diff --git a/src/commands/init.js b/src/commands/init.js
index 3935e2e4..5e908eda 100644
--- a/src/commands/init.js
+++ b/src/commands/init.js
@@ -883,7 +883,6 @@ const codexOriginalPath = ${JSON.stringify(originalPath)};
 const codeOriginalPath = ${JSON.stringify(path.join(trackerDir, "code_notify_original.json"))};
 const trackerBinPath = ${JSON.stringify(trackerBinPath)};
   const depsMarkerPath = path.join(trackerDir, 'app', 'bin', 'tracker.js');
-  const configPath = path.join(trackerDir, 'config.json');
 const fallbackPkg = ${JSON.stringify(fallbackPkg)};
 const selfPath = path.resolve(__filename);
 const home = os.homedir();
@@ -919,20 +918,17 @@ if (debugEnabled) {
 }
 
 // Throttle spawn: at most once per 20 seconds.
+// Parsing local logs and uploading to the cloud are two separate decisions.
+// This hook makes only the first one. It runs whether or not a device token
+// exists, because a local-only install still needs its queue refreshed when a
+// session ends. Upload stays gated on a device token inside sync itself, so
+// no credential here means local parse happens and nothing is transmitted.
 try {
-    const throttlePath = path.join(trackerDir, 'sync.throttle');
-    let deviceToken = process.env.TOKENTRACKER_DEVICE_TOKEN || null;
-    if (!deviceToken) {
-      try {
-        const cfg = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(configPath, 'utf8'));
-        if (cfg && typeof cfg.deviceToken === 'string') deviceToken = cfg.deviceToken;
-      } catch (_) {}
-    }
-    const canSync = Boolean(deviceToken && deviceToken.length > 0);
-    const now = Date.now();
-    let last = 0;
-    try { last = Number(fs.readFileSync(throttlePath, 'utf8')) || 0; } catch (_) {}
-    if (canSync && now - last > 20_000) {
+  const throttlePath = path.join(trackerDir, 'sync.throttle');
+  const now = Date.now();
+  let last = 0;
+  try { last = Number(fs.readFileSync(throttlePath, 'utf8')) || 0; } catch (_) {}
+  if (now - last > 20_000) {
     try { fs.writeFileSync(throttlePath, String(now), 'utf8'); } catch (_) {}
     const hasLocalRuntime = fs.existsSync(trackerBinPath);
     const hasLocalDeps = fs.existsSync(depsMarkerPath);
diff --git a/test/notify-local-parse.test.js b/test/notify-local-parse.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..dafe9668
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/notify-local-parse.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+const assert = require("node:assert/strict");
+const os = require("node:os");
+const path = require("node:path");
+const fs = require("node:fs/promises");
+const cp = require("node:child_process");
+const { test } = require("node:test");
+
+// Regression guard for #67: the generated notify hook used to gate local
+// parsing on a cloud credential, so a local-only install never refreshed its
+// queue after a session ended. Parsing local logs and uploading them are two
+// separate decisions; this hook makes only the first.
+
+function runNode(args, env) {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    cp.execFile(process.execPath, args, { env }, (err) => (err ? reject(err) : resolve()));
+  });
+}
+
+async function rmWithRetry(target, retries = 3) {
+  let lastErr = null;
+  for (let i = 0; i <= retries; i++) {
+    try {
+      await fs.rm(target, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      return;
+    } catch (err) {
+      lastErr = err;
+      if (!err || err.code !== "ENOTEMPTY") throw err;
+      await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 50));
+    }
+  }
+  throw lastErr;
+}
+
+// Sets up an install with no device token anywhere: not in the environment,
+// not in config.json. This is the local-only configuration from #67.
+async function setupTokenlessInstall(t) {
+  const tmp = await fs.mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "tokentracker-notify-local-"));
+  t.after(() => rmWithRetry(tmp));
+
+  const codexHome = path.join(tmp, ".codex");
+  await fs.mkdir(codexHome, { recursive: true });
+
+  const env = {
+    ...process.env,
+    HOME: tmp,
+    CODEX_HOME: codexHome,
+    OPENCODE_CONFIG_DIR: path.join(tmp, ".config", "opencode"),
+  };
+  delete env.TOKENTRACKER_DEVICE_TOKEN;
+
+  const entry = path.join(path.resolve(__dirname, ".."), "bin", "tracker.js");
+  await runNode([entry, "init", "--yes", "--no-auth", "--no-open", "--base-url", "https://example.invalid"], env);
+
+  const trackerDir = path.join(tmp, ".tokentracker", "tracker");
+  await fs.mkdir(trackerDir, { recursive: true });
+  await fs.writeFile(path.join(trackerDir, "config.json"), "{}", "utf8");
+
+  return {
+    env,
+    trackerDir,
+    notifyPath: path.join(tmp, ".tokentracker", "bin", "notify.cjs"),
+    throttlePath: path.join(trackerDir, "sync.throttle"),
+  };
+}
+
+test("notify starts a local sync when no device token is configured", async (t) => {
+  const ctx = await setupTokenlessInstall(t);
+
+  // #67 step 5: sync.throttle was never created, because the throttle write
+  // lived inside the credential gate. Its absence is the observable symptom.
+  await assert.rejects(fs.stat(ctx.throttlePath), /ENOENT/);
+
+  await runNode([ctx.notifyPath, "--source=codex"], ctx.env);
+
+  const stat = await fs.stat(ctx.throttlePath);
+  assert.ok(stat.isFile(), "notify must record a throttle stamp for a tokenless install");
+
+  const stamp = Number(await fs.readFile(ctx.throttlePath, "utf8"));
+  assert.ok(Number.isFinite(stamp) && stamp > 0, `expected a timestamp, got ${stamp}`);
+});
+
+test("notify still throttles repeat events for a tokenless install", async (t) => {
+  const ctx = await setupTokenlessInstall(t);
+
+  await runNode([ctx.notifyPath, "--source=codex"], ctx.env);
+  const first = await fs.readFile(ctx.throttlePath, "utf8");
+
+  await runNode([ctx.notifyPath, "--source=codex"], ctx.env);
+  const second = await fs.readFile(ctx.throttlePath, "utf8");
+
+  // Removing the credential gate must not remove the 20s throttle with it.
+  assert.equal(second, first, "a second notify inside the throttle window must not re-stamp");
+});
+
+test("the generated notify hook reads no cloud credential at all", async (t) => {
+  const ctx = await setupTokenlessInstall(t);
+  const source = await fs.readFile(ctx.notifyPath, "utf8");
+
+  // The defect was not "the gate was set wrong" — it was that this hook
+  // consulted a cloud credential to decide whether to do local work. Asserting
+  // the credential is never read keeps the gate from growing back in any form.
+  assert.doesNotMatch(source, /TOKENTRACKER_DEVICE_TOKEN/, "notify must not read the device-token env var");
+  assert.doesNotMatch(source, /deviceToken/, "notify must not read a device token from config");
+  assert.doesNotMatch(source, /canSync/, "notify must not branch on cloud-sync capability");
+
+  // It must still only ever invoke the local sync entry point.
+  assert.match(source, /'sync', '--auto', '--from-notify'/);
+});