diff --git a/hermes_cli/gateway.py b/hermes_cli/gateway.py
index c1f7c04d7f2..69bf4ca6b25 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/gateway.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/gateway.py
@@ -1430,7 +1430,7 @@ def _profile_suffix() -> str:
     return hashlib.sha256(str(home).encode()).hexdigest()[:8]
 
 
-def _profile_arg(hermes_home: str | None = None) -> str:
+def _profile_arg(hermes_home: str | None = None, default_root: str | Path | None = None) -> str:
     """Return ``--profile <name>`` only when HERMES_HOME is a named profile.
 
     For ``~/.hermes/profiles/<name>``, returns ``"--profile <name>"``.
@@ -1440,12 +1440,16 @@ def _profile_arg(hermes_home: str | None = None) -> str:
         hermes_home: Optional explicit HERMES_HOME path. Defaults to the current
             ``get_hermes_home()`` value. Should be passed when generating a
             service definition for a different user (e.g. system service).
+        default_root: Optional Hermes root to compare against. Used when
+            generating a system service for another user from a sudo/root
+            process, where ``Path.home()`` and ``get_default_hermes_root()``
+            refer to root but the target profile lives under the service user.
     """
     import re
     from hermes_constants import get_default_hermes_root
 
     home = Path(hermes_home or str(get_hermes_home())).resolve()
-    default = get_default_hermes_root().resolve()
+    default = Path(default_root).resolve() if default_root else get_default_hermes_root().resolve()
     if home == default:
         return ""
     profiles_root = (default / "profiles").resolve()
@@ -1459,6 +1463,16 @@ def _profile_arg(hermes_home: str | None = None) -> str:
     return ""
 
 
+def _profile_arg_for_target_user(hermes_home: str, target_home_dir: str) -> str:
+    """Return the profile arg for a system service running as another user."""
+    target_root = Path(target_home_dir) / ".hermes"
+    try:
+        Path(hermes_home).resolve().relative_to(target_root.resolve())
+        return _profile_arg(hermes_home, default_root=target_root)
+    except ValueError:
+        return _profile_arg(hermes_home)
+
+
 def get_service_name() -> str:
     """Derive a systemd service name scoped to this HERMES_HOME.
 
@@ -2384,7 +2398,7 @@ def generate_systemd_unit(system: bool = False, run_as_user: str | None = None)
     if system:
         username, group_name, home_dir = _system_service_identity(run_as_user)
         hermes_home = _hermes_home_for_target_user(home_dir)
-        profile_arg = _profile_arg(hermes_home)
+        profile_arg = _profile_arg_for_target_user(hermes_home, home_dir)
         # Remap all paths that may resolve under the calling user's home
         # (e.g. /root/) to the target user's home so the service can
         # actually access them.
diff --git a/hermes_cli/main.py b/hermes_cli/main.py
index 81d6951e71e..714a61cae62 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/main.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/main.py
@@ -354,6 +354,37 @@ def _apply_profile_override() -> None:
             return False
         return True
 
+    def _resolve_sudo_user_profile_env(name: str) -> str | None:
+        """Resolve `sudo hermes -p <name>` against the invoking user's home.
+
+        `_apply_profile_override()` runs before argparse, so `--run-as-user`
+        is not available yet. For sudo invocations, the best available signal
+        is SUDO_USER: root is only doing the privileged install/start action,
+        while the profile store normally belongs to the user who invoked sudo.
+        """
+        if name == "default":
+            return None
+        if not hasattr(os, "geteuid") or os.geteuid() != 0:
+            return None
+        sudo_user = os.environ.get("SUDO_USER", "").strip()
+        if not sudo_user or sudo_user == "root":
+            return None
+
+        try:
+            import pwd
+
+            home = Path(pwd.getpwnam(sudo_user).pw_dir)
+        except Exception:
+            return None
+
+        candidate = home / ".hermes" / "profiles" / name
+        try:
+            if candidate.is_dir():
+                return str(candidate)
+        except OSError:
+            return None
+        return None
+
     # 1. Check for explicit -p / --profile flag. Historically this worked even
     # after the subcommand (`hermes chat -p coder`), so keep scanning broadly.
     # The exception is command-argv passthrough regions such as `mcp add --args`.
@@ -441,7 +472,12 @@ def _apply_profile_override() -> None:
             from hermes_cli.profiles import resolve_profile_env
 
             hermes_home = resolve_profile_env(profile_name)
-        except (ValueError, FileNotFoundError) as exc:
+        except FileNotFoundError as exc:
+            hermes_home = _resolve_sudo_user_profile_env(profile_name)
+            if not hermes_home:
+                print(f"Error: {exc}", file=sys.stderr)
+                sys.exit(1)
+        except ValueError as exc:
             print(f"Error: {exc}", file=sys.stderr)
             sys.exit(1)
         except Exception as exc:
diff --git a/hermes_cli/profiles.py b/hermes_cli/profiles.py
index 7617089c055..ee810a1dd34 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/profiles.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/profiles.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ Usage::
 import json
 import os
 import re
+import shlex
 import shutil
 import stat
 import subprocess
@@ -421,7 +422,8 @@ def create_wrapper_script(name: str, target: Optional[str] = None) -> Optional[P
     else:
         wrapper_path = wrapper_dir / canon
         try:
-            wrapper_path.write_text(f'#!/bin/sh\nexec hermes -p {profile} "$@"\n')
+            hermes_exe = shutil.which("hermes") or "hermes"
+            wrapper_path.write_text(f'#!/bin/sh\nexec {shlex.quote(hermes_exe)} -p {profile} "$@"\n')
             wrapper_path.chmod(wrapper_path.stat().st_mode | stat.S_IEXEC | stat.S_IXGRP | stat.S_IXOTH)
             return wrapper_path
         except OSError as e:
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_apply_profile_override.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_apply_profile_override.py
index 9159969d3b5..0d3c2956a40 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_apply_profile_override.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_apply_profile_override.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ from __future__ import annotations
 import os
 import sys
 from pathlib import Path
+from types import SimpleNamespace
 
 
 
@@ -124,6 +125,30 @@ class TestApplyProfileOverrideHermesHomeGuard:
         assert result is not None
         assert "coder" in result
 
+    def test_sudo_explicit_profile_resolves_invoking_users_profile(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+        """sudo elias ... should resolve `-p elias` under SUDO_USER, not root."""
+        root_home = tmp_path / "root"
+        user_home = tmp_path / "home" / "hermes"
+        profile_dir = user_home / ".hermes" / "profiles" / "elias"
+        profile_dir.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+        (root_home / ".hermes").mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "home", lambda: root_home)
+        monkeypatch.setenv("SUDO_USER", "hermes")
+        monkeypatch.delenv("HERMES_HOME", raising=False)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(os, "geteuid", lambda: 0, raising=False)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(sys, "argv", ["hermes", "-p", "elias", "gateway", "install", "--system"])
+
+        import pwd
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(pwd, "getpwnam", lambda name: SimpleNamespace(pw_dir=str(user_home)))
+
+        from hermes_cli.main import _apply_profile_override
+        _apply_profile_override()
+
+        assert os.environ.get("HERMES_HOME") == str(profile_dir)
+        assert sys.argv == ["hermes", "gateway", "install", "--system"]
+
     def test_hermes_home_unset_default_profile_no_redirect(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
         """active_profile=default must not redirect HERMES_HOME."""
         hermes_root = tmp_path / ".hermes"
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway_service.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway_service.py
index 0c6d7ca836d..f9cdcc1f313 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway_service.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_gateway_service.py
@@ -1980,6 +1980,16 @@ class TestProfileArg:
         result = gateway_cli._profile_arg(str(profile_dir))
         assert result == "--profile mybot"
 
+    def test_named_profile_under_target_user_root_returns_flag(self, tmp_path):
+        """System installs generated under sudo must compare against target user's root."""
+        target_root = tmp_path / "home" / "alice" / ".hermes"
+        profile_dir = target_root / "profiles" / "mybot"
+        profile_dir.mkdir(parents=True)
+
+        result = gateway_cli._profile_arg(str(profile_dir), default_root=target_root)
+
+        assert result == "--profile mybot"
+
     def test_hash_path_returns_empty(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
         """Arbitrary non-profile HERMES_HOME should return empty string."""
         custom_home = tmp_path / "custom" / "hermes"
@@ -2023,6 +2033,28 @@ class TestProfileArg:
         # on the manual launchd fallback path — see test_launchd_plist_includes_profile.)
         assert "--replace" not in unit
 
+    def test_systemd_unit_for_target_user_includes_named_profile(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+        """sudo system install must keep the target user's named profile in ExecStart."""
+        root_home = tmp_path / "root"
+        target_home = tmp_path / "home" / "alice"
+        root_profile = root_home / ".hermes" / "profiles" / "mybot"
+        root_profile.mkdir(parents=True)
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "home", lambda: root_home)
+        monkeypatch.setenv("HERMES_HOME", str(root_profile))
+        monkeypatch.setattr(gateway_cli, "get_hermes_home", lambda: root_profile)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(
+            gateway_cli,
+            "_system_service_identity",
+            lambda run_as_user=None: ("alice", "alice", str(target_home)),
+        )
+
+        unit = gateway_cli.generate_systemd_unit(system=True, run_as_user="alice")
+
+        assert "ExecStart=" in unit
+        assert "--profile mybot gateway run" in unit
+        assert f'HERMES_HOME={target_home / ".hermes" / "profiles" / "mybot"}' in unit
+
     def test_launchd_plist_includes_profile(self, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
         """generate_launchd_plist should include --profile in ProgramArguments for named profiles."""
         profile_dir = tmp_path / ".hermes" / "profiles" / "mybot"
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_profiles.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_profiles.py
index 2a23b648baa..f700e42b1b4 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_profiles.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_profiles.py
@@ -760,13 +760,14 @@ class TestWrapperScript:
 
     def test_creates_sh_on_posix(self, profile_env, monkeypatch):
         monkeypatch.setattr("sys.platform", "darwin")
+        monkeypatch.setattr("hermes_cli.profiles.shutil.which", lambda name: "/opt/hermes/bin/hermes")
         from hermes_cli.profiles import create_wrapper_script
         wrapper = create_wrapper_script("mybot")
         assert wrapper is not None
         assert wrapper.name == "mybot"
         content = wrapper.read_text()
         assert content.startswith("#!/bin/sh")
-        assert "hermes -p mybot" in content
+        assert "exec /opt/hermes/bin/hermes -p mybot" in content
 
     def test_creates_bat_on_windows(self, profile_env, monkeypatch):
         monkeypatch.setattr("sys.platform", "win32")