diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 15fd0fa93..207be5ffe 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@
 
 All notable changes to GBrain will be documented in this file.
 
+## [0.9.2] - 2026-04-12
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **Fresh local installs initialize cleanly again.** `gbrain init` now creates the local PGLite data directory before taking its advisory lock, so first-run setup no longer misreports a missing directory as a lock timeout.
+
 ## [0.9.1] - 2026-04-11
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index f374f6662..2003b639c 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.9.1
+0.9.2
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 532e59068..1acb742e0 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "gbrain",
-  "version": "0.9.1",
+  "version": "0.9.2",
   "description": "Postgres-native personal knowledge brain with hybrid RAG search",
   "type": "module",
   "main": "src/core/index.ts",
diff --git a/src/core/pglite-lock.ts b/src/core/pglite-lock.ts
index cd6b94a1c..440e4304f 100644
--- a/src/core/pglite-lock.ts
+++ b/src/core/pglite-lock.ts
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ export async function acquireLock(dataDir: string | undefined, opts?: { timeoutM
     return { lockDir: '', acquired: true };
   }
 
+  mkdirSync(dataDir, { recursive: true });
+
   const timeoutMs = opts?.timeoutMs ?? 30_000; // 30 second default timeout
   const startTime = Date.now();
 
diff --git a/test/pglite-lock.test.ts b/test/pglite-lock.test.ts
index d4acffe68..3253aa41b 100644
--- a/test/pglite-lock.test.ts
+++ b/test/pglite-lock.test.ts
@@ -26,6 +26,18 @@ describe('pglite-lock', () => {
     expect(existsSync(join(TEST_DIR, '.gbrain-lock'))).toBe(false);
   });
 
+  test('creates missing data directory before acquiring lock', async () => {
+    const missingDataDir = join(TEST_DIR, 'missing-data-dir');
+
+    const lock = await acquireLock(missingDataDir);
+    expect(lock.acquired).toBe(true);
+    expect(existsSync(missingDataDir)).toBe(true);
+    expect(existsSync(join(missingDataDir, '.gbrain-lock'))).toBe(true);
+
+    await releaseLock(lock);
+    expect(existsSync(join(missingDataDir, '.gbrain-lock'))).toBe(false);
+  });
+
   test('prevents concurrent lock acquisition', async () => {
     const lock1 = await acquireLock(TEST_DIR, { timeoutMs: 2000 });
     expect(lock1.acquired).toBe(true);