diff --git a/backend/packages/harness/deerflow/config/agents_config.py b/backend/packages/harness/deerflow/config/agents_config.py
index f6f25da569..04b69c84ab 100644
--- a/backend/packages/harness/deerflow/config/agents_config.py
+++ b/backend/packages/harness/deerflow/config/agents_config.py
@@ -377,7 +377,11 @@ def load_agent_soul(agent_name: str | None, *, user_id: str | None = None) -> st
         soul_path = get_paths().base_dir / SOUL_FILENAME
         if not soul_path.exists():
             return None
-        content = soul_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8").strip()
+        # ``utf-8-sig`` drops the BOM a Windows editor (Notepad, PowerShell 5.1)
+        # prepends. ``str.strip()`` does not remove U+FEFF, so reading this as
+        # plain ``utf-8`` would make the mark the first character of the text
+        # injected into the lead agent's system prompt.
+        content = soul_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8-sig").strip()
         return content or None
     from deerflow.persistence.agents import get_agent_store
 
diff --git a/backend/packages/harness/deerflow/persistence/agents/file.py b/backend/packages/harness/deerflow/persistence/agents/file.py
index 0d8e7283d8..123c37036d 100644
--- a/backend/packages/harness/deerflow/persistence/agents/file.py
+++ b/backend/packages/harness/deerflow/persistence/agents/file.py
@@ -83,7 +83,11 @@ class FileAgentStore(AgentStore):
                     break
         if not soul_path.exists():
             return None
-        content = soul_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8").strip()
+        # Match the default-agent read in :func:`deerflow.config.agents_config.
+        # load_agent_soul`: ``utf-8-sig`` drops the BOM a Windows editor writes,
+        # which ``str.strip()`` would otherwise leave as the leading character of
+        # the ``<soul>`` block.
+        content = soul_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8-sig").strip()
         return content or None
 
     def list(self, *, user_id: str | None = None) -> list[AgentConfig]:
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_custom_agent.py b/backend/tests/test_custom_agent.py
index c48478ab1a..fd63a0b5f6 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_custom_agent.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_custom_agent.py
@@ -323,6 +323,37 @@ class TestLoadAgentSoul:
 
         assert soul == expected_soul
 
+    def test_strips_a_leading_bom_from_named_agent_soul(self, tmp_path):
+        """A SOUL.md saved by a Windows editor keeps a UTF-8 BOM.
+
+        ``str.strip()`` does not remove U+FEFF, so without normalization the mark
+        becomes the first character of the text injected into the lead agent's
+        ``<soul>`` block. SOUL.md is edited outside DeerFlow (Notepad, PowerShell
+        5.1), which is exactly where a BOM comes from.
+        """
+        expected_soul = "You are a specialized code review expert."
+        _write_agent(tmp_path, "code-reviewer", {"name": "code-reviewer"}, soul="\ufeff" + expected_soul)
+
+        with patch("deerflow.config.agents_config.get_paths", return_value=_make_paths(tmp_path)):
+            from deerflow.config.agents_config import AgentConfig, load_agent_soul
+
+            cfg = AgentConfig(name="code-reviewer")
+            soul = load_agent_soul(cfg.name)
+
+        assert soul == expected_soul
+
+    def test_strips_a_leading_bom_from_the_default_agent_soul(self, tmp_path):
+        """The default agent reads ``{base_dir}/SOUL.md`` directly — a second read site."""
+        expected_soul = "You are the default agent."
+        (tmp_path / "SOUL.md").write_text("\ufeff" + expected_soul, encoding="utf-8")
+
+        with patch("deerflow.config.agents_config.get_paths", return_value=_make_paths(tmp_path)):
+            from deerflow.config.agents_config import load_agent_soul
+
+            soul = load_agent_soul(None)
+
+        assert soul == expected_soul
+
     def test_missing_soul_file_returns_none(self, tmp_path):
         agent_dir = tmp_path / "agents" / "no-soul"
         agent_dir.mkdir(parents=True)