diff --git a/extensions/tlon/src/urbit/sse-client.ts b/extensions/tlon/src/urbit/sse-client.ts
index 810ef3d1a73..972b02c4384 100644
--- a/extensions/tlon/src/urbit/sse-client.ts
+++ b/extensions/tlon/src/urbit/sse-client.ts
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ export class UrbitSSEClient {
   // Event ack tracking - must ack every ~50 events to keep channel healthy
   private lastHeardEventId = -1;
   private lastAcknowledgedEventId = -1;
-  private readonly ackThreshold = 20;
+  private readonly ackThreshold = 5; // Lowered for testing
 
   constructor(url: string, cookie: string, options: UrbitSseOptions = {}) {
     const ctx = getUrbitContext(url, options.ship);