diff --git a/docs/release-notes/change-log.md b/docs/release-notes/change-log.md
index 9120a4e71..77031d3ac 100644
--- a/docs/release-notes/change-log.md
+++ b/docs/release-notes/change-log.md
@@ -11,12 +11,18 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+### Server
+
 * Limit parallel execution of a stage's layer.
 
   Previously, the engine was executing modules in a stage's layer all in parallel. We now change that behavior, development mode will from now on execute every sequentially and when in production mode will limit parallelism to 2 (hard-coded) for now.
 
   The auth plugin can control that value dynamically by providing a trusted header `X-Sf-Substreams-Stage-Layer-Parallel-Executor-Max-Count`.
 
+### CLI
+
+* Removed enforcement of `BUFBUILD_AUTH_TOKEN` environment variable when using descriptor sets. It appears there is now a public free tier to query those which should work in most cases.
+
 ## v1.12.4
 
 ### Server
diff --git a/manifest/protobuf.go b/manifest/protobuf.go
index e2d6ddf63..eedc57f94 100644
--- a/manifest/protobuf.go
+++ b/manifest/protobuf.go
@@ -130,11 +130,6 @@ func loadDescriptorSets(pkg *pbsubstreams.Package, manif *Manifest) ([]*desc.Fil
 			continue
 		}
 
-		authToken := os.Getenv("BUFBUILD_AUTH_TOKEN")
-		if authToken == "" {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("missing BUFBUILD_AUTH_TOKEN; go into your account at https://buf.build/settings/user to create an API key")
-		}
-
 		client := reflectv1beta1connect.NewFileDescriptorSetServiceClient(
 			http.DefaultClient,
 			"https://buf.build",
@@ -146,7 +141,11 @@ func loadDescriptorSets(pkg *pbsubstreams.Package, manif *Manifest) ([]*desc.Fil
 			Version: descriptor.Version,
 		})
 
-		request.Header().Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+authToken)
+		authToken := os.Getenv("BUFBUILD_AUTH_TOKEN")
+		if authToken != "" {
+			request.Header().Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+authToken)
+		}
+
 		fileDescriptorSet, err := client.GetFileDescriptorSet(context.Background(), request)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("getting file descriptor set for %s: %w", descriptor.Module, err)