diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7f447192..6afc5d34 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Fixed
+
+- Docker startup no longer fails when a bind-mounted `~/.hermes/hermes-agent/.git/objects` tree contains read-only git object packs. The root init ownership pass now skips that git object subtree while still chowning the rest of `/home/hermeswebui`, so macOS Docker Desktop bind mounts can start WebUI without requiring writable ownership over agent git internals (fixes #2237).
+
 ### Added
 
 - **PR #2099** by @dobby-d-elf — Adds an opt-in `Settings → Preferences → Fade text effect` toggle (off by default). When enabled, newly streamed output tokens are revealed through an adaptive playout buffer and animated with an opacity-only fade similar to ChatGPT and other frontier LLM apps. Implementation details: fade locked per stream to avoid mid-stream toggle rewind; reduced-motion users get non-animated text; live cursor hidden while fade is active; custom renderer on `streaming-markdown` parser wraps only newly-appended words; animated spans replace themselves with plain text on `animationend` (no long-lived wrapper buildup in long responses); unsafe streamed `href`/`src` values blocked in fade renderer `set_attr` path. Performance tuning: 200ms base fade duration scaling to 350ms for fast output, 16ms word stagger, 320ms done-drain wait cap, 160 wps visual cap, max 2-3 words/frame, brief pauses after sentence punctuation. Default-off means existing users see no change. 293-line regression test pinning the contract.
diff --git a/docker_init.bash b/docker_init.bash
index 00d521c9..247bc9f8 100644
--- a/docker_init.bash
+++ b/docker_init.bash
@@ -181,6 +181,15 @@ load_env() {
   fi
 }
 
+chown_home_hermeswebui() {
+  # macOS Docker bind mounts can expose hermes-agent git object packs as
+  # read-only host files. The runtime only needs to read those existing objects;
+  # requiring chown on them makes startup fail before WebUI can run (#2237).
+  find /home/hermeswebui \
+    -path "/home/hermeswebui/.hermes/hermes-agent/.git/objects" -prune \
+    -o -exec chown -h "${WANTED_UID}:${WANTED_GID}" {} +
+}
+
 # The production image does not ship sudo. The entrypoint starts as root only
 # long enough to align the hermeswebui UID/GID with mounted volumes, prepare
 # root-owned paths, and then drop privileges for the server process.
@@ -209,7 +218,7 @@ if [ "A${whoami}" == "Aroot" ]; then
     usermod -o -u "${WANTED_UID}" hermeswebui || error_exit "Failed to set UID of hermeswebui user"
   fi
 
-  chown -R "${WANTED_UID}:${WANTED_GID}" /home/hermeswebui || error_exit "Failed to set owner of /home/hermeswebui"
+  chown_home_hermeswebui || error_exit "Failed to set owner of /home/hermeswebui"
 
   echo ""; echo "-- Preparing /app for the hermeswebui runtime user"
   mkdir -p /app || error_exit "Failed to create /app directory"
diff --git a/tests/test_issue2237_docker_chown_git_objects.py b/tests/test_issue2237_docker_chown_git_objects.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..99a69829
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_issue2237_docker_chown_git_objects.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+"""Regression coverage for #2237 Docker startup chown on git object packs."""
+
+from pathlib import Path
+import subprocess
+
+
+REPO = Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1]
+INIT_SCRIPT = (REPO / "docker_init.bash").read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+
+
+def test_home_chown_skips_hermes_agent_git_objects():
+    assert "chown_home_hermeswebui()" in INIT_SCRIPT
+    assert "/home/hermeswebui/.hermes/hermes-agent/.git/objects" in INIT_SCRIPT
+    assert "-prune" in INIT_SCRIPT
+    assert 'chown -h "${WANTED_UID}:${WANTED_GID}"' in INIT_SCRIPT
+
+
+def test_root_init_uses_git_object_safe_chown_helper():
+    root_start = INIT_SCRIPT.index('if [ "A${whoami}" == "Aroot" ]; then')
+    root_restart = INIT_SCRIPT.index("exec su", root_start)
+    root_section = INIT_SCRIPT[root_start:root_restart]
+
+    assert "chown_home_hermeswebui || error_exit" in root_section
+    assert 'chown -R "${WANTED_UID}:${WANTED_GID}" /home/hermeswebui' not in root_section
+
+
+def test_docker_init_bash_syntax_still_valid():
+    result = subprocess.run(
+        ["bash", "-n", str(REPO / "docker_init.bash")],
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+    )
+    assert result.returncode == 0, result.stderr