diff --git a/agent/evals/conftest.py b/agent/evals/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b1d0c5d91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/agent/evals/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+"""
+pytest conftest for the AgentForge eval suite.
+
+Two responsibilities:
+1. Patches teleport_api._fetch_from_teleport to return None immediately,
+   bypassing all live HTTP calls. This forces get_city_housing_data to fall
+   back to HARDCODED_FALLBACK data instantly. Tests run in <1s total.
+2. Ensures pytest-asyncio is configured for STRICT mode (set in pytest.ini).
+   All async tests carry @pytest.mark.asyncio (they already do).
+"""
+
+import os
+import sys
+
+# Make 'agent/' and 'agent/tools/' importable from any working directory
+sys.path.insert(0, os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), ".."))
+sys.path.insert(0, os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "..", "tools"))
+
+import pytest
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Teleport API mock — eliminates all live network calls during tests
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+def mock_teleport_no_network(monkeypatch):
+    """
+    Patches teleport_api._fetch_from_teleport to return None immediately.
+    This forces get_city_housing_data to use HARDCODED_FALLBACK for every
+    city, with zero HTTP requests and zero wait time.
+
+    Also patches search_city_slug to return from the in-memory cache only,
+    so no DNS/HTTP calls are made during slug resolution.
+
+    autouse=True applies this to every test automatically.
+    """
+    try:
+        import teleport_api
+
+        async def _instant_fetch(city_name: str, slug: str):
+            """Skip live API call — triggers fallback path immediately."""
+            return None
+
+        async def _cache_only_slug(city_name: str):
+            """Return from cache or None — no HTTP search calls."""
+            lower = city_name.lower().strip()
+            return teleport_api._slug_cache.get(lower)
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(teleport_api, "_fetch_from_teleport", _instant_fetch)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(teleport_api, "search_city_slug", _cache_only_slug)
+    except ImportError:
+        pass  # teleport_api not importable in this test context — skip
diff --git a/agent/pytest.ini b/agent/pytest.ini
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..54e4f8834
--- /dev/null
+++ b/agent/pytest.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[pytest]
+asyncio_mode = strict
+testpaths = evals