diff --git a/docs/architecture.md b/docs/architecture.md
index 44f84651a..502854d9a 100644
--- a/docs/architecture.md
+++ b/docs/architecture.md
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ Enables remote access when the daemon is behind a firewall.
 - Relay server is zero-knowledge — it routes encrypted bytes, cannot read content
 - Client and daemon channels with identical API (`createClientChannel`, `createDaemonChannel`)
 - Pairing via QR code transfers the daemon's public key to the client
-- Self-hosted relays opt into TLS with `daemon.relay.useTls` or `PASEO_RELAY_USE_TLS=true`
+- Self-hosted relays opt into TLS with `daemon.relay.useTls` or `PASEO_RELAY_USE_TLS=true`; the public (client-facing) TLS setting can be overridden independently via `daemon.relay.publicUseTls` or `PASEO_RELAY_PUBLIC_USE_TLS`
 
 See [SECURITY.md](../SECURITY.md) for the full threat model.
 
diff --git a/docs/data-model.md b/docs/data-model.md
index 55107f2fe..b92acfa94 100644
--- a/docs/data-model.md
+++ b/docs/data-model.md
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ Single file, validated with `PersistedConfigSchema`.
     hostnames: true | string[],   // legacy alias `allowedHosts` is migrated on load
     mcp: { enabled: boolean, injectIntoAgents: boolean },
     cors: { allowedOrigins: string[] },
-    relay: { enabled: boolean, endpoint: string, publicEndpoint: string, useTls: boolean },
+    relay: { enabled: boolean, endpoint: string, publicEndpoint: string, useTls: boolean, publicUseTls: boolean },
     auth: { password: string }    // bcrypt hash, optional
   },
   app: {
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/local-daemon.supervision.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/local-daemon.supervision.test.ts
index 931ea80cf..9b51eec51 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/local-daemon.supervision.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/local-daemon.supervision.test.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 import { EventEmitter } from "node:events";
-import { beforeEach, describe, expect, test, vi } from "vitest";
+import { mkdir, mkdtemp, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, test, vi } from "vitest";
 
 import {
   type DaemonLaunchRuntime,
   type DetachedDaemonProcess,
+  resolveLocalDaemonState,
   startLocalDaemonDetached,
   startLocalDaemonForeground,
 } from "./local-daemon.js";
@@ -64,6 +68,17 @@ class FakeDaemonRuntime implements DaemonLaunchRuntime {
   }
 }
 
+const tempRoots: string[] = [];
+
+async function createPaseoHome(config: unknown): Promise<string> {
+  const root = await mkdtemp(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "paseo-local-daemon-"));
+  tempRoots.push(root);
+  const paseoHome = path.join(root, ".paseo");
+  await mkdir(paseoHome, { recursive: true });
+  await writeFile(path.join(paseoHome, "config.json"), JSON.stringify(config, null, 2));
+  return paseoHome;
+}
+
 function expectSupervisorLaunch(argv: string[]): void {
   const joined = argv.join(" ");
   expect(joined).toContain("supervisor-entrypoint");
@@ -78,6 +93,12 @@ describe("local daemon launch supervision", () => {
     vi.useRealTimers();
   });
 
+  afterEach(async () => {
+    await Promise.all(
+      tempRoots.splice(0).map((root) => rm(root, { recursive: true, force: true })),
+    );
+  });
+
   test("foreground start spawns supervisor-entrypoint instead of server/index", async () => {
     const runtime = new FakeDaemonRuntime();
 
@@ -131,4 +152,24 @@ describe("local daemon launch supervision", () => {
     expect(launch?.args).toContain("--relay-use-tls");
     expect(launch?.options?.env?.PASEO_RELAY_USE_TLS).toBe("true");
   });
+
+  test("local daemon state keeps public relay TLS separate from daemon relay TLS", async () => {
+    const home = await createPaseoHome({
+      version: 1,
+      daemon: {
+        relay: {
+          endpoint: "10.0.0.5:51185",
+          publicEndpoint: "paseo.example.com",
+          useTls: false,
+          publicUseTls: true,
+        },
+      },
+    });
+
+    const state = resolveLocalDaemonState({ home });
+
+    expect(state.relayEndpoint).toBe("paseo.example.com");
+    expect(state.relayUseTls).toBe(false);
+    expect(state.relayPublicUseTls).toBe(true);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/local-daemon.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/local-daemon.ts
index 4fbb97770..943752e4e 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/local-daemon.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/local-daemon.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ export interface LocalDaemonState {
   relayEnabled: boolean;
   relayEndpoint: string;
   relayUseTls: boolean;
+  relayPublicUseTls: boolean;
   logPath: string;
   pidPath: string;
   pidInfo: LocalDaemonPidInfo | null;
@@ -409,6 +410,7 @@ export function resolveLocalDaemonState(options: { home?: string } = {}): LocalD
     relayEnabled: config.relayEnabled ?? true,
     relayEndpoint: config.relayPublicEndpoint ?? config.relayEndpoint ?? "relay.paseo.sh:443",
     relayUseTls: config.relayUseTls ?? false,
+    relayPublicUseTls: config.relayPublicUseTls ?? config.relayUseTls ?? false,
     logPath,
     pidPath,
     pidInfo,
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/pair.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/pair.ts
index 4f228110b..14aced0cc 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/pair.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/pair.ts
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ export async function runPairCommand(options: PairOptions): Promise<void> {
     relayEndpoint: config.relayEndpoint,
     relayPublicEndpoint: config.relayPublicEndpoint,
     relayUseTls: config.relayUseTls,
+    relayPublicUseTls: config.relayPublicUseTls,
     appBaseUrl: config.appBaseUrl,
     includeQr: true,
   });
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/status.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/status.ts
index 987b073d1..dbc41c423 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/status.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/daemon/status.ts
@@ -316,7 +316,7 @@ async function resolveDaemonNodeLabel(
 
 function formatRelayStatus(state: ReturnType<typeof resolveLocalDaemonState>): string {
   if (!state.relayEnabled) return "disabled";
-  const scheme = state.relayUseTls ? "wss" : "ws";
+  const scheme = state.relayPublicUseTls ? "wss" : "ws";
   return `${scheme}://${state.relayEndpoint}`;
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/commands/onboard.ts b/packages/cli/src/commands/onboard.ts
index 4eb4a04f5..b581509ec 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/commands/onboard.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/commands/onboard.ts
@@ -492,6 +492,7 @@ export async function runOnboard(options: OnboardOptions): Promise<void> {
     relayEndpoint: config.relayEndpoint,
     relayPublicEndpoint: config.relayPublicEndpoint,
     relayUseTls: config.relayUseTls,
+    relayPublicUseTls: config.relayPublicUseTls,
     appBaseUrl: config.appBaseUrl,
     includeQr: true,
   });
diff --git a/packages/server/src/server/bootstrap.ts b/packages/server/src/server/bootstrap.ts
index a8ae12c6c..a4554bb5e 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/server/bootstrap.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/server/bootstrap.ts
@@ -239,6 +239,7 @@ export interface PaseoDaemonConfig {
   relayEndpoint?: string;
   relayPublicEndpoint?: string;
   relayUseTls?: boolean;
+  relayPublicUseTls?: boolean;
   appBaseUrl?: string;
   auth?: DaemonAuthConfig;
   openai?: PaseoOpenAIConfig;
@@ -300,7 +301,9 @@ export async function createPaseoDaemon(
   const staticDir = config.staticDir;
   const downloadTokenTtlMs = config.downloadTokenTtlMs ?? 60000;
 
-  const downloadTokenStore = new DownloadTokenStore({ ttlMs: downloadTokenTtlMs });
+  const downloadTokenStore = new DownloadTokenStore({
+    ttlMs: downloadTokenTtlMs,
+  });
 
   const listenTarget = parseListenString(config.listen);
 
@@ -863,6 +866,7 @@ export async function createPaseoDaemon(
           const relayEndpoint = config.relayEndpoint ?? "relay.paseo.sh:443";
           const relayPublicEndpoint = config.relayPublicEndpoint ?? relayEndpoint;
           const relayUseTls = config.relayUseTls ?? relayEndpoint === "relay.paseo.sh:443";
+          const relayPublicUseTls = config.relayPublicUseTls ?? relayUseTls;
           const appBaseUrl = config.appBaseUrl ?? "https://app.paseo.sh";
 
           if (boundListenTarget.type === "tcp") {
@@ -938,7 +942,10 @@ export async function createPaseoDaemon(
             const offer = await createConnectionOfferV2({
               serverId,
               daemonPublicKeyB64: daemonKeyPair.publicKeyB64,
-              relay: { endpoint: relayPublicEndpoint, useTls: relayUseTls },
+              relay: {
+                endpoint: relayPublicEndpoint,
+                useTls: relayPublicUseTls,
+              },
             });
 
             encodeOfferToFragmentUrl({ offer, appBaseUrl });
diff --git a/packages/server/src/server/config-relay.test.ts b/packages/server/src/server/config-relay.test.ts
index 45cd9f358..70e8a9c83 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/server/config-relay.test.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/server/config-relay.test.ts
@@ -44,7 +44,42 @@ describe("daemon relay config", () => {
     });
     expect(loadConfig(envHome, { env: { PASEO_RELAY_USE_TLS: "true" } }).relayUseTls).toBe(true);
 
-    const hostedHome = await createPaseoHome({ version: 1, daemon: { relay: {} } });
+    const hostedHome = await createPaseoHome({
+      version: 1,
+      daemon: { relay: {} },
+    });
     expect(loadConfig(hostedHome, { env: {} }).relayUseTls).toBe(true);
   });
+
+  test("relayPublicUseTls falls back to relayUseTls when unset", async () => {
+    const home = await createPaseoHome({ version: 1, daemon: { relay: {} } });
+    // Default: both true (hosted relay)
+    expect(loadConfig(home, { env: {} }).relayPublicUseTls).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  test("PASEO_RELAY_PUBLIC_USE_TLS overrides relayUseTls for public side", async () => {
+    const home = await createPaseoHome({ version: 1, daemon: { relay: {} } });
+    const config = loadConfig(home, {
+      env: { PASEO_RELAY_USE_TLS: "false", PASEO_RELAY_PUBLIC_USE_TLS: "true" },
+    });
+    expect(config.relayUseTls).toBe(false);
+    expect(config.relayPublicUseTls).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  test("relayPublicUseTls falls back to relayUseTls when only PASEO_RELAY_USE_TLS is set", async () => {
+    const home = await createPaseoHome({ version: 1, daemon: { relay: {} } });
+    const config = loadConfig(home, { env: { PASEO_RELAY_USE_TLS: "false" } });
+    expect(config.relayUseTls).toBe(false);
+    expect(config.relayPublicUseTls).toBe(false);
+  });
+
+  test("persisted publicUseTls overrides relayUseTls fallback", async () => {
+    const home = await createPaseoHome({
+      version: 1,
+      daemon: { relay: { useTls: false, publicUseTls: true } },
+    });
+    const config = loadConfig(home, { env: {} });
+    expect(config.relayUseTls).toBe(false);
+    expect(config.relayPublicUseTls).toBe(true);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/server/src/server/config.ts b/packages/server/src/server/config.ts
index 9c620a9c9..f5b2fe09a 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/server/config.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/server/config.ts
@@ -148,6 +148,18 @@ interface ResolvedRelay {
   endpoint: string;
   publicEndpoint: string;
   useTls: boolean;
+  publicUseTls: boolean;
+}
+
+function resolveTlsFromEnv(
+  envValue: string | undefined,
+  persistedValue: boolean | undefined,
+  fallback: boolean,
+): boolean {
+  if (envValue !== undefined) {
+    return parseBooleanEnv(envValue) ?? false;
+  }
+  return persistedValue ?? fallback;
 }
 
 function resolveRelayConfig(input: ResolveRelayInput): ResolvedRelay {
@@ -166,10 +178,17 @@ function resolveRelayConfig(input: ResolveRelayInput): ResolvedRelay {
     endpoint;
   const useTls =
     input.cliRelayUseTls ??
-    (input.env.PASEO_RELAY_USE_TLS !== undefined
-      ? (parseBooleanEnv(input.env.PASEO_RELAY_USE_TLS) ?? false)
-      : (input.persisted.daemon?.relay?.useTls ?? endpoint === DEFAULT_RELAY_ENDPOINT));
-  return { enabled, endpoint, publicEndpoint, useTls };
+    resolveTlsFromEnv(
+      input.env.PASEO_RELAY_USE_TLS,
+      input.persisted.daemon?.relay?.useTls,
+      endpoint === DEFAULT_RELAY_ENDPOINT,
+    );
+  const publicUseTls = resolveTlsFromEnv(
+    input.env.PASEO_RELAY_PUBLIC_USE_TLS,
+    input.persisted.daemon?.relay?.publicUseTls,
+    useTls,
+  );
+  return { enabled, endpoint, publicEndpoint, useTls, publicUseTls };
 }
 
 interface ResolvedVoiceLlm {
@@ -305,6 +324,7 @@ export function loadConfig(
     relayEndpoint: relay.endpoint,
     relayPublicEndpoint: relay.publicEndpoint,
     relayUseTls: relay.useTls,
+    relayPublicUseTls: relay.publicUseTls,
     appBaseUrl,
     auth: resolveAuthConfig(env, persisted),
     openai,
diff --git a/packages/server/src/server/pairing-offer.ts b/packages/server/src/server/pairing-offer.ts
index b9b0aa185..c8f038e88 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/server/pairing-offer.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/server/pairing-offer.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ export async function generateLocalPairingOffer(args: {
   relayEndpoint?: string;
   relayPublicEndpoint?: string;
   relayUseTls?: boolean;
+  relayPublicUseTls?: boolean;
   appBaseUrl?: string;
   includeQr?: boolean;
   logger?: Logger;
@@ -33,13 +34,14 @@ export async function generateLocalPairingOffer(args: {
   const relayEndpoint = args.relayEndpoint ?? "relay.paseo.sh:443";
   const relayPublicEndpoint = args.relayPublicEndpoint ?? relayEndpoint;
   const relayUseTls = args.relayUseTls ?? relayEndpoint === "relay.paseo.sh:443";
+  const relayPublicUseTls = args.relayPublicUseTls ?? relayUseTls;
   const appBaseUrl = args.appBaseUrl ?? "https://app.paseo.sh";
   const serverId = getOrCreateServerId(args.paseoHome, { logger: args.logger });
   const daemonKeyPair = await loadOrCreateDaemonKeyPair(args.paseoHome, args.logger);
   const offer = await createConnectionOfferV2({
     serverId,
     daemonPublicKeyB64: daemonKeyPair.publicKeyB64,
-    relay: { endpoint: relayPublicEndpoint, useTls: relayUseTls },
+    relay: { endpoint: relayPublicEndpoint, useTls: relayPublicUseTls },
   });
   const url = encodeOfferToFragmentUrl({ offer, appBaseUrl });
 
diff --git a/packages/server/src/server/persisted-config.ts b/packages/server/src/server/persisted-config.ts
index 825cb780c..dc5dfcec6 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/server/persisted-config.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/server/persisted-config.ts
@@ -263,6 +263,7 @@ export const PersistedConfigSchema = z
             endpoint: z.string().optional(),
             publicEndpoint: z.string().optional(),
             useTls: z.boolean().optional(),
+            publicUseTls: z.boolean().optional(),
           })
           .strict()
           .optional(),
@@ -387,7 +388,9 @@ export function loadPersistedConfig(paseoHome: string, logger?: LoggerLike): Per
     raw = readFileSync(configPath, "utf-8");
   } catch (err) {
     const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
-    throw new Error(`[Config] Failed to read ${configPath}: ${message}`, { cause: err });
+    throw new Error(`[Config] Failed to read ${configPath}: ${message}`, {
+      cause: err,
+    });
   }
 
   let parsed: unknown;
@@ -395,7 +398,9 @@ export function loadPersistedConfig(paseoHome: string, logger?: LoggerLike): Per
     parsed = JSON.parse(raw);
   } catch (err) {
     const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
-    throw new Error(`[Config] Invalid JSON in ${configPath}: ${message}`, { cause: err });
+    throw new Error(`[Config] Invalid JSON in ${configPath}: ${message}`, {
+      cause: err,
+    });
   }
 
   const migrated = stripDeprecatedLocalSpeechConfigFields(parsed);
@@ -432,6 +437,8 @@ export function savePersistedConfig(
     log?.info(`Saved to ${configPath}`);
   } catch (err) {
     const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
-    throw new Error(`[Config] Failed to write ${configPath}: ${message}`, { cause: err });
+    throw new Error(`[Config] Failed to write ${configPath}: ${message}`, {
+      cause: err,
+    });
   }
 }