diff --git a/src/cli.ts b/src/cli.ts
index de3be81..abc17e4 100644
--- a/src/cli.ts
+++ b/src/cli.ts
@@ -313,7 +313,8 @@ export function createProgram(): Command {
     .option('--base-url <url>', 'override baseURL from config')
     .option('--headed', 'run browser in headed mode (visible window)')
     .option('--all', 'run pipeline for all demos in demosDir')
-    .action(async (demo: string | undefined, cmdOpts: { browser?: string; baseUrl?: string; headed?: boolean; all?: boolean }) => {
+    .option('--retries <count>', 'retry the recording test on failure (overrides video.retries)', parseInt)
+    .action(async (demo: string | undefined, cmdOpts: { browser?: string; baseUrl?: string; headed?: boolean; all?: boolean; retries?: number }) => {
       const configPath = program.opts().config;
       const loaded = await ensureTTSEngine(await loadConfigForDemo(demo, configPath));
       let config = cmdOpts.browser
@@ -325,13 +326,13 @@ export function createProgram(): Command {
 
       if (cmdOpts.all) {
         const demos = (await import('./pipeline.js')).discoverDemos(config.demosDir);
-        const results = await runBatchPipeline(config, { headed: cmdOpts.headed });
+        const results = await runBatchPipeline(config, { headed: cmdOpts.headed, retries: cmdOpts.retries });
         if (results.length < demos.length) {
           process.exitCode = 1;
         }
       } else if (demo) {
         validateDemoName(demo);
-        await runPipeline(demo, config, { headed: cmdOpts.headed });
+        await runPipeline(demo, config, { headed: cmdOpts.headed, retries: cmdOpts.retries });
       } else {
         throw new Error('Provide a demo name or use --all to run all demos.');
       }
diff --git a/src/config.ts b/src/config.ts
index a710ca8..d8466a4 100644
--- a/src/config.ts
+++ b/src/config.ts
@@ -52,6 +52,12 @@ export interface VideoConfig {
   /** JPEG quality (0-100) for the screencast frame stream. Higher = larger
    * intermediates and better stitched video. Default: 95. */
   jpegQuality?: number;
+  /** Number of times Playwright will retry the recording test on failure.
+   * Default 0 (no retries). Useful for transient browser hiccups (paint stalls,
+   * intermittent network, race conditions in showOverlay loops). Each retry
+   * re-runs the entire demo from scratch — for long demos consider chunking
+   * scenes or using checkpoints (see roadmap v2). CLI override: `--retries N`. */
+  retries?: number;
 }
 
 export type FilterTransitionType = 'fade-through-black' | 'dissolve' | 'wipe-left' | 'wipe-right';
diff --git a/src/pipeline.ts b/src/pipeline.ts
index a5c80e4..ff65b7c 100644
--- a/src/pipeline.ts
+++ b/src/pipeline.ts
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ import {
 
 export interface PipelineOptions {
   headed?: boolean;
+  /** Override `video.retries` for this run. */
+  retries?: number;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -146,6 +148,7 @@ export async function runPipeline(
     sceneThumbnails: config.video.sceneThumbnails,
     captureMode: config.video.captureMode,
     jpegQuality: config.video.jpegQuality,
+    retries: pipelineOpts?.retries ?? config.video.retries,
     headed: pipelineOpts?.headed,
   });
 
@@ -388,6 +391,22 @@ export async function runPipeline(
   writeFileSync(join(argoDir, 'scene-report.json'), JSON.stringify(report, null, 2), 'utf-8');
   console.log(formatSceneReport(report));
 
+  // Slow-scene warning — surface scenes that took materially longer than the
+  // median. Helpful signal when a long demo flakes intermittently: a scene
+  // that drifts from 6s → 18s on retries is the most likely culprit.
+  if (report.scenes.length >= 3) {
+    const durations = report.scenes.map((s) => s.durationMs).sort((a, b) => a - b);
+    const median = durations[Math.floor(durations.length / 2)];
+    const slowThreshold = median * 1.75;
+    const slow = report.scenes.filter((s) => s.durationMs > slowThreshold);
+    if (slow.length > 0) {
+      const lines = slow.map((s) => `    · ${s.scene}: ${(s.durationMs / 1000).toFixed(1)}s (median ${(median / 1000).toFixed(1)}s)`);
+      console.warn(
+        `\n⚠ Slow scenes (>${(slowThreshold / 1000).toFixed(1)}s, more than 1.75× median):\n${lines.join('\n')}`
+      );
+    }
+  }
+
   // Pipeline metadata — provenance tracking for voices, settings, resolution
   const manifest: Array<{ scene: string; voice?: string; speed?: number }> = (() => {
     try { return JSON.parse(readFileSync(manifestPath, 'utf-8')); } catch { return []; }
@@ -457,6 +476,7 @@ export async function runPipeline(
         sceneThumbnails: config.video.sceneThumbnails,
         captureMode: config.video.captureMode,
         jpegQuality: config.video.jpegQuality,
+        retries: pipelineOpts?.retries ?? config.video.retries,
         headed: pipelineOpts?.headed,
         argoSubdir: variantSubdir,
       });
diff --git a/src/record.ts b/src/record.ts
index f110bf6..7499c1f 100644
--- a/src/record.ts
+++ b/src/record.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ export interface RecordOptions {
   captureMode?: 'webm' | 'jpeg-stitch';
   /** JPEG quality 0-100. Used by jpeg-stitch mode. */
   jpegQuality?: number;
+  /** Playwright test retry count on failure. Default 0. */
+  retries?: number;
 }
 
 export interface RecordResult {
@@ -64,11 +66,13 @@ function createPlaywrightConfig(demoName: string, options: RecordOptions, output
 
   // Recording is driven by `narration.startRecording(page)` which calls
   // page.screencast.start() at the first scene — no Playwright recordVideo here.
+  const retries = Math.max(0, Math.floor(options.retries ?? 0));
   return `import { defineConfig } from '@playwright/test';
 
 export default defineConfig({
   preserveOutput: 'always',
   outputDir: ${JSON.stringify(outputDir)},
+  retries: ${retries},
   projects: [
     {
       name: 'demos',
@@ -272,7 +276,23 @@ export async function record(demoName: string, options: RecordOptions): Promise<
         }
         if (error) {
           const output = [stdout, stderr].filter(Boolean).join('\n');
-          reject(new Error(`Playwright recording failed:\n${output}`));
+          // Append the last scene the demo entered before failing — `.scene-progress.jsonl`
+          // is appended on every narration.mark() so its tail is the failure point.
+          // Helps users map a Playwright stack to a scene without reading line numbers.
+          let lastScene = '';
+          try {
+            if (existsSync(progressPath)) {
+              const tail = readFileSync(progressPath, 'utf-8').trim().split('\n').pop();
+              if (tail) {
+                const parsed = JSON.parse(tail) as { scene?: string };
+                if (parsed.scene) lastScene = parsed.scene;
+              }
+            }
+          } catch { /* best-effort — never block on diagnostic parsing */ }
+          const sceneHint = lastScene
+            ? `\n\nLast scene entered: '${lastScene}' — failure occurred during this scene or its setup.`
+            : '';
+          reject(new Error(`Playwright recording failed:\n${output}${sceneHint}`));
           return;
         }
 
diff --git a/tests/record.test.ts b/tests/record.test.ts
index 2fcc2cc..c040b00 100644
--- a/tests/record.test.ts
+++ b/tests/record.test.ts
@@ -242,6 +242,44 @@ describe('record', () => {
     );
   });
 
+  it('embeds retries: 0 in the generated playwright config by default', async () => {
+    mockSubprocessSuccess();
+    await record('demo', {
+      demosDir: 'custom-demos',
+      baseURL: 'http://localhost:3000',
+      video: { width: 1280, height: 720 },
+      browser: 'chromium',
+    });
+    const configPath = join(tempDir, '.argo', 'demo', 'playwright.record.config.mjs');
+    expect(readFileSync(configPath, 'utf-8')).toContain('retries: 0');
+  });
+
+  it('embeds the requested retries count in the generated playwright config', async () => {
+    mockSubprocessSuccess();
+    await record('demo', {
+      demosDir: 'custom-demos',
+      baseURL: 'http://localhost:3000',
+      video: { width: 1280, height: 720 },
+      browser: 'chromium',
+      retries: 2,
+    });
+    const configPath = join(tempDir, '.argo', 'demo', 'playwright.record.config.mjs');
+    expect(readFileSync(configPath, 'utf-8')).toContain('retries: 2');
+  });
+
+  it('clamps negative retries to 0 and floors fractional retries', async () => {
+    mockSubprocessSuccess();
+    await record('demo', {
+      demosDir: 'custom-demos',
+      baseURL: 'http://localhost:3000',
+      video: { width: 1280, height: 720 },
+      browser: 'chromium',
+      retries: 2.7,
+    });
+    const configPath = join(tempDir, '.argo', 'demo', 'playwright.record.config.mjs');
+    expect(readFileSync(configPath, 'utf-8')).toContain('retries: 2');
+  });
+
   it('includes isMobile, hasTouch, and contextOptions in generated config', async () => {
     mockSubprocessSuccess();