diff --git a/changelog.d/fixes/tokenhealthcheck-tickms.md b/changelog.d/fixes/tokenhealthcheck-tickms.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..40bda89fc7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/fixes/tokenhealthcheck-tickms.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- fix(auth): restore the TICK_MS constant dropped by #7719, which made initTokenHealthCheck() throw a ReferenceError at startup
diff --git a/src/lib/tokenHealthCheck.ts b/src/lib/tokenHealthCheck.ts
index 74473ed1ac..561cc8ea02 100644
--- a/src/lib/tokenHealthCheck.ts
+++ b/src/lib/tokenHealthCheck.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import { refreshGithubCopilotSubTokenIfNeeded } from "@/lib/tokenHealthCheckCopi
 
 const LOG_PREFIX = "[HealthCheck]";
 const TRUE_ENV_VALUES = new Set(["1", "true", "yes", "on"]);
+const TICK_MS = 60 * 1000; // sweep interval: every 60 seconds (restored — #7719 dropped the const but kept two call sites)
 const BATCH_SIZE = 20;
 const DEFAULT_HEALTH_CHECK_INTERVAL_MIN = 60; // default per-connection interval
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/token-health-check-tickms-defined.test.ts b/tests/unit/token-health-check-tickms-defined.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b7cee47206
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/token-health-check-tickms-defined.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import { dirname, resolve } from "node:path";
+
+/**
+ * Regression guard for `ReferenceError: TICK_MS is not defined`, introduced by
+ * #7719: it deleted `const TICK_MS = 60 * 1000` from
+ * `src/lib/tokenHealthCheck.ts` but left two call sites referencing it — the
+ * startup log line and `setInterval(sweep, TICK_MS)`.
+ *
+ * Why this is a source-level test rather than a behavioral one:
+ * `initTokenHealthCheck()` bails out early via `isHealthCheckDisabled()` →
+ * `isAutomatedTestProcess()`, which is ALWAYS true under `node --test`. So the
+ * scheduler-start branch that dereferences TICK_MS is unreachable from any
+ * unit test — an "it doesn't throw" assertion passes with or without the const
+ * and proves nothing (verified: such a test stayed green with the const
+ * deleted). That is exactly why the bug reached the release tip despite a full
+ * green suite, and why the failure only surfaced in the CI gate.
+ *
+ * These assertions fail with the const removed and pass with it present.
+ */
+
+const HERE = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+const SOURCE = resolve(HERE, "../../src/lib/tokenHealthCheck.ts");
+
+function readSource(): string {
+  return readFileSync(SOURCE, "utf8");
+}
+
+/** Strip line comments and block comments so doc-prose mentions don't count. */
+function stripComments(src: string): string {
+  return src.replace(/\/\*[\s\S]*?\*\//g, "").replace(/^\s*\/\/.*$/gm, "");
+}
+
+test("every TICK_MS reference in tokenHealthCheck.ts has a matching declaration", () => {
+  const code = stripComments(readSource());
+
+  const uses = code.match(/\bTICK_MS\b/g) ?? [];
+  assert.ok(
+    uses.length > 0,
+    "expected tokenHealthCheck.ts to still reference TICK_MS — if the scheduler " +
+      "was intentionally rewritten to drop it, delete this regression test too"
+  );
+
+  const declared = /\bconst\s+TICK_MS\s*=/.test(code);
+  assert.ok(
+    declared,
+    `tokenHealthCheck.ts references TICK_MS ${uses.length}x but never declares it — ` +
+      "this is the #7719 ReferenceError that breaks initTokenHealthCheck() at runtime"
+  );
+});
+
+test("TICK_MS keeps its documented 60s sweep interval", () => {
+  const code = stripComments(readSource());
+  const match = code.match(/\bconst\s+TICK_MS\s*=\s*([^;]+);/);
+  assert.ok(match, "TICK_MS declaration not found");
+
+  const expr = match[1].trim();
+  assert.match(
+    expr,
+    /^[\d\s*_]+$/,
+    `expected TICK_MS to be a plain numeric expression, got: ${expr}`
+  );
+  const value = expr
+    .split("*")
+    .map((part) => Number(part.trim().replace(/_/g, "")))
+    .reduce((a, b) => a * b, 1);
+
+  assert.equal(
+    value,
+    60_000,
+    "the module docstring and the startup log both state a 60s sweep interval"
+  );
+});