diff --git a/src/GameCult.Caching.MessagePack/CultCacheMessagePack.cs b/src/GameCult.Caching.MessagePack/CultCacheMessagePack.cs
index 3a57d960..16bbd6c9 100644
--- a/src/GameCult.Caching.MessagePack/CultCacheMessagePack.cs
+++ b/src/GameCult.Caching.MessagePack/CultCacheMessagePack.cs
@@ -70,15 +70,39 @@ namespace GameCult.Caching.MessagePack
         /// Creates a cache with the canonical single-file MessagePack backing store attached.
         /// </summary>
         public static CultCache Create(string filePath, CultCacheOpenOptions? options = null)
+        {
+            options ??= new CultCacheOpenOptions();
+            return CreateCore(filePath, options, initializeGlobals: true);
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Creates a cache with the canonical single-file MessagePack backing store attached and optionally pulls the on-disk snapshot.
+        /// </summary>
+        public static async Task<CultCache> OpenAsync(string filePath, CultCacheOpenOptions? options = null)
+        {
+            options ??= new CultCacheOpenOptions();
+            var cache = CreateCore(filePath, options, initializeGlobals: false);
+            if (options.PullOnOpen)
+            {
+                await cache.PullAllBackingStoresAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
+            }
+
+            cache.MaterializeMissingGlobals();
+
+            return cache;
+        }
+
+        private static CultCache CreateCore(
+            string filePath,
+            CultCacheOpenOptions options,
+            bool initializeGlobals)
         {
             if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(filePath))
             {
                 throw new ArgumentException("File path must be non-empty.", nameof(filePath));
             }
 
-            options ??= new CultCacheOpenOptions();
-
-            var cache = new CultCache(options.Registry)
+            var cache = new CultCache(options.Registry, initializeGlobals)
             {
                 FlushAttachedStoresOnDispose = options.FlushOnDispose
             };
@@ -106,20 +130,5 @@ namespace GameCult.Caching.MessagePack
 
             return cache;
         }
-
-        /// <summary>
-        /// Creates a cache with the canonical single-file MessagePack backing store attached and optionally pulls the on-disk snapshot.
-        /// </summary>
-        public static async Task<CultCache> OpenAsync(string filePath, CultCacheOpenOptions? options = null)
-        {
-            options ??= new CultCacheOpenOptions();
-            var cache = Create(filePath, options);
-            if (options.PullOnOpen)
-            {
-                await cache.PullAllBackingStoresAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
-            }
-
-            return cache;
-        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/GameCult.Caching.MessagePack/DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore.cs b/src/GameCult.Caching.MessagePack/DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore.cs
index 69f6fb26..003b4863 100644
--- a/src/GameCult.Caching.MessagePack/DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore.cs
+++ b/src/GameCult.Caching.MessagePack/DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore.cs
@@ -154,6 +154,12 @@ public sealed class DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore : CacheBackingStore
         IsDirty = !_dirtyKeys.IsEmpty || !_deletedKeys.IsEmpty;
     }
 
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public override bool ContainsDurableRecord(CultRecordKey key)
+    {
+        return _durableIndex.ContainsKey(key.Value) || base.ContainsDurableRecord(key);
+    }
+
     /// <inheritdoc />
     public override void Push(CultStoredDocument entry)
     {
diff --git a/src/GameCult.Caching/CultCache.cs b/src/GameCult.Caching/CultCache.cs
index a580604b..d3da3096 100644
--- a/src/GameCult.Caching/CultCache.cs
+++ b/src/GameCult.Caching/CultCache.cs
@@ -1284,8 +1284,29 @@ namespace GameCult.Caching
         /// Creates a cache using the supplied document registry or the shared registry.
         /// </summary>
         public CultCache(CultDocumentRegistry? registry = null)
+            : this(registry, initializeGlobals: true)
+        {
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Creates a cache using the supplied document registry, optionally deferring global defaults
+        /// until a durable backing store has been hydrated.
+        /// </summary>
+        public CultCache(CultDocumentRegistry? registry, bool initializeGlobals)
         {
             _registry = registry ?? CultDocumentRegistry.Shared;
+            if (initializeGlobals)
+            {
+                MaterializeMissingGlobals();
+            }
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Creates default instances for global document types that do not already have a record.
+        /// Durable open paths call this after hydration so persisted globals remain authoritative.
+        /// </summary>
+        public void MaterializeMissingGlobals()
+        {
             InitializeGlobals();
         }
 
@@ -1800,6 +1821,13 @@ namespace GameCult.Caching
         {
             foreach (var descriptor in _registry.AllDescriptors.Where(candidate => candidate.IsGlobal))
             {
+                var key = new CultRecordKey($"global:{descriptor.SchemaId}");
+                if (_entries.ContainsKey(key.Value) ||
+                    _backingStores.Any(store => store.ContainsDurableRecord(key)))
+                {
+                    continue;
+                }
+
                 if (descriptor.DocumentType.GetConstructor(Type.EmptyTypes) == null)
                 {
                     continue;
@@ -1813,7 +1841,7 @@ namespace GameCult.Caching
 
                 AddStoredDocumentInternal(
                     new CultStoredDocument(
-                        new CultRecordKey($"global:{descriptor.SchemaId}"),
+                        key,
                         DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.ToString("O"),
                         descriptor,
                         instance),
@@ -2037,6 +2065,13 @@ namespace GameCult.Caching
             PullAll();
         }
         /// <summary>
+        /// Returns whether the backing store knows a record is durable, including records left cold by selective hydration.
+        /// </summary>
+        public virtual bool ContainsDurableRecord(CultRecordKey key)
+        {
+            return Entries.ContainsKey(key.Value);
+        }
+        /// <summary>
         /// Pushes one stored document into the backing store.
         /// </summary>
         public abstract void Push(CultStoredDocument entry);
diff --git a/tests/GameCult.Caching.Tests/BackingStoreTests.cs b/tests/GameCult.Caching.Tests/BackingStoreTests.cs
index 23e37cb4..15d6d718 100644
--- a/tests/GameCult.Caching.Tests/BackingStoreTests.cs
+++ b/tests/GameCult.Caching.Tests/BackingStoreTests.cs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 using System;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Linq;
+using System.Reflection;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using GameCult.Caching;
 using GameCult.Caching.MessagePack;
@@ -321,6 +322,54 @@ namespace GameCult.Caching.Tests
             }
         }
 
+        [Test]
+        public async Task CultCacheMessagePack_OpenAsync_HydratesPersistedGlobalBeforeDefault()
+        {
+            var filePath = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), $"cultlib-tests-{Guid.NewGuid():N}.cc");
+            var recordsPath = DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore.DefaultRecordDirectoryPath(filePath);
+            var registry = CultDocumentRegistry.ForTypes(new[] { typeof(GlobalTestEntry) });
+            typeof(CultDocumentDescriptor)
+                .GetField("<IsGlobal>k__BackingField", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic)!
+                .SetValue(registry.GetRequired<GlobalTestEntry>(), true);
+
+            try
+            {
+                using (var seed = await CultCacheMessagePack.OpenAsync(
+                           filePath,
+                           new CultCacheOpenOptions { Registry = registry, UseDirectoryStore = true }))
+                {
+                    var global = seed.GetGlobal<GlobalTestEntry>();
+                    Assert.That(global, Is.Not.Null);
+                    global!.Value = "durable authority";
+                    await seed.UpsertAsync(global);
+                    await seed.FlushAsync();
+                }
+
+                using var reopened = await CultCacheMessagePack.OpenAsync(
+                    filePath,
+                    new CultCacheOpenOptions
+                    {
+                        Registry = registry,
+                        UseDirectoryStore = true,
+                        DirectoryStoreHydrationFilter = _ => false
+                    });
+
+                Assert.That(reopened.GetGlobal<GlobalTestEntry>(), Is.Null,
+                    "the hydration filter owns whether the durable global becomes hot");
+                Assert.That(reopened.IsDirty, Is.False,
+                    "a cold durable global must not stage its schema default as a write");
+
+                var globalKey = "global:" + registry.GetRequired<GlobalTestEntry>().SchemaId;
+                await reopened.PullBackingStoreRecordsAsync(metadata => metadata.Key == globalKey);
+                Assert.That(reopened.GetGlobal<GlobalTestEntry>()?.Value, Is.EqualTo("durable authority"));
+            }
+            finally
+            {
+                if (File.Exists(filePath)) File.Delete(filePath);
+                if (Directory.Exists(recordsPath)) Directory.Delete(recordsPath, recursive: true);
+            }
+        }
+
         [Test]
         public async Task DirectoryMessagePackBackingStore_CleanFlush_DoesNotRewriteManifest()
         {
@@ -989,6 +1038,13 @@ namespace GameCult.Caching.Tests
             public string Value = string.Empty;
         }
 
+        [CultDocument("tests.global_entry", "tests.global_entry.v1")]
+        internal sealed class GlobalTestEntry
+        {
+            [Key(0)]
+            public string Value = "schema default";
+        }
+
         [CultDocument("tests.reference_holder", "tests.reference_holder.v1")]
         internal sealed class ReferenceHolderEntry
         {