diff --git a/src/configure.ts b/src/configure.ts
index eddf9a3..312158b 100644
--- a/src/configure.ts
+++ b/src/configure.ts
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ interface PromptOption<Value extends string> {
 export interface SelectParams<Value extends string> {
   readonly message: string;
   readonly options: readonly PromptOption<Value>[];
+  /** Which option the cursor starts on. Omit to let the prompt library fall back to its own default (the first option) — pass this explicitly whenever the safest or most common answer isn't the first one listed, so the on-screen reading order and the default-on-Enter answer can differ deliberately rather than being forced to match. */
+  readonly initialValue?: Value;
 }
 
 /** Parameters for a multi-select prompt. */
@@ -103,6 +105,7 @@ export const realPromptsPort: PromptsPort = {
       .select({
         message: params.message,
         options: toClackOptions(params.options),
+        ...(params.initialValue === undefined ? {} : { initialValue: params.initialValue }),
       })
       .then((value): Value | symbol => {
         if (typeof value === "symbol" || isKnownOptionValue(value, params.options)) {
diff --git a/src/identityManager.test.ts b/src/identityManager.test.ts
index 3e974fe..0476edc 100644
--- a/src/identityManager.test.ts
+++ b/src/identityManager.test.ts
@@ -218,6 +218,25 @@ describe("identityManager", () => {
       expect(readIdentity(paths, "joseph.mearman@exadev.io")).toBeDefined();
       expect(readActiveIdentity(paths)).toBe("joseph.mearman@exadev.io");
     });
+
+    it("defaults the profile-creation prompt's cursor to skip, so a bare Enter creates no profile", async () => {
+      const selectCalls: SelectParams<string>[] = [];
+      const base = scriptedIdentityPrompts(["create", "skip"]);
+      const spying: PromptsPort = {
+        ...base,
+        select: (params) => {
+          selectCalls.push(params);
+          return base.select(params);
+        },
+      };
+
+      await runIdentityWizard(spying, paths, "work");
+
+      const profilePrompt = selectCalls.find((call) => call.message.includes("configuration profile"));
+      expect(profilePrompt?.initialValue).toBe("skip");
+      // The option order stays create-then-skip regardless — initialValue moves the default answer without reordering what's read on screen.
+      expect(profilePrompt?.options.map((option) => option.value)).toEqual(["create", "skip"]);
+    });
   });
 
   describe("isIdentityDirectoryName", () => {
diff --git a/src/identityManager.ts b/src/identityManager.ts
index 9cdf6b4..8b63c1e 100644
--- a/src/identityManager.ts
+++ b/src/identityManager.ts
@@ -114,6 +114,8 @@ export async function runIdentityWizard(prompts: PromptsPort, paths: LayoutPaths
       { value: "create", label: "Create and configure a profile" },
       { value: "skip", label: "Skip for now" },
     ],
+    // Most identities need no profile of their own at all — they're meant to fall through to whatever the global default (or a directory rule) already resolves to, and a profile only earns its keep once an identity genuinely needs to diverge from that. Defaulting the cursor to "skip" makes the common, no-profile-needed case the one a bare Enter confirms, without reordering the options and making "skip" read as the first, most prominent choice on screen.
+    initialValue: "skip",
   });
   if (!prompts.isCancel(profileChoice) && profileChoice === "create") {
     const result = await runProfileWizard(prompts, { paths, defaultNewName: name });