diff --git a/.env.example b/.env.example
index d6dddae..e61d725 100644
--- a/.env.example
+++ b/.env.example
@@ -39,16 +39,13 @@ HERMES_MATRIX_ACCESS_TOKEN=
 HERMES_API_SERVER_KEY=
 
 # --- hermes web dashboard (hermes.apps.williamturner.eu) ---
-# Two independent auth layers: Hermes's own login (basic auth — its docs call this
-# "not suitable for direct public-internet exposure" alone) plus a Traefik-level basic
-# auth gate in front of it. Both required, different credentials recommended.
+# Hermes's own login gate — mandatory once its dashboard is bound non-loopback (needed
+# for Traefik, a separate container, to reach it at all), so this can't be turned off
+# while the dashboard is reachable through Traefik.
 HERMES_DASHBOARD_USERNAME=william
 HERMES_DASHBOARD_PASSWORD=
 # 32+ random bytes — `openssl rand -base64 32`
 HERMES_DASHBOARD_SECRET=
-# htpasswd-format "user:hash" for Traefik's basicauth middleware. Generate with:
-#   python3 -c "import crypt; print('someuser:' + crypt.crypt('somepassword', crypt.mksalt(crypt.METHOD_SHA512)))"
-TRAEFIK_HERMES_AUTH_HASH=
 
 # --- portainer (GitOps redeploy) ---
 PORTAINER_STACK_WEBHOOK_URL=
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 4c98a23..b8f5238 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -112,14 +112,11 @@ services:
       - "traefik.http.routers.hermes-dashboard.rule=Host(`${HERMES_DASHBOARD_HOSTNAME}`)"
       - "traefik.http.routers.hermes-dashboard.entrypoints=websecure"
       - "traefik.http.routers.hermes-dashboard.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"
-      # Second, independent auth layer in front of Hermes's own login page — its docs
-      # explicitly call basic-auth-only "not suitable for direct public-internet
-      # exposure" and cite a real June 2026 incident where scanners reached exposed
-      # dashboards and drove agents into planting SSH-key backdoors. This means an
-      # attacker has to clear Traefik's gate before ever reaching Hermes's own auth,
-      # not just guess one password.
-      - "traefik.http.routers.hermes-dashboard.middlewares=hermes-dashboard-auth"
-      - "traefik.http.middlewares.hermes-dashboard-auth.basicauth.users=${TRAEFIK_HERMES_AUTH_HASH}"
+      # Just TLS termination + routing — no Traefik-level auth middleware. Hermes's own
+      # login gate is not optional here anyway: it fails closed at startup once its bind
+      # isn't loopback-only (required for Traefik, a separate container, to reach it at
+      # all), so a second gate in front of it would only add friction, not remove Hermes's
+      # own one. One password, at Hermes's own login page.
       - "traefik.http.services.hermes-dashboard.loadbalancer.server.port=9119"
 
   claude-agent: