diff --git a/build.sbt b/build.sbt
index 1187d31bd8..b71524a1a9 100644
--- a/build.sbt
+++ b/build.sbt
@@ -937,7 +937,7 @@ lazy val tests: CrossProject = crossProject(JSPlatform, JVMPlatform, NativePlatf
   )
   .jvmSettings(
     fork := true,
-    Test / javaOptions += "-Dcats.effect.ioLocalPropagation=true"
+    Test / javaOptions += "-Dcats.effect.trackFiberContext=true"
   )
   .nativeSettings(
     Compile / mainClass := Some("catseffect.examples.NativeRunner")
diff --git a/core/js-native/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOFiberConstants.scala b/core/js-native/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOFiberConstants.scala
index efd9594bb0..69a1483d68 100644
--- a/core/js-native/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOFiberConstants.scala
+++ b/core/js-native/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOFiberConstants.scala
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ private object IOFiberConstants {
   final val AutoCedeR = 7
   final val DoneR = 8
 
-  final val ioLocalPropagation = false
+  final val TrackFiberContext = false
 
   @nowarn212
   @inline def isVirtualThread(t: Thread): Boolean = false
diff --git a/core/jvm/src/main/java/cats/effect/IOFiberConstants.java b/core/jvm/src/main/java/cats/effect/IOFiberConstants.java
index 7cb6585b3d..1286844633 100644
--- a/core/jvm/src/main/java/cats/effect/IOFiberConstants.java
+++ b/core/jvm/src/main/java/cats/effect/IOFiberConstants.java
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ final class IOFiberConstants {
   static final byte AutoCedeR = 7;
   static final byte DoneR = 8;
 
-  static final boolean ioLocalPropagation = Boolean.getBoolean("cats.effect.ioLocalPropagation");
+  static final boolean TrackFiberContext = Boolean.getBoolean("cats.effect.trackFiberContext");
 
   static boolean isVirtualThread(final Thread thread) {
     try {
diff --git a/core/jvm/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOLocalPlatform.scala b/core/jvm/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOLocalPlatform.scala
index 4a66d31b23..17e89e8e22 100644
--- a/core/jvm/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOLocalPlatform.scala
+++ b/core/jvm/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOLocalPlatform.scala
@@ -16,17 +16,17 @@
 
 package cats.effect
 
-import IOFiberConstants.ioLocalPropagation
+import IOFiberConstants.TrackFiberContext
 
 private[effect] trait IOLocalPlatform[A] { self: IOLocal[A] =>
 
   /**
    * Returns a [[java.lang.ThreadLocal]] view of this [[IOLocal]] that allows to unsafely get,
    * set, and remove (aka reset) the value in the currently running fiber. The system property
-   * `cats.effect.ioLocalPropagation` must be `true`, otherwise throws an
+   * `cats.effect.trackFiberContext` must be `true`, otherwise throws an
    * [[java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException]].
    */
-  def unsafeThreadLocal(): ThreadLocal[A] = if (ioLocalPropagation)
+  def unsafeThreadLocal(): ThreadLocal[A] = if (TrackFiberContext)
     new ThreadLocal[A] {
       override def get(): A = {
         val fiber = IOFiber.currentIOFiber()
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ private[effect] trait IOLocalPlatform[A] { self: IOLocal[A] =>
   else
     throw new UnsupportedOperationException(
       "IOLocal-ThreadLocal propagation is disabled.\n" +
-        "Enable by setting cats.effect.ioLocalPropagation=true."
+        "Enable by setting cats.effect.trackFiberContext=true."
     )
 
 }
diff --git a/core/jvm/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOPlatform.scala b/core/jvm/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOPlatform.scala
index c53654eafc..7dd0115d38 100644
--- a/core/jvm/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOPlatform.scala
+++ b/core/jvm/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOPlatform.scala
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ abstract private[effect] class IOPlatform[+A] extends Serializable { self: IO[A]
       case _: InterruptedException =>
         None
     } finally {
-      if (IOFiberConstants.ioLocalPropagation)
+      if (IOFiberConstants.TrackFiberContext)
         IOLocal.setThreadLocalState(fiber.getLocalState())
     }
   }
diff --git a/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IO.scala b/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IO.scala
index a4c597547c..0104cd7571 100644
--- a/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IO.scala
+++ b/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IO.scala
@@ -1123,7 +1123,7 @@ sealed abstract class IO[+A] private () extends IOPlatform[A] {
       implicit runtime: unsafe.IORuntime): IOFiber[A @uncheckedVariance] = {
 
     val fiber = new IOFiber[A](
-      if (IOFiberConstants.ioLocalPropagation) IOLocal.getThreadLocalState()
+      if (IOFiberConstants.TrackFiberContext) IOLocal.getThreadLocalState()
       else IOLocalState.empty,
       { oc =>
         if (registerCallback) {
diff --git a/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOFiber.scala b/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOFiber.scala
index 8d095587fe..9e0357b734 100644
--- a/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOFiber.scala
+++ b/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOFiber.scala
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ private final class IOFiber[A](
     // insert a read barrier after every async boundary
     readBarrier()
 
-    if (ioLocalPropagation) {
+    if (TrackFiberContext) {
       IOFiber.setCurrentIOFiber(this)
     }
 
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ private final class IOFiber[A](
       case 8 => () // DoneR
     }
 
-    if (ioLocalPropagation) {
+    if (TrackFiberContext) {
       IOFiber.setCurrentIOFiber(null)
     }
   }
diff --git a/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOLocal.scala b/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOLocal.scala
index e045cdd625..fe76093544 100644
--- a/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOLocal.scala
+++ b/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/IOLocal.scala
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ object IOLocal {
   /**
    * `true` if IOLocal-Threadlocal propagation is enabled
    */
-  def isPropagating: Boolean = IOFiberConstants.ioLocalPropagation
+  def isPropagating: Boolean = IOFiberConstants.TrackFiberContext
 
   private[effect] def getThreadLocalState() = {
     val fiber = IOFiber.currentIOFiber()
diff --git a/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/unsafe/IORuntime.scala b/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/unsafe/IORuntime.scala
index 64d1f34c76..3b405504c6 100644
--- a/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/unsafe/IORuntime.scala
+++ b/core/shared/src/main/scala/cats/effect/unsafe/IORuntime.scala
@@ -116,6 +116,14 @@ object IORuntime extends IORuntimeCompanionPlatform {
   def builder(): IORuntimeBuilder =
     IORuntimeBuilder()
 
+  /**
+   * Returns `true` if invoked within an executing `IOFiber`. If the property
+   * `cats.effect.trackFiberContext=true` then this method is always accurate. Otherwise, it is
+   * best-effort and may return `false` even when you are executing within an `IOFiber`.
+   */
+  @static def isUnderFiberContext(): Boolean =
+    IOFiber.currentIOFiber() ne null
+
   private[effect] def testRuntime(ec: ExecutionContext, scheduler: Scheduler): IORuntime = {
     val config = IORuntimeConfig()
     val metrics = IORuntimeMetrics(ec)
diff --git a/docs/core/io-local.md b/docs/core/io-local.md
index af3af30284..e735f62537 100644
--- a/docs/core/io-local.md
+++ b/docs/core/io-local.md
@@ -185,4 +185,4 @@ TraceIdScope.fromIOLocal.flatMap { implicit traceIdScope: TraceIdScope[IO] =>
 
 To support integration with Java libraries, `IOLocal` interoperates with the JDK `ThreadLocal` API via `IOLocal#unsafeThreadLocal`. This makes it possible to unsafely read and write the value of an `IOLocal` on the currently running fiber within a suspended side-effect (e.g. `IO.delay` or `IO.blocking`).
 
-To use this feature you must set the property `cats.effect.ioLocalPropagation=true`. Note that enabling propagation causes a performance hit of up to 25% in some of our microbenchmarks. However, it is not clear that this performance impact matters in practice.
+To use this feature you must set the property `cats.effect.trackFiberContext=true`. Note that enabling propagation causes a performance hit of up to 25% in some of our microbenchmarks. However, it is not clear that this performance impact matters in practice.
diff --git a/docs/core/io-runtime-config.md b/docs/core/io-runtime-config.md
index 3810cab0c0..4a4c2163d1 100644
--- a/docs/core/io-runtime-config.md
+++ b/docs/core/io-runtime-config.md
@@ -37,4 +37,4 @@ This can be done for example with the [EnvironmentPlugin for Webpack](https://we
 | `cats.effect.cpu.starvation.check.interval` <br/> `CATS_EFFECT_CPU_STARVATION_CHECK_INTERVAL`                     | `FiniteDuration` (`1.second`) | The starvation checker repeatedly sleeps for this interval and then checks `monotonic` time when it awakens. It will then print a warning to stderr if it finds that the current time is greater than expected (see `threshold` below). |
 | `cats.effect.cpu.starvation.check.initialDelay` <br/> `CATS_EFFECT_CPU_STARVATION_CHECK_INITIAL_DELAY`                     | `Duration` (`10.seconds`) | The initial delay before the CPU starvation checker starts running. Avoids spurious warnings due to the JVM not being warmed up yet. Set to `Duration.Inf` to disable CPU starvation checking. |
 | `cats.effect.cpu.starvation.check.threshold` <br/> `CATS_EFFECT_CPU_STARVATION_CHECK_THRESHOLD`                     | `Double` (`0.1`) | The starvation checker will print a warning if it finds that it has been asleep for at least `interval * (1 + threshold)` (where `interval` from above is the expected time to be asleep for). Sleeping for too long is indicative of fibers hogging a worker thread either by performing blocking operations on it or by `cede`ing insufficiently frequently. |
-| `cats.effect.ioLocalPropagation` <br/> N/A                                                        | `Boolean` (`false`) | Enables `IOLocal`s to be propagated as `ThreadLocal`s. |
+| `cats.effect.trackFiberContext` <br/> N/A                                                        | `Boolean` (`false`) | Tracks the currently running fiber on each thread. Necessary for `IOLocal`s to be propagated as `ThreadLocal`s. |