diff --git a/src/hooks.server.ts b/src/hooks.server.ts
index d5436be..94dc2e3 100644
--- a/src/hooks.server.ts
+++ b/src/hooks.server.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,11 @@
 import type { Handle } from '@sveltejs/kit';
-import { resolveTenant } from '$lib/server/tenant.js';
+import { resolveTenant, seedSystemTemplates } from '$lib/server/tenant.js';
 import { validateSession, sessionCookieName } from '$lib/server/auth.js';
 import { logger } from '$lib/server/logger.js';
 
+// One-time seed on startup
+seedSystemTemplates().catch((e) => logger.error({ err: e }, 'Failed to seed system templates'));
+
 export const handle: Handle = async ({ event, resolve }) => {
 	const start = Date.now();
 	// 1. Resolve tenant from hostname
diff --git a/src/lib/server/tenant.ts b/src/lib/server/tenant.ts
index 011ae29..da04e60 100644
--- a/src/lib/server/tenant.ts
+++ b/src/lib/server/tenant.ts
@@ -103,3 +103,42 @@ function humanizeDomain(host: string): string {
 export function clearTenantCache() {
 	tenantCache.clear();
 }
+
+// ─── System board templates (tenantId = null) ───────────────
+const SYSTEM_TEMPLATES = [
+	{
+		name: 'Kanban',
+		description: 'Classic kanban workflow with backlog and review stages',
+		template: { columns: [{ title: 'Backlog' }, { title: 'To Do' }, { title: 'In Progress' }, { title: 'Review' }, { title: 'Done' }] }
+	},
+	{
+		name: 'Simple',
+		description: 'Minimal three-column board',
+		template: { columns: [{ title: 'To Do' }, { title: 'Doing' }, { title: 'Done' }] }
+	},
+	{
+		name: 'Sprint',
+		description: 'Agile sprint workflow with testing phase',
+		template: { columns: [{ title: 'Sprint Backlog' }, { title: 'In Progress' }, { title: 'Testing' }, { title: 'Done' }] }
+	},
+	{
+		name: 'Bug Tracking',
+		description: 'Issue lifecycle from report to resolution',
+		template: { columns: [{ title: 'Reported' }, { title: 'Triaging' }, { title: 'Fixing' }, { title: 'Verifying' }, { title: 'Closed' }] }
+	}
+];
+
+/** Seed system board templates if none exist. Call once at startup. */
+export async function seedSystemTemplates() {
+	const count = await prisma.boardTemplate.count({ where: { tenantId: null } });
+	if (count > 0) return;
+
+	await prisma.boardTemplate.createMany({
+		data: SYSTEM_TEMPLATES.map((t) => ({
+			tenantId: null,
+			name: t.name,
+			description: t.description,
+			template: t.template
+		}))
+	});
+}