diff --git a/skill/SKILL.src.md b/skill/SKILL.src.md
index 488025f8d..cfdfb67b3 100644
--- a/skill/SKILL.src.md
+++ b/skill/SKILL.src.md
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ Routing: <!-- rule:skill-routing -->
 - **Otherwise:** treat the request as general design work. Missing PRODUCT.md routes through init; new surfaces and replacement worlds use new-work.
 - `teach` aliases `init`. `craft` is a deprecated alias for ordinary new-work and adds nothing. `shape` owns task discovery, then enters new-work only for visual-world and surface-concept decisions.
 
-After init writes PRODUCT.md, resume without rerunning `context.mjs`.
+After init writes PRODUCT.md, resume without rerunning `context.mjs`; init loads the native platform reference itself when the platform it recorded is `ios`, `android`, or `adaptive`.
 
 **Pin / Unpin:** `node {{scripts_path}}/pin.mjs <pin|unpin> <command>` creates or removes a standalone `{{command_prefix}}<command>` shortcut. Report the script's result concisely; relay stderr verbatim on error.
 
diff --git a/skill/reference/init.md b/skill/reference/init.md
index 445e13d58..dbf1baedb 100644
--- a/skill/reference/init.md
+++ b/skill/reference/init.md
@@ -92,6 +92,8 @@ web
 
 Platform is the bare value `web`, `ios`, `android`, or `adaptive`. Preserve useful legacy headings. New files go at `PROJECT_ROOT/PRODUCT.md`; otherwise update the resolved file. Write it before any visual-world or surface-concept work.
 
+When the platform you just recorded is `ios`, `android`, or `adaptive`, load [ios.md](ios.md), [android.md](android.md), or both before any design work. On a project that had no PRODUCT.md, context.mjs could not know the platform and so never loaded them; init is the only place that learns the answer.
+
 ### Completion gate
 
 Before loading new-work or resuming shape/build, verify that PRODUCT.md exists at the resolved path and contains the confirmed product record. If the file is absent, init is incomplete. Do not substitute interview notes, a planning packet, or later design prose for the file.
@@ -111,4 +113,4 @@ Recommend the next action from the actual project state:
 - Existing surface needing work: name the most relevant scoped command.
 - Web project ready for visual iteration: `/impeccable live` when configured.
 
-If init was invoked by another request, resume without rerunning context.mjs; new-work owns later visual decisions.
+If init was invoked by another request, resume without rerunning context.mjs; the native reference above is the one thing that run could not have given you, and new-work owns later visual decisions.
diff --git a/skill/scripts/context.mjs b/skill/scripts/context.mjs
index 9baaed5b9..fce9cea99 100644
--- a/skill/scripts/context.mjs
+++ b/skill/scripts/context.mjs
@@ -1124,6 +1124,13 @@ async function cli() {
           'must finish reference/init.md for PRODUCT.md, then reference/new-work.md establishes the world and surface. Scoped ' +
           'fixes to existing code do not need the new-surface flow.',
         ];
+    // DESIGN.md is authority in its own right and does not depend on
+    // PRODUCT.md existing. Withholding it here used to lose it for the whole
+    // session: the skill resumes after init writes PRODUCT.md without
+    // rerunning this script, so the hasProduct branch below never runs.
+    if (ctx.hasDesign) {
+      parts.push(`# DESIGN.md\n\n${ctx.design.trim()}`);
+    }
     appendSurfaceBriefContext(parts, ctx);
     parts.push(buildResolvedContextDirective(ctx, cliOptions, { targetExists }));
     appendDetectorFallback(parts, ctx);
diff --git a/tests/context.test.mjs b/tests/context.test.mjs
index ed4641721..a58ad6999 100644
--- a/tests/context.test.mjs
+++ b/tests/context.test.mjs
@@ -1151,6 +1151,18 @@ describe('context.mjs CLI', () => {
     assert.doesNotMatch(res.stdout, /WORLD_DISCOVERY_REQUIRED:/);
   });
 
+  it('prints DESIGN.md even when PRODUCT.md is missing', () => {
+    // The skill resumes after init writes PRODUCT.md without rerunning this
+    // script, so a DESIGN.md withheld from the no-PRODUCT.md branch is never
+    // seen at all. Emit incumbent visual authority on both branches.
+    write('DESIGN.md', '# Acme design\n\nUNIQUE_DESIGN_MARKER\n');
+    const res = spawnSync(process.execPath, [SCRIPT_PATH], { cwd: scratch, encoding: 'utf8', env: { ...process.env, IMPECCABLE_NO_UPDATE_CHECK: '1' } });
+    assert.equal(res.status, 0);
+    assert.match(res.stdout, /^NO_PRODUCT_MD:/);
+    assert.match(res.stdout, /# DESIGN\.md\n\n# Acme design/);
+    assert.match(res.stdout, /UNIQUE_DESIGN_MARKER/);
+  });
+
   it('concatenates PRODUCT.md and DESIGN.md with a --- separator', async () => {
     write('PRODUCT.md', '# Acme product\n');
     write('DESIGN.md', '# Acme design\n');