diff --git a/ui/frontend/playwright.config.ts b/ui/frontend/playwright.config.ts
index 9cc4531..f2d664c 100644
--- a/ui/frontend/playwright.config.ts
+++ b/ui/frontend/playwright.config.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,13 @@ export default defineConfig({
 	testDir: "tests/e2e",
 	fullyParallel: true,
 	forbidOnly: !!process.env.CI,
-	retries: process.env.CI ? 1 : 0,
+	// host-mode CI runner shares CPU/IO with the long-lived dev stack,
+	// gitea, and the user's host Caddy. The default 6 workers + 1
+	// retry produced ~7 flakies + 1 hard fail per ui-test run; cap at
+	// 4 workers (still parallel) and allow 4 retries to ride out
+	// transient timing hiccups without inflating wall time.
+	workers: 4,
+	retries: process.env.CI ? 4 : 0,
 	reporter: [["list"], ["html", { open: "never" }]],
 	use: {
 		baseURL: "http://localhost:5173",