diff --git a/engraphis/licensing.py b/engraphis/licensing.py
index 7fbcb8b..9126965 100644
--- a/engraphis/licensing.py
+++ b/engraphis/licensing.py
@@ -1055,19 +1055,36 @@ def _verify_module_integrity():
 
 _lock_sentinel = object()
 _LOCK_SNAPSHOT = None
+_LOCK_TAKEN = False
 
 
 def _verify_no_tampering():
     """Verify critical gate callables haven't been monkeypatched since import.
 
-    Skipped in test mode (``_TEST_MODE_PUBKEY_OVERRIDE=True``) so the test
-    suite can mock these freely.
+    The snapshot is taken lazily on the first gate call, so test-mode setup
+    (conftest sets ``_TEST_MODE_PUBKEY_OVERRIDE=True`` after import) is
+    captured correctly without false positives.
     """
-    if _TEST_MODE_PUBKEY_OVERRIDE:
-        return
+    global _LOCK_SNAPSHOT, _LOCK_TAKEN
+    if not _LOCK_TAKEN:
+        _LOCK_SNAPSHOT = {
+            "has_feature": has_feature,
+            "require_feature": require_feature,
+            "current_license": current_license,
+            "parse_key": parse_key,
+            "ed25519_verify": ed25519_verify,
+            "vendor_public_key": vendor_public_key,
+            "vendor_public_keys": vendor_public_keys,
+        }
+        _LOCK_TAKEN = True
     snap = _LOCK_SNAPSHOT
-    if snap is None:
-        return
+    if snap is None or not isinstance(snap, dict):
+        raise LicenseError(
+            "Licensing integrity violation: tamper-detection snapshot has been "
+            "corrupted. Reinstall Engraphis from the official distribution."
+        )
+    if _TEST_MODE_PUBKEY_OVERRIDE:
+        return  # test mode: skip callable checks
     g = globals()
     for name, expected in snap.items():
         current = g.get(name, _lock_sentinel)
@@ -1079,8 +1096,10 @@ def _verify_no_tampering():
 
 
 def _snapshot_critical_globals():
-    global _LOCK_SNAPSHOT
+    """Force a re-snapshot of critical globals (used by tests after mocking)."""
+    global _LOCK_SNAPSHOT, _LOCK_TAKEN
     _LOCK_SNAPSHOT = {
+        "_TEST_MODE_PUBKEY_OVERRIDE": _TEST_MODE_PUBKEY_OVERRIDE,
         "has_feature": has_feature,
         "require_feature": require_feature,
         "current_license": current_license,
@@ -1089,9 +1108,7 @@ def _snapshot_critical_globals():
         "vendor_public_key": vendor_public_key,
         "vendor_public_keys": vendor_public_keys,
     }
-
-
-_snapshot_critical_globals()
+    _LOCK_TAKEN = True
 
 
 _verify_module_integrity()
diff --git a/engraphis/routes/vault.py b/engraphis/routes/vault.py
index 4c7143e..244feb4 100644
--- a/engraphis/routes/vault.py
+++ b/engraphis/routes/vault.py
@@ -605,6 +605,8 @@ async def context_preview(req: ContextPreviewReq):
 @router.get("/vaults/{namespace}/export")
 async def export_vault(namespace: str):
     """GET /memory/vaults/{namespace}/export — export all memories in a vault as JSON."""
+    from engraphis.licensing import require_feature
+    require_feature("export")
     docs = mem_store.list_documents(namespace=namespace, limit=10000)
     export_data = {
         "namespace": namespace,
diff --git a/scripts/consolidate.py b/scripts/consolidate.py
index 267b754..fa6bae3 100644
--- a/scripts/consolidate.py
+++ b/scripts/consolidate.py
@@ -204,6 +204,17 @@ def main(argv=None) -> int:
 
     llm = None
     if args.llm or args.structured:
+        # LLM-powered consolidation (inference / structured merging) is a paid
+        # automation feature — gate here because we call engine.consolidate()
+        # directly, which has no license awareness.
+        from engraphis.licensing import require_feature, LicenseError
+        try:
+            require_feature("automation")
+        except LicenseError as exc:
+            print(f"error: LLM-powered consolidation ({exc})", file=sys.stderr)
+            print("tip: run without --llm or --structured for the free, deterministic pass",
+                  file=sys.stderr)
+            return 2
         try:
             from engraphis.llm.client import LLMClient
             llm = LLMClient()