diff --git a/.changeset/wild-seas-breathe.md b/.changeset/wild-seas-breathe.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2c95d3784802
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/wild-seas-breathe.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"wrangler": patch
+---
+
+fix: don't attempt to login during a --dryRun
diff --git a/packages/wrangler/src/__tests__/publish.test.ts b/packages/wrangler/src/__tests__/publish.test.ts
index 926a5e79e4d4..25d18f83d868 100644
--- a/packages/wrangler/src/__tests__/publish.test.ts
+++ b/packages/wrangler/src/__tests__/publish.test.ts
@@ -4677,6 +4677,7 @@ addEventListener('fetch', event => {});`
         migrations: [{ tag: "v1", new_classes: ["SomeClass"] }],
       });
       writeWorkerSource();
+      process.env.CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID = "";
       await runWrangler("publish index.js --dry-run");
       expect(std).toMatchInlineSnapshot(`
         Object {
diff --git a/packages/wrangler/src/index.tsx b/packages/wrangler/src/index.tsx
index c75639300643..e56a42112e8a 100644
--- a/packages/wrangler/src/index.tsx
+++ b/packages/wrangler/src/index.tsx
@@ -1270,7 +1270,7 @@ export async function main(argv: string[]): Promise<void> {
         );
       }
 
-      const accountId = await requireAuth(config);
+      const accountId = args.dryRun ? undefined : await requireAuth(config);
 
       const assetPaths = getAssetPaths(
         config,
diff --git a/packages/wrangler/src/publish.ts b/packages/wrangler/src/publish.ts
index a327f6729c6c..124caa9634c3 100644
--- a/packages/wrangler/src/publish.ts
+++ b/packages/wrangler/src/publish.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import type { CfWorkerInit } from "./worker";
 
 type Props = {
   config: Config;
-  accountId: string;
+  accountId: string | undefined;
   entry: Entry;
   rules: Config["rules"];
   name: string | undefined;
@@ -325,6 +325,7 @@ export default async function publish(props: Props): Promise<void> {
     logger.log(`--dry-run: exiting now.`);
     return;
   }
+  assert(accountId, "Missing accountId");
 
   const uploadMs = Date.now() - start;
   const deployments: Promise<string[]>[] = [];
diff --git a/packages/wrangler/src/sites.tsx b/packages/wrangler/src/sites.tsx
index fda7df28b550..457441c3525c 100644
--- a/packages/wrangler/src/sites.tsx
+++ b/packages/wrangler/src/sites.tsx
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import assert from "node:assert";
 import { readdir, readFile, stat } from "node:fs/promises";
 import * as path from "node:path";
 import ignore from "ignore";
@@ -103,7 +104,7 @@ async function createKVNamespaceIfNotAlreadyExisting(
  * asset in the KV namespace.
  */
 export async function syncAssets(
-  accountId: string,
+  accountId: string | undefined,
   scriptName: string,
   siteAssets: AssetPaths | undefined,
   preview: boolean,
@@ -120,6 +121,7 @@ export async function syncAssets(
     logger.log("(Note: doing a dry run, not uploading or deleting anything.)");
     return { manifest: undefined, namespace: undefined };
   }
+  assert(accountId, "Missing accountId");
 
   const title = `__${scriptName}-workers_sites_assets${
     preview ? "_preview" : ""