diff --git a/packages/nopy/src/nopy.prompts.ts b/packages/nopy/src/nopy.prompts.ts
index a15b226..200b3ac 100644
--- a/packages/nopy/src/nopy.prompts.ts
+++ b/packages/nopy/src/nopy.prompts.ts
@@ -236,6 +236,43 @@ interface FormChoice {
   initial: string;
 }
 
+/**
+ * The label to prompt a schema field with: its `.describe()`, read through the
+ * wrappers that hide it, falling back to the bare key.
+ *
+ * In zod 4 a description lives in `z.globalRegistry` keyed by the schema
+ * *instance*, and `.default()` returns a new `ZodDefault` around the described
+ * type rather than mutating it. So the wrapper carries no description of its
+ * own, and the chaining order used to decide whether the label survived:
+ *
+ * ```
+ * z.boolean().describe('Update package cache').default(false)  →  'UPDATE'
+ * z.boolean().default(false).describe('Update package cache')  →  the sentence
+ * ```
+ *
+ * 15 of the 22 core cubes were written the first way, so most prompts showed a
+ * bare key. Unwrapping makes the two orders equivalent, which is the answer that
+ * cannot regress — the alternative was to re-order every manifest and hope the
+ * next one written gets it right.
+ *
+ * Discriminates on {@link zodKind}, not `instanceof`, for the reason given
+ * there. Falling open here only costs an ugly label, but there is no reason to.
+ */
+function promptLabel(zodType: unknown, key: string): string {
+  let current = zodType;
+
+  while (current) {
+    const description = (current as { description?: string }).description;
+    if (description) return description;
+
+    const kind = zodKind(current);
+    if (kind !== 'default' && kind !== 'optional' && kind !== 'nullable') break;
+    current = zodInner(current);
+  }
+
+  return key;
+}
+
 /**
  * Asks the user for a cube's variables and records the answers.
  *
@@ -269,11 +306,11 @@ export async function VariableAssignment<S extends AnyObjectSchema>(
 
   if (Object.keys(variablesToConfigure).length === 0) return;
 
-  const choices: FormChoice[] = Object.entries(variablesToConfigure).map(([key, value]) => {
-    const zodType = schema[key];
-    const description = zodType?.description || key;
-    return { name: key, message: description, initial: String(value ?? '') };
-  });
+  const choices: FormChoice[] = Object.entries(variablesToConfigure).map(([key, value]) => ({
+    name: key,
+    message: promptLabel(schema[key], key),
+    initial: String(value ?? ''),
+  }));
 
   const form = new (Enquirer as any).Form({
     name: 'variables',
diff --git a/packages/nopy/tests/prompts.pty.test.ts b/packages/nopy/tests/prompts.pty.test.ts
index 7ab5a60..dc38b60 100644
--- a/packages/nopy/tests/prompts.pty.test.ts
+++ b/packages/nopy/tests/prompts.pty.test.ts
@@ -31,8 +31,12 @@ const hasPython = spawnSync('python3', ['--version']).status === 0;
 /** Down arrow — how the form moves from one field to the next. */
 const DOWN = '\u001b[B';
 
+// Waits for the *description*, not the key. The probe schema is written
+// `.describe(…).default(…)` — the order that used to lose the label — so this
+// step also witnesses the zod-wrapper unwrapping through a real enquirer render
+// rather than through the mocked Form in `prompts.test.ts`.
 const STEPS = [
-  { expect: 'ALPHA', send: 'alpha-typed', settle: 0.6 },
+  { expect: 'First value', send: 'alpha-typed', settle: 0.6 },
   { send: DOWN, settle: 0.4 },
   { send: 'beta-typed', settle: 0.4 },
   { send: '\r', settle: 1.2 },
diff --git a/packages/nopy/tests/prompts.test.ts b/packages/nopy/tests/prompts.test.ts
index 4cc87a3..3760f91 100644
--- a/packages/nopy/tests/prompts.test.ts
+++ b/packages/nopy/tests/prompts.test.ts
@@ -356,6 +356,34 @@ describe('VariableAssignment', () => {
     ]);
   });
 
+  it('finds the label whichever side of .default() it was declared on', async () => {
+    // zod 4 keys a description to the schema *instance* and `.default()` returns
+    // a new wrapper, so `describe().default()` used to prompt with the bare key.
+    // 15 of the 22 core cubes were written that way round.
+    const both = cube(
+      'both',
+      'Both',
+      z.object({
+        BEFORE: z.boolean().describe('Update package cache').default(false),
+        AFTER: z.boolean().default(false).describe('Restart afterwards'),
+        WRAPPED: z.string().describe('Optional note').optional().default('n/a'),
+        NEITHER: z.string().default('x'),
+      })
+    );
+    const variables = new Variables();
+    variables.assign('both', 'default', both.getDefaults());
+    formRun.mockResolvedValue({});
+
+    await VariableAssignment(both, variables);
+
+    expect(formChoices().map((c) => c.message)).toEqual([
+      'Update package cache',
+      'Restart afterwards',
+      'Optional note',
+      'NEITHER',
+    ]);
+  });
+
   it('offers the value the run would use, not the bare schema default', async () => {
     const svc = cube('svc', 'Service', schema);
     const variables = new Variables({ port: 2222 });