diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/build-container.yaml b/.forgejo/workflows/build-container.yaml
index fe6b000..efa9007 100644
--- a/.forgejo/workflows/build-container.yaml
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/build-container.yaml
@@ -73,10 +73,6 @@ jobs:
     needs: detect
     if: needs.detect.outputs.dagger != '[]'
     runs-on: k8s
-    env:
-      # Disable Python SDK OTLP metrics exporter — the Dagger engine's local
-      # OTLP endpoint returns 500s, causing ~9s retry cycles per minute.
-      OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER: none
     strategy:
       matrix:
         container: ${{ fromJson(needs.detect.outputs.dagger) }}
diff --git a/docs/changelog.d/+dagger-otel-metrics-fix.bugfix.md b/docs/changelog.d/+dagger-otel-metrics-fix.bugfix.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c02765
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog.d/+dagger-otel-metrics-fix.bugfix.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix OTEL metrics exporter warnings in Dagger builds by hard-overriding the env var before SDK init.
diff --git a/src/blumeops/main.py b/src/blumeops/main.py
index 56595e2..9f60fd4 100644
--- a/src/blumeops/main.py
+++ b/src/blumeops/main.py
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 import os
 from pathlib import Path
 
-# Disable OTLP metrics exporter before the Dagger SDK initializes OpenTelemetry.
-# The Dagger engine's local OTLP endpoint returns 500s, causing ~11s retry delays.
-os.environ.setdefault("OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER", "none")
+# Force-disable OTLP metrics exporter before the Dagger SDK initializes
+# OpenTelemetry. The engine shim may set OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER=otlp before
+# our module loads, so setdefault won't work — we need a hard override.
+# Without this, the engine's local OTLP endpoint returns 500s on metrics,
+# causing ~9s retry cycles per pipeline step.
+os.environ["OTEL_METRICS_EXPORTER"] = "none"
 
 import dagger
 from dagger import dag, function, object_type