diff --git a/crates/spt/tests/now_signal_delta_e2e.rs b/crates/spt/tests/now_signal_delta_e2e.rs
index 87b22111..6972fd7b 100644
--- a/crates/spt/tests/now_signal_delta_e2e.rs
+++ b/crates/spt/tests/now_signal_delta_e2e.rs
@@ -44,6 +44,22 @@ use common::CommandNoWindowExt;
 
 use spt_store::perch::{self, ParentHint};
 
+fn start_real_daemon(spt_bin: &Path, home: &Path) {
+    let mut cmd = Command::new(spt_bin);
+    cmd.no_window()
+        .args(["daemon", "start"])
+        .env("SPT_HOME", home)
+        .env_remove("SPT_AGENT_ID")
+        .env_remove("SPT_ENDPOINT_ID")
+        .env_remove("OWL_SESSION_ID");
+    let out = common::output_bounded(cmd, Duration::from_secs(90));
+    assert!(
+        out.status.success(),
+        "explicit daemon start failed: {}",
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(&out.stderr)
+    );
+}
+
 fn manifest_with_io(home: &Path) -> PathBuf {
     let p = home.join("compliant.toml");
     std::fs::write(
@@ -59,9 +75,16 @@ fn manifest_with_io(home: &Path) -> PathBuf {
 fn the_first_poll_renders_a_no_perch_dispatch_and_the_second_poll_says_nothing() {
     let home = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
     std::env::set_var("SPT_HOME", home.path());
+    std::env::remove_var("SPT_AGENT_ID");
+    std::env::remove_var("SPT_ENDPOINT_ID");
+    std::env::remove_var("OWL_SESSION_ID");
     spt_store::nodeid::load_or_create().expect("node identity");
-
     let spt_bin = PathBuf::from(env!("CARGO_BIN_EXE_spt"));
+    // This test exercises dispatch/result deltas, not daemon autostart. Start its
+    // real daemon before the synthetic perch points at this process: otherwise
+    // the spawned CLI is classified as hosted by `alice`, making cold autostart
+    // and panic cleanup depend on the CI runner's service-token context.
+    start_real_daemon(&spt_bin, home.path());
     let author = "alice";
     let sid = "now-signal-delta-sid";