From 0137e264c8468ebf22c9ec6b9c9a77ec9617c9a7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Meta Vens <rwvens@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2026 00:55:17 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] fix: keep native persona state out of face initializer

---
 packages/core/src/repo-face-initializer.ts | 10 ++++++++++
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+)

diff --git a/packages/core/src/repo-face-initializer.ts b/packages/core/src/repo-face-initializer.ts
index 605ebbb..138b140 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/repo-face-initializer.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/repo-face-initializer.ts
@@ -35,6 +35,16 @@ export interface RepoFaceInitializationResult {
 export async function ensureRepoFaceInitialized(
   options: RepoFaceInitializationOptions,
 ): Promise<RepoFaceInitializationResult> {
+  // Native Personas already own a canonical Persona document.  They are not
+  // newborn repo Faces, so treating `personaStatePath` as a CultCache store
+  // would corrupt their boundary (and makes MessagePack try to decode JSON).
+  if (options.identity.identityKind === "native_persona") {
+    return {
+      initialized: false,
+      skippedReason: "native_persona_state_owned_elsewhere",
+    };
+  }
+
   const repoPath = resolveRepoPath(options);
 
   if (!repoPath) {