diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 666dab4..832548a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ option(DRAGONX_BUILD_LITE "Build ObsidianDragonLite variant without full-node fe
 option(DRAGONX_ENABLE_LITE_BACKEND "Enable real lite wallet backend integration" OFF)
 option(DRAGONX_ENABLE_CHAT "Enable the HushChat protocol/UI integration" ON)
 option(DRAGONX_BUILD_FAKE_DAEMON "Build the fake slow dragonxd test stub (tools/fake_dragonxd); never shipped" OFF)
+# The screenshot / full UI sweep injects demo data and touches the wallet's data and config dirs, so it is a
+# dev tool only. build.sh passes it EXPLICITLY (ON for dev, OFF for every release configure) because build/linux
+# and build/mac are shared between dev and release builds; dragonx_release refuses to package while it is ON.
+option(DRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP "Compile the UI sweep dev tool (never for shipped builds)" OFF)
 # Embedded fallback copy of res/lang/*.json (xxd -i -> lang_*.h). Needed only by the Windows single-file exe (no res/ beside it);
 # Linux zip/AppImage and the macOS .app always ship res/lang, which loadLanguage() reads first.
 if(WIN32)
@@ -938,6 +942,7 @@ target_compile_definitions(ObsidianDragon PRIVATE
     DRAGONX_ENABLE_LITE_BACKEND=$<BOOL:${DRAGONX_LITE_BACKEND_READY}>
     DRAGONX_ENABLE_CHAT=$<BOOL:${DRAGONX_ENABLE_CHAT}>
     DRAGONX_EMBED_LANG=$<BOOL:${DRAGONX_EMBED_LANG}>
+    DRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP=$<BOOL:${DRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP}>
 )
 if(WIN32)
     target_compile_definitions(ObsidianDragon PRIVATE DRAGONX_USE_DX11)
@@ -1170,6 +1175,13 @@ foreach(_dragonx_release_dep dragonx-wallet-rebuild copy_langs copy_themes)
         add_dependencies(dragonx_release ${_dragonx_release_dep})
     endif()
 endforeach()
+# Backstop for the UI sweep dev tool: a tree whose cache says ON (e.g. hand-configured) cannot package a release.
+if(DRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP)
+    add_custom_target(dragonx_release_sweep_guard
+        COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E echo "DRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP=ON: refusing to package a release"
+        COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E false)
+    add_dependencies(dragonx_release dragonx_release_sweep_guard)
+endif()
 
 # -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # fake_dragonxd — a deliberately slow, scriptable dragonxd stand-in that reproduces the daemon-stop
@@ -1298,6 +1310,7 @@ if(BUILD_TESTING)
         DRAGONX_ENABLE_EMBEDDED_DAEMON=$<BOOL:${DRAGONX_ENABLE_EMBEDDED_DAEMON}>
         DRAGONX_ENABLE_LITE_BACKEND=$<BOOL:${DRAGONX_LITE_BACKEND_READY}>
         DRAGONX_EMBED_LANG=$<BOOL:${DRAGONX_EMBED_LANG}>
+        DRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP=$<BOOL:${DRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP}>
         DRAGONX_TEST_FIXTURE_DIR="${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/tests/fixtures"
     )
 
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index ac781e2..e3b1b1b 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -349,6 +349,7 @@ build_dev() {
         -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="$BUILD_TYPE" \
         -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE="-O3 -DNDEBUG" \
         -DDRAGONX_USE_SYSTEM_SDL3=ON \
+        -DDRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP=ON \
         "${CMAKE_LITE_ARGS[@]}"
 
     info "Building with $JOBS jobs ..."
@@ -385,10 +386,12 @@ build_release_linux() {
         exit 1
     fi
     info "Configuring ..."
+    # UI sweep OFF explicitly: build/linux is shared with dev builds, which cache it ON.
     cmake "$SCRIPT_DIR" \
         -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
         -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE="-O3 -DNDEBUG" \
         -DDRAGONX_USE_SYSTEM_SDL3=ON \
+        -DDRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP=OFF \
         "${BDB_ARGS[@]}" \
         "${CMAKE_LITE_ARGS[@]}"
 
@@ -864,6 +867,7 @@ HDR
         -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="$bd/mingw-toolchain.cmake" \
         -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
         -DDRAGONX_USE_SYSTEM_SDL3=OFF \
+        -DDRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP=OFF \
         "${BDB_ARGS[@]}" \
         "${FT_CMAKE_ARG[@]}" \
         "${CMAKE_LITE_ARGS[@]}"
@@ -1129,6 +1133,7 @@ TOOLCHAIN
             -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
             -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE="-O3 -DNDEBUG" \
             -DDRAGONX_USE_SYSTEM_SDL3=OFF \
+            -DDRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP=OFF \
             -DCMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=11.0 \
             ${COMPILER_RT:+-DOSXCROSS_COMPILER_RT="$COMPILER_RT"} \
             "${BDB_ARGS[@]}" \
@@ -1163,6 +1168,7 @@ TOOLCHAIN
             -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
             -DCMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE="-O3 -DNDEBUG" \
             -DDRAGONX_USE_SYSTEM_SDL3=OFF \
+            -DDRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP=OFF \
             -DCMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=11.0 \
             -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES="$MAC_ARCHS" \
             "${BDB_ARGS[@]}" \
diff --git a/src/app_sweep.cpp b/src/app_sweep.cpp
index 5429bee..fb00581 100644
--- a/src/app_sweep.cpp
+++ b/src/app_sweep.cpp
@@ -718,7 +718,15 @@ void App::buildSweepCatalog()
 // ── State machine ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 void App::startSweepImpl(bool full)
 {
+#if !DRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP
+    // Dev tool only (CMake DRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP, OFF in every release); an undefined macro counts as 0.
+    (void)full;
+    DEBUG_LOGF("[Sweep] disabled in this build\n");
+    return;
+#else
     if (screenshot_sweep_active_) return;
+    // Sentinel: a release binary must not contain this literal (strings <bin> | grep -c ... == 0).
+    DEBUG_LOGF("[Sweep] DRAGONX_UI_SWEEP_COMPILED_IN\n");
 
     sweep_skins_.clear();
     for (const auto& sk : ui::schema::SkinManager::instance().available())
@@ -761,6 +769,7 @@ void App::startSweepImpl(bool full)
     ui::Notifications::instance().info(full ? "Full UI sweep running…" : "Screenshot sweep running…");
     DEBUG_LOGF("[Sweep] %s -> %s (%d skins x %d surfaces)\n", full ? "FULL" : "tabs",
                sweep_dir_.c_str(), (int)sweep_skins_.size(), (int)sweep_targets_.size());
+#endif
 }
 
 void App::startScreenshotSweep() { startSweepImpl(false); }
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index 8514a85..8b28465 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -1611,7 +1611,13 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 
     // Headless verification hook (DRAGONX_FULL_SWEEP=1, handled after present), hoisted so the pacing
     // decision can keep its warm-up frames coming.
+#if DRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP
     const bool autoSweep = std::getenv("DRAGONX_FULL_SWEEP") != nullptr;
+#else
+    // The env hook is dead in shipped builds. It must be: with startSweepImpl a no-op, an enabled
+    // autoSweep would quit the app as soon as the warm-up frames ran out.
+    const bool autoSweep = false;
+#endif
     int autoSweepFrames = 0;
     bool autoSweepStarted = false;
 
diff --git a/src/ui/pages/settings_page.cpp b/src/ui/pages/settings_page.cpp
index fbb0975..c4495d8 100644
--- a/src/ui/pages/settings_page.cpp
+++ b/src/ui/pages/settings_page.cpp
@@ -2895,6 +2895,9 @@ void RenderSettingsPage(App* app) {
 
             material::GlassCardScope card(dl, availWidth, pad, bottomPad, glassSpec);
 
+#if DRAGONX_ENABLE_UI_SWEEP
+            // Dev builds only (both sweeps, open-dir, demo chat and the theme checkbox): the tab sweep
+            // screenshots real balances and addresses, and the demo chat fabricates a chat identity.
             // Screenshot sweep — capture every theme x every tab (above the daemon debug categories).
             ImGui::TextWrapped("%s", TR("screenshot_sweep_desc"));
             ImGui::Dummy(ImVec2(0, Layout::spacingXs()));
@@ -2928,6 +2931,7 @@ void RenderSettingsPage(App* app) {
             ImGui::Dummy(ImVec2(0, Layout::spacingSm()));
             ImGui::Separator();
             ImGui::Dummy(ImVec2(0, Layout::spacingSm()));
+#endif
 
             ImGui::TextColored(ImVec4(1,1,1,0.5f), "%s", TR("settings_debug_select"));
             ImGui::TextColored(ImVec4(1,1,1,0.35f), "%s", TR("settings_debug_restart_note"));