diff --git a/direct/src/gui/DirectGuiBase.py b/direct/src/gui/DirectGuiBase.py
index cb28054112..37b6bbafd3 100644
--- a/direct/src/gui/DirectGuiBase.py
+++ b/direct/src/gui/DirectGuiBase.py
@@ -652,7 +652,10 @@ def toggleGuiGridSnap():
 def setGuiGridSpacing(spacing):
     DirectGuiWidget.gridSpacing = spacing
 
-if config.GetBool('record-gui-creation-stack', __dev__):
+# this should trigger off of __dev__, but it's not available at this point.
+# __debug__ works because the production client is not __debug__ and the
+# production AI doesn't create any GUI.
+if config.GetBool('record-gui-creation-stack', __debug__):
     # this will help track down the code that created DirectGui objects
     # call obj.printCreationStackTrace() to figure out what code created it
     DirectGuiBase = recordCreationStackStr(DirectGuiBase)