diff --git a/.github/workflows/qemu-emulator-build.yaml b/.github/workflows/qemu-emulator-build.yaml
index 0957d80f0d..08b4ab62cc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/qemu-emulator-build.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/qemu-emulator-build.yaml
@@ -80,7 +80,13 @@ jobs:
       - name: Generate emulator env
         run: node docker/local-emulator/generate-env-development.mjs
 
+      # VM boot + service verification is amd64-only. Under same-arch TCG on
+      # the arm64 runner there's no KVM, and the Next.js backend can't come
+      # up within any reasonable window under software emulation — same
+      # reason the build-time smoke test is skipped on arm64. The arm64
+      # image is built and uploaded blind; it runs on real arm64 hardware.
       - name: Start emulator and verify
+        if: matrix.arch == 'amd64'
         run: |
           chmod +x docker/local-emulator/qemu/run-emulator.sh
           EMULATOR_ARCH=${{ matrix.arch }} \
@@ -88,12 +94,13 @@ jobs:
             docker/local-emulator/qemu/run-emulator.sh start
 
       - name: Verify services are healthy
+        if: matrix.arch == 'amd64'
         run: |
           EMULATOR_ARCH=${{ matrix.arch }} \
             docker/local-emulator/qemu/run-emulator.sh status
 
       - name: Stop emulator
-        if: always()
+        if: always() && matrix.arch == 'amd64'
         run: |
           EMULATOR_ARCH=${{ matrix.arch }} \
             docker/local-emulator/qemu/run-emulator.sh stop
diff --git a/docker/local-emulator/qemu/cloud-init/emulator/user-data b/docker/local-emulator/qemu/cloud-init/emulator/user-data
index c1d0d0f9bf..69481da602 100644
--- a/docker/local-emulator/qemu/cloud-init/emulator/user-data
+++ b/docker/local-emulator/qemu/cloud-init/emulator/user-data
@@ -399,28 +399,21 @@ write_files:
         - stack-local-emulator:final
       log "Flatten done."
 
-      log "Saving final image to /var/tmp..."
+      log "Pruning intermediate images in place..."
       docker rm flatten
-      docker save stack-local-emulator:final -o /var/tmp/final-image.tar
-      mv /var/lib/docker/volumes /var/tmp/volumes-backup
-      log "Nuking Docker storage and reloading..."
-      systemctl stop docker containerd
-      rm -rf /var/lib/docker /var/lib/containerd
-      systemctl start docker containerd
-      until docker info >/dev/null 2>&1; do sleep 1; done
-      docker load -i /var/tmp/final-image.tar
+      docker rmi stack-local-emulator stack-local-emulator-slim || true
       docker tag stack-local-emulator:final stack-local-emulator
       docker rmi stack-local-emulator:final || true
-      rm -f /var/tmp/final-image.tar
-      systemctl stop docker
-      rm -rf /var/lib/docker/volumes
-      mv /var/tmp/volumes-backup /var/lib/docker/volumes
-      systemctl start docker
-      log "Docker storage rebuilt."
-
-      log "Zeroing free space for qcow2 compression..."
-      dd if=/dev/zero of=/zero.fill bs=1M 2>/dev/null || true
-      rm -f /zero.fill
+      docker builder prune -af || true
+      # Must be `prune -f` (dangling only), NOT `prune -af`. With -a, docker
+      # deletes every image that isn't referenced by a running/stopped
+      # container — at this point stack.service is only systemctl enable'd,
+      # not yet started, so the freshly-tagged stack-local-emulator image
+      # has zero container refs and would be nuked, bricking the final qcow2.
+      docker image prune -f || true
+      log "Intermediate images pruned."
+
+      log "Releasing free space for qcow2 compression (fstrim)..."
       sync
       fstrim -av 2>/dev/null || true
       log "slim-docker-image done."