diff --git a/swarm-controller/README.md b/swarm-controller/README.md
index 0176caf7..db51bc73 100644
--- a/swarm-controller/README.md
+++ b/swarm-controller/README.md
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ The swarm's control plane. The swarm UI and `swarmctl` are its clients.
 - **Agent roster and wanted state** — every agent the swarm knows
   (`GET /api/agents`, `/api/agents/status`), and the state it declares for
   each one on its hive (`up`/`offline`/`paused`/`destroyed`,
-  `PUT /api/hives/{hive}/agents/{agent}/state`).
+  `PUT /api/hives/{hive}/agents/{agent}/state`). An agent that has never
+  reported takes its hive and declared state in `/api/agents/status` from the
+  one hive whose declaration places it.
 - **Job graph** — a `hive-jobq` scheduler, served at `GET /api/jobq/graph`.
   Every provisioning step below runs as a node in it.
 - **Agent creation** — `POST /api/agents` queues the SSO identity (through
diff --git a/swarm-controller/src/agent_status.rs b/swarm-controller/src/agent_status.rs
index 62bb4416..4f703627 100644
--- a/swarm-controller/src/agent_status.rs
+++ b/swarm-controller/src/agent_status.rs
@@ -12,10 +12,10 @@
 //! it does not say which hive an agent lives on. That is not a gap this
 //! module needs to close: a *reporting* agent's hive comes straight out of
 //! its bucket key (`swarm_wire::agent_status::split_key`), and a
-//! *never-reported* agent's hive is unknowable regardless of what any
-//! roster might claim, so [`AgentStatusRow::hive`] is `None` in exactly
-//! that one case rather than a second lookup this module would have to
-//! keep in sync with the bucket.
+//! *never-reported* agent has no bucket key, so [`AgentStatusRow::hive`]
+//! is `None` out of this module in exactly that one case. The
+//! `GET /api/agents/status` handler fills it from the wanted declaration
+//! that places the agent.
 
 use std::collections::BTreeMap;
 use std::time::{Duration, SystemTime, UNIX_EPOCH};
@@ -32,8 +32,9 @@ use crate::status::Freshness;
 pub struct AgentStatusRow {
     pub name: String,
     /// The hive this agent reported from, taken from its bucket key.
-    /// `None` when the agent has never reported — see the module doc for
-    /// why that is not answered from anywhere else.
+    /// `None` when the agent has never reported. Out of this reader only:
+    /// `GET /api/agents/status` fills it from the declaration that places
+    /// the agent.
     pub hive: Option<String>,
     pub freshness: Freshness,
     /// When the snapshot was stored, unix seconds — the bucket's own
diff --git a/swarm-controller/src/routes/agents.rs b/swarm-controller/src/routes/agents.rs
index 7dfc42aa..139ca5cf 100644
--- a/swarm-controller/src/routes/agents.rs
+++ b/swarm-controller/src/routes/agents.rs
@@ -363,8 +363,9 @@ pub(crate) async fn get_hive_wanted(
 /// 2026-09-02: "the view should be filled by a single backend call").
 ///
 /// Every agent in the roster gets a row whether or not it has ever
-/// reported — see the `agent_status` module for why, and for why its hive
-/// comes from its own bucket key rather than a second lookup. `config_pr`
+/// reported — see the `agent_status` module for why. Its hive comes from its
+/// own bucket key; a never-reported row takes it from the declaration that
+/// places it (`merge_wanted`). `config_pr`
 /// and `wanted` are both merged in here rather than inside
 /// `agent_status::AgentStatusReader`: that module has no forge client or
 /// wanted-state writer and is not the place to add one just for a single
@@ -419,8 +420,13 @@ pub(crate) async fn get_agents_status(
                 // Owned `String` keys, not `&str` borrowed from `rows` —
                 // `declarations` outlives the loop below that needs `rows`
                 // mutably, so it cannot hold a live borrow into it.
-                let hives: std::collections::BTreeSet<String> =
+                let mut hives: std::collections::BTreeSet<String> =
                     rows.iter().filter_map(|r| r.hive.clone()).collect();
+                // A row with no hive has never reported; the hive that
+                // declares it is the only place its hive is on record.
+                if rows.iter().any(|r| r.hive.is_none()) {
+                    hives.extend(state.hives.iter().map(|h| h.name.clone()));
+                }
                 let mut declarations: std::collections::HashMap<
                     String,
                     swarm_wire::wanted::HiveWanted,
@@ -442,15 +448,7 @@ pub(crate) async fn get_agents_status(
                         }
                     }
                 }
-                for row in &mut rows {
-                    row.wanted = row.hive.as_deref().and_then(|hive| {
-                        declarations
-                            .get(hive)?
-                            .agents
-                            .get(&row.name)
-                            .map(|w| <&str>::from(w.state).to_owned())
-                    });
-                }
+                merge_wanted(&mut rows, &declarations);
             }
             if let Some(login) = state.agent_login.as_ref() {
                 for row in &mut rows {
@@ -467,6 +465,35 @@ pub(crate) async fn get_agents_status(
     }
 }
 
+/// Fill `wanted` on every row from `declarations` (hive name -> its
+/// published declaration). A row that has never reported has no hive of its
+/// own; it takes the one hive whose declaration places it, so the declared
+/// state shows and can be changed before the agent first reports. A name
+/// placed on several hives is ambiguous and stays unplaced.
+fn merge_wanted(
+    rows: &mut [agent_status::AgentStatusRow],
+    declarations: &std::collections::HashMap<String, swarm_wire::wanted::HiveWanted>,
+) {
+    let declared: Vec<(String, swarm_wire::wanted::HiveWanted)> = declarations
+        .iter()
+        .map(|(hive, declaration)| (hive.clone(), declaration.clone()))
+        .collect();
+    for row in rows {
+        if row.hive.is_none()
+            && let [hive] = claiming_hives(&row.name, &declared).as_slice()
+        {
+            row.hive = Some(hive.clone());
+        }
+        row.wanted = row.hive.as_deref().and_then(|hive| {
+            declarations
+                .get(hive)?
+                .agents
+                .get(&row.name)
+                .map(|w| <&str>::from(w.state).to_owned())
+        });
+    }
+}
+
 /// Queue the whole agent-creation job graph for `name` — two independent
 /// roots, `CreateIdentity` and `CreateForgeUser`, since an authelia
 /// subject and a forge account need nothing from each other. `CreateRepo`
@@ -1685,6 +1712,66 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(elsewhere, ["sec0nd"]);
     }
 
+    fn roster_row(name: &str, hive: Option<&str>) -> crate::agent_status::AgentStatusRow {
+        crate::agent_status::AgentStatusRow {
+            name: name.to_owned(),
+            hive: hive.map(str::to_owned),
+            freshness: if hive.is_some() {
+                crate::status::Freshness::Fresh
+            } else {
+                crate::status::Freshness::NeverReported
+            },
+            last_seen_unix: None,
+            age_seconds: None,
+            snapshot: None,
+            config_pr: None,
+            wanted: None,
+            needs_login: None,
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn declared(
+        entries: Vec<(String, swarm_wire::wanted::HiveWanted)>,
+    ) -> std::collections::HashMap<String, swarm_wire::wanted::HiveWanted> {
+        entries.into_iter().collect()
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_never_reported_agent_takes_its_hive_and_state_from_its_declaration() {
+        use swarm_wire::wanted::AgentState;
+        let declarations = declared(vec![declaring("pr1ma", "punky", AgentState::Paused)]);
+        let mut rows = vec![
+            roster_row("punky", None),
+            // Control: a reporting agent keeps its own hive and gets its state.
+            roster_row("atlas", Some("pr1ma")),
+        ];
+        super::merge_wanted(&mut rows, &declarations);
+        assert_eq!(rows[0].hive.as_deref(), Some("pr1ma"));
+        assert_eq!(rows[0].wanted.as_deref(), Some("paused"));
+        assert_eq!(rows[1].hive.as_deref(), Some("pr1ma"));
+        assert_eq!(rows[1].wanted, None, "atlas is not declared");
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn a_never_reported_agent_nobody_places_stays_unplaced() {
+        use swarm_wire::wanted::AgentState;
+        let declarations = declared(vec![
+            declaring("pr1ma", "gone", AgentState::Destroyed),
+            declaring("pr1ma", "twin", AgentState::Up),
+            declaring("sec0nd", "twin", AgentState::Up),
+        ]);
+        let mut rows = vec![
+            roster_row("unknown", None),
+            roster_row("gone", None),
+            roster_row("twin", None),
+        ];
+        super::merge_wanted(&mut rows, &declarations);
+        for row in &rows {
+            assert_eq!(row.hive, None, "{}", row.name);
+            assert_eq!(row.wanted, None, "{}", row.name);
+        }
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn a_live_declaration_on_another_hive_is_a_placement() {
         use swarm_wire::wanted::AgentState;