diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/ci-pr.yml b/.forgejo/workflows/ci-pr.yml
index 72137d16..e964e1b6 100644
--- a/.forgejo/workflows/ci-pr.yml
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/ci-pr.yml
@@ -351,7 +351,9 @@ jobs:
         if: needs.scope.outputs.e2e_mode == 'full' || matrix.shard == 1
         run: pnpm build
         env:
-          NEXT_DIST_DIR: .next/e2e
+          # Same dir the Playwright webServer serves (playwright.config.ts
+          # falls back to '.next-e2e'; gate-ci.mjs builds there too).
+          NEXT_DIST_DIR: .next-e2e
 
       - name: E2E tests (full suite, shard ${{ matrix.shard }})
         if: needs.scope.outputs.e2e_mode == 'full'
diff --git a/.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml b/.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml
index 5aa7652f..c5009da6 100644
--- a/.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -114,11 +114,11 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 40
     # Main always runs the full suite: split it across 2 jobs (OPS34), each
-    # building its own `.next/e2e` (measured 2026-08-10: build 172s + tests
+    # building its own `.next-e2e` (measured 2026-08-10: build 172s + tests
     # 196s + ~54s fixed → ≈ 5.5 min per shard vs 435s serial). `fail-fast:
     # false` so one shard's failure keeps the other's diagnostics. Keep the
     # [1, 2] / 2 literal in sync with `e2eShardConfig` in
-    # scripts/lib/test-affected-core.mjs (ci-pr reads it via the scope job).
+    # scripts/lib/test-affected-core.mjs (ci-pr pins the same literal).
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
@@ -168,7 +168,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build for e2e
         run: pnpm build
         env:
-          NEXT_DIST_DIR: .next/e2e
+          # Same dir the Playwright webServer serves (playwright.config.ts
+          # falls back to '.next-e2e'; gate-ci.mjs builds there too).
+          NEXT_DIST_DIR: .next-e2e
       - name: E2E tests (full suite, shard ${{ matrix.shard }})
         # No `--` separator: pnpm would forward it verbatim to playwright and
         # the flag would be parsed as a file pattern ("No tests found").
diff --git a/tests/unit/ciSkipInvariants.unit.spec.ts b/tests/unit/ciSkipInvariants.unit.spec.ts
index 1462c894..d8b97dd0 100644
--- a/tests/unit/ciSkipInvariants.unit.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/ciSkipInvariants.unit.spec.ts
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ describe('ciSkipInvariants', () => {
 
   it('keeps local e2e build artifacts outside the development dist directory', () => {
     for (const file of [
+      '.forgejo/workflows/ci.yml',
+      '.forgejo/workflows/ci-pr.yml',
       '.gitignore',
       '.prettierignore',
       'eslint.config.mjs',