diff --git a/apps/desktop/__tests__/principal.test.ts b/apps/desktop/__tests__/principal.test.ts
index 2462f29..4f4795d 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/__tests__/principal.test.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/__tests__/principal.test.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 
-import type { PrincipalRecord } from '../src/shared/api';
-import { principalReach } from '../src/shared/principal';
+import type { ApiKeyRecord, PrincipalRecord } from '../src/shared/api';
+import { knownOrgIds, principalReach } from '../src/shared/principal';
 
 const principal = (overrides: Partial<PrincipalRecord> = {}): PrincipalRecord => ({
   principalId: 'principal-1',
@@ -15,6 +15,43 @@ const principal = (overrides: Partial<PrincipalRecord> = {}): PrincipalRecord =>
   ...overrides,
 });
 
+const key = (overrides: Partial<ApiKeyRecord> = {}): ApiKeyRecord => ({
+  itemId: 'item-1',
+  accountItemId: 'account-1',
+  endpoint: 'http://auth.localhost:3000/graphql',
+  keyId: 'key-1',
+  name: 'ci',
+  expiresAt: null,
+  databaseId: null,
+  principalId: null,
+  orgId: null,
+  ...overrides,
+});
+
+describe('knownOrgIds', () => {
+  it('gathers the organizations already scoped, from principals and org keys alike', () => {
+    expect(
+      knownOrgIds(
+        [principal({ entityIds: ['org-b'] })],
+        [key({ orgId: 'org-a' }), key({ itemId: 'item-2' })]
+      )
+    ).toEqual(['org-a', 'org-b']);
+  });
+
+  it('offers each organization once, however many things are scoped to it', () => {
+    expect(
+      knownOrgIds(
+        [principal({ entityIds: ['org-a'] }), principal({ entityIds: ['org-a'] })],
+        [key({ orgId: 'org-a' })]
+      )
+    ).toEqual(['org-a']);
+  });
+
+  it('is empty for an account that has scoped nothing, so the id must be typed', () => {
+    expect(knownOrgIds([principal({ entityIds: [] })], [key()])).toEqual([]);
+  });
+});
+
 describe('principalReach', () => {
   it('says it inherits, rather than showing nothing, when no scope is overridden', () => {
     expect(principalReach(principal())).toBe('inherits you everywhere it is scoped');
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/main/ipc.ts b/apps/desktop/src/main/ipc.ts
index 44b6154..5b03037 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/main/ipc.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/main/ipc.ts
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ export const registerIpc = (service: VaultService): void => {
         assertString(accountItemId),
         {
           name: assertString(request?.name),
-          orgId: assertString(request?.orgId),
+          orgId: request?.orgId === undefined ? undefined : assertString(request.orgId),
           isReadOnly: Boolean(request?.isReadOnly),
           bypassStepUp: Boolean(request?.bypassStepUp),
         },
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/src/screens/AccountsScreen.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/src/screens/AccountsScreen.tsx
index ea47dec..19c34d8 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/renderer/src/screens/AccountsScreen.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/renderer/src/screens/AccountsScreen.tsx
@@ -17,6 +17,13 @@ import {
 } from '@constructive-io/ui/dialog';
 import { Input } from '@constructive-io/ui/input';
 import { Label } from '@constructive-io/ui/label';
+import {
+  Select,
+  SelectContent,
+  SelectItem,
+  SelectTrigger,
+  SelectValue,
+} from '@constructive-io/ui/select';
 import { Separator } from '@constructive-io/ui/separator';
 import {
   Copy,
@@ -40,7 +47,7 @@ import type {
   StepUpProof,
   TotpEntry,
 } from '../../../shared/api';
-import { principalReach } from '../../../shared/principal';
+import { knownOrgIds, principalReach } from '../../../shared/principal';
 import {
   StepUpKind,
   stepUpKind,
@@ -55,6 +62,14 @@ const message = (error: unknown): string =>
 const expiry = (iso: string | null): string =>
   iso ? `expires ${new Date(iso).toLocaleString()}` : 'no expiry';
 
+/**
+ * Personal reaches wherever its owner does; organization narrows it to one org.
+ * A third choice — "another organization" — only picks the id, not the scope.
+ */
+type PrincipalScope = 'personal' | 'organization';
+
+const OTHER_ORG = 'other';
+
 /** A request the server refused until a factor is re-proved, kept to replay. */
 interface HeldRequest {
   kind: StepUpKind;
@@ -83,6 +98,8 @@ export const AccountsScreen = () => {
   const [principals, setPrincipals] = useState<Record<string, PrincipalRecord[]>>({});
   const [principalFor, setPrincipalFor] = useState<AccountRecord | null>(null);
   const [principalName, setPrincipalName] = useState('');
+  const [principalScope, setPrincipalScope] = useState<PrincipalScope>('personal');
+  const [principalOrgChoice, setPrincipalOrgChoice] = useState('');
   const [principalOrg, setPrincipalOrg] = useState('');
   const [principalReadOnly, setPrincipalReadOnly] = useState(true);
   const [principalBypass, setPrincipalBypass] = useState(false);
@@ -199,18 +216,30 @@ export const AccountsScreen = () => {
     });
   };
 
+  const orgOptions = principalFor
+    ? knownOrgIds(
+      principals[principalFor.itemId] ?? [],
+      keys.filter((key) => key.accountItemId === principalFor.itemId)
+    )
+    : [];
+  const chosenOrgId =
+    principalOrgChoice === OTHER_ORG ? principalOrg.trim() : principalOrgChoice;
+
   const createPrincipal = async (): Promise<void> => {
     const account = principalFor;
     if (!account) return;
     const request = {
       name: principalName.trim(),
-      orgId: principalOrg.trim(),
+      // a personal principal carries no org at all, rather than an empty one
+      ...(principalScope === 'organization' ? { orgId: chosenOrgId } : {}),
       isReadOnly: principalReadOnly,
       bypassStepUp: principalBypass,
     };
     await run(async (proof) => {
       await dcrypt.accounts.createPrincipal(account.itemId, request, proof);
       setPrincipalName('');
+      setPrincipalScope('personal');
+      setPrincipalOrgChoice('');
       setPrincipalOrg('');
       setPrincipalFor(null);
       return `Created ${request.name} — mint a key as it to give it credentials`;
@@ -650,18 +679,59 @@ export const AccountsScreen = () => {
               />
             </div>
             <div className="flex flex-col gap-1.5">
-              <Label htmlFor="principal-org">Organization</Label>
-              <Input
-                id="principal-org"
-                value={principalOrg}
-                onChange={(e) => setPrincipalOrg(e.target.value)}
-                placeholder="org id"
-                className="font-mono"
-              />
+              <Label htmlFor="principal-scope">Scope</Label>
+              <Select
+                value={principalScope}
+                onValueChange={(value) => setPrincipalScope(value as PrincipalScope)}
+              >
+                <SelectTrigger id="principal-scope">
+                  <SelectValue />
+                </SelectTrigger>
+                <SelectContent>
+                  <SelectItem value="personal">Personal</SelectItem>
+                  <SelectItem value="organization">Organization</SelectItem>
+                </SelectContent>
+              </Select>
               <p className="text-xs text-muted-foreground">
-                The organization it is scoped to.
+                {principalScope === 'personal'
+                  ? 'Owned by you, reaching wherever you do — the shape an unattended job of your own wants.'
+                  : 'Narrowed to one organization you work in.'}
               </p>
             </div>
+            {principalScope === 'organization' && (
+              <div className="flex flex-col gap-1.5">
+                <Label htmlFor="principal-org">Organization</Label>
+                <Select
+                  value={principalOrgChoice}
+                  onValueChange={setPrincipalOrgChoice}
+                >
+                  <SelectTrigger id="principal-org">
+                    <SelectValue placeholder="Choose an organization" />
+                  </SelectTrigger>
+                  <SelectContent>
+                    {orgOptions.map((orgId) => (
+                      <SelectItem key={orgId} value={orgId} className="font-mono">
+                        {orgId}
+                      </SelectItem>
+                    ))}
+                    <SelectItem value={OTHER_ORG}>Another organization…</SelectItem>
+                  </SelectContent>
+                </Select>
+                {principalOrgChoice === OTHER_ORG && (
+                  <Input
+                    value={principalOrg}
+                    onChange={(e) => setPrincipalOrg(e.target.value)}
+                    placeholder="org id"
+                    className="font-mono"
+                  />
+                )}
+                <p className="text-xs text-muted-foreground">
+                  {orgOptions.length
+                    ? 'Organizations this account has already scoped a principal or key to.'
+                    : 'Nothing scoped yet from this account, so the id has to be typed once.'}
+                </p>
+              </div>
+            )}
             <div className="flex gap-2">
               <Button
                 type="button"
@@ -690,7 +760,11 @@ export const AccountsScreen = () => {
               Cancel
             </Button>
             <Button
-              disabled={busy || !principalName.trim() || !principalOrg.trim()}
+              disabled={
+                busy ||
+                !principalName.trim() ||
+                (principalScope === 'organization' && !chosenOrgId)
+              }
               onClick={createPrincipal}
             >
               {busy ? 'Creating…' : 'Create principal'}
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/shared/api.ts b/apps/desktop/src/shared/api.ts
index 9861bc1..331149d 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/shared/api.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/shared/api.ts
@@ -103,7 +103,8 @@ export interface CreateKeyRequest {
 
 export interface CreatePrincipalRequest {
   name: string;
-  orgId: string;
+  /** Omitted for a personal principal, which reaches wherever its owner does. */
+  orgId?: string;
   isReadOnly?: boolean;
   bypassStepUp?: boolean;
 }
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/shared/principal.ts b/apps/desktop/src/shared/principal.ts
index 0140be0..aa11f0f 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/shared/principal.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/shared/principal.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,27 @@
-import type { PrincipalRecord } from './api';
+import type { ApiKeyRecord, PrincipalRecord } from './api';
+
+/**
+ * The organizations this account is already known to work in, gathered from
+ * what it has scoped before: a principal's entities and an org key's org.
+ *
+ * The auth plane has no "my organizations" query — memberships live behind the
+ * admin surface, which a signed-in user's token does not reach — so an id the
+ * account has demonstrably used is the honest list to offer, and typing one in
+ * stays possible for the first ever principal in an org.
+ */
+export const knownOrgIds = (
+  principals: PrincipalRecord[],
+  keys: ApiKeyRecord[]
+): string[] => {
+  const ids = new Set<string>();
+  for (const principal of principals) {
+    for (const entityId of principal.entityIds) ids.add(entityId);
+  }
+  for (const key of keys) {
+    if (key.orgId) ids.add(key.orgId);
+  }
+  return [...ids].sort();
+};
 
 /**
  * What a principal may do, in words.
diff --git a/packages/accounts/__tests__/accounts.test.ts b/packages/accounts/__tests__/accounts.test.ts
index 32bfe75..7b18a98 100644
--- a/packages/accounts/__tests__/accounts.test.ts
+++ b/packages/accounts/__tests__/accounts.test.ts
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ class FakeServer {
         isReadOnly: options.isReadOnly ?? false,
         bypassStepUp: options.bypassStepUp ?? false,
         useAdminOwner: options.useAdminOwner ?? true,
-        entityIds: [options.orgId],
+        entityIds: options.orgId ? [options.orgId] : [],
         scopes: [],
       };
       this.principals.push(principal);
@@ -535,6 +535,17 @@ describe('principals', () => {
     expect((await accounts.listApiKeys())[0].principalId).toBe(principalId);
   });
 
+  it('creates a personal one, scoped to nothing but its owner', async () => {
+    const account = await signIn();
+    const principalId = await accounts.createPrincipal(account.itemId, {
+      name: 'my-ci',
+      isReadOnly: true,
+    });
+
+    const [principal] = await accounts.listPrincipals(account.itemId);
+    expect(principal).toMatchObject({ principalId, name: 'my-ci', entityIds: [] });
+  });
+
   it('answers a step-up when creating one, like every other sensitive call', async () => {
     const account = await signIn();
     server.demandStepUp = 'password';
diff --git a/packages/accounts/src/client.ts b/packages/accounts/src/client.ts
index 83fe27d..9feaa4a 100644
--- a/packages/accounts/src/client.ts
+++ b/packages/accounts/src/client.ts
@@ -236,6 +236,40 @@ const PRINCIPAL_SELECT_CORE = {
 
 type PrincipalSelect = typeof PRINCIPAL_SELECT | typeof PRINCIPAL_SELECT_CORE;
 
+/**
+ * A principal scoped to nothing but its owner — the personal CI identity.
+ *
+ * Sent by hand because the generated ORM has no `mutation.createPrincipal`: the
+ * codegen let the principals table's CRUD create shadow the procedure of the
+ * same inflected name, so the typed surface offers only the org variant. The
+ * auth schema itself does expose it, taking the flat input built here.
+ */
+const createPersonalPrincipal = async (
+  endpoint: string,
+  token: string | undefined,
+  input: {
+    name: string;
+    isReadOnly?: boolean;
+    bypassStepUp?: boolean;
+    useAdminOwner?: boolean;
+  }
+): Promise<string | null> => {
+  const adapter = new auth.FetchAdapter(
+    endpoint,
+    token ? { Authorization: `Bearer ${token}` } : undefined
+  );
+  const result = await adapter.execute<{
+    createPrincipal: { result: string | null } | null;
+  }>(
+    `mutation CreatePrincipal($input: CreatePrincipalInput!) {
+      createPrincipal(input: $input) { result }
+    }`,
+    { input }
+  );
+  if (!result.ok) throw new Error(result.errors.map((e) => e.message).join('; '));
+  return result.data.createPrincipal?.result ?? null;
+};
+
 const rethrow = (operation: string, endpoint: string, error: unknown): never => {
   const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
   const kind = stepUpKind(message);
@@ -356,26 +390,29 @@ export const sdkAuthClient: AuthClientFactory = (options) => {
     },
 
     async createPrincipal(options) {
+      const flags = {
+        isReadOnly: options.isReadOnly,
+        bypassStepUp: options.bypassStepUp,
+        // omitted rather than sent as null, so a server that predates
+        // the field is not asked about it at all
+        ...(options.useAdminOwner === undefined
+          ? {}
+          : { useAdminOwner: options.useAdminOwner }),
+      };
       try {
-        const data = await client.mutation
-          .createOrgPrincipal(
-            {
-              input: {
-                name: options.name,
-                orgId: options.orgId,
-                isReadOnly: options.isReadOnly,
-                bypassStepUp: options.bypassStepUp,
-                // omitted rather than sent as null, so a server that predates
-                // the field is not asked about it at all
-                ...(options.useAdminOwner === undefined
-                  ? {}
-                  : { useAdminOwner: options.useAdminOwner }),
-              },
-            },
-            { select: { result: true } }
-          )
-          .unwrap();
-        const principalId = data.createOrgPrincipal?.result;
+        const principalId = options.orgId
+          ? (
+            await client.mutation
+              .createOrgPrincipal(
+                { input: { name: options.name, orgId: options.orgId, ...flags } },
+                { select: { result: true } }
+              )
+              .unwrap()
+          ).createOrgPrincipal?.result
+          : await createPersonalPrincipal(endpoint, token, {
+            name: options.name,
+            ...flags,
+          });
         if (!principalId) {
           throw new AuthError('createPrincipal', 'the server returned no principal');
         }
diff --git a/packages/accounts/src/types.ts b/packages/accounts/src/types.ts
index 0183db4..454d055 100644
--- a/packages/accounts/src/types.ts
+++ b/packages/accounts/src/types.ts
@@ -98,8 +98,12 @@ export interface PrincipalRecord {
 
 export interface CreatePrincipalOptions {
   name: string;
-  /** The organization to scope it to. */
-  orgId: string;
+  /**
+   * The organization to scope it to. Omitted means a personal principal: one
+   * that reaches wherever you do, which is what an unattended job of your own
+   * wants — an org id would only narrow it.
+   */
+  orgId?: string;
   isReadOnly?: boolean;
   /** Let it skip MFA step-up — the point of a CI identity. */
   bypassStepUp?: boolean;
diff --git a/packages/cli/__tests__/account.test.ts b/packages/cli/__tests__/account.test.ts
index 4a5539e..a39dd64 100644
--- a/packages/cli/__tests__/account.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/__tests__/account.test.ts
@@ -110,12 +110,12 @@ describe('dcrypt account', () => {
     expect(stderr()).toContain('exactly one account');
   });
 
-  it('needs an org for a principal', async () => {
+  it('needs an account for a principal, but not an org: one without is personal', async () => {
     const pass = file('pass.txt', 'a strong master password');
     expect(
       await run(`account principal create ci --passphrase-file ${pass} --kdf ${FAST_KDF}`)
-    ).toBe(EXIT.usage);
-    expect(stderr()).toContain('--org <id> is required');
+    ).toBe(EXIT.notFound);
+    expect(stderr()).toContain('no account in the vault');
   });
 
   it('says which key it cannot tag', async () => {
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/account.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/account.ts
index e4bede4..073eacd 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/account.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/account.ts
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ Subcommands:
   key assign <name> <db>  Serve this key as that database's data-plane token
   token [email]           Print the bearer a harness would be given
   principal list [email]  Scoped sub-identities, with their scopes and masks
-  principal create <name> Create one scoped to --org
+  principal create <name> Create one — personal, or scoped to --org
   principal delete <id>   Remove one server-side
 
 Options:
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ Options:
   --access-level <level>  Access level for a new key
   --database <id>         Tag a new key as that database's data-plane token
   --principal <id>        Mint the key as this principal, not as you
-  --org <id>              Organization for a principal, or for an org key
+  --org <id>              Scope a principal to this org; omit for a personal one
   --read-only             The principal may only read
   --bypass-step-up        The principal may skip MFA step-up (for CI)
   --password-file <path>  Read the account password from a file
@@ -537,7 +537,6 @@ const principalCreate = async (
   const { first, newArgv } = takeFirst(argv);
   if (!first) throw new CliError('a principal name is required');
   const orgId = text(newArgv.org);
-  if (!orgId) throw new CliError('--org <id> is required');
 
   await withVault(newArgv, prompter, async (accounts) => {
     const account = await resolveAccount(accounts, text(newArgv.account));