diff --git a/docs/cli.md b/docs/cli.md
index bb272c69..b3de7970 100644
--- a/docs/cli.md
+++ b/docs/cli.md
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ Global flags (apply to all subcommands): `--verbose, -v` (enable info-level logg
 
 - `init` - Initialize a repository for AI-first agentic pipeline authoring
   - `--path <path>` - Target directory (defaults to current directory)
-  - `--force` - Overwrite existing agent file
+  - `--force` - Bypass the GitHub-remote guard (use when running inside a GitHub-hosted repository like `githubnext/ado-aw` itself)
   - Creates `.github/agents/ado-aw.agent.md` — a Copilot dispatcher agent that routes to specialized prompts for creating, updating, and debugging agentic pipelines
   - The agent auto-downloads the ado-aw compiler and handles the full lifecycle (create → compile → check)
 - `compile [<path>]` - Compile a markdown file to Azure DevOps pipeline YAML. If no path is given, auto-discovers and recompiles all detected agentic pipelines in the current directory.
diff --git a/src/init.rs b/src/init.rs
index 3037c70c..49f0ff1e 100644
--- a/src/init.rs
+++ b/src/init.rs
@@ -7,18 +7,13 @@ const AGENT_TEMPLATE: &str = include_str!("data/init-agent.md");
 const AGENT_DIR: &str = ".github/agents";
 const AGENT_FILENAME: &str = "ado-aw.agent.md";
 
-pub async fn run(path: Option<&std::path::Path>, force: bool) -> Result<()> {
+pub async fn run(path: Option<&std::path::Path>) -> Result<()> {
     let base = path.map(PathBuf::from).unwrap_or_else(|| PathBuf::from("."));
     let agent_dir = base.join(AGENT_DIR);
     let agent_path = agent_dir.join(AGENT_FILENAME);
 
-    // Check if file already exists
-    if agent_path.exists() && !force {
-        anyhow::bail!(
-            "{} already exists. Use --force to overwrite.",
-            agent_path.display()
-        );
-    }
+    // `init` always (re)writes the agent file so it stays in sync with the
+    // currently installed compiler version.
 
     // Create directory structure
     tokio::fs::create_dir_all(&agent_dir)
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 1b2985e3..583ecbc5 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -104,7 +104,8 @@ enum Commands {
         /// Target directory (defaults to current directory)
         #[arg(long)]
         path: Option<PathBuf>,
-        /// Overwrite existing agent file
+        /// Bypass the GitHub-remote guard (use when running inside a
+        /// GitHub-hosted repository like `githubnext/ado-aw` itself)
         #[arg(long)]
         force: bool,
     },
@@ -449,8 +450,13 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
         }
         Commands::Init { path, force } => {
             let init_path = path.as_deref().unwrap_or(Path::new("."));
-            ensure_non_github_remote_for_ado_aw("init", init_path).await?;
-            init::run(path.as_deref(), force).await?;
+            // `--force` bypasses the GitHub-remote guard so maintainers can
+            // run `ado-aw init` inside this repository (or other GitHub-hosted
+            // forks) for development and example regeneration.
+            if !force {
+                ensure_non_github_remote_for_ado_aw("init", init_path).await?;
+            }
+            init::run(path.as_deref()).await?;
         }
         Commands::Configure {
             token,
diff --git a/tests/init_tests.rs b/tests/init_tests.rs
index 7c2c7c4d..a55f5d4b 100644
--- a/tests/init_tests.rs
+++ b/tests/init_tests.rs
@@ -32,9 +32,9 @@ fn test_init_creates_agent_file() {
     );
 }
 
-/// Test that `init` refuses to overwrite without --force
+/// Test that `init` always overwrites an existing agent file (no --force needed)
 #[test]
-fn test_init_refuses_overwrite_without_force() {
+fn test_init_overwrites_by_default() {
     let temp_dir = tempfile::tempdir().expect("Failed to create temp directory");
 
     // First run should succeed
@@ -44,21 +44,34 @@ fn test_init_refuses_overwrite_without_force() {
         .expect("Failed to run ado-aw init");
     assert!(output.status.success(), "First init should succeed");
 
-    // Second run without --force should fail
+    let agent_path = temp_dir.path().join(".github/agents/ado-aw.agent.md");
+
+    // Tamper with the file
+    fs::write(&agent_path, "tampered content").expect("Should write tampered content");
+
+    // Second run without --force should still succeed and restore the template
     let output = ado_aw_bin()
         .args(["init", "--path", temp_dir.path().to_str().unwrap()])
         .output()
         .expect("Failed to run ado-aw init");
-    assert!(!output.status.success(), "Second init without --force should fail");
+    assert!(
+        output.status.success(),
+        "Second init should succeed and overwrite: {}",
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr)
+    );
 
-    let stderr = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr);
+    let content = fs::read_to_string(&agent_path).expect("Should read agent file");
+    assert!(
+        content.contains("ADO Agentic Pipelines Agent"),
+        "Default init should restore the template content"
+    );
     assert!(
-        stderr.contains("already exists"),
-        "Error should mention file already exists: {stderr}"
+        !content.contains("tampered"),
+        "Tampered content should be overwritten"
     );
 }
 
-/// Test that `init --force` overwrites an existing agent file
+/// Test that `init --force` also overwrites an existing agent file
 #[test]
 fn test_init_force_overwrites() {
     let temp_dir = tempfile::tempdir().expect("Failed to create temp directory");