diff --git a/src/specify_cli/workflows/steps/init/__init__.py b/src/specify_cli/workflows/steps/init/__init__.py
index 5dc1ee9c02..e72af67338 100644
--- a/src/specify_cli/workflows/steps/init/__init__.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/workflows/steps/init/__init__.py
@@ -91,9 +91,17 @@ def execute(self, config: dict[str, Any], context: StepContext) -> StepResult:
 
         force = self._resolve_bool(config.get("force"), context)
         # Workflows run unattended; skip the agent CLI presence check by default.
-        ignore_agent_tools = self._resolve_bool(
-            config.get("ignore_agent_tools", True), context
-        )
+        # ``config.get(key, True)`` applies that default only when the key is
+        # ABSENT: a bare ``ignore_agent_tools:`` in YAML parses to None, which
+        # ``_resolve_bool`` then turns into False -- flipping the documented
+        # default and re-enabling the agent-CLI presence check this step promises
+        # to skip, so an unattended run fails with "Agent Detection Error" for
+        # any integration whose CLI is not installed. Normalize an explicit null
+        # to the default, mirroring the while/do-while ``max_iterations`` handling.
+        raw_ignore_agent_tools = config.get("ignore_agent_tools")
+        if raw_ignore_agent_tools is None:
+            raw_ignore_agent_tools = True
+        ignore_agent_tools = self._resolve_bool(raw_ignore_agent_tools, context)
 
         argv: list[str] = ["init"]
         if here:
diff --git a/tests/test_workflows.py b/tests/test_workflows.py
index 57536081ea..d63a7e00be 100644
--- a/tests/test_workflows.py
+++ b/tests/test_workflows.py
@@ -2173,6 +2173,59 @@ def test_builds_here_argv_and_bootstraps(self, tmp_path):
         assert "--ignore-agent-tools" in argv
         assert (tmp_path / ".specify").is_dir()
 
+    def test_explicit_null_ignore_agent_tools_keeps_documented_default(
+        self, tmp_path
+    ):
+        """A bare ``ignore_agent_tools:`` must keep the documented default.
+
+        The class docstring says "Because workflows run unattended, the step
+        defaults to ``--ignore-agent-tools``" and the field docs say "defaults to
+        ``true``". But ``config.get(key, True)`` applies the default only when the
+        key is ABSENT — a bare ``ignore_agent_tools:`` in YAML parses to None,
+        which ``_resolve_bool`` turned into False, dropping the flag and
+        re-enabling the agent-CLI presence check for an unattended run.
+        """
+        from specify_cli.workflows.steps.init import InitStep
+        from specify_cli.workflows.base import StepContext, StepStatus
+
+        step = InitStep()
+        ctx = StepContext(
+            project_root=str(tmp_path), default_integration="copilot"
+        )
+        result = step.execute(
+            {
+                "id": "bootstrap",
+                "here": True,
+                "script": "sh",
+                "ignore_agent_tools": None,
+            },
+            ctx,
+        )
+
+        assert result.status == StepStatus.COMPLETED
+        assert "--ignore-agent-tools" in result.output["argv"]
+
+    def test_explicit_false_ignore_agent_tools_is_honoured(self, tmp_path):
+        """An explicit ``false`` must still opt in to the agent-CLI check."""
+        from specify_cli.workflows.steps.init import InitStep
+        from specify_cli.workflows.base import StepContext
+
+        step = InitStep()
+        ctx = StepContext(
+            project_root=str(tmp_path), default_integration="copilot"
+        )
+        result = step.execute(
+            {
+                "id": "bootstrap",
+                "here": True,
+                "script": "sh",
+                "ignore_agent_tools": False,
+            },
+            ctx,
+        )
+
+        assert "--ignore-agent-tools" not in result.output["argv"]
+
     def test_default_integration_falls_back_to_workflow_default(self, tmp_path):
         from specify_cli.workflows.steps.init import InitStep
         from specify_cli.workflows.base import StepContext, StepStatus