diff --git a/tests/tools/test_vercel_sandbox_environment.py b/tests/tools/test_vercel_sandbox_environment.py
index 13225a35975..65eb1ba2a85 100644
--- a/tests/tools/test_vercel_sandbox_environment.py
+++ b/tests/tools/test_vercel_sandbox_environment.py
@@ -221,7 +221,17 @@ def vercel_module(vercel_sdk, monkeypatch):
     monkeypatch.setattr("tools.credential_files.iter_cache_files", lambda **kwargs: [])
 
     module = importlib.import_module("tools.environments.vercel_sandbox")
-    return importlib.reload(module)
+    module = importlib.reload(module)
+    # These tests fully fake the vercel SDK via sys.modules (vercel_sdk
+    # fixture) — the real package is never exercised, so the lazy-install
+    # probe must not run: _ensure_vercel_sdk checks installed DISTRIBUTION
+    # metadata (not sys.modules), and on a host without the vercel dist +
+    # with lazy installs disabled (any hermetic env) it raises ImportError
+    # before the fake SDK is ever reached. 16 tests failed exactly this way
+    # in CI while passing on dev boxes that happened to have vercel==0.7.2
+    # installed.
+    monkeypatch.setattr(module, "_ensure_vercel_sdk", lambda: None)
+    return module
 
 
 @pytest.fixture()