diff --git a/.agents/skills/lib.sh b/.agents/skills/lib.sh
index 51a2fa8..4cd9a2c 100644
--- a/.agents/skills/lib.sh
+++ b/.agents/skills/lib.sh
@@ -230,6 +230,18 @@ except Exception:
     # identity to its sub-agents. Drop only per-session runtime markers - user
     # configuration such as CLAUDE_PROJECT_DIR or CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR still
     # inherits. The family ids mirror what orc_onboard.sh auto-detects.
+    #
+    # ISSUE-45: the server restores its saved layout on start and would
+    # relaunch every saved agent with herdr's own resume command (no permission
+    # flags, deleted agents included). It gets HERDR_CONFIG_PATH = the user's
+    # herdr config with [session] resume_agents_on_restore = false, rebuilt on
+    # every start (lib_py/herdr_config.py). Without that file the server still
+    # starts - with restore on, as before.
+    MAM_SERVER_CFG=$(python3 -m lib_py.herdr_config server-config --fallback-dir "$_SHIM_DIR/.." || true)
+    export MAM_SERVER_CFG
+    if [ -z "$MAM_SERVER_CFG" ]; then
+      echo "WARNING: restore-on-restart stays enabled for herdr session $_MAM_SESSION (no server config)" >&2
+    fi
     _mam_server_pid=$(python3 -c '
 import os, subprocess, sys
 deny = ("CLAUDECODE", "CLAUDE_CODE_CHILD_SESSION", "CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID",
@@ -237,8 +249,10 @@ deny = ("CLAUDECODE", "CLAUDE_CODE_CHILD_SESSION", "CLAUDE_CODE_SESSION_ID",
         "CLAUDE_CODE_MESSAGING_TOKEN", "CLAUDE_CODE_MESSAGING_SOCKET",
         "CLAUDE_CODE_BRIDGE_SESSION_ID",
         "ANTIGRAVITY_CONVERSATION_ID", "HERMES_SESSION_ID", "GROK_SESSION_ID",
-        "OPENCODE_SESSION_ID")
+        "OPENCODE_SESSION_ID", "MAM_SERVER_CFG")
 env = {k: v for k, v in os.environ.items() if k not in deny}
+if os.environ.get("MAM_SERVER_CFG"):
+    env["HERDR_CONFIG_PATH"] = os.environ["MAM_SERVER_CFG"]
 p = subprocess.Popen(sys.argv[1:], start_new_session=True, env=env,
                       stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL,
                       stdin=subprocess.DEVNULL)
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index ab7560b..c4f47e3 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -236,6 +236,11 @@ def mam_sandbox(tmp_path, monkeypatch, request):
     monkeypatch.delenv("HERDR_SESSION_NAME", raising=False)
     monkeypatch.delenv("HERDR_SERVER_NAME", raising=False)
     monkeypatch.delenv("HERDR_WORKSPACE_ID", raising=False)
+    # Issue #45: the shim bootstrap writes a herdr server config next to the
+    # user's; with these unset that is $HOME/.config/herdr, inside the sandbox.
+    # Every pane of a MAM server inherits HERDR_CONFIG_PATH.
+    monkeypatch.delenv("HERDR_CONFIG_PATH", raising=False)
+    monkeypatch.delenv("XDG_CONFIG_HOME", raising=False)
     import sys
     monkeypatch.setenv("AGENT_PYTHON_BIN", sys.executable)
     
diff --git a/tests/test_issue9_server_env.py b/tests/test_issue9_server_env.py
index 500dfb2..9edca48 100644
--- a/tests/test_issue9_server_env.py
+++ b/tests/test_issue9_server_env.py
@@ -150,6 +150,27 @@ def test_bootstrap_strips_agent_runtime_markers(mam_sandbox):
         assert key in server_env
 
 
+def test_bootstrap_hands_the_server_a_no_restore_config(mam_sandbox):
+    """Issue #45: the server starts with HERDR_CONFIG_PATH = the user's herdr
+    config plus [session] resume_agents_on_restore = false (that herdr obeys it
+    is test_issue45_restore.py, on a real server)."""
+    import tomllib
+    env = _install_fake_herdr(mam_sandbox)
+    user_cfg = mam_sandbox / ".config" / "herdr" / "config.toml"
+    user_cfg.parent.mkdir(parents=True)
+    user_cfg.write_text("[ui]\nconfirm_close = false\n")
+
+    res = _run_through_shim(mam_sandbox, env, "issue45-probe")
+    assert res.returncode == 0, res.stderr
+    assert "restore-on-restart stays enabled" not in res.stderr, res.stderr
+
+    server_env = json.loads(Path(env["FAKE_HERDR_ENV_DUMP"]).read_text())
+    assert server_env.get("HERDR_CONFIG_PATH") == str(user_cfg.parent / "mam-server-config.toml")
+    assert "MAM_SERVER_CFG" not in server_env
+    cfg = tomllib.loads(Path(server_env["HERDR_CONFIG_PATH"]).read_text())
+    assert cfg == {"ui": {"confirm_close": False}, "session": {"resume_agents_on_restore": False}}
+
+
 def test_no_autostart_skips_bootstrap_but_still_routes_the_call(mam_sandbox):
     env = _install_fake_herdr(mam_sandbox)
     env["MAM_NO_AUTOSTART"] = "1"