diff --git a/packages/cli/src/telemetry/index.ts b/packages/cli/src/telemetry/index.ts
index 10637a3d..27c5004a 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/telemetry/index.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/telemetry/index.ts
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ const emittedProjectSnapshots = new Set<string>();
 const MCP_SAMPLE_RATE = 0.1 as const;
 let mcpSampled: boolean | undefined;
 
+function telemetryDebugEnabled(): boolean {
+  return process.env.KTX_TELEMETRY_DEBUG === '1';
+}
+
 export function shouldEmitMcpTelemetry(): boolean {
   mcpSampled ??= Math.random() < MCP_SAMPLE_RATE;
   return mcpSampled;
@@ -71,19 +75,21 @@ export async function emitTelemetryEvent<Name extends TelemetryEventName>(input:
   packageInfo?: KtxCliPackageInfo;
   projectDir?: string;
 }): Promise<void> {
+  const debug = telemetryDebugEnabled();
   const identity = await loadTelemetryIdentity({
     stdoutIsTTY: input.io.stdout.isTTY === true,
     stderr: input.io.stderr,
     env: process.env,
   });
 
-  if (!identity.enabled || !identity.installId) {
+  if ((!identity.enabled || !identity.installId) && !debug) {
     return;
   }
 
   const packageInfo = input.packageInfo ?? getKtxCliPackageInfo();
+  const installId = identity.installId ?? 'debug';
 
-  const projectId = input.projectDir ? computeTelemetryProjectId(identity.installId, input.projectDir) : undefined;
+  const projectId = input.projectDir ? computeTelemetryProjectId(installId, input.projectDir) : undefined;
   await trackTelemetryEvent({
     event: buildTelemetryEvent(
       input.name,
@@ -93,7 +99,7 @@ export async function emitTelemetryEvent<Name extends TelemetryEventName>(input:
       }),
       input.fields,
     ),
-    distinctId: identity.installId,
+    distinctId: installId,
     projectId,
     env: process.env,
     stderr: input.io.stderr,
diff --git a/packages/cli/test/telemetry/index.test.ts b/packages/cli/test/telemetry/index.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8d8f932b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/cli/test/telemetry/index.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+import { mkdtemp, readFile, rm } from 'node:fs/promises';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest';
+
+import type { KtxCliIo } from '../../src/cli-runtime.js';
+import { emitTelemetryEvent } from '../../src/telemetry/index.js';
+
+function makeIo(): { io: KtxCliIo; stderr: () => string } {
+  let stderr = '';
+  return {
+    io: {
+      stdout: {
+        isTTY: true,
+        write: () => {},
+      },
+      stderr: {
+        write: (chunk) => {
+          stderr += chunk;
+        },
+      },
+    },
+    stderr: () => stderr,
+  };
+}
+
+describe('emitTelemetryEvent', () => {
+  let homeDir: string;
+
+  beforeEach(async () => {
+    homeDir = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'ktx-telemetry-index-'));
+    vi.stubEnv('HOME', homeDir);
+  });
+
+  afterEach(async () => {
+    vi.unstubAllEnvs();
+    await rm(homeDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  it('prints debug telemetry when live telemetry is disabled without creating an identity file', async () => {
+    vi.stubEnv('KTX_TELEMETRY_DEBUG', '1');
+    vi.stubEnv('KTX_TELEMETRY_DISABLED', '1');
+    vi.stubEnv('DO_NOT_TRACK', '1');
+    const testIo = makeIo();
+    const projectDir = join(homeDir, 'private-project');
+
+    await emitTelemetryEvent({
+      name: 'connection_added',
+      projectDir,
+      io: testIo.io,
+      packageInfo: { name: '@kaelio/ktx', version: '0.0.0-test' },
+      fields: {
+        driver: 'sqlite',
+        isDemoConnection: false,
+      },
+    });
+
+    expect(testIo.stderr()).toContain('[telemetry]');
+    expect(testIo.stderr()).toContain('"event":"connection_added"');
+    expect(testIo.stderr()).not.toContain(projectDir);
+    await expect(readFile(join(homeDir, '.ktx', 'telemetry.json'), 'utf-8')).rejects.toThrow();
+  });
+});