diff --git a/packages/client/src/inbox.ts b/packages/client/src/inbox.ts
index 9f0ba93..7cb4698 100644
--- a/packages/client/src/inbox.ts
+++ b/packages/client/src/inbox.ts
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 
 import { sparqlUpdate, sparqlQuery } from "./docs";
 import { subscribeDoc } from "./subscribe";
+import { ensureRepoOpen } from "./open-repo";
 import { getCurrentUser, getStoreRegistryDeps } from "./polyfill";
 import { escapeLiteral } from "./sparql";
 import type { Nuri, PrincipalId } from "./types";
@@ -195,6 +196,31 @@ export async function read(targetInbox: Nuri): Promise<Deposit[]> {
 /** Alias for {@link read} — the name that reads as "process the inbox now". */
 export const materialize = read;
 
+/**
+ * COLD, BARRIER-GATED read of `targetInbox` — the reliable "process the inbox at
+ * (re)connection" read. Opens/subscribes the inbox repo and AWAITS its first
+ * `State` (the deterministic sync barrier — after it, presence is guaranteed and
+ * absence definitive, {@link ensureRepoOpen}) BEFORE the anchored {@link read}.
+ *
+ * Why this over a plain {@link read}: on a FRESH session over the persistent
+ * wallet (a (re)connection / new page), the inbox repo is not yet in the verifier's
+ * `self.repos`, so a plain anchored `read` resolves an unopened repo and silently
+ * returns 0 deposits — even for a deposit a remote session already synced to the
+ * broker. Gating on the sync barrier makes the read see the synced deposits. This
+ * is the SAME cold-read heal `discovery.readIndex` applies to the index inbox.
+ *
+ * NOT for the `watch` path: {@link watch} already holds the repo open via its own
+ * `subscribeDoc`, so opening a second bootstrap subscription from inside a watch
+ * re-read would be redundant and could race the watch's own initial-`State`
+ * delivery. Use this from a COLD reader (materialize-at-connection), like
+ * `discovery.readIndex` does. Idempotent per session (no polling); a no-op open on
+ * the unit fake-ng path (no `doc_subscribe`) so `bun test` is unaffected.
+ */
+export async function readSynced(targetInbox: Nuri): Promise<Deposit[]> {
+  await ensureRepoOpen(targetInbox);
+  return read(targetInbox);
+}
+
 /**
  * Subscription over an inbox — **event-driven, not polled**. Subscribes to the
  * inbox document via {@link subscribeDoc} (the platform's `doc_subscribe` push):