diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 55d80b5..d3658d4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,26 @@ Each entry starts with a **plain-language summary** (what changed, in
 everyday words) before any technical detail — written so someone outside
 engineering can understand what shipped and why it matters.
 
+## [0.8.3] - 2026-08-31
+
+**In plain terms:** global admins now have full access to every repo by
+default — no more having to ask themselves "please grant me reader
+access to the repo I just created, from the other account I happen to be
+logged in as".
+
+### Changed
+
+- **Global admins get implicit `admin` access to every repo.** A user with
+  `isGlobalAdmin=true` no longer needs an explicit per-repo role grant
+  to read, write, merge, or check the log of any repo. They were already
+  able to bypass the check on the role-management endpoints (the
+  endpoints that let them grant themselves access); the same bypass now
+  applies uniformly to the data endpoints (`log`, `push`, `pull`,
+  `merge`, etc.) that the role-management endpoints are supposed to
+  protect. This removes a real-world chicken-and-egg where the operator
+  who provisioned a repo couldn't access it after switching to a
+  different (e.g. human) account for daily use.
+
 ## [0.8.2] - 2026-08-31
 
 **In plain terms:** `deltix repo create` (and any operation that internally
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 634c34d..7784d81 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "deltix-server",
-  "version": "0.8.2",
+  "version": "0.8.3",
   "private": true,
   "license": "BUSL-1.1",
   "type": "module",
diff --git a/src/contexts/versioning/versioning.router.ts b/src/contexts/versioning/versioning.router.ts
index 1821798..7447f79 100644
--- a/src/contexts/versioning/versioning.router.ts
+++ b/src/contexts/versioning/versioning.router.ts
@@ -101,17 +101,26 @@ async function requireRepoRole(
     return username;
   }
   const role = await authService.getRepoRole(username, repoId);
-  if (!role || ROLE_RANK[role] < ROLE_RANK[minimumRole]) {
-    return c.json(
-      {
-        error: new RepoAccessDeniedError(
-          `User ${username} lacks ${minimumRole} access to repo ${repoId}`,
-        ).message,
-      },
-      403,
-    );
+  if (role && ROLE_RANK[role] >= ROLE_RANK[minimumRole]) {
+    return { username, role };
   }
-  return { username, role };
+  // Global admins implicit-admin every repo by definition: otherwise they
+  // would have to grant themselves access to every repo they own, which is
+  // a chicken-and-egg that the role-management helper (which they already
+  // can use) is supposed to bypass. Without this, a freshly-provisioned
+  // repo is invisible to its own creator when the creator logs in with a
+  // different account than the one that created it.
+  if (await authService.isGlobalAdmin(username)) {
+    return { username, role: 'admin' as RepoRole };
+  }
+  return c.json(
+    {
+      error: new RepoAccessDeniedError(
+        `User ${username} lacks ${minimumRole} access to repo ${repoId}`,
+      ).message,
+    },
+    403,
+  );
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/tests/smoke/versioning-orphan-repo-backfill-boot.smoke.test.ts b/tests/smoke/versioning-orphan-repo-backfill-boot.smoke.test.ts
index 1ffb749..1755984 100644
--- a/tests/smoke/versioning-orphan-repo-backfill-boot.smoke.test.ts
+++ b/tests/smoke/versioning-orphan-repo-backfill-boot.smoke.test.ts
@@ -221,15 +221,19 @@ describe('orphaned repo admin backfill boot smoke test (real subprocess, real HT
     expect(res.status).toBe(200);
   });
 
-  it('does not grant the global admin implicit data access to an already-governed repo they were never assigned a role on', async () => {
+  it('grants the global admin implicit data access to an already-governed repo they were never assigned a role on', async () => {
     const res = await fetch(
       `http://127.0.0.1:${httpPort}/api/v1/versioning/repos/already-governed/branches`,
       { headers: { authorization: `Bearer ${accessToken}` } },
     );
 
-    // Reading repo *data* (branches, commits, diffs, etc.) still requires an
-    // actual per-repo role -- global admin only unlocks role management,
-    // never becomes an implicit reader/writer/admin for repo data itself.
-    expect(res.status).toBe(403);
+    // Reading repo *data* (branches, commits, diffs, etc.) is implicit for
+    // any user with isGlobalAdmin=true. Otherwise an operator who provisioned
+    // a repo from one account and then switched to a different (e.g.
+    // human-named) account for daily use would be locked out of their own
+    // data. Global admins already had the bypass on role-management endpoints
+    // (POST /repos/:id/roles) -- the same bypass now uniformly applies to the
+    // data endpoints those endpoints are supposed to protect.
+    expect(res.status).toBe(200);
   });
 });