diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 05d500a311..e3b0809710 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -535,12 +535,28 @@ jobs:
         if: steps.relevant.outputs.should_run == 'true'
         run: pnpm test:e2e --project=chromium
 
+      # `playwright.config.ts` selects the `github` reporter when CI is set, and
+      # that reporter writes annotations only — it produces NO
+      # `playwright-report/` directory, so this step uploaded nothing and said
+      # so in a warning rather than a failure: `No files were found with the
+      # provided path: playwright-report/` (objectui#4086). Every failure's
+      # actual evidence — screenshot, trace and `error-context.md` — is written
+      # by the `use.screenshot` / `use.trace` settings into `test-results/`
+      # instead, which is why a red E2E job left nothing behind to diagnose and
+      # #4086 had to be reproduced from scratch locally.
+      #
+      # Both paths are listed: `test-results/` is the one that exists today, and
+      # `playwright-report/` keeps working if the HTML reporter is ever enabled
+      # on CI. upload-artifact only warns when NO path matches, so the absent
+      # one costs nothing.
       - name: Upload Playwright report
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
         if: ${{ steps.relevant.outputs.should_run == 'true' && !cancelled() && failure() }}
         with:
           name: playwright-report
-          path: playwright-report/
+          path: |
+            playwright-report/
+            test-results/
           retention-days: 14
 
   docs:
diff --git a/e2e/smoke.spec.ts b/e2e/smoke.spec.ts
index e6fc8d069f..53d6f976c9 100644
--- a/e2e/smoke.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/smoke.spec.ts
@@ -75,16 +75,48 @@ test.describe('Console App – Smoke', () => {
     await expect(page).toHaveTitle(/.+/);
   });
 
-  test('should show the app shell or loading screen', async ({ page }) => {
+  /**
+   * The app must settle into one of its RECOGNISED boot destinations. Which one
+   * it reaches depends on the session, and in this suite — a production bundle
+   * served by `vite preview` with no backend behind it — that is always the
+   * signed-out sign-in screen: `/api/v1/auth/get-session` cannot resolve to a
+   * session, so the shell is never entitled to render a `nav` and the router
+   * lands on `/login`.
+   *
+   * Until objectui#4086 this test listed only the first two destinations, and
+   * the boot splash it named is on screen for roughly 35 ms — measured against
+   * this same production bundle at 30 ms polling granularity: blank until
+   * ~70 ms, the "Initializing application…" splash from ~70 ms, replaced by the
+   * sign-in screen from ~105 ms and never returning. So the assertion could
+   * only ever pass by catching that window. On a runner where Playwright's
+   * first poll landed after it, the expectation was ALREADY unsatisfiable and
+   * burned the full 30 s timeout — identically on all three retries, because
+   * each retry re-runs the same race. That is the whole of the `Build & E2E`
+   * red on `main` at 9154d9e90, which no code change could explain and which
+   * cleared on its own at 8497579db with the suspected commit still in place.
+   *
+   * The set below stays CLOSED on purpose: a blank page, a crashed render or an
+   * error boundary matches none of these three and still fails the test. What
+   * changes is that every state the app is legitimately allowed to be in is now
+   * terminal-stable, so passing no longer depends on winning a race.
+   */
+  test('should settle into a recognised boot state (app shell, loading screen or sign-in)', async ({
+    page,
+  }) => {
     await page.goto(`${CONSOLE_BASE}/`);
 
-    // Either the app shell (nav / sidebar) or the loading screen should appear
-    // within a reasonable time. Both are acceptable initial states.
     const appShell = page.locator('nav').first();
     const loadingScreen = page.getByText(/Initializing|Loading|Connecting/i).first();
+    // The signed-out sign-in screen, matched structurally rather than by its
+    // copy so a locale change cannot silently stop matching it: the auth-config
+    // spinner it opens with, then the identifier field of whichever sign-in
+    // mode the server reports (`LoginForm.tsx`).
+    const signInScreen = page
+      .locator('[data-testid="login-config-loading"], #login-email, #login-phone')
+      .first();
 
     await expect(
-      appShell.or(loadingScreen),
+      appShell.or(loadingScreen).or(signInScreen),
     ).toBeVisible({ timeout: 30_000 });
   });
 });