diff --git a/src/lib/config.ts b/src/lib/config.ts
index 2ef1016..0c2ce44 100644
--- a/src/lib/config.ts
+++ b/src/lib/config.ts
@@ -44,9 +44,9 @@ export interface SessionBarConfig {
   // "unfinished" drops the sessions that completed, errored, or were stopped,
   // leaving the conversations still going. "all" keeps them.
   statuses?: 'all' | 'unfinished'
-  // Only sessions started these ways, e.g. ["cli", "manual"]. Omit for all of
-  // them. Laptop sessions never appear whatever this says: there is nothing in
-  // the cloud to open.
+  // Only sessions started these ways, e.g. ["cli", "manual"]. An empty list
+  // means every source. Laptop sessions never appear whatever this says: there
+  // is nothing in the cloud to open.
   sources?: string[]
 }
 
@@ -234,6 +234,8 @@ export function clearAllTokens(): void {
 // standing in and the last week, which is short enough to read at a glance
 // without hiding a session you are likely to reopen. `repo: 'cwd'` falls back
 // to every repository outside a repo, so the bar is never mysteriously empty.
+// The default sources are the ones a person started; `react` and `cron` fire on
+// their own and would bury the sessions you are actually working in.
 export const SESSION_BAR_DEFAULTS: Required<Omit<SessionBarConfig, 'sources'>> & {
   sources: string[] | undefined
 } = {
@@ -241,7 +243,7 @@ export const SESSION_BAR_DEFAULTS: Required<Omit<SessionBarConfig, 'sources'>> &
   days: 7,
   repo: 'cwd',
   statuses: 'all',
-  sources: undefined,
+  sources: ['manual', 'cli', 'mention'],
 }
 
 export type ResolvedSessionBar = typeof SESSION_BAR_DEFAULTS
@@ -257,7 +259,7 @@ export function sessionBar(): ResolvedSessionBar {
   if (!raw || typeof raw !== 'object') return { ...SESSION_BAR_DEFAULTS }
   const sources = Array.isArray(raw.sources)
     ? raw.sources.filter((s) => SESSION_SOURCES.includes(s))
-    : undefined
+    : null
   return {
     hidden: raw.hidden === true,
     days:
@@ -269,9 +271,10 @@ export function sessionBar(): ResolvedSessionBar {
       raw.statuses === 'unfinished' || raw.statuses === 'all'
         ? raw.statuses
         : SESSION_BAR_DEFAULTS.statuses,
-    // An explicit [] would list nothing at all, which no one means; treat it
-    // as "every source", the same as leaving the key out.
-    sources: sources && sources.length > 0 ? sources : undefined,
+    // An explicit [] would list nothing at all, which no one means; treat it as
+    // "every source" — the only way to ask for the automated ones too. Leaving
+    // the key out keeps the human-started default.
+    sources: sources === null ? SESSION_BAR_DEFAULTS.sources : sources.length > 0 ? sources : undefined,
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/lib/sessions.ts b/src/lib/sessions.ts
index 9e187cd..e211914 100644
--- a/src/lib/sessions.ts
+++ b/src/lib/sessions.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { sessionStatusWord } from '@ellipsis-dev/sdk/stream'
 import type { Session as FrameSession } from '@ellipsis-dev/sdk'
+import { SESSION_BAR_DEFAULTS } from './config'
 import { theme } from './theme'
 import type {
   AgentSession,
@@ -212,9 +213,9 @@ export function sessionBarQuery(
 export const SESSION_BAR_FETCH = 50
 
 // The picker header's description of the bar's active filters — the answer to
-// "where are the rest of my sessions?". Mirrors sessionBarQuery exactly: a
-// clause appears here iff the matching filter went into the query. null when
-// the list is unfiltered.
+// "where are the rest of my sessions?". Mirrors sessionBarQuery, with one
+// exception: the default sources are not named, since "manual/cli/mention" is
+// what everyone sees and answers no question. null when there is nothing to say.
 export function sessionBarFilterLabel(
   bar: {
     days: number
@@ -228,7 +229,10 @@ export function sessionBarFilterLabel(
   if (bar.repo === 'cwd' && detectedRepo) clauses.push(detectedRepo)
   if (bar.days > 0) clauses.push(`last ${bar.days === 1 ? 'day' : `${bar.days} days`}`)
   if (bar.statuses === 'unfinished') clauses.push('unfinished')
-  if (bar.sources) clauses.push(`source ${bar.sources.join('/')}`)
+  const sources = bar.sources?.join('/')
+  if (sources && sources !== SESSION_BAR_DEFAULTS.sources?.join('/')) {
+    clauses.push(`source ${sources}`)
+  }
   if (clauses.length === 0) return null
   return `filtering to ${clauses.join(' · ')}`
 }
diff --git a/test/config.test.ts b/test/config.test.ts
index 6601149..dc5e643 100644
--- a/test/config.test.ts
+++ b/test/config.test.ts
@@ -260,6 +260,11 @@ describe('sessionBar', () => {
     expect(sessionBar().sources).toBeUndefined()
   })
 
+  it('defaults to the human-started sources when the key is absent', () => {
+    writeConfig({ version: 2, hosts: {}, sessionBar: { days: 3 } })
+    expect(sessionBar().sources).toEqual(['manual', 'cli', 'mention'])
+  })
+
   it('takes days 0 as "no age cutoff", not as a missing value', () => {
     writeConfig({ version: 2, hosts: {}, sessionBar: { days: 0 } })
     expect(sessionBar().days).toBe(0)