diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index cac3637..672c273 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -105,3 +105,7 @@ Initial implementation.
   — state, usage and the last dozen journal entries, printed and gone. A
   flow peek shows the stage chain and recurses into the current stage's
   run.
+- The init wizard's full-permission confirm now defaults to Yes (the
+  recommended choice) and its warning spells out that runs and flows
+  (audit → triage → patch → verify) fail closed without it; doctor's
+  scoped-mode message says the same.
diff --git a/internal/bootstrap/doctor.go b/internal/bootstrap/doctor.go
index 93e7fdc..9df004a 100644
--- a/internal/bootstrap/doctor.go
+++ b/internal/bootstrap/doctor.go
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ func Doctor(ctx context.Context, state *State, log LogFn) (*DoctorReport, error)
 	if state.FullPermission {
 		add("permission-mode", true, "full (consented at init): harnesses run with all tools auto-approved")
 	} else {
-		add("permission-mode", true, "scoped (fail-closed): permission requests abort runs with exit 2 — the harness's skills need `traust-cli init --full-permission`")
+		add("permission-mode", true, "scoped (fail-closed): permission requests abort runs with exit 2 — skills and flows (audit → triage → patch → verify) need `traust-cli init --full-permission`")
 	}
 
 	// Traust checkout + venv.
diff --git a/internal/tui/init.go b/internal/tui/init.go
index aa7847d..dcd06e0 100644
--- a/internal/tui/init.go
+++ b/internal/tui/init.go
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ func RunInitWizard(defaultWorkspace, defaultForge string, detected []string, def
 		Ref:              "latest",
 		ToolchainProfile: "none",
 		Harness:          defaultHarness,
+		// Full permission is the recommended default: the harness's skills
+		// cannot run unattended without it, so the confirm highlights Yes.
+		FullPermission: true,
 	}
 
 	harnessOptions := []huh.Option[string]{}
@@ -73,9 +76,10 @@ func RunInitWizard(defaultWorkspace, defaultForge string, detected []string, def
 		),
 		huh.NewGroup(
 			huh.NewConfirm().
-				Title("Run skills with full permissions?").
-				Description("The traust harness's skills REQUIRE unattended tool use (bash, file writes) — "+
-					"without full permission they fail closed on the first permission request. "+
+				Title("Run skills with full permissions? (recommended)").
+				Description("The traust harness's skills REQUIRE unattended tool use (bash, file writes). "+
+					"WARNING: without full permission, runs and flows (audit → triage → patch → verify) "+
+					"fail closed on the first permission request — most workflows will not complete. "+
 					"With it, your harness runs with all tools auto-approved "+
 					"(claude --dangerously-skip-permissions, crush --yolo, codex --dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox). "+
 					"S9 isolation still applies: agents run from the harness root and never load the audit target's configuration.").