diff --git a/litellm/llms/chatgpt/authenticator.py b/litellm/llms/chatgpt/authenticator.py
index 563826c2b93..fa1ecb6edb4 100644
--- a/litellm/llms/chatgpt/authenticator.py
+++ b/litellm/llms/chatgpt/authenticator.py
@@ -150,7 +150,27 @@ class Authenticator:
                 return account_id
         return None
 
+    def _can_run_interactive_device_login(self) -> bool:
+        """Check if the process can run an interactive device-code login.
+
+        In headless or proxy environments (e.g. LiteLLM Proxy, Kubernetes, Docker),
+        synchronous device code polling must never block the event loop.
+        """
+        import sys
+
+        return bool(sys.stdin and hasattr(sys.stdin, "isatty") and sys.stdin.isatty())
+
     def _login_device_code(self) -> dict[str, str]:
+        if not self._can_run_interactive_device_login():
+            raise GetAccessTokenError(
+                message=(
+                    "ChatGPT authentication required, but interactive device-code login "
+                    "cannot run in a non-interactive/headless environment (such as the LiteLLM proxy). "
+                    "Please authenticate beforehand using the CLI or provision the auth token file."
+                ),
+                status_code=401,
+            )
+
         cooldown_remaining: Final = self._get_device_code_cooldown_remaining(self._read_auth_file())
         if cooldown_remaining > 0:
             token: Final = self._wait_for_access_token(cooldown_remaining)
@@ -372,6 +392,8 @@ class Authenticator:
         self._write_auth_file({**auth_data, "device_code_requested_at": time.time()})
 
     def _wait_for_access_token(self, timeout_seconds: float) -> str | None:
+        if not self._can_run_interactive_device_login():
+            return None
         deadline: Final = time.time() + timeout_seconds
         while time.time() < deadline:
             auth_data = self._read_auth_file()
diff --git a/tests/unit/llms/chatgpt/test_chatgpt_authenticator.py b/tests/unit/llms/chatgpt/test_chatgpt_authenticator.py
index a9ced2afcf9..fb214e9dd22 100644
--- a/tests/unit/llms/chatgpt/test_chatgpt_authenticator.py
+++ b/tests/unit/llms/chatgpt/test_chatgpt_authenticator.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ from unittest.mock import mock_open, patch
 import pytest
 
 from litellm.llms.chatgpt.authenticator import Authenticator
+from litellm.llms.chatgpt.common_utils import GetAccessTokenError
 
 
 def _make_jwt(payload: dict) -> str:
@@ -68,3 +69,36 @@ class TestChatGPTAuthenticator:
             assert account_id == "acct-123"
             mock_write.assert_called_once()
             assert mock_write.call_args[0][0]["account_id"] == "acct-123"
+
+    def test_can_run_interactive_device_login(self, authenticator):
+        with patch("sys.stdin.isatty", return_value=True):
+            assert authenticator._can_run_interactive_device_login() is True
+
+        with patch("sys.stdin.isatty", return_value=False):
+            assert authenticator._can_run_interactive_device_login() is False
+
+        with patch("sys.stdin", None):
+            assert authenticator._can_run_interactive_device_login() is False
+
+        with patch("sys.stdin", object()):
+            assert authenticator._can_run_interactive_device_login() is False
+
+    def test_get_access_token_headless_environment_raises_promptly(self, authenticator):
+        with (
+            patch("builtins.open", side_effect=FileNotFoundError),
+            patch("sys.stdin.isatty", return_value=False),
+            pytest.raises(GetAccessTokenError) as exc_info,
+        ):
+            authenticator.get_access_token()
+
+        assert exc_info.value.status_code == 401
+        err_msg = str(exc_info.value)
+        assert "cannot run in a non-interactive/headless environment" in err_msg
+        assert "/root" not in err_msg
+        assert "/home" not in err_msg
+        assert "token.json" not in err_msg
+
+    def test_headless_wait_for_access_token_returns_none_immediately(self, authenticator):
+        with patch("sys.stdin.isatty", return_value=False):
+            assert authenticator._wait_for_access_token(timeout_seconds=900) is None
+