diff --git a/changelog.d/395-gate-bom.fixed.md b/changelog.d/395-gate-bom.fixed.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0d69ecdd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/395-gate-bom.fixed.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+- A `gate.json` or privileged-users file saved as UTF-8 with a leading BOM
+  now loads. Before, `JSON.parse` rejected the invisible U+FEFF, and the gate
+  reported an error and didn't apply the file (#395).
diff --git a/src/gate/event-gate.ts b/src/gate/event-gate.ts
index bb8bd3d1a..cfcfaa369 100644
--- a/src/gate/event-gate.ts
+++ b/src/gate/event-gate.ts
@@ -44,6 +44,15 @@ const MAX_TRACE_SNIPPET = 80;
 const MAX_INFERENCE_BUFFER = 100;
 /** Minimum interval between filesystem checks for config changes (ms). */
 const RELOAD_THROTTLE_MS = 1000;
+
+/**
+ * Parse a gate file's text as JSON. Some Windows editors save UTF-8 with a
+ * leading U+FEFF (BOM), which `readFileSync(…, 'utf-8')` keeps and
+ * `JSON.parse` rejects; drop exactly one before parsing (#395).
+ */
+function parseGateJson(text: string): unknown {
+  return JSON.parse(text.charCodeAt(0) === 0xfeff ? text.slice(1) : text);
+}
 /** Minimum debounce value (ms). */
 const MIN_DEBOUNCE_MS = 100;
 /** Maximum debounce value (ms). */
@@ -722,7 +731,7 @@ export class EventGate {
       const raw = readFileSync(this.configPath, 'utf-8');
       const stat = statSync(this.configPath);
       this.configMtime = stat.mtimeMs;
-      const config = validateConfig(JSON.parse(raw));
+      const config = validateConfig(parseGateJson(raw));
       this.configSource = 'file';
       this.configErrors = [];
       return config;
@@ -1856,7 +1865,7 @@ export class EventGate {
         return;
       }
       this.privilegedMtime = statSync(this.privilegedUsersPath).mtimeMs;
-      const raw = JSON.parse(readFileSync(this.privilegedUsersPath, 'utf8'));
+      const raw: any = parseGateJson(readFileSync(this.privilegedUsersPath, 'utf8'));
       const ids = Array.isArray(raw) ? raw : Array.isArray(raw?.userIds) ? raw.userIds : [];
       this.privilegedUserIds = new Set(ids.map((x: unknown) => String(x)));
     } catch (err) {
diff --git a/test/event-gate-bom.test.ts b/test/event-gate-bom.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6c0928de3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/event-gate-bom.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+import { describe, it, beforeEach, afterEach } from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert';
+import { existsSync, mkdirSync, writeFileSync, rmSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+import { EventGate } from '../src/gate/event-gate.js';
+import type { GateConfig } from '../src/gate/types.js';
+
+// #395: a gate file saved as UTF-8 with a BOM (some Windows editors do this)
+// must load like the same file without one.
+
+const TMP_DIR = join(import.meta.dirname, '../.test-tmp-gate-bom');
+const BOM = '\uFEFF';
+
+function writeWithBom(name: string, value: unknown): string {
+  const path = join(TMP_DIR, name);
+  writeFileSync(path, BOM + JSON.stringify(value, null, 2), 'utf8');
+  return path;
+}
+
+function makeGate(configPath: string, privilegedUsersPath?: string) {
+  return new EventGate({
+    configPath,
+    ...(privilegedUsersPath ? { privilegedUsersPath } : {}),
+    emitTrace: () => {},
+    addMessage: () => '',
+    requestInference: () => {},
+    getAgentNames: () => ['agent'],
+  });
+}
+
+const config: GateConfig = {
+  policies: [{ name: 'from-bom-file', match: {}, behavior: 'always' }],
+  default: 'skip',
+};
+
+beforeEach(() => {
+  mkdirSync(TMP_DIR, { recursive: true });
+});
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  if (existsSync(TMP_DIR)) rmSync(TMP_DIR, { recursive: true, force: true });
+});
+
+describe('EventGate: UTF-8 BOM in gate files (#395)', () => {
+  it('loads a gate.json that starts with a BOM', async () => {
+    const gate = makeGate(writeWithBom('gate.json', config));
+    const status = (await gate.handleToolCall()).data!;
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(status.errors, []);
+    assert.strictEqual(status.configSource, 'file');
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(status.policies.map(p => p.name), ['from-bom-file']);
+  });
+
+  it('loads a privileged-users file that starts with a BOM', async () => {
+    const gatePath = writeWithBom('gate.json', config);
+    const privPath = writeWithBom('privileged.json', { userIds: ['u-1', 42] });
+    const gate = makeGate(gatePath, privPath);
+    assert.strictEqual(gate.isPrivilegedUser('u-1'), true);
+    assert.strictEqual(gate.isPrivilegedUser('42'), true);
+    assert.strictEqual(gate.isPrivilegedUser('u-2'), false);
+    const status = (await gate.handleToolCall()).data!;
+    assert.deepStrictEqual(status.errors, []);
+  });
+
+  it('still rejects text that is not JSON after the BOM', async () => {
+    const path = join(TMP_DIR, 'broken.json');
+    writeFileSync(path, BOM + BOM + '{}', 'utf8');
+    const gate = makeGate(path);
+    const status = (await gate.handleToolCall()).data!;
+    assert.strictEqual(status.errors.length, 1);
+  });
+});