diff --git a/bin/omarchy-first-run b/bin/omarchy-first-run
index dc800baf..db885b67 100755
--- a/bin/omarchy-first-run
+++ b/bin/omarchy-first-run
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@
 
 set -e
 
+# Run user-level setup FIRST so its outcome (→ branding files, AI skill
+# symlinks, xdg dirs, etc.) isn't held hostage to whether one of the
+# privileged first-run steps below aborts under set -e. omarchy-setup-user
+# is idempotent and gated on its own marker.
+omarchy-setup-user || true
+
 FIRST_RUN_MODE=~/.local/state/omarchy/first-run.mode
 
 if [[ -f $FIRST_RUN_MODE ]]; then
@@ -23,7 +29,3 @@ if [[ -f $FIRST_RUN_MODE ]]; then
   bash "$OMARCHY_PATH/install/first-run/welcome.sh"
   bash "$OMARCHY_PATH/install/first-run/wifi.sh"
 fi
-
-# omarchy-setup-user is idempotent (gated on its own marker), so this is
-# safe to call on every invocation — it'll no-op once user setup is done.
-omarchy-setup-user || true
diff --git a/install/first-run/gdk-scale.sh b/install/first-run/gdk-scale.sh
index ee42e4a4..0da4a7d6 100644
--- a/install/first-run/gdk-scale.sh
+++ b/install/first-run/gdk-scale.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
-# Set the default GDK_SCALE from what the monitor is currently reporting
-
-scale=$(omarchy-hyprland-monitor-scaling)
-sed -i -E "s|^local omarchy_gdk_scale = .*|local omarchy_gdk_scale = ${scale}|" "$HOME/.config/hypr/monitors.lua"
+# Persist the detected monitor scale (and matching GDK_SCALE) into
+# ~/.config/hypr/monitors.lua. omarchy-hyprland-monitor-scaling with no args
+# returns the closest preset to whatever Hyprland chose at startup; passing
+# that value back in updates both `omarchy_monitor_scale` and
+# `omarchy_gdk_scale` in the lua config so the choice survives a reboot.
+scale=$(omarchy-hyprland-monitor-scaling 2>/dev/null || true)
+[[ -n $scale ]] || exit 0
+omarchy-hyprland-monitor-scaling "$scale" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true