diff --git a/packages/chess/src/ui/LayoutPicker.tsx b/packages/chess/src/ui/LayoutPicker.tsx
index fe2a41c..eb38740 100644
--- a/packages/chess/src/ui/LayoutPicker.tsx
+++ b/packages/chess/src/ui/LayoutPicker.tsx
@@ -144,7 +144,14 @@ export function LayoutPicker({
         value.suggestedPresets.length > 0 && (
           <div className="pt-2 flex flex-wrap items-center gap-1.5">
             <span className="text-xs text-neutral-400 italic mr-1">Suggested rules:</span>
-            {value.suggestedPresets.map((presetId) => {
+            {value.suggestedPresets
+              // Never surface engine-internal plumbing presets
+              // (__x__ naming convention) even if a layout
+              // accidentally lists one — they auto-activate via
+              // the engine constructor and can't be meaningfully
+              // toggled by the user.
+              .filter((id) => !(id.startsWith('__') && id.endsWith('__')))
+              .map((presetId) => {
               const presetDef = PRESET_REGISTRY.get(presetId);
               const label = presetDef?.name ?? presetId;
               const isActive = activations.some(a => a.id === presetId);
diff --git a/packages/chess/src/ui/PresetPanel.filter.test.ts b/packages/chess/src/ui/PresetPanel.filter.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59c43d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/chess/src/ui/PresetPanel.filter.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
+import { PRESET_REGISTRY } from "../presets/registry.js";
+import "../presets/index.js";
+// Side-effect import: registers the __modifier-profile-integration__
+// pseudo-preset (top-level register call in apply.ts). The modifier
+// barrel doesn't pull this in, so we import directly to mirror the
+// engine constructor's boot ordering.
+import "../modifiers/apply.js";
+
+/**
+ * Regression guard — the Modifier Profile editor's Presets tab used
+ * to surface the engine-internal `__modifier-profile-integration__`
+ * preset because it calls PRESET_REGISTRY.getAll() directly. That
+ * preset is plumbing (it wires modifier facts into move-gen / damage
+ * pipelines) and is auto-activated by the ChessEngine constructor,
+ * so it should never appear as something a user can toggle on a
+ * profile.
+ *
+ * The panel now filters any id matching the `__x__` double-underscore
+ * convention. This test pins that contract.
+ */
+describe("Preset authoring surface excludes internal presets", () => {
+  const isInternal = (id: string) => id.startsWith("__") && id.endsWith("__");
+
+  it("registry contains the modifier-profile-integration internal preset", () => {
+    const all = PRESET_REGISTRY.getAll();
+    const internal = all.filter((p) => isInternal(p.id));
+    expect(internal.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(internal.map((p) => p.id)).toContain(
+      "__modifier-profile-integration__",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("filtering internal presets yields a user-authoring-safe list", () => {
+    const all = PRESET_REGISTRY.getAll();
+    const userFacing = all.filter((p) => !isInternal(p.id));
+    expect(userFacing.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    for (const p of userFacing) {
+      expect(isInternal(p.id)).toBe(false);
+    }
+    // Sanity: at least one well-known user-facing preset survives
+    // the filter. extinction-chess is a stable long-standing id so
+    // this assertion won't churn with preset-registry shuffling.
+    expect(userFacing.map((p) => p.id)).toContain("extinction-chess");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/chess/src/ui/PresetPanel.tsx b/packages/chess/src/ui/PresetPanel.tsx
index a3f3291..fc3a89e 100644
--- a/packages/chess/src/ui/PresetPanel.tsx
+++ b/packages/chess/src/ui/PresetPanel.tsx
@@ -121,7 +121,23 @@ export function PresetPanel({
   onChange,
   boundLayout,
 }: PresetPanelProps) {
-  const allPresets = useMemo(() => PRESET_REGISTRY.getAll(), []);
+  // Filter engine-internal presets out of the authoring surface.
+  // Convention: any id wrapped in double-underscores (`__x__`) is
+  // reserved for plumbing presets the engine auto-activates — e.g.
+  // `__modifier-profile-integration__` wires modifier facts into
+  // move-gen / damage pipelines. Those should never appear in a
+  // profile's bundled activations because they can't be meaningfully
+  // toggled; they either flip on via the engine constructor or they
+  // don't. Same guard protects against any future internal presets
+  // that follow the naming convention without our having to
+  // hand-maintain an exclusion list.
+  const allPresets = useMemo(
+    () =>
+      PRESET_REGISTRY.getAll().filter(
+        (p) => !(p.id.startsWith('__') && p.id.endsWith('__')),
+      ),
+    [],
+  );
   const activeById = useMemo(() => {
     const m = new Map<string, PresetActivation>();
     for (const a of activations) m.set(a.id, a);