diff --git a/.github/workflows/qemu-emulator-build.yaml b/.github/workflows/qemu-emulator-build.yaml
index 5792b7f600..a659368500 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/qemu-emulator-build.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/qemu-emulator-build.yaml
@@ -243,6 +243,19 @@ jobs:
           echo "/opt/qemu/bin" >> "$GITHUB_PATH"
           /opt/qemu/bin/qemu-system-x86_64 --version
 
+      - name: Enable KVM access
+        run: |
+          echo 'KERNEL=="kvm", GROUP="kvm", MODE="0666", OPTIONS+="static_node=kvm"' \
+            | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-kvm4all.rules
+          sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
+          sudo udevadm trigger --name-match=kvm || true
+          ls -la /dev/kvm || echo "no /dev/kvm present"
+          if [ -w /dev/kvm ]; then
+            echo "KVM is writable — hardware acceleration will be used"
+          else
+            echo "WARNING: /dev/kvm is not writable — will fall back to TCG (very slow)"
+          fi
+
       - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v4
         with:
           version: 10.23.0
diff --git a/apps/backend/src/lib/seed-dummy-data.ts b/apps/backend/src/lib/seed-dummy-data.ts
index e117402eb7..d70781b7a4 100644
--- a/apps/backend/src/lib/seed-dummy-data.ts
+++ b/apps/backend/src/lib/seed-dummy-data.ts
@@ -1636,10 +1636,10 @@ async function seedDummySessionActivityEvents(options: SessionActivityEventSeedO
     });
   }, {
     // Under cross-arch arm64 TCG in the emulator qcow2 build, this batch
-    // takes ~10s; Prisma's default is 5s. Production (KVM/native) runs it
-    // in well under 1s, so the looser bound only kicks in when the DB is
-    // genuinely slow.
-    timeout: 30_000,
+    // has been observed to take 40-50s; Prisma's default is 5s. Production
+    // (KVM/native) runs it in well under 1s, so the looser bound only kicks
+    // in when the DB is genuinely slow.
+    timeout: 90_000,
   });
 
   if (clickhouseClient && clickhouseRows.length > 0) {
diff --git a/docker/dependencies/freestyle-mock/Dockerfile b/docker/dependencies/freestyle-mock/Dockerfile
index b378ded8a0..5855d48d6b 100644
--- a/docker/dependencies/freestyle-mock/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/dependencies/freestyle-mock/Dockerfile
@@ -380,8 +380,9 @@ const server = createServer(async (req, res) => {
   }
 });
 
-server.listen(8080, () => {
-  console.log(`freestyle-mock listening on :8080 (worker pool size ${POOL_SIZE})`);
+const PORT = process.env.PORT || 8080;
+server.listen(PORT, () => {
+  console.log(`freestyle-mock listening on :${PORT} (worker pool size ${POOL_SIZE})`);
 });
 EOF
 
diff --git a/docker/local-emulator/Dockerfile b/docker/local-emulator/Dockerfile
index f08a977a92..2672058d7e 100644
--- a/docker/local-emulator/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/local-emulator/Dockerfile
@@ -117,7 +117,6 @@ RUN node -e " \
   fs.writeFileSync('package.json', pkgMatch[1]); \
   const srvMatch = df.match(/cat <<'EOF' > server\\.mjs\\n([\\s\\S]*?)\\nEOF/); \
   let server = srvMatch[1]; \
-  server = server.replace('server.listen(8080)', 'server.listen(process.env.PORT || 8080)'); \
   server = server.replace( \
     'from \"fs/promises\"', \
     'from \"fs/promises\"; import { symlinkSync } from \"fs\"' \
diff --git a/docker/local-emulator/supervisord.conf b/docker/local-emulator/supervisord.conf
index a9d3d51da8..cb7dda854f 100644
--- a/docker/local-emulator/supervisord.conf
+++ b/docker/local-emulator/supervisord.conf
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ command=/usr/lib/postgresql/16/bin/postgres
     -c max_connections=500
     -c shared_preload_libraries=pg_stat_statements
     -c pg_stat_statements.track=all
-    -c statement_timeout=120s
+    -c statement_timeout=0
 user=postgres
 autostart=true
 autorestart=true