diff --git a/backend/src/server/routes/sanitizedSchemas.ts b/backend/src/server/routes/sanitizedSchemas.ts
index e85fe5d0e..67bd26552 100644
--- a/backend/src/server/routes/sanitizedSchemas.ts
+++ b/backend/src/server/routes/sanitizedSchemas.ts
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ export const booleanSchema = z
     return value;
   })
   .optional()
-  .default(false);
+  .default(true);
 
 export const sapPubSchema = SecretApprovalPoliciesSchema.merge(
   z.object({
diff --git a/backend/src/server/routes/v1/secret-folder-router.ts b/backend/src/server/routes/v1/secret-folder-router.ts
index 6df4ddefa..5f8b553f5 100644
--- a/backend/src/server/routes/v1/secret-folder-router.ts
+++ b/backend/src/server/routes/v1/secret-folder-router.ts
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ export const registerSecretFolderRouter = async (server: FastifyZodProvider) =>
           .transform(prefixWithSlash)
           .transform(removeTrailingSlash)
           .describe(FOLDERS.LIST.directory),
-        recursive: booleanSchema.describe(FOLDERS.LIST.recursive)
+        recursive: booleanSchema.default(false).describe(FOLDERS.LIST.recursive)
       }),
       response: {
         200: z.object({