diff --git a/launch/README.md b/launch/README.md
index a30dbbfa..ee636f0a 100644
--- a/launch/README.md
+++ b/launch/README.md
@@ -7,3 +7,10 @@
 ```sh
 echo "{\"nixos-anywhere\": $(nix-instantiate --eval --json -E '(import ../npins).nixos-anywhere.outPath')}" > .auto.tfvars.json
 ```
+
+### local development
+
+```sh
+$ nix-shell
+$ tofu init
+```
diff --git a/panel/src/panel/views.py b/panel/src/panel/views.py
index 81c113f6..9a6511f2 100644
--- a/panel/src/panel/views.py
+++ b/panel/src/panel/views.py
@@ -141,15 +141,6 @@ class DeploymentStatus(ConfigurationForm):
         }
         cwd = f"{settings.repo_dir}/launch"
         # FIXME: move init to packaging phase
-        cmd = [
-            "tofu",
-            # f"-chdir={cwd}",
-            "init",
-            "-get=false",
-            "-input=false",
-            # "-plugin-dir=...",
-        ]
-        subprocess.run(cmd, cwd=cwd, env=env)
         cmd = [
             "tofu",
             # f"-chdir={cwd}",