diff --git a/apps/cli/src/daemon.ts b/apps/cli/src/daemon.ts
index abd7dd722..666f869e6 100644
--- a/apps/cli/src/daemon.ts
+++ b/apps/cli/src/daemon.ts
@@ -49,10 +49,17 @@ export const parseDaemonBaseUrl = (baseUrl: string, defaultPort: number): Parsed
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 const LOCAL_DAEMON_HOSTNAMES = new Set(["localhost", "127.0.0.1", "::1", "[::1]"]);
+const BUN_EMBEDDED_ENTRYPOINT_PREFIX = "/$bunfs/";
 
 export const canAutoStartLocalDaemonForHost = (hostname: string): boolean =>
   LOCAL_DAEMON_HOSTNAMES.has(hostname.toLowerCase());
 
+export const isDevCliEntrypoint = (scriptPath: string | undefined): boolean => {
+  if (!scriptPath) return false;
+  if (scriptPath.startsWith(BUN_EMBEDDED_ENTRYPOINT_PREFIX)) return false;
+  return scriptPath.endsWith(".ts") || scriptPath.endsWith(".js");
+};
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Process spec
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/apps/cli/src/main.ts b/apps/cli/src/main.ts
index a46a503ba..839750c74 100644
--- a/apps/cli/src/main.ts
+++ b/apps/cli/src/main.ts
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ import {
   buildDaemonSpawnSpec,
   chooseDaemonPort,
   canAutoStartLocalDaemonForHost,
+  isDevCliEntrypoint,
   parseDaemonBaseUrl,
   spawnDetached,
   waitForReachable,
@@ -159,7 +160,7 @@ const isServerReachable = (baseUrl: string): Effect.Effect<boolean> =>
   );
 
 const script = process.argv[1];
-const isDevMode = script?.endsWith(".ts") || script?.endsWith(".js");
+const isDevMode = isDevCliEntrypoint(script);
 const cliPrefix = isDevMode ? `bun run ${script}` : "executor";
 
 const toError = (cause: unknown): Error =>
diff --git a/tests/daemon-bootstrap.test.ts b/tests/daemon-bootstrap.test.ts
index 7c90cbfbd..949cb45f4 100644
--- a/tests/daemon-bootstrap.test.ts
+++ b/tests/daemon-bootstrap.test.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import {
   buildDaemonSpawnSpec,
   canAutoStartLocalDaemonForHost,
   chooseDaemonPort,
+  isDevCliEntrypoint,
   parseDaemonBaseUrl,
 } from "../apps/cli/src/daemon";
 
@@ -33,6 +34,14 @@ describe("daemon bootstrap helpers", () => {
     expect(canAutoStartLocalDaemonForHost("api.example.com")).toBe(false);
   });
 
+  it("treats source entrypoints as dev mode but excludes bun embedded paths", () => {
+    expect(isDevCliEntrypoint("/repo/apps/cli/src/main.ts")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isDevCliEntrypoint("/repo/apps/cli/src/main.js")).toBe(true);
+    expect(isDevCliEntrypoint("/$bunfs/root/main.js")).toBe(false);
+    expect(isDevCliEntrypoint("/usr/local/bin/executor")).toBe(false);
+    expect(isDevCliEntrypoint(undefined)).toBe(false);
+  });
+
   it("builds bun-run spec in dev mode", () => {
     const spec = buildDaemonSpawnSpec({
       port: 4788,