diff --git a/tests/tui_gateway/test_served_profile_child_env_authority.py b/tests/tui_gateway/test_served_profile_child_env_authority.py
index e1303003cf..9d6062c8e4 100644
--- a/tests/tui_gateway/test_served_profile_child_env_authority.py
+++ b/tests/tui_gateway/test_served_profile_child_env_authority.py
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ def test_real_child_observes_only_the_routed_profile(homes):
     finally:
         reset_hermes_home_override(token)
     probe = "import json,os;print(json.dumps({k:os.environ.get(k) for k in ('HERMES_HOME','A_MARKER','B_MARKER','OPENAI_API_KEY')}))"
-    out = subprocess.run([sys.executable, "-c", probe], env=env, capture_output=True, text=True, timeout=60)
+    out = subprocess.run([sys.executable, "-c", probe], env=env, capture_output=True, text=True, encoding="utf-8", timeout=60)
     seen = json.loads(out.stdout.strip().splitlines()[-1])
     assert seen == {"HERMES_HOME": str(b), "A_MARKER": None, "B_MARKER": "b", "OPENAI_API_KEY": None}
     assert Path(seen["HERMES_HOME"]) == b
diff --git a/website/docs/user-guide/multi-profile-gateways.md b/website/docs/user-guide/multi-profile-gateways.md
index 2398580b58..a7bbf5f5df 100644
--- a/website/docs/user-guide/multi-profile-gateways.md
+++ b/website/docs/user-guide/multi-profile-gateways.md
@@ -448,6 +448,8 @@ profile and never shares with the default or any sibling:
 | MCP discovery in the Desktop/dashboard backend | Once per served profile home | A profile selected after another has already built an agent still discovers its own `mcp_servers` |
 | MCP connections in the Desktop/dashboard backend and the per-profile cron ticker | Keyed per served profile even with `gateway.multiplex_profiles` off — same rule as the multiplexer | A same-named `mcp_servers` entry with other credentials is its own connection; a served profile never calls a server as another profile |
 | Dashboard actions (`hermes -p <name> …` spawned by the Desktop/dashboard) | A scrubbed child env pinned to that profile's `HERMES_HOME` | The child loads its own `.env`; the dashboard profile's tokens and ports are not inherited |
+| Every child that acts for a served profile (slash worker, Bot Chat delivery, A2A forward, `key_cmd` helper, browser driver) | That profile's own `.env` + secret sources over a credential-scrubbed base — with or without `gateway.multiplex_profiles` (the Desktop/dashboard `?profile=` route counts) | Absent from the child — a key that reached the launch process only through systemd / Compose / the shell is never inherited by another profile's child |
+| The launch (default) profile's own credentials in a `hermes serve` / dashboard process that also serves another profile | Its `.env` + secret sources over the process env **frozen the moment the first other profile is served**; not re-read afterwards | A credential rotated only in the process env (`systemctl set-environment`, a refreshed `op run` wrapper that did not re-exec) is not picked up until the process restarts — put rotating keys in `.env` or a secret source, or restart after rotating |
 | Cron `.env` tuning (`HERMES_CRON_TIMEOUT`, `HERMES_MODEL` fallback, `HERMES_CRON_MAX_PARALLEL`, prefill file), worker / Bot Chat child env | The profile's own `.env`; children never inherit the default profile's `.env` settings or bridged `TERMINAL_*` policy | Cron defaults / model refusal, exactly as a standalone `hermes -p <name> gateway run` |
 | Kanban workers and notifications for a profile's tasks | The assignee's `.env` + `config.yaml` (toolset pin, terminal backend, media policy, display language) | — |
 | `/loop` ticks, `background_process_notifications` gate, `notice_delivery`, background-process checkpoint recovery | The owning profile's `state.db` / `config.yaml` / `processes.json` | — |