diff --git a/backend/src/controllers/authController.js b/backend/src/controllers/authController.js
index 5f42e91..91d4c10 100644
--- a/backend/src/controllers/authController.js
+++ b/backend/src/controllers/authController.js
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ async function login(req, res, next) {
       return res.status(400).json({ error: 'email and password are required' });
 
     const user = db.prepare(
-      'SELECT id, email, name, role, password_hash, token_version FROM users WHERE email = ?'
+      'SELECT id, email, name, role, password_hash, token_version, avatar_url FROM users WHERE email = ?'
     ).get(email);
 
     if (!user || !(await bcrypt.compare(password, user.password_hash)))
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ async function login(req, res, next) {
     db.prepare("UPDATE users SET last_login = datetime('now') WHERE id = ?").run(user.id);
 
     const token = signToken(user);
-    res.json({ token, user: { id: user.id, email: user.email, name: user.name, role: user.role } });
+    res.json({ token, user: { id: user.id, email: user.email, name: user.name, role: user.role, avatar_url: user.avatar_url } });
   } catch (err) { next(err); }
 }
 
diff --git a/js/api.js b/js/api.js
index e96dd6e..b56fed8 100644
--- a/js/api.js
+++ b/js/api.js
@@ -709,7 +709,12 @@ function lsModal({ title = '', content = '', size = 'md', actions = [], onClose,
 
 /* ── renderNavAvatar — paint the sidebar avatar (image or initials) ──
    Exported via LS.refreshNavAvatar so pages that update avatar_url
-   (profile preset picker, upload flow) can re-paint without reload. */
+   (profile preset picker, upload flow) can re-paint without reload.
+
+   Stale-cache recovery: if the cached user has no `avatar_url` field
+   (e.g. logged in before login was returning it), fetch /auth/me once
+   in the background and re-paint when it returns. */
+let _navAvatarFetchInflight = false;
 function renderNavAvatar(el, user) {
   if (!el) return;
   const u = user || getUser();
@@ -717,10 +722,23 @@ function renderNavAvatar(el, user) {
   if (url) {
     el.innerHTML = `<img src="/avatars/${escapeHtml(url)}?t=${Date.now()}" alt="" style="width:100%;height:100%;object-fit:cover;border-radius:inherit;display:block">`;
     el.style.background = 'transparent';
-  } else {
-    const initials = (u?.name || 'LS').split(' ').slice(0, 2).map(w => w[0]?.toUpperCase() || '').join('') || 'LS';
-    el.textContent = initials;
-    el.style.background = '';
+    return;
+  }
+  // No url yet — paint initials, then opportunistically refresh from /auth/me
+  // if the field is absent (not just empty). `null` means "verified absent",
+  // `undefined` means "we never fetched and might be stale".
+  const initials = (u?.name || 'LS').split(' ').slice(0, 2).map(w => w[0]?.toUpperCase() || '').join('') || 'LS';
+  el.textContent = initials;
+  el.style.background = '';
+  if (u && u.avatar_url === undefined && !_navAvatarFetchInflight && isLoggedIn()) {
+    _navAvatarFetchInflight = true;
+    fetchMe().then(fresh => {
+      if (!fresh) return;
+      const merged = { ...getUser(), ...fresh, avatar_url: fresh.avatar_url ?? null };
+      setUser(merged);
+      const newEl = document.getElementById('nav-avatar');
+      if (newEl) renderNavAvatar(newEl, merged);
+    }).catch(() => {}).finally(() => { _navAvatarFetchInflight = false; });
   }
 }
 function refreshNavAvatar() {