diff --git a/playwright.config.ts b/playwright.config.ts
index 72e5efc0..1d33a754 100644
--- a/playwright.config.ts
+++ b/playwright.config.ts
@@ -73,6 +73,12 @@ export default defineConfig({
     command: process.env.CI ? "pnpm build && pnpm start" : "pnpm dev",
     port: 3000,
     reuseExistingServer: !process.env.CI,
-    timeout: 120_000,
+    // CI: `pnpm build && pnpm start` requires the full Next.js build cycle
+    // (Next.js compile takes 5-15 minutes on the CI runner depending on
+    // cache state). 120s was too short and caused E2E to time out before
+    // the server could come up. 25 minutes gives slack for slow builds.
+    // Locally `pnpm dev` boots in seconds, so the original 2-minute cap
+    // is preserved.
+    timeout: process.env.CI ? 1_500_000 : 120_000,
   },
 });