diff --git a/modules/ipa/client.nix b/modules/ipa/client.nix
index 9bfc498..7b6800e 100644
--- a/modules/ipa/client.nix
+++ b/modules/ipa/client.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 #        sops -e --input-type binary -i secrets/<host>.keytab
 #   d. Commit secrets/<host>.keytab and the updated .sops.yaml, then deploy.
 #
-# vars dependencies: homeDomain, ipaServer, domainControllerIp
+# vars dependencies: homeDomain, ipaServer, domainControllerIp, ipaUser
 
 { config, lib, pkgs, vars, ... }:
 
@@ -62,6 +62,11 @@ lib.mkIf enabled {
     "d /usr/local 0755 root root - -"
     "d /usr/local/bin 0755 root root - -"
     "C+ /usr/local/bin/sss_ssh_authorizedkeys 0555 root root - ${pkgs.sssd}/bin/sss_ssh_authorizedkeys"
+    # Pre-create the IPA user's home dir so Home Manager activation succeeds
+    # even before their first login. On a fresh system SSSD may not have
+    # resolved the user yet — tmpfiles warns and skips in that case (non-fatal),
+    # and pam_mkhomedir covers the first-login path as a fallback.
+    "d /home/${vars.ipaUser} 0700 ${vars.ipaUser} ${vars.ipaUser} - -"
   ];
 
   services.openssh.extraConfig = ''
@@ -120,4 +125,41 @@ lib.mkIf enabled {
       '';
     };
   };
+
+  # Home Manager config for the IPA primary user, applied on every enrolled
+  # host. Manages what IPA doesn't: dotfiles, user-scoped packages, session
+  # variables. Switch-nix/Test-nix/buildImage are system-wide (configuration.nix)
+  # so they don't need to be repeated here.
+  # NixOS requires isNormalUser/isSystemUser + group on any entry in
+  # users.users. HM with useUserPackages = true (set in flake.nix) adds a stub
+  # entry for each HM user so it can install packages to
+  # /etc/profiles/per-user/<name>/. This definition satisfies those assertions.
+  # With security.ipa setting "passwd: sss files" in nsswitch, SSSD's IPA entry
+  # takes priority for NSS lookups — this local stub is only a fallback when
+  # SSSD is unreachable (at which point auth fails anyway).
+  users.users.${vars.ipaUser} = {
+    isNormalUser = true;
+    group = "users";
+    createHome = false;
+  };
+
+  # Home Manager config for the IPA primary user, applied on every enrolled
+  # host. Manages what IPA doesn't: dotfiles, user-scoped packages, session
+  # variables. Switch-nix/Test-nix/buildImage are system-wide (configuration.nix)
+  # so they don't need to be repeated here.
+  #
+  # homeDirectory uses mkForce because HM's NixOS integration module sets it to
+  # "/var/empty" for users not found in config.users.users at eval time (SSSD
+  # users aren't visible there).
+  home-manager.users.${vars.ipaUser} = { pkgs, ... }: {
+    home = {
+      username = vars.ipaUser;
+      homeDirectory = lib.mkForce "/home/${vars.ipaUser}";
+      stateVersion = "26.05";
+      packages = with pkgs; [ tmux sshfs ];
+      sessionVariables.EDITOR = "nano";
+    };
+    programs.home-manager.enable = true;
+    programs.bash.enable = true;
+  };
 }
diff --git a/variables.nix b/variables.nix
index e438178..45e64b6 100644
--- a/variables.nix
+++ b/variables.nix
@@ -80,6 +80,11 @@
   # one-line change.
   primaryUser = "nixos";
 
+  # Primary IPA/domain user. Home Manager is configured for this user on every
+  # IPA-enrolled host (see modules/ipa/client.nix) to manage the environment
+  # that IPA itself doesn't cover: dotfiles, user packages, session variables.
+  ipaUser = "wayne";
+
   # HA file server cluster
   # LAN IPs (vmbr0 / ens18) — client-facing: iSCSI initiators, NFS, management.
   # Storage IPs (vmbr1 / ens19) — isolated internal bridge, used for DRBD