diff --git a/src/core/cycle/synthesize.ts b/src/core/cycle/synthesize.ts
index 975485665..3aaf3eb9e 100644
--- a/src/core/cycle/synthesize.ts
+++ b/src/core/cycle/synthesize.ts
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ import { MinionQueue } from '../minions/queue.ts';
 import { waitForCompletion, TimeoutError } from '../minions/wait-for-completion.ts';
 import { makeSubagentHandler } from '../minions/handlers/subagent.ts';
 import type { MinionJobInput, MinionJobContext, MinionHandler, SubagentHandlerData } from '../minions/types.ts';
-import { discoverTranscripts, type DiscoveredTranscript } from './transcript-discovery.ts';
+import { discoverTranscripts, DEFAULT_EXCLUDE_PATTERNS, type DiscoveredTranscript } from './transcript-discovery.ts';
 import { serializeMarkdown, serializePageToMarkdown } from '../markdown.ts';
 import type { Page, PageType } from '../types.ts';
 import { validateSourceId } from '../utils.ts';
@@ -862,7 +862,7 @@ async function loadSynthConfig(engine: BrainEngine): Promise<SynthConfig> {
     DEFAULT_SUBAGENT_WAIT_TIMEOUT_MS,
   );
 
-  let excludePatterns: string[] = ['medical', 'therapy'];
+  let excludePatterns: string[] = [...DEFAULT_EXCLUDE_PATTERNS];
   if (excludeStr) {
     try {
       const parsed = JSON.parse(excludeStr);
diff --git a/src/core/cycle/transcript-discovery.ts b/src/core/cycle/transcript-discovery.ts
index d7dc46200..cf8313d06 100644
--- a/src/core/cycle/transcript-discovery.ts
+++ b/src/core/cycle/transcript-discovery.ts
@@ -119,6 +119,14 @@ export function isDreamOutput(content: string, bypass = false): boolean {
   return DREAM_OUTPUT_MARKER_RE.test(content);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Sensitivity categories dream excludes from transcript ingestion by default.
+ * The single source for this vocabulary: `dream.synthesize.exclude_patterns`
+ * overrides it at runtime, and test/frontmatter-inference.test.ts asserts no
+ * shipped DIRECTORY_RULE binds a path to one of these.
+ */
+export const DEFAULT_EXCLUDE_PATTERNS: readonly string[] = ['medical', 'therapy'];
+
 /**
  * Auto-wrap bare-word patterns in `\b<word>\b`. Power users can pass full
  * regex (e.g. `^therapy:`) which we honor verbatim. Heuristic: any input
diff --git a/src/core/frontmatter-inference.ts b/src/core/frontmatter-inference.ts
index 5055e8ee0..2350730d5 100644
--- a/src/core/frontmatter-inference.ts
+++ b/src/core/frontmatter-inference.ts
@@ -112,14 +112,6 @@ export const DIRECTORY_RULES: DirectoryRule[] = [
     datePattern: 'filename',
     titleStrategy: 'filename',
   },
-  {
-    pathPrefix: 'apple notes/jan bowman notes/',
-    type: 'apple-note',
-    source: 'apple-notes',
-    tags: ['therapy', 'jan-bowman'],
-    datePattern: 'filename',
-    titleStrategy: 'filename',
-  },
   // Catch-all for Apple Notes not in a subfolder
   {
     pathPrefix: 'apple notes/',
diff --git a/test/frontmatter-inference.test.ts b/test/frontmatter-inference.test.ts
index 743894baf..bc84f3a83 100644
--- a/test/frontmatter-inference.test.ts
+++ b/test/frontmatter-inference.test.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
  */
 
 import { describe, test, expect } from 'bun:test';
+import {
+  compileExcludePatterns,
+  DEFAULT_EXCLUDE_PATTERNS,
+} from '../src/core/cycle/transcript-discovery.ts';
 import {
   inferFrontmatter,
   extractDateFromFilename,
@@ -336,6 +340,28 @@ describe('DIRECTORY_RULES', () => {
     return sameFields && [...(r.tags ?? [])].sort().join(',') === derived;
   };
 
+  // Transcripts matching gbrain's sensitivity vocabulary are dropped before any
+  // LLM call. A shipped DIRECTORY_RULE that maps a specific person's folder
+  // onto one of those categories encodes a private fact about a real individual
+  // into every install, which the Privacy rule in CLAUDE.md forbids for
+  // checked-in code. Personal mappings belong in the operator's own notes.
+  //
+  // Matched with the production compiler, not a local `includes`: bare words
+  // compile to \b<word>\b, so `therapy-notes` and `medical records` are caught
+  // the same way discoverTranscripts catches them. An exact-equality check
+  // would let those spellings recreate the association with CI green.
+  test('no shipped rule binds a path to a sensitive category', () => {
+    const res = compileExcludePatterns([...DEFAULT_EXCLUDE_PATTERNS]);
+    expect(res.length).toBe(DEFAULT_EXCLUDE_PATTERNS.length); // no silent drop
+    const offenders = DIRECTORY_RULES.filter(r =>
+      (r.tags ?? []).some(t => res.some(re => re.test(t))),
+    );
+    // Report indices, not prefixes: an offending prefix is by definition the
+    // kind of string this test exists to keep out of public artifacts, and a
+    // failing assertion is printed into CI logs.
+    expect(offenders.map(r => DIRECTORY_RULES.indexOf(r))).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
   test('Apple Notes rules are more specific than the catch-all', () => {
     const appleRules = DIRECTORY_RULES.filter(isAppleRule);
     expect(appleRules.length).toBeGreaterThan(1); // subfolder rules + catch-all