diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/app/shell/hooks/use-status-snapshot.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/app/shell/hooks/use-status-snapshot.test.ts
index e6be2a018d..055be9ccba 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/app/shell/hooks/use-status-snapshot.test.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/app/shell/hooks/use-status-snapshot.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { act, cleanup, fireEvent, render, renderHook, screen } from '@testing-library/react'
+import { MotionGlobalConfig } from 'motion/react'
 import { createElement, type ReactElement, type ReactNode } from 'react'
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
 
@@ -24,6 +25,11 @@ async function flushAsync() {
   })
 }
 
+// This file is about status RPC cadence, not card choreography: the notification
+// stack's exit animation would otherwise straddle the fake→real timer swap between
+// locales and leave a departing card in the next test's DOM.
+MotionGlobalConfig.skipAnimations = true
+
 beforeEach(() => {
   vi.useFakeTimers()
   vi.spyOn(document, 'hasFocus').mockReturnValue(true)
@@ -71,7 +77,11 @@ describe('useStatusSnapshot', () => {
         await vi.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(60_000)
       })
       expect(screen.getByText(warning)).toBeTruthy()
-      fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: copy.notifications.dismiss }))
+      // Dismiss departs through the card stack (store row on a microtask, then the exit).
+      await act(async (): Promise<void> => {
+        fireEvent.click(screen.getByRole('button', { name: copy.notifications.dismiss }))
+        await vi.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(100)
+      })
       expect(screen.queryByText(warning)).toBeNull()
       await act(async (): Promise<void> => {
         await vi.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(60_000)
@@ -90,6 +100,9 @@ describe('useStatusSnapshot', () => {
       vi.mocked(getStatus).mockResolvedValue({ shared_profile_warning: false } as never)
       rerender({ scope: 'local-work' })
       await flushAsync()
+      await act(async (): Promise<void> => {
+        await vi.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(100)
+      })
       expect(screen.queryByText(warning)).toBeNull()
     }
   )
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/components/boot-failure-overlay.test.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/components/boot-failure-overlay.test.tsx
index eff8691906..6d9ab1ca99 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/components/boot-failure-overlay.test.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/components/boot-failure-overlay.test.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { cleanup, fireEvent, render, screen, waitFor } from '@testing-library/react'
 import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from 'vitest'
 
+import { en } from '@/i18n/en'
 import { $desktopBoot } from '@/store/boot'
 import { $notifications } from '@/store/notifications'
 import { $desktopOnboarding } from '@/store/onboarding'
@@ -330,7 +331,7 @@ describe('BootFailureOverlay', () => {
       fireEvent.click(await screen.findByRole('button', { name: /repair install/i }))
 
       const message = failure === 'thrown' ? 'installer permission denied'
-        : failure === 'refused' ? 'bundled-immutable' : 'Desktop IPC bridge is unavailable.'
+        : failure === 'refused' ? 'bundled-immutable' : en.boot.errors.ipcBridgeUnavailable
 
       await waitFor(() => expect($notifications.get()).toEqual(expect.arrayContaining([
         expect.objectContaining({ kind: 'error', message })
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/components/model-picker.test.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/components/model-picker.test.tsx
index be5aeec50e..303d4e221c 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/components/model-picker.test.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/components/model-picker.test.tsx
@@ -13,7 +13,12 @@ import type { LocalRuntimeJob } from '@/types/hermes'
 
 import { ModelPickerDialog } from './model-picker'
 
+// The jobs query refetches on mount and would replace a seeded cache entry with
+// whatever the backend answers; answering with the seeded jobs keeps the two equal.
+const seededJobs: { current: readonly LocalRuntimeJob[] } = vi.hoisted(() => ({ current: [] }))
+
 vi.mock('@/hermes', () => ({
+  getLocalModelsJobs: vi.fn(async () => ({ jobs: [...seededJobs.current] })),
   getLocalModelsStatus: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ loading: {} })
 }))
 vi.mock('@/lib/model-options', async importOriginal => ({
@@ -60,18 +65,18 @@ const DOWNLOAD_JOB: LocalRuntimeJob = {
   error: null
 }
 
-let seedClient: QueryClient | null = null
+// One client per test, created in beforeEach: the tests seed jobs BEFORE
+// rendering, so the picker must mount against the client that was seeded.
+let client: QueryClient = new QueryClient()
 
 function setRuntimeJobs(jobs: readonly LocalRuntimeJob[]): void {
-  // Banana's store keeps jobs in react-query, not the old atom: seed the cache
+  // The jobs store keeps jobs in react-query, not an atom: seed the cache
   // directly the way production populates it (localModelsKey(owner, 'jobs')).
-  seedClient?.setQueryData(localModelsKey(localModelsOwner(), 'jobs'), jobs)
+  seededJobs.current = jobs
+  client.setQueryData(localModelsKey(localModelsOwner(), 'jobs'), jobs)
 }
 
 function renderPicker(ui?: Partial<Parameters<typeof ModelPickerDialog>[0]>) {
-  const client = new QueryClient({ defaultOptions: { queries: { retry: false } } })
-  seedClient = client
-
   const element: ReactElement = (
     <QueryClientProvider client={client}>
       <I18nProvider>
@@ -91,6 +96,7 @@ function renderPicker(ui?: Partial<Parameters<typeof ModelPickerDialog>[0]>) {
 }
 
 beforeEach(() => {
+  client = new QueryClient({ defaultOptions: { queries: { retry: false } } })
   vi.mocked(requestModelOptions).mockResolvedValue(OPTIONS)
   setRuntimeJobs([])
   // These suites exercise the local-models rows, which ship behind --local.
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/store/local-models-surfaces.test.tsx b/apps/desktop/src/store/local-models-surfaces.test.tsx
index 2409efaf03..00f9acd5cc 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/store/local-models-surfaces.test.tsx
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/store/local-models-surfaces.test.tsx
@@ -15,7 +15,13 @@ vi.mock('@/hermes', async (): Promise<object> => ({
 vi.mock('@/store/profile', async (): Promise<object> => {
   const { atom } = await import('nanostores')
 
-  return { $activeGatewayProfile: atom<string>('work') }
+  // settings-scope compares the selected profile against the roster's default; 'work' IS the
+  // default here so the settings surfaces render without the non-default warning.
+  return {
+    $activeGatewayProfile: atom<string>('work'),
+    $profiles: atom([{ name: 'work', is_default: true }]),
+    normalizeProfileKey: (name: string | null | undefined): string => (name ?? '').trim() || 'default'
+  }
 })
 vi.mock('@/store/session', async (): Promise<object> => {
   const { atom } = await import('nanostores')