diff --git a/deploy/docker-compose.yml b/deploy/docker-compose.yml
index 67005af..a1ab3f9 100644
--- a/deploy/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/deploy/docker-compose.yml
@@ -117,6 +117,11 @@ services:
       PORT: "8000"
       INTELLIOPS_STORE_BACKEND: postgres
       INTELLIOPS_DATABASE_URL: postgresql+psycopg://intelliops:intelliops@postgres:5432/intelliops
+      # --- Semantic runbook selection. "embedding" activates cosine-similarity
+      # matching of incident symptoms against playbook descriptions (all-MiniLM-L6-v2).
+      # "off" (old default) falls back to keyword-only matching — embedding selector
+      # was never wired in compose, so it silently never ran. Now on by default.
+      INTELLIOPS_RUNBOOK_SELECTOR_MODE: "${INTELLIOPS_RUNBOOK_SELECTOR_MODE:-embedding}"
       # --- LLM explanation provider. Empty endpoint = the offline template, no network.
       # Values come from deploy/.env (gitignored); see deploy/.env.example. Any
       # OpenAI-compatible endpoint works (OpenAI, Groq, vLLM, Ollama).
diff --git a/frontend/src/data/api.ts b/frontend/src/data/api.ts
index ceb5389..4832e8a 100644
--- a/frontend/src/data/api.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/data/api.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ const RCA = import.meta.env.VITE_RCA_URL ?? "http://localhost:8003";
 
 const AUTH_TOKEN = import.meta.env.VITE_AUTH_TOKEN ?? "";
 
+export const OPERATOR_NAME = import.meta.env.VITE_OPERATOR_NAME || "demo-operator";
+
 function authHeaders(base: Record<string, string> = {}): Record<string, string> {
   return AUTH_TOKEN ? { ...base, Authorization: `Bearer ${AUTH_TOKEN}` } : base;
 }
@@ -57,7 +59,7 @@ export const testLlmConfig = (cfg: { endpoint: string; api_key: string; model: s
 export async function decideApproval(
   approvalId: string,
   decision: "approved" | "rejected",
-  decidedBy = "oncall-alice",
+  decidedBy = OPERATOR_NAME,
 ): Promise<void> {
   const r = await fetch(`${GOV}/approvals/${approvalId}/decide`, {
     method: "POST",
diff --git a/frontend/src/views/Governance.tsx b/frontend/src/views/Governance.tsx
index b36da3f..907826d 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/Governance.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/views/Governance.tsx
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { useMemo, useState } from "react";
 import { Check, LockKey, Scroll, ShieldCheck, Sparkle, UserCheck, X } from "@phosphor-icons/react";
 import { Bezel, PageHead, timeAgo } from "../components/primitives";
 import { approveProposal, loadAudit, loadOutcomes, loadPlaybooks, loadProposals, rejectProposal } from "../data/source";
+import { OPERATOR_NAME } from "../data/api";
 import { useLiveData } from "../hooks/useLiveData";
 import { pushToast } from "../hooks/useToast";
 import { Reveal as Section } from "../hooks/useReveal";
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@ export function Governance() {
   async function decide(proposal: ProposedPlaybook, decision: "approved" | "rejected") {
     if (decidingId) return;
     setDecidingId(proposal.id);
-    const decidedBy = "oncall-alice";
+    const decidedBy = OPERATOR_NAME;
     try {
       const updated =
         decision === "approved"
@@ -282,7 +283,7 @@ export function Governance() {
                 {[
                   { role: "operator", grant: "enrich · diagnose", who: "rca-service" },
                   { role: "operator", grant: "execute playbook:*", who: "action-service" },
-                  { role: "approver", grant: "approve · reject", who: "oncall-alice" },
+                  { role: "approver", grant: "approve · reject", who: OPERATOR_NAME },
                   { role: "coe-admin", grant: "graduate playbook:*", who: "feedback-service" },
                 ].map((r, i) => (
                   <div key={i} className="flex items-center gap-2 rounded-lg bg-surface-2 px-3 py-2">
diff --git a/frontend/src/views/Incidents.tsx b/frontend/src/views/Incidents.tsx
index eacaacc..3c4e5de 100644
--- a/frontend/src/views/Incidents.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/views/Incidents.tsx
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import {
 } from "@phosphor-icons/react";
 import { Bezel, PageHead, SevChip, StatusChip, motion as m, timeAgo } from "../components/primitives";
 import { loadSituations, loadSituationDetail, decideApproval, loadMetrics, loadOutcomes, draftAsync } from "../data/source";
+import { OPERATOR_NAME } from "../data/api";
 import { useLiveData } from "../hooks/useLiveData";
 import { pushToast } from "../hooks/useToast";
 import type { View } from "../components/Shell";
@@ -258,7 +259,7 @@ export function Incidents({
     if (proposing || !sel) return;
     setProposing(true);
     try {
-      const { run_id } = await draftAsync(sel, "oncall-alice");
+      const { run_id } = await draftAsync(sel, OPERATOR_NAME);
       pushToast("success", "Drafting… see Agent Activity");
       onFocusRun?.(run_id);
       onView?.("agent-activity");