diff --git a/studio/backend/tests/test_desktop_auth.py b/studio/backend/tests/test_desktop_auth.py
index ab1a03eeda..bc8788fd90 100644
--- a/studio/backend/tests/test_desktop_auth.py
+++ b/studio/backend/tests/test_desktop_auth.py
@@ -484,11 +484,14 @@ def test_provision_desktop_auth_writes_secret_and_creates_db_without_backend_dep
 studio_home = Path(sys.argv[1])
 real_import = builtins.__import__
 
-def guarded_import(name, *args, **kwargs):
+def guarded_import(name, globals = None, locals = None, fromlist = (), level = 0):
+    # Only gate absolute imports; relative `from .utils import x` inside
+    # third-party packages (e.g. typer._click.decorators) hits level > 0
+    # with name="utils" and must pass through.
     blocked = ("auth", "fastapi", "structlog", "utils")
-    if name in blocked or name.startswith(("auth.", "utils.")):
+    if level == 0 and (name in blocked or name.startswith(("auth.", "utils."))):
         raise ModuleNotFoundError(name)
-    return real_import(name, *args, **kwargs)
+    return real_import(name, globals, locals, fromlist, level)
 
 builtins.__import__ = guarded_import
 from unsloth_cli.commands import studio as studio_cli
diff --git a/tests/studio/run_real_mlx_smoke.py b/tests/studio/run_real_mlx_smoke.py
index 27f682ee4e..dc3001fd99 100644
--- a/tests/studio/run_real_mlx_smoke.py
+++ b/tests/studio/run_real_mlx_smoke.py
@@ -390,7 +390,11 @@ def _on_step(
         )
         if k in train_result
     }
-    assert len(losses_per_step) == 7, f"expected 7 logged steps, got {losses_per_step}"
+    # logging_steps=1 + max_steps=N -> N callbacks; track config so the
+    # gate auto-follows if max_steps is bumped again.
+    assert (
+        len(losses_per_step) == config.max_steps
+    ), f"expected {config.max_steps} logged steps, got {losses_per_step}"
     for i, l in enumerate(losses_per_step):
         # Allow exact 0.0: fp16 per-step loss underflows to 0.0 after
         # the LoRA reaches loss=0 around step ~10 with this fixture +