diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c4cc057
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+"""Browser-test failure artefacts: a Playwright trace kept for every browser
+test that FAILS, captured from the run that failed.
+
+Why this exists: the browser tests flake under FULL-SUITE load only — three
+different tests have each failed once, every one passes in isolation, and a
+narrowed repro that passes is the trap (operator, 2026-09-23: "let him diagnose
+it properly"). Pass/fail counts cannot say why; a trace — screenshots, DOM
+snapshots, console and network per action — can.
+
+OPT-IN, because tracing is not free and the harness is part of the number:
+with it on, every page does more work, so the suite's timing (the very thing
+under suspicion) moves. Default runs are untouched.
+
+    BOOTH_TRACE=1 .venv/bin/python -m pytest -q        # screenshots + DOM snapshots
+    BOOTH_TRACE=light .venv/bin/python -m pytest -q    # actions + network only
+
+LIGHT exists because the full mode perturbs the thing it watches: 8 traced
+full-suite runs went 8/8 green while untraced runs on the same tree went red.
+Network and action records are nearly free, and a goto that never reaches
+"networkidle" is answered by the network record alone — which request never
+finished.
+
+Traces land in $BOOTH_TRACE_DIR (default: <tmp>/booth-test-traces/<run>/),
+named after the test; open one with `playwright show-trace <file>`. The
+terminal summary lists every trace kept.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import os
+import shutil
+import tempfile
+import time
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+TRACE_MODE = os.environ.get("BOOTH_TRACE", "")
+TRACE = TRACE_MODE in ("1", "light")
+_KEPT: list[Path] = []
+
+
+@pytest.hookimpl(hookwrapper=True)
+def pytest_runtest_makereport(item, call):
+    outcome = yield
+    rep = outcome.get_result()
+    setattr(item, "rep_" + rep.when, rep)
+
+
+def _trace_dir() -> Path:
+    root = os.environ.get("BOOTH_TRACE_DIR") or os.path.join(tempfile.gettempdir(), "booth-test-traces")
+    d = Path(root) / time.strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S", time.localtime(_RUN_STARTED))
+    d.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    return d
+
+
+_RUN_STARTED = time.time()
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+def _trace_browser_tests(request):
+    """Wrap the module's `browser` so every context it opens is traced.
+
+    A test usually closes its page BEFORE asserting (it collects, closes, then
+    checks), and a closed context can no longer write its trace — so each
+    context's trace is written at close time, to a scratch file, and only moved
+    to the kept set if the test then fails. A page from `browser.new_page` owns
+    its context, as Playwright's own does: closing the page closes it."""
+    if not TRACE or "browser" not in request.fixturenames:
+        yield
+        return
+    browser = request.getfixturevalue("browser")
+    scratch = Path(tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="booth-trace-"))
+    written: list[Path] = []
+    opened: list = []
+    real_new_context = browser.new_context
+
+    def stop(ctx, n=[0]):
+        if getattr(ctx, "_booth_traced", False):
+            ctx._booth_traced = False
+            n[0] += 1
+            path = scratch / f"{n[0]}.zip"
+            try:
+                ctx.tracing.stop(path=str(path))
+                written.append(path)
+            except Exception:  # noqa: BLE001 - a lost trace must not fail the test
+                pass
+
+    def new_context(*args, **kwargs):
+        ctx = real_new_context(*args, **kwargs)
+        heavy = TRACE_MODE == "1"
+        ctx.tracing.start(screenshots=heavy, snapshots=heavy)
+        ctx._booth_traced = True
+        real_close = ctx.close
+
+        def close(*a, **k):
+            stop(ctx)
+            return real_close(*a, **k)
+
+        ctx.close = close
+        opened.append(ctx)
+        return ctx
+
+    def new_page(*args, **kwargs):
+        ctx = new_context(*args, **kwargs)
+        page = ctx.new_page()
+        page.close = lambda *a, **k: ctx.close()
+        return page
+
+    browser.new_context, browser.new_page = new_context, new_page
+    try:
+        yield
+    finally:
+        del browser.new_context, browser.new_page
+        for ctx in opened:
+            stop(ctx)
+            try:
+                ctx.close()
+            except Exception:  # noqa: BLE001
+                pass
+        rep = getattr(request.node, "rep_call", None)
+        if rep is not None and rep.failed and written:
+            dest = _trace_dir()
+            for i, path in enumerate(written, 1):
+                kept = dest / f"{request.node.name}-{i}.zip"
+                shutil.move(str(path), kept)
+                _KEPT.append(kept)
+        shutil.rmtree(scratch, ignore_errors=True)
+
+
+def pytest_terminal_summary(terminalreporter):
+    if _KEPT:
+        terminalreporter.section("browser traces kept for failed tests")
+        for p in _KEPT:
+            terminalreporter.write_line(str(p))