diff --git a/hermes_cli/web_server_dashboard.py b/hermes_cli/web_server_dashboard.py
index ca54274b82..c0bc261ca0 100644
--- a/hermes_cli/web_server_dashboard.py
+++ b/hermes_cli/web_server_dashboard.py
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@ def mount_spa(application: FastAPI):
     with a missing dist per-request (404 JSON / ``check_dir=False``), so a long-lived
     ``--skip-build`` process recovers the moment a build appears on disk — no restart.
     """
-    from hermes_cli.web_server import WEB_DIST, _DASHBOARD_EMBEDDED_CHAT_ENABLED, _SESSION_TOKEN, app
+    from hermes_cli import web_server as _web_server
+    from hermes_cli.web_server import WEB_DIST, _DASHBOARD_EMBEDDED_CHAT_ENABLED, app
 
     # `hermes serve` is the headless backend: it must NEVER serve the browser SPA, even if a
     # dist is lying around, so only the JSON-RPC/WS/API surface is reachable.
@@ -120,7 +121,7 @@ def mount_spa(application: FastAPI):
             if full_path == "" and not gated:
                 return HTMLResponse(
                     "<!doctype html><html><head><script>"
-                    f"window.__HERMES_SESSION_TOKEN__={json.dumps(_SESSION_TOKEN)};"
+                    f"window.__HERMES_SESSION_TOKEN__={json.dumps(_web_server._SESSION_TOKEN)};"
                     "window.__HERMES_AUTH_REQUIRED__=false;"
                     f"</script></head><body>{_HEADLESS_MSG}</body></html>",
                     headers=_NO_STORE,
@@ -151,7 +152,7 @@ def mount_spa(application: FastAPI):
             return JSONResponse({"error": "Frontend not built. Run: cd web && npm run build"}, status_code=404)
         chat_js = "true" if _DASHBOARD_EMBEDDED_CHAT_ENABLED else "false"
         gated = bool(getattr(app.state, "auth_required", False))
-        token_js = "" if gated else f'window.__HERMES_SESSION_TOKEN__="{_SESSION_TOKEN}";'
+        token_js = "" if gated else f'window.__HERMES_SESSION_TOKEN__="{_web_server._SESSION_TOKEN}";'
         bootstrap_script = (
             f"<script>{token_js}"
             f"window.__HERMES_DASHBOARD_EMBEDDED_CHAT__={chat_js};"
diff --git a/tests/hermes_cli/test_web_server.py b/tests/hermes_cli/test_web_server.py
index 025e0348c5..85a01a9380 100644
--- a/tests/hermes_cli/test_web_server.py
+++ b/tests/hermes_cli/test_web_server.py
@@ -5110,6 +5110,25 @@ class TestHeadlessServeTokenPage:
         assert _json.loads(match.group(1)) == ws._SESSION_TOKEN
         assert "window.__HERMES_AUTH_REQUIRED__=false" in resp.text
 
+    def test_root_uses_ssh_token_applied_after_spa_mount(self, monkeypatch):
+        import json
+        import re
+
+        import hermes_cli.web_server as ws
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(ws, "_SESSION_TOKEN", "before-mount")
+        client, ws = self._headless_client(monkeypatch, gated=False)
+
+        ws._apply_ssh_session_token("after-mount")
+        resp = client.get("/")
+        match = re.search(
+            r'window\.__HERMES_SESSION_TOKEN__\s*=\s*("(?:\\.|[^"\\])*")',
+            resp.text,
+        )
+
+        assert match, resp.text
+        assert json.loads(match.group(1)) == "after-mount"
+
     def test_root_stays_404_json_when_auth_gated(self, monkeypatch):
         client, ws = self._headless_client(monkeypatch, gated=True)
         resp = client.get("/")