diff --git a/apps/web/vite.config.ts b/apps/web/vite.config.ts
index 6739da0..e973f86 100644
--- a/apps/web/vite.config.ts
+++ b/apps/web/vite.config.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,15 @@ import { defineConfig } from 'vite';
 
 export default defineConfig({
   plugins: [react()],
+  // Keep Vitest's dependency cache separate from the browser test server.
+  cacheDir: process.env.VITE_E2E === '1' ? 'node_modules/.vite-e2e' : undefined,
+  optimizeDeps: process.env.VITE_E2E === '1' ? {
+    // Lazy routes and workers must be scanned before browsers cache React chunks.
+    // Late discovery otherwise mixes cached and newly optimized React instances
+    // across full document navigations when HMR is disabled.
+    entries: ['index.html', 'src/**/*.{ts,tsx}', '!src/**/*.test.{ts,tsx}', '!src/**/*.d.ts', '!src/test/**'],
+    include: ['react', 'react-dom', 'react-dom/client', 'react/jsx-runtime', 'react/jsx-dev-runtime'],
+  } : undefined,
   build: {
     target: 'es2022',
   },
diff --git a/services/api/cmd/api/e2e_test.go b/services/api/cmd/api/e2e_test.go
index 744292e..a4b5932 100644
--- a/services/api/cmd/api/e2e_test.go
+++ b/services/api/cmd/api/e2e_test.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/google/uuid"
+	"github.com/jackc/pgx/v5"
 	"github.com/redis/go-redis/v9"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 
@@ -120,6 +121,7 @@ func TestUserJourney(t *testing.T) {
 	if dbURL == "" {
 		t.Skip("TEST_DATABASE_URL is not set")
 	}
+	dbURL = userJourneyDatabase(t, dbURL)
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	defer cancel()
 
@@ -133,6 +135,7 @@ func TestUserJourney(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Setenv("DATABASE_URL", dbURL)
 	t.Setenv("REDIS_URL", os.Getenv("TEST_REDIS_URL"))
 	t.Setenv("BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_PASSWORD", "admin")
+	t.Setenv("BOOTSTRAP_ADMIN_USERNAME", "admin")
 	t.Setenv("MUSICBRAINZ_ENABLED", "false") // public provider availability is covered by explicit live tests
 	cfg, err := config.Load[config.API]()
 	require.NoError(t, err)
@@ -172,6 +175,7 @@ func TestUserJourney(t *testing.T) {
 		BootstrapRequired bool `json:"bootstrap_required"`
 	}
 	c.ok("GET", "/api/v1/server-info", nil, &info)
+	require.True(t, info.BootstrapRequired, "user journey requires a fresh database before the first admin login")
 	var tokens struct {
 		AccessToken string `json:"access_token"`
 		User        struct {
@@ -376,3 +380,29 @@ func TestUserJourney(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 	fmt.Println("user journey ok")
 }
+
+// Other integration packages deliberately create users and catalog fixtures.
+// The bootstrap journey needs a new database, without modifying those fixtures.
+// TEST_DATABASE_URL must use a role with CREATEDB (the CI Postgres owner does).
+func userJourneyDatabase(t *testing.T, address string) string {
+	t.Helper()
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	admin, err := db.Connect(ctx, address)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	t.Cleanup(admin.Close)
+	name := "pipu_journey_" + strings.ReplaceAll(uuid.NewString(), "-", "")
+	identifier := pgx.Identifier{name}.Sanitize()
+	_, err = admin.Exec(ctx, "CREATE DATABASE "+identifier)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	t.Cleanup(func() {
+		cleanup, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 15*time.Second)
+		defer cancel()
+		_, err := admin.Exec(cleanup, "DROP DATABASE "+identifier+" WITH (FORCE)")
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+	})
+	dsn, err := url.Parse(address)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Contains(t, []string{"postgres", "postgresql"}, dsn.Scheme)
+	dsn.Path = "/" + name
+	return dsn.String()
+}
diff --git a/services/api/internal/uploads/artist_images_integration_test.go b/services/api/internal/uploads/artist_images_integration_test.go
index 9042460..44e00f3 100644
--- a/services/api/internal/uploads/artist_images_integration_test.go
+++ b/services/api/internal/uploads/artist_images_integration_test.go
@@ -25,16 +25,18 @@ func TestUploadedArtistPortraitStagingLifetime(t *testing.T) {
 	ctx := context.Background()
 	pool, err := db.Connect(ctx, address)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	defer pool.Close()
+	t.Cleanup(pool.Close)
 	require.NoError(t, db.Migrate(ctx, pool))
 	store := NewStore(pool)
 	author := uuid.New()
 	_, err = pool.Exec(ctx, `INSERT INTO users(id,username,password_hash,role) VALUES($1,$2,'x','admin')`, author, "portrait-"+author.String())
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	t.Cleanup(func() {
-		_, _ = pool.Exec(ctx, `DELETE FROM upload_batches WHERE author_id=$1`, author)
-		_, _ = pool.Exec(ctx, `DELETE FROM users WHERE id=$1`, author)
-		_ = store.ReconcileQuota(ctx)
+		_, err := pool.Exec(ctx, `DELETE FROM upload_batches WHERE author_id=$1`, author)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		_, err = pool.Exec(ctx, `DELETE FROM users WHERE id=$1`, author)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+		require.NoError(t, store.ReconcileQuota(ctx))
 	})
 	svc := NewService(store, nil, nil, nil, nil, nil, library.FPCalc{}, Config{StagingDir: t.TempDir()}, slog.New(slog.DiscardHandler))
 	owner := auth.WithPrincipal(ctx, auth.Principal{UserID: author, Role: auth.RoleAdmin})