diff --git a/src/kernel/specialist-registry.ts b/src/kernel/specialist-registry.ts
index 9cc296c..7b0254f 100644
--- a/src/kernel/specialist-registry.ts
+++ b/src/kernel/specialist-registry.ts
@@ -290,6 +290,19 @@ export function loadSpecialistRegistry(paths: UadsPaths, schemaRoot?: string): S
   if (normalized.registryDigest !== parsed.value.registryDigest || parsed.value.policyVersion !== SPECIALIST_POLICY_VERSION) {
     throw new SpecialistRegistryError("specialist registry digest or policy version mismatch");
   }
+
+  const currentBuiltins = builtinSpecialistRegistry(schemaRoot);
+  const builtinIds = new Set(currentBuiltins.profiles.map((profile) => profile.specialistId));
+  const preserved = normalized.profiles.filter((profile) => profile.source !== "builtin");
+  const collision = preserved.find((profile) => builtinIds.has(profile.specialistId));
+  if (collision) {
+    throw new SpecialistRegistryError(`persisted non-builtin specialist collides with built-in ID: ${collision.specialistId}`);
+  }
+
+  const reconciled = createSpecialistRegistry([...currentBuiltins.profiles, ...preserved]);
+  if (reconciled.registryDigest !== normalized.registryDigest) {
+    return persistSpecialistRegistry(paths, reconciled, schemaRoot);
+  }
   return normalized;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/specialist-registry-refresh.test.ts b/tests/specialist-registry-refresh.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64eb547
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/specialist-registry-refresh.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+import { getUadsPaths } from "../src/lib/workspace.js";
+import {
+  builtinSpecialistRegistry,
+  createSpecialistRegistry,
+  loadSpecialistRegistry,
+  normalizeSpecialistProfile,
+  persistSpecialistRegistry,
+} from "../src/kernel/specialist-registry.js";
+
+const ROOT = process.cwd();
+
+describe("built-in specialist registry refresh", () => {
+  it("refreshes official built-ins while preserving user-config profiles", () => {
+    const home = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "uads-registry-refresh-"));
+    const paths = getUadsPaths("project-refresh", home);
+    const current = builtinSpecialistRegistry(ROOT);
+
+    const legacyBuiltins = current.profiles
+      .filter((profile) => profile.specialistId !== "systems-runtime-specialist")
+      .map((profile) => {
+        if (profile.specialistId === "test-engineer") {
+          return normalizeSpecialistProfile({
+            ...profile,
+            coveredDomains: profile.coveredDomains.filter((domain) => domain !== "testing"),
+            profileDigest: undefined,
+          }, "builtin");
+        }
+        if (profile.specialistId === "independent-reviewer") {
+          return normalizeSpecialistProfile({
+            ...profile,
+            coveredDomains: profile.coveredDomains.filter((domain) => domain !== "certification"),
+            profileDigest: undefined,
+          }, "builtin");
+        }
+        return profile;
+      });
+
+    const template = current.profiles.find((profile) => profile.specialistId === "frontend-specialist")!;
+    const custom = normalizeSpecialistProfile({
+      ...template,
+      specialistId: "user-custom-frontend",
+      source: "user-config",
+      profileDigest: undefined,
+    }, "user-config");
+
+    const legacy = createSpecialistRegistry([...legacyBuiltins, custom]);
+    persistSpecialistRegistry(paths, legacy, ROOT);
+
+    const loaded = loadSpecialistRegistry(paths, ROOT);
+    expect(loaded.profiles).toHaveLength(current.profiles.length + 1);
+    expect(loaded.profiles.some((profile) => profile.specialistId === "systems-runtime-specialist")).toBe(true);
+    expect(
+      loaded.profiles.find((profile) => profile.specialistId === "test-engineer")?.coveredDomains,
+    ).toContain("testing");
+    expect(
+      loaded.profiles.find((profile) => profile.specialistId === "independent-reviewer")?.coveredDomains,
+    ).toContain("certification");
+    expect(loaded.profiles.find((profile) => profile.specialistId === "user-custom-frontend")?.source).toBe("user-config");
+
+    const persisted = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(paths.specialistRegistry, "utf8")) as {
+      registryDigest: string;
+      profiles: Array<{ specialistId: string }>;
+    };
+    const state = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(paths.specialistState, "utf8")) as {
+      registryDigest: string;
+      profileCount: number;
+    };
+    expect(persisted.registryDigest).toBe(loaded.registryDigest);
+    expect(state.registryDigest).toBe(loaded.registryDigest);
+    expect(state.profileCount).toBe(current.profiles.length + 1);
+  });
+});