diff --git a/.github/workflows/e2e-fallback-tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/e2e-fallback-tests.yaml
index d4eebfe90..e2190e627 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/e2e-fallback-tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/e2e-fallback-tests.yaml
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Start stack-backend on fallback port (8110)
         uses: JarvusInnovations/background-action@2428e7b970a846423095c79d43f759abf979a635 # v1.0.7
         with:
-          run: pnpm -C apps/backend run with-env:test next start --port 8110 &
+          run: PORT=8110 pnpm -C apps/backend run with-env:test pnpm run start &
           wait-on: |
             http://localhost:8110
           tail: true
diff --git a/apps/backend/scripts/db-migrations.tsdown.config.ts b/apps/backend/scripts/db-migrations.tsdown.config.ts
index aa9fa4c9b..33ef847f4 100644
--- a/apps/backend/scripts/db-migrations.tsdown.config.ts
+++ b/apps/backend/scripts/db-migrations.tsdown.config.ts
@@ -49,7 +49,9 @@ export default defineConfig({
   inlineOnly: false,
   // Externalize Node.js builtins so they're imported rather than shimmed
   external: [...nodeBuiltins, ...externalPackages],
-  clean: true,
+  // Docker builds the backend server into the same dist directory before this
+  // script. Cleaning here deletes dist/server.mjs from the final image.
+  clean: false,
   // Use banner to add createRequire for CommonJS modules that use require() for builtins
   // The imported require is used by the shimmed __require2 function
   banner: {
diff --git a/vitest.shared.ts b/vitest.shared.ts
index 3824e5b30..705a3015c 100644
--- a/vitest.shared.ts
+++ b/vitest.shared.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
   test: {
     watch: false,
     pool: 'threads',
+    minWorkers: 1,
     maxWorkers: 8,
     include: ['**/*.test.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}'],
     includeSource: ['**/*.{js,ts,jsx,tsx}'],