diff --git a/hive-c0re/src/workers/knowledge.rs b/hive-c0re/src/workers/knowledge.rs
index 999a1dbe..dbd249a9 100644
--- a/hive-c0re/src/workers/knowledge.rs
+++ b/hive-c0re/src/workers/knowledge.rs
@@ -292,8 +292,14 @@ pub async fn pull(coord: &Coordinator) -> Result<()> {
         Some(header) => crate::lifecycle::git_command_authed(header),
         None => crate::lifecycle::git_command(),
     };
+    // Remote and branch are named explicitly. A bare `git pull` merges
+    // whatever `branch.<current>.merge` lists, and a clone with more than one
+    // such entry aborts with "Cannot fast-forward to multiple branches" —
+    // taking /knowledge out across the hive over local config this daemon
+    // never writes and cannot see. `origin` exists by construction: the
+    // `remote set-url` above just set it.
     let out = cmd
-        .args(["-C", LOCAL_DIR, "pull", "--ff-only"])
+        .args(["-C", LOCAL_DIR, "pull", "--ff-only", "origin", "main"])
         .output()
         .await
         .context("git pull knowledge")?;