diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/themes/classic-skin.test.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/themes/classic-skin.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bf025c9401
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/themes/classic-skin.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+import { act, cleanup, render } from '@testing-library/react'
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
+
+import type { useTheme } from './context'
+
+// What the gateway and the Electron bridge report for a STOCK config
+// (`display.skin: default`): the CLI's classic gold skin, by name `default`.
+const stockDefaultSkin = {
+  name: 'default',
+  description: 'Classic Hermes — gold and kawaii',
+  colors: { banner_text: '#FFF8DC', status_bar_bg: '#1a1a2e', ui_accent: '#FFBF00', banner_border: '#CD7F32' }
+}
+
+const cssVar = (name: string) => window.document.documentElement.style.getPropertyValue(name)
+const paintedSkin = () => window.document.documentElement.dataset.hermesTheme
+
+type ThemeApi = ReturnType<typeof useTheme>
+
+/** A fresh renderer launch: module state reloads, localStorage survives. */
+async function launch(localSkin: typeof stockDefaultSkin | null) {
+  cleanup()
+  Object.defineProperty(window, 'hermesDesktop', {
+    configurable: true,
+    value: localSkin ? { localSkin: { profile: 'default', skin: localSkin } } : {}
+  })
+  vi.resetModules()
+
+  const [context, sync, skinCommand] = await Promise.all([
+    import('./context'),
+    import('./backend-sync'),
+    import('./use-skin-command')
+  ])
+
+  // The pre-mount boot paint, i.e. the very first frame of the launch.
+  const bootPaint = paintedSkin()
+  const api: { theme: ThemeApi | null; skin: ((arg: string) => string) | null } = { skin: null, theme: null }
+
+  function Probe() {
+    api.theme = context.useTheme()
+    api.skin = skinCommand.useSkinCommand()
+
+    return null
+  }
+
+  render(
+    <context.ThemeProvider>
+      <Probe />
+    </context.ThemeProvider>
+  )
+
+  // gateway.ready: the connect-time seed of the backend's active skin.
+  const connect = () => act(() => sync.ingestBackendSkin(stockDefaultSkin, { apply: false }))
+
+  return { api, bootPaint, connect }
+}
+
+describe('Classic Hermes is an explicit Desktop pick, never inferred from stock config (#76579)', () => {
+  beforeEach(() => window.localStorage.clear())
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    cleanup()
+    window.localStorage.clear()
+    Reflect.deleteProperty(window, 'hermesDesktop')
+    vi.resetModules()
+  })
+
+  it.each([
+    ['display.skin: default', stockDefaultSkin],
+    ['display.skin unset', null]
+  ])('a stock user (%s) with no Desktop pick paints Nous on boot, connect and relaunch', async (_label, local) => {
+    let run = await launch(local)
+    expect(run.bootPaint).toBe('nous')
+    run.connect()
+    run.connect() // reconnect re-seed
+    expect(run.api.theme?.themeName).toBe('nous')
+    expect(paintedSkin()).toBe('nous')
+
+    run = await launch(local)
+    expect(run.bootPaint).toBe('nous')
+    run.connect()
+    expect(paintedSkin()).toBe('nous')
+  })
+
+  it('a Classic pick paints gold/navy and survives connect, reconnect and relaunch; a later Nous pick sticks', async () => {
+    let run = await launch(stockDefaultSkin)
+    expect(run.api.theme?.availableThemes.find(t => t.name === 'classic')?.label).toBe('Classic Hermes')
+
+    act(() => run.api.theme?.setTheme('classic'))
+    expect(paintedSkin()).toBe('classic')
+    expect(cssVar('--theme-background-seed')).toBe('#1a1a2e')
+    expect(cssVar('--theme-primary').toLowerCase()).toBe('#ffbf00')
+
+    run.connect()
+    run.connect()
+    expect(run.api.theme?.themeName).toBe('classic')
+
+    run = await launch(stockDefaultSkin)
+    expect(run.bootPaint).toBe('classic')
+    run.connect()
+    expect(paintedSkin()).toBe('classic')
+    expect(cssVar('--theme-background-seed')).toBe('#1a1a2e')
+
+    act(() => run.api.theme?.setTheme('nous'))
+    run = await launch(stockDefaultSkin)
+    run.connect()
+    expect(run.bootPaint).toBe('nous')
+    expect(paintedSkin()).toBe('nous')
+  })
+
+  it('/skin gold and /skin hermes select Classic; /skin default stays the Desktop default (Nous)', async () => {
+    const run = await launch(stockDefaultSkin)
+
+    act(() => void run.api.skin?.('gold'))
+    expect(run.api.theme?.themeName).toBe('classic')
+
+    act(() => void run.api.skin?.('nous'))
+    act(() => void run.api.skin?.('hermes'))
+    expect(run.api.theme?.themeName).toBe('classic')
+
+    act(() => void run.api.skin?.('default'))
+    expect(run.api.theme?.themeName).toBe('nous')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/themes/presets.ts b/apps/desktop/src/themes/presets.ts
index f4f24f9426..70cdb3313c 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/themes/presets.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/themes/presets.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 
 import { THEME_PRESET_PALETTES } from '@hermes/shared'
 
+import { skinToDesktopTheme } from './skin'
 import type { DesktopTheme, DesktopThemeTypography } from './types'
 
 // Color-emoji fonts to append to every stack as a last resort. None of the UI
@@ -338,6 +339,31 @@ export const nousAltTheme: DesktopTheme = {
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Classic Hermes — the CLI's stock `default` skin (gold on navy), offered as a
+ * Desktop pick under its OWN id. Never `default`: stock config ships
+ * `display.skin: default`, and Desktop reads that as "no pick" (→ nous), so a
+ * user only ever gets Classic by choosing it (#76579). The palette goes through
+ * the same converter a backend skin takes, fed the colors it reads from
+ * `hermes_cli/skin_engine.py`'s `default`, so it paints what the CLI paints.
+ */
+export const classicTheme: DesktopTheme = {
+  ...(skinToDesktopTheme({
+    name: 'classic',
+    colors: {
+      status_bar_bg: '#1a1a2e',
+      banner_text: '#FFF8DC',
+      ui_accent: '#FFBF00',
+      banner_border: '#CD7F32',
+      banner_dim: '#B8860B',
+      ui_error: '#ef5350',
+      completion_menu_bg: '#1a1a2e'
+    }
+  }) as DesktopTheme),
+  label: 'Classic Hermes',
+  description: 'Classic Hermes — gold and kawaii'
+}
+
 /**
  * Midnight — deep blue-violet, near-monotone. Dark only: it has no light
  * palette because the whole idea is the dark end of the spectrum.
@@ -402,6 +428,7 @@ export const BUILTIN_THEMES: Record<string, DesktopTheme> = {
   everforest: everforestTheme,
   solarized: solarizedTheme,
   'nous-alt': nousAltTheme,
+  classic: classicTheme,
   midnight: midnightTheme,
   ember: emberTheme,
   mono: monoTheme,
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/themes/use-skin-command.ts b/apps/desktop/src/themes/use-skin-command.ts
index 72af193464..72b3f50bd3 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/themes/use-skin-command.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/themes/use-skin-command.ts
@@ -2,12 +2,15 @@ import { useCallback } from 'react'
 
 import { useTheme } from './context'
 
-// Retired skin names land on the canonical Nous skin so old muscle memory works.
+// Old names land on a shipped theme so muscle memory works. `gold`/`hermes`
+// only ever meant the classic gold look, so they reach Classic Hermes; `default`
+// stays Nous because it is also the stock config value, which Desktop reads as
+// "the Desktop default" everywhere else (boot, backend sync, setTheme).
 const ALIASES: Record<string, string> = {
   ares: 'ember',
   default: 'nous',
-  gold: 'nous',
-  hermes: 'nous',
+  gold: 'classic',
+  hermes: 'classic',
   'nous-light': 'nous'
 }