diff --git a/evalharness/agent/envs/tau2_official.py b/evalharness/agent/envs/tau2_official.py
index a6e214c..39ee414 100644
--- a/evalharness/agent/envs/tau2_official.py
+++ b/evalharness/agent/envs/tau2_official.py
@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@ def _silence_tau2_logs():
 
 
 def _ensure_tau2_engine():
+    # SILENCE FIRST: tau2's modules emit loguru INFO at import time
+    # ('Registering default components...', data-dir banner); any tau2
+    # import below triggers them before later silencing can help
+    _silence_tau2_logs()
     """Auto-install the REAL tau2-bench engine when missing.
 
     PyPI's 'tau2' is an unrelated physics package -- never 'pip install