diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 920a82c..ebbe8a9 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ Two rules keep the boundary real, and both are enforced by the compiler:
 The schema is split into two buckets (§5.1), and the split is the point:
 
 - **`create_registry_tables`** — instance-wide, readable without any user key: `users`, `roles`, `llm_providers`, `llm_models`, `transcribe_models`, `tts_models`, `image_generate_models`, `plugins`, `plugin_access` + `plugin_user_configs`, `approval_rules`, `tool_permission_groups`, `config`, `known_tools`, `llm_requests`, `mcp_catalog`, `mcp_global_servers` + `mcp_global_access`, `oauth_providers`, `role_capabilities`, `shared_folders` + `shared_folder_members`, `projects` + `project_members`, `supervision`, `system_agent_coverage`. The MCP tables back the Connectors model (§7/§14/§15 — see its own section); `oauth_providers` (accessor `db/oauth_providers.rs`) holds one row per identity provider (Google…) — endpoints + `client_id`/`client_secret` + `redirect_uri`, admin-owned household secrets (§4/§15b), never a per-user token. The last two pairs are junction-backed membership: `shared_folder_members` (accessor `db/shared_folders.rs`) for the on-disk shared folders (§6), `project_members` (accessor `db/project_members.rs`) for projects (see the Projects section) — both let a member be read-only (`can_write`) and both drive the container mount topology + the fs routing. Their FKs are registry→registry (same file), which is allowed — unlike an owner→registry key.
-- **`create_owner_tables`** — one owner's content, **identical schema in every file that has it**: `chat_sessions`, `chat_sessions_stack`, `chat_history`, `chat_llm_tools`, `chat_summaries`, `session_scratchpad`, `session_mcp_grants`, `stack_mcp_grants`, `scheduled_jobs`, `job_runs`, `system_agent_runs`, `system_agent_state`, `mcp_user_servers`, `mcp_events`, `sources`, `secrets`, `llm_request_payloads`, `memory_docs` (+ FTS5 `memory_docs_fts`), `reports`. `mcp_user_servers` (a user's activated per-user connectors) carries `catalog_name` as a **bare `TEXT` snapshot** of `mcp_catalog.name`, never a FK — an owner→registry key would fail every INSERT; for an OAuth connector it also snapshots `oauth_provider` + `deliver_json`, and its `api_key` column holds the refresh token (in the SQLCipher-encrypted file, so no column crypto). Because `memory_docs` is an owner table, one definition backs **private** memory in each `{userid}.db` and **shared** memory in `system.db` (the household owner) — see the memory namespace note below. (`projects`/`project_tickets` were owner tables in the single-user past: projects are shareable now, so `projects` + `project_members` are registry tables and `project_tickets` is gone.)
+- **`create_owner_tables`** — one owner's content, **identical schema in every file that has it**: `chat_sessions`, `chat_sessions_stack`, `chat_history`, `chat_llm_tools`, `chat_summaries`, `session_scratchpad`, `session_mcp_grants`, `stack_mcp_grants`, `scheduled_jobs`, `job_runs`, `system_agent_runs`, `system_agent_state`, `mcp_user_servers`, `mcp_events`, `sources`, `secrets`, `user_config`, `llm_request_payloads`, `memory_docs` (+ FTS5 `memory_docs_fts`), `reports`. `user_config` is the per-user twin of the registry `config` table and deliberately does **not** share its name: the two hold different namespaces (instance settings the admin owns vs. one member's own preferences, the notification home being the first), and a same-named table in both files would turn a wrong-pool call into a silent read of the other scope — instead of the "no such table: config" that revealed `/sethome` writing owner state through `db::config` against a `{userid}.db`, which also had the notification consumer dropping every batch it ever built. `mcp_user_servers` (a user's activated per-user connectors) carries `catalog_name` as a **bare `TEXT` snapshot** of `mcp_catalog.name`, never a FK — an owner→registry key would fail every INSERT; for an OAuth connector it also snapshots `oauth_provider` + `deliver_json`, and its `api_key` column holds the refresh token (in the SQLCipher-encrypted file, so no column crypto). Because `memory_docs` is an owner table, one definition backs **private** memory in each `{userid}.db` and **shared** memory in `system.db` (the household owner) — see the memory namespace note below. (`projects`/`project_tickets` were owner tables in the single-user past: projects are shareable now, so `projects` + `project_members` are registry tables and `project_tickets` is gone.)
 
 **The schema is no longer greenfield** (see the production note at the top): a full recreate is not an option anymore. `db::ensure_column` — `ALTER TABLE … ADD COLUMN` swallowing the "duplicate column" error, a no-op on a fresh DB where the `CREATE TABLE` already carries it — is therefore not a convenience for dev boxes anymore but the **only** change shape that is currently safe, and additive-with-a-default is the shape to design towards. Used for the OAuth columns on `mcp_catalog` / `mcp_user_servers`. Anything destructive waits for real versioning.
 
diff --git a/crates/skald-core/src/chat_hub/mod.rs b/crates/skald-core/src/chat_hub/mod.rs
index e4cf308..883e337 100644
--- a/crates/skald-core/src/chat_hub/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/skald-core/src/chat_hub/mod.rs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ use inbox::{ConversationInbox, QueuedMessage, build_unit, drain_leading_user};
 
 use crate::approval::ApprovalManager;
 use crate::cron::TaskManager;
-use crate::db::{chat_history, chat_llm_tools, chat_sessions, chat_sessions_stack, config, sources};
+use crate::db::{chat_history, chat_llm_tools, chat_sessions, chat_sessions_stack, sources, user_config};
 use crate::events::{GlobalEvent, ServerEvent};
 use crate::notification::Notification;
 use crate::session::handler::{
@@ -434,15 +434,23 @@ impl ChatHub {
     }
 
     /// Set which source is the "home" for background agent notifications.
+    ///
+    /// The hub is owner-bound, so `self.db` is that person's own database and the
+    /// home is theirs: one member choosing Telegram cannot move anybody else's
+    /// notifications. That is why the key lives in the owner table `user_config`
+    /// and not in the registry `config` one — which this used to write, against a
+    /// `{userid}.db` that has no such table, so `/sethome` only ever answered
+    /// "no such table: config" and every notification batch was dropped by the
+    /// consumer below.
     pub async fn set_home(&self, source_id: &str) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
-        config::set(&self.db, HOME_SOURCE_KEY, source_id).await?;
+        user_config::set(&self.db, HOME_SOURCE_KEY, source_id).await?;
         info!(source_id, "ChatHub: home source set");
         Ok(())
     }
 
     /// Returns the current home source id, falling back to `web` if not configured.
     pub async fn home_source(&self) -> anyhow::Result<String> {
-        Ok(config::get(&self.db, HOME_SOURCE_KEY)
+        Ok(user_config::get(&self.db, HOME_SOURCE_KEY)
             .await?
             .unwrap_or_else(|| DEFAULT_HOME_SOURCE.to_string()))
     }
@@ -978,9 +986,18 @@ impl ChatHub {
                 None    => break, // ChatHub dropped
             };
 
+            // A batch that got this far is data nobody can recreate, and the
+            // destination is the one thing here with a sane default — so a failed
+            // read degrades to it instead of discarding the notifications (which
+            // is precisely what a missing `config` table did, silently, to every
+            // `notify` and every cron completion on the box).
             let home = match hub.home_source().await {
                 Ok(h)  => h,
-                Err(e) => { error!(error = %e, "notification consumer: home_source failed"); continue; }
+                Err(e) => {
+                    error!(error = %e, fallback = DEFAULT_HOME_SOURCE,
+                           "notification consumer: home_source failed");
+                    DEFAULT_HOME_SOURCE.to_string()
+                }
             };
 
             let count = notes.len();
diff --git a/crates/skald-core/src/db/mod.rs b/crates/skald-core/src/db/mod.rs
index 2cd32c3..111bcf0 100644
--- a/crates/skald-core/src/db/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/skald-core/src/db/mod.rs
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ pub mod system_agent_coverage;
 pub mod system_agent_runs;
 pub mod system_agent_state;
 pub mod tool_permission_groups;
+pub mod user_config;
 pub mod users;
 
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
@@ -1144,6 +1145,23 @@ pub async fn create_owner_tables(pool: &SqlitePool) -> Result<()> {
     .execute(pool)
     .await?;
 
+    // One owner's own preferences — the per-user twin of the registry `config`
+    // table, deliberately **not** sharing its name. The two hold different
+    // namespaces (`ui_locale` and `compaction_model` are the admin's, the home
+    // source is the member's), and a same-named table in both files would turn
+    // every wrong-pool call into a silent read of the other scope instead of the
+    // loud "no such table" that caught `/sethome` writing a per-user setting
+    // through `db::config` against a `{userid}.db`.
+    sqlx::query(
+        "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS user_config (
+            key        TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
+            value      TEXT NOT NULL,
+            updated_at TEXT NOT NULL DEFAULT (datetime('now'))
+        )",
+    )
+    .execute(pool)
+    .await?;
+
     // NOTE: `projects` + `project_members` are **registry** tables (see
     // `create_registry_tables`) — shareable, not encrypted. The old owner-bucket
     // `projects`/`project_tickets` tables (single-user Skald leftover) were removed
@@ -1337,6 +1355,7 @@ mod tests {
         one("INSERT INTO mcp_events (source, method, payload) VALUES ('s', 'm', '{}')").await.unwrap();
         one("INSERT INTO sources (id, active_session_id) VALUES ('web', 1)").await.unwrap();
         one("INSERT INTO secrets (key, value) VALUES ('k', 'v')").await.unwrap();
+        one("INSERT INTO user_config (key, value) VALUES ('source_home', 'telegram')").await.unwrap();
         one("INSERT INTO llm_request_payloads (request_id, request_json) VALUES ('r1', '{}')").await.unwrap();
         // Fires the AFTER INSERT trigger into the external-content FTS5 table.
         one("INSERT INTO memory_docs (path, content) VALUES ('notes/x.md', 'hello world')").await.unwrap();
diff --git a/crates/skald-core/src/db/user_config.rs b/crates/skald-core/src/db/user_config.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aa24738
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/skald-core/src/db/user_config.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+//! One owner's own key/value preferences, in their own database.
+//!
+//! The per-user twin of [`super::config`]: same shape, different file and a
+//! different name on purpose (see the table comment in
+//! [`super::create_owner_tables`]). Anything scoped to a person — the surface
+//! their notifications go to, say — belongs here; instance-wide settings the
+//! admin owns stay in the registry `config` table.
+
+use sqlx::SqlitePool;
+
+/// Get a value by key from this owner's database.
+pub async fn get(pool: &SqlitePool, key: &str) -> anyhow::Result<Option<String>> {
+    let row = sqlx::query_as::<_, (String,)>(
+        "SELECT value FROM user_config WHERE key = ?",
+    )
+    .bind(key)
+    .fetch_optional(pool)
+    .await?;
+
+    Ok(row.map(|(v,)| v))
+}
+
+/// Upsert a key/value pair in this owner's database.
+pub async fn set(pool: &SqlitePool, key: &str, value: &str) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    sqlx::query(
+        "INSERT INTO user_config (key, value, updated_at)
+         VALUES (?, ?, datetime('now'))
+         ON CONFLICT(key) DO UPDATE SET
+             value      = excluded.value,
+             updated_at = excluded.updated_at",
+    )
+    .bind(key)
+    .bind(value)
+    .execute(pool)
+    .await?;
+    Ok(())
+}
+
+/// Delete an entry.
+pub async fn delete(pool: &SqlitePool, key: &str) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    sqlx::query("DELETE FROM user_config WHERE key = ?")
+        .bind(key)
+        .execute(pool)
+        .await?;
+    Ok(())
+}