diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/routes/_authenticated/components/AgentHooks/hooks/useCommandWatcher/tools/start-claude-session.ts b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/routes/_authenticated/components/AgentHooks/hooks/useCommandWatcher/tools/start-claude-session.ts
index 4cf9c3844e9..50ca43bf59e 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/routes/_authenticated/components/AgentHooks/hooks/useCommandWatcher/tools/start-claude-session.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/routes/_authenticated/components/AgentHooks/hooks/useCommandWatcher/tools/start-claude-session.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ async function execute(
 			workspaceId: workspace.id,
 			projectId: pending?.projectId ?? workspace.projectId,
 			initialCommands: [...(pending?.initialCommands ?? []), params.command],
-			defaultPreset: pending?.defaultPreset ?? null,
+			// Preserve undefined (signals "fetch from backend") vs null (no preset needed)
+			defaultPreset: pending ? pending.defaultPreset : null,
 		});
 
 		return {
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/screens/main/components/WorkspaceInitEffects.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/screens/main/components/WorkspaceInitEffects.tsx
index 402ce0c37d2..ff37c84f56d 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/screens/main/components/WorkspaceInitEffects.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/screens/main/components/WorkspaceInitEffects.tsx
@@ -201,6 +201,16 @@ export function WorkspaceInitEffects() {
 				continue;
 			}
 
+			// No initProgress means workspace is already initialized — process immediately
+			if (!progress) {
+				processingRef.current.add(workspaceId);
+				handleTerminalSetup(setup, () => {
+					removePendingTerminalSetup(workspaceId);
+					processingRef.current.delete(workspaceId);
+				});
+				continue;
+			}
+
 			if (progress?.step === "ready") {
 				processingRef.current.add(workspaceId);