.config.load_config_readonly", return_value=active_config
+            ):
                 self.assertEqual(_load_config()["max_concurrent_children"], 50)
                 self.assertEqual(_get_max_concurrent_children(), 50)
 
@@ -2426,9 +2428,35 @@ class TestConcurrencyDefaults(unittest.TestCase):
         }
 
         with patch.dict("sys.modules", {"cli": fallback_cli}):
-            with patch("hermes_cli.config.load_config", side_effect=RuntimeError("boom")):
+            with patch(
+                "hermes_cli.config.load_config_readonly",
+                side_effect=RuntimeError("boom"),
+            ):
                 self.assertEqual(_load_config()["max_concurrent_children"], 8)
 
+    def test_load_config_prefers_cli_config_when_user_config_ignored(self):
+        # `hermes chat --ignore-user-config` sets HERMES_IGNORE_USER_CONFIG=1,
+        # which only load_cli_config() honors. The delegation loader must keep
+        # CLI_CONFIG authoritative under the flag so user config.yaml
+        # delegation keys stay suppressed.
+        ignoring_cli = types.ModuleType("cli")
+        ignoring_cli.CLI_CONFIG = {
+            "delegation": {
+                "max_iterations": 45,
+                "max_concurrent_children": 4,
+            }
+        }
+        user_config = {"delegation": {"max_concurrent_children": 50}}
+
+        with patch.dict("sys.modules", {"cli": ignoring_cli}):
+            with patch.dict(os.environ, {"HERMES_IGNORE_USER_CONFIG": "1"}):
+                with patch(
+                    "hermes_cli.config.load_config_readonly",
+                    return_value=user_config,
+                ) as mock_loader:
+                    self.assertEqual(_load_config()["max_concurrent_children"], 4)
+                    mock_loader.assert_not_called()
+
     @patch("tools.delegate_tool._load_config", return_value={})
     def test_default_is_three(self, mock_cfg):
         # Clear env var if set
diff --git a/tools/delegate_tool.py b/tools/delegate_tool.py
index 58829528a69..b989b7983b1 100644
--- a/tools/delegate_tool.py
+++ b/tools/delegate_tool.py
@@ -3105,16 +3105,28 @@ def _load_config() -> dict:
     points that cannot import the shared loader; importing it first can return
     an old default ``delegation`` block and hide user-set keys such as
     ``max_concurrent_children``.
-    """
-    try:
-        from hermes_cli.config import load_config
 
-        full = load_config()
-        cfg = full.get("delegation") or {}
-        if isinstance(cfg, dict):
-            return cfg
-    except Exception:
-        pass
+    Uses ``load_config_readonly()``: every consumer of this dict is read-only
+    (``.get()`` lookups), and this runs on each ``get_definitions()`` schema
+    rebuild via ``_get_max_concurrent_children``, so skipping the defensive
+    deepcopy matters. Do NOT mutate the returned dict.
+
+    ``HERMES_IGNORE_USER_CONFIG=1`` (``hermes chat --ignore-user-config``) is
+    only honored by the legacy ``cli`` loader, not the shared one, so when the
+    flag is set we keep ``cli.CLI_CONFIG`` authoritative to preserve the
+    flag's contract of suppressing user config.yaml settings.
+    """
+    prefer_legacy = os.environ.get("HERMES_IGNORE_USER_CONFIG") == "1"
+    if not prefer_legacy:
+        try:
+            from hermes_cli.config import load_config_readonly
+
+            full = load_config_readonly()
+            cfg = full.get("delegation") or {}
+            if isinstance(cfg, dict):
+                return cfg
+        except Exception:
+            pass
     try:
         from cli import CLI_CONFIG