diff --git a/src/commands/sync.js b/src/commands/sync.js
index 11c0a6f9e..8d067060d 100644
--- a/src/commands/sync.js
+++ b/src/commands/sync.js
@@ -363,7 +363,7 @@ async function acquireSyncLock(
     priorityPollMs = PRIORITY_LOCK_POLL_MS,
   } = {},
 ) {
-  const waitsForPriority = Boolean(opts.drain || opts.publishAccount);
+  const waitsForPriority = Boolean(opts.waitForLock || opts.drain || opts.publishAccount);
   let lock = await openLock(lockPath, {
     quietIfLocked: opts.auto || waitsForPriority,
   });
@@ -2835,6 +2835,7 @@ function parseArgs(argv) {
     fromOpenclaw: false,
     source: null,
     drain: false,
+    waitForLock: false,
     background: false,
     publishAccount: false,
     allLocalSources: false,
@@ -2852,6 +2853,7 @@ function parseArgs(argv) {
     }
     else if (a.startsWith("--source=")) out.source = normalizeSyncSource(a.slice("--source=".length));
     else if (a === "--drain") out.drain = true;
+    else if (a === "--wait-for-lock") out.waitForLock = true;
     else if (a === "--background" || a === "--lightweight") out.background = true;
     else if (a === "--publish-account") out.publishAccount = true;
     else if (a === "--all-local-sources") out.allLocalSources = true;
diff --git a/src/lib/local-api.js b/src/lib/local-api.js
index d1a9bc9f6..be01075b8 100644
--- a/src/lib/local-api.js
+++ b/src/lib/local-api.js
@@ -880,6 +880,7 @@ function runSyncCommand(extraEnv = {}, opts = {}) {
     if (opts.publishAccount === true) args.push("--publish-account");
     if (opts.allLocalSources === true) args.push("--all-local-sources");
     if (opts.drain === true) args.push("--drain");
+    if (opts.waitForLock === true) args.push("--wait-for-lock");
     const child = spawn(process.execPath, args, {
       env: { ...process.env, ...extraEnv },
       stdio: ["ignore", "pipe", "pipe"],
@@ -1971,6 +1972,8 @@ function createLocalApiHandler({ queuePath }) {
           background,
           publishAccount,
           allLocalSources,
+          waitForLock:
+            !drain && !background && Boolean(extraEnv.TOKENTRACKER_DEVICE_TOKEN),
         });
         try {
           const { resetUsageLimitsCache } = require("./usage-limits");
diff --git a/test/local-api-background.test.js b/test/local-api-background.test.js
index f7600b3ec..de2731067 100644
--- a/test/local-api-background.test.js
+++ b/test/local-api-background.test.js
@@ -210,7 +210,12 @@ test("local-api background and lightweight require boolean true", async () => {
   for (const body of cases) {
     const call = await runLocalSync({ auto: true, ...body });
     const args = call.args;
-    assert.deepEqual(args.slice(-3), [path.join(process.cwd(), "bin/tracker.js"), "sync", "--auto"]);
+    assert.deepEqual(args.slice(-4), [
+      path.join(process.cwd(), "bin/tracker.js"),
+      "sync",
+      "--auto",
+      "--wait-for-lock",
+    ]);
   }
 });
 
@@ -356,7 +361,11 @@ test("local-api manual and drain sync still issue relayed cloud device tokens",
   const savedBaseUrl = process.env.TOKENTRACKER_INSFORGE_BASE_URL;
   const savedFetch = global.fetch;
   const cases = [
-    { prefix: "tokentracker-local-api-manual-cloud-", body: {}, expectedArgs: ["sync"] },
+    {
+      prefix: "tokentracker-local-api-manual-cloud-",
+      body: {},
+      expectedArgs: ["sync", "--wait-for-lock"],
+    },
     { prefix: "tokentracker-local-api-drain-cloud-", body: { drain: true }, expectedArgs: ["sync", "--drain"] },
   ];
 
diff --git a/test/local-api-security.test.js b/test/local-api-security.test.js
index 738f36b4d..dfd7c5e04 100644
--- a/test/local-api-security.test.js
+++ b/test/local-api-security.test.js
@@ -492,7 +492,12 @@ test("local sync only treats boolean true as background or lightweight", async (
       assert.equal(handled, true);
       assert.equal(res.statusCode, 200);
       assert.equal(calls.length, 1);
-      assert.deepEqual(calls[0].args.slice(-3), [path.join(process.cwd(), "bin/tracker.js"), "sync", "--auto"]);
+      assert.deepEqual(calls[0].args.slice(-4), [
+        path.join(process.cwd(), "bin/tracker.js"),
+        "sync",
+        "--auto",
+        "--wait-for-lock",
+      ]);
     } finally {
       restore();
     }
@@ -533,7 +538,11 @@ test("local sync only treats boolean true as drain", async () => {
       assert.equal(handled, true);
       assert.equal(res.statusCode, 200);
       assert.equal(calls.length, 1);
-      assert.deepEqual(calls[0].args.slice(-2), [path.join(process.cwd(), "bin/tracker.js"), "sync"]);
+      assert.deepEqual(calls[0].args.slice(-3), [
+        path.join(process.cwd(), "bin/tracker.js"),
+        "sync",
+        "--wait-for-lock",
+      ]);
     } finally {
       restore();
     }
@@ -587,7 +596,11 @@ test("local sync non-drain request mints a device token from relayed login when
     assert.equal(handled, true);
     assert.equal(res.statusCode, 200);
     assert.equal(calls.length, 1);
-    assert.deepEqual(calls[0].args.slice(-2), [path.join(process.cwd(), "bin/tracker.js"), "sync"]);
+    assert.deepEqual(calls[0].args.slice(-3), [
+      path.join(process.cwd(), "bin/tracker.js"),
+      "sync",
+      "--wait-for-lock",
+    ]);
     assert.equal(calls[0].options.env.TOKENTRACKER_DEVICE_TOKEN, "issued-device-token");
     assert.ok(fetchCalls.some((c) => c.url.endsWith("/api/auth/refresh?client_type=mobile")));
     assert.ok(fetchCalls.some((c) => c.url.endsWith("/functions/tokentracker-device-token-issue")));
@@ -1022,7 +1035,11 @@ test("local sync non-drain request keeps explicit device token without relayed m
     assert.equal(handled, true);
     assert.equal(res.statusCode, 200);
     assert.equal(calls.length, 1);
-    assert.deepEqual(calls[0].args.slice(-2), [path.join(process.cwd(), "bin/tracker.js"), "sync"]);
+    assert.deepEqual(calls[0].args.slice(-3), [
+      path.join(process.cwd(), "bin/tracker.js"),
+      "sync",
+      "--wait-for-lock",
+    ]);
     assert.equal(calls[0].options.env.TOKENTRACKER_DEVICE_TOKEN, "explicit-device-token");
   } finally {
     restore();
diff --git a/test/sync-background.test.js b/test/sync-background.test.js
index bfb2122f9..bec7706ef 100644
--- a/test/sync-background.test.js
+++ b/test/sync-background.test.js
@@ -265,6 +265,30 @@ test("native account publication waits for an overlapping sync instead of report
   });
 });
 
+test("explicit wait-for-lock fails instead of reporting success when the lock stays busy", async () => {
+  await withTempSyncEnv(async (home) => {
+    const trackerDir = path.join(home, ".tokentracker", "tracker");
+    await fs.mkdir(trackerDir, { recursive: true });
+    const lockPath = path.join(trackerDir, "sync.lock");
+    const active = await openLock(lockPath, {
+      quietIfLocked: true,
+    });
+    assert.ok(active);
+
+    try {
+      await assert.rejects(
+        cmdSync(
+          ["--wait-for-lock"],
+          { lockWaitOptions: { priorityWaitMs: 40, priorityPollMs: 5 } },
+        ),
+        (error) => error.code === "SYNC_BUSY",
+      );
+    } finally {
+      await active.release();
+    }
+  });
+});
+
 test("manual drain fails explicitly when the sync lock stays busy", async () => {
   await withTempSyncEnv(async (home) => {
     const trackerDir = path.join(home, ".tokentracker", "tracker");