diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 86d8b76..0171113 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
 dist/*
 *.log
 browserstack.err
+
+# Local Bundler state. .bundle/config can carry settings that weaken install-time
+# integrity checks (e.g. disable_checksum_validation), so it must never be committed.
+.bundle/
+vendor/bundle/
diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 68f3992..a39a2bb 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
-source "http://rubygems.org"
+source "https://rubygems.org"
 gem "minitest"
 gem "rake"
-gem "json"
+# "json" is intentionally NOT listed: lib/ uses the `json` default gem that ships
+# with Ruby, and the gemspec declares no dependency on it, so a third-party json
+# build is a redundant build-time dependency (and a native extension) to pull in.
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 352171b..d7e7839 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -1,17 +1,28 @@
 GEM
-  remote: http://rubygems.org/
+  remote: https://rubygems.org/
   specs:
-    json (1.8.3)
-    minitest (5.8.4)
-    rake (12.3.3)
+    drb (2.2.3)
+    minitest (6.0.6)
+      drb (~> 2.0)
+      prism (~> 1.5)
+    prism (1.9.0)
+    rake (13.4.2)
 
 PLATFORMS
+  aarch64-linux
+  arm64-darwin-24
   ruby
+  x86_64-linux
 
 DEPENDENCIES
-  json
   minitest
   rake
 
+CHECKSUMS
+  drb (2.2.3) sha256=0b00d6fdb50995fe4a45dea13663493c841112e4068656854646f418fda13373
+  minitest (6.0.6) sha256=153ea36d1d987a62942382b61075745042a2b3123b1cd48f4c3675af9cc7d6f1
+  prism (1.9.0) sha256=7b530c6a9f92c24300014919c9dcbc055bf4cdf51ec30aed099b06cd6674ef85
+  rake (13.4.2) sha256=cb825b2bd5f1f8e91ca37bddb4b9aaf345551b4731da62949be002fa89283701
+
 BUNDLED WITH
-   1.11.2
+   2.7.1
diff --git a/test/browserstack-local-test.rb b/test/browserstack-local-test.rb
index 2c6218b..51a55dd 100644
--- a/test/browserstack-local-test.rb
+++ b/test/browserstack-local-test.rb
@@ -8,17 +8,28 @@ def setup
     @bs_local = BrowserStack::Local.new
   end
 
+  # The tests below actually start the BrowserStackLocal binary and open a
+  # tunnel, so they need a valid BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY and network access.
+  # Skip them (instead of erroring) when no key is available so the rest of
+  # the suite stays green in credential-less environments such as CI.
+  def skip_without_credentials
+    skip 'requires BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY (live integration test)' if ENV['BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY'].to_s.empty?
+  end
+
   def test_check_pid
+    skip_without_credentials
     @bs_local.start
     refute_nil @bs_local.pid, 0
   end
 
   def test_is_running
+    skip_without_credentials
     @bs_local.start
     assert_equal true, @bs_local.isRunning
   end
 
   def test_multiple_binary
+    skip_without_credentials
     @bs_local.start
     bs_local_2 = BrowserStack::Local.new
     second_log_file = File.join(Dir.pwd, 'local2.log')