diff --git a/apps/sim/app/_shell/providers/posthog-provider.tsx b/apps/sim/app/_shell/providers/posthog-provider.tsx
index b127ba6c488..368bb3fc913 100644
--- a/apps/sim/app/_shell/providers/posthog-provider.tsx
+++ b/apps/sim/app/_shell/providers/posthog-provider.tsx
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 import { useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react'
 import { createLogger } from '@sim/logger'
 import type { PostHog } from 'posthog-js'
-import { getEnv, isTruthy } from '@/lib/core/config/env'
+import { getEnv, isTruthy, publicEnvMissingAtModuleInit } from '@/lib/core/config/env'
 
 const logger = createLogger('PostHogProvider')
 
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@ export function PostHogProvider({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
             persistence: 'localStorage+cookie',
           })
         }
+        if (publicEnvMissingAtModuleInit) {
+          posthog.capture('runtime_env_missing_at_module_init')
+        }
         clientRef.current = posthog
         setProvider(() => PHProvider)
       })
diff --git a/apps/sim/app/_shell/public-env-script.test.tsx b/apps/sim/app/_shell/public-env-script.test.tsx
index 6bef6d894c9..7eb6aadf3ec 100644
--- a/apps/sim/app/_shell/public-env-script.test.tsx
+++ b/apps/sim/app/_shell/public-env-script.test.tsx
@@ -1,30 +1,29 @@
 /**
  * @vitest-environment node
  */
-import { EnvScript } from 'next-runtime-env'
+import { renderToStaticMarkup } from 'react-dom/server'
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
 import { PublicEnvScript } from '@/app/_shell/public-env-script'
 
 /**
- * Guards the loading strategy, not the markup. A plain `<script>` rendered from
- * the root layout lands after the `<script async>` chunk tags Next emits at the
- * top of the document, so a chunk can execute - and hydration can begin - before
- * `window.__ENV` is populated. Delegating to `<EnvScript>` keeps the
- * `beforeInteractive` guarantee that `next-runtime-env` applies by default.
+ * Guards the one property that matters: the emitted tag assigns `window.__ENV`
+ * itself. Next's `beforeInteractive` strategy instead pushes the assignment onto
+ * `self.__next_s`, a queue `appBootstrap` reads exactly once and abandons when it
+ * is empty - so whenever the bootstrap chunk runs before the parser reaches this
+ * tag, the assignment is discarded and `window.__ENV` is never defined for that
+ * document. See the component's TSDoc for the full ordering argument.
  */
 describe('PublicEnvScript', () => {
-  it('delegates to next-runtime-env EnvScript rather than emitting a raw script tag', () => {
-    const element = PublicEnvScript()
+  it('emits a script that assigns window.__ENV directly', () => {
+    const markup = renderToStaticMarkup(<PublicEnvScript />)
 
-    expect(element.type).toBe(EnvScript)
-    expect(element.type).not.toBe('script')
+    expect(markup).toContain("window['__ENV'] =")
   })
 
-  it('does not opt out of the beforeInteractive strategy', () => {
-    const { disableNextScript, nextScriptProps } = PublicEnvScript().props
+  it('does not defer the assignment into the __next_s queue', () => {
+    const markup = renderToStaticMarkup(<PublicEnvScript />)
 
-    expect(disableNextScript).toBeUndefined()
-    expect(nextScriptProps?.strategy ?? 'beforeInteractive').toBe('beforeInteractive')
+    expect(markup).not.toContain('__next_s')
   })
 
   it('passes only NEXT_PUBLIC_ variables through to the browser', () => {
diff --git a/apps/sim/app/_shell/public-env-script.tsx b/apps/sim/app/_shell/public-env-script.tsx
index fa0aebc0d96..b2ff7b0f58e 100644
--- a/apps/sim/app/_shell/public-env-script.tsx
+++ b/apps/sim/app/_shell/public-env-script.tsx
@@ -18,21 +18,31 @@ const HOSTED_PUBLIC_ENV = Object.fromEntries(
 /**
  * Static equivalent of `next-runtime-env`'s `<PublicEnvScript>` for the hosted
  * deployment. It renders the library's own `<EnvScript>`, so the emitted markup
- * and its `beforeInteractive` loading strategy are identical to the self-hosted
- * path - only the env read differs. `<PublicEnvScript>` additionally calls
- * `unstable_noStore()`, which opts the entire app into dynamic rendering; that
- * only pays off for self-hosted Docker images that re-inject env per deploy
- * without a rebuild, so hosted reads the env once here and stays static.
+ * is identical to the self-hosted path - only the env read differs.
+ * `<PublicEnvScript>` additionally calls `unstable_noStore()`, which opts the
+ * entire app into dynamic rendering; that only pays off for self-hosted Docker
+ * images that re-inject env per deploy without a rebuild, so hosted reads the
+ * env once here and stays static.
  *
- * `beforeInteractive` is load-bearing, not an optimization. A plain `<script>`
- * rendered from the root layout lands at the end of `<head>`, after the ~40
- * `<script async>` chunk tags Next emits at the top of the document; an `async`
- * script runs as soon as its fetch resolves, so on a warm cache a Next chunk
- * can execute - and hydration can begin - before the parser reaches the env
- * tag, leaving `window.__ENV` undefined for the first render.
- * `beforeInteractive` instead queues the script into `self.__next_s`, which
- * Next's `appBootstrap` drains to completion before calling `hydrate()`.
+ * `disableNextScript` is load-bearing. Without it, `<EnvScript>` defaults to
+ * Next's `<Script strategy='beforeInteractive'>`, which does not assign
+ * `window.__ENV` at all - it emits a tag that pushes the assignment onto
+ * `self.__next_s`. That queue has exactly one consumer, `appBootstrap`, which
+ * reads it once and short-circuits to `hydrate()` when it is empty. The
+ * bootstrap chunk's `<script async>` tag sits ~13KB earlier in the document
+ * than this tag, so whenever that chunk executes before the parser arrives
+ * here, the queue is drained empty, nothing ever drains it again, and
+ * `window.__ENV` stays undefined for the entire lifetime of the document -
+ * every `getEnv` read empty, until a reload happens to win the race.
+ *
+ * A plain `<script>` assigns unconditionally when the parser reaches it. When
+ * it is reached before the bootstrap chunk runs it lands strictly earlier than
+ * the queue drain would have; when it is not, the value still arrives a few
+ * milliseconds late instead of never. There is no supported way to place an
+ * inline script ahead of the framework's own bootstrap tags - React emits those
+ * in the preamble, before any content from the component tree - so the goal is
+ * to make losing that race harmless rather than to try to win it.
  */
 export function PublicEnvScript() {
-  return <EnvScript env={HOSTED_PUBLIC_ENV} />
+  return <EnvScript env={HOSTED_PUBLIC_ENV} disableNextScript />
 }
diff --git a/apps/sim/app/layout.tsx b/apps/sim/app/layout.tsx
index 95462d4b290..6f5d5ff5705 100644
--- a/apps/sim/app/layout.tsx
+++ b/apps/sim/app/layout.tsx
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src=
           </>
         )}
 
-        {isHosted ? <PublicEnvScript /> : <RuntimePublicEnvScript />}
+        {isHosted ? <PublicEnvScript /> : <RuntimePublicEnvScript disableNextScript />}
       </head>
       <body className={`${season.variable} font-season`} suppressHydrationWarning>
         {/* Google Tag Manager (noscript) — hosted only */}
diff --git a/apps/sim/lib/core/config/env.ts b/apps/sim/lib/core/config/env.ts
index c8f365e8eb9..e7aa17eab6b 100644
--- a/apps/sim/lib/core/config/env.ts
+++ b/apps/sim/lib/core/config/env.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,23 @@ const getEnv = (variable: string): string | undefined => {
   return window.__ENV?.[variable] ?? process.env[variable]
 }
 
+/**
+ * Whether `window.__ENV` was still unset when this module first evaluated in the
+ * browser. Always `false` on the server.
+ *
+ * Module bodies run inside the framework bootstrap, which an `async` chunk can
+ * start before the parser has reached the inline assignment at the end of
+ * `<head>`. Reads made during render are unaffected: nothing renders until the
+ * RSC payload arrives, and that streams from `<body>` — after the assignment.
+ * Module-scope reads have no such ordering, and the values they derive
+ * (`isHosted` and the other flags in `env-flags`) stay frozen for the session.
+ *
+ * Reported once per load so the rate is measurable rather than assumed; it is
+ * what decides whether those flags need to become lazy.
+ */
+export const publicEnvMissingAtModuleInit =
+  typeof window !== 'undefined' && window.__ENV === undefined
+
 // biome-ignore format: keep alignment for readability
 export const env = createEnv({
   skipValidation: true,