diff --git a/e2e/fixtures/supersync.fixture.ts b/e2e/fixtures/supersync.fixture.ts
index ad7013f1bc..1c91d4dbff 100644
--- a/e2e/fixtures/supersync.fixture.ts
+++ b/e2e/fixtures/supersync.fixture.ts
@@ -47,9 +47,18 @@ export const test = base.extend<SuperSyncFixtures>({
    * Also checks server health and skips test if server unavailable.
    */
   testRunId: async ({}, use, testInfo) => {
-    // Check server health once per worker
+    // Check server health once per worker.
+    // Prefer the result pre-computed in globalSetup (stored as an env var before workers
+    // were forked) to avoid a stampede of concurrent HTTP requests from all workers
+    // simultaneously — which can overload the server and produce false negatives.
     if (serverHealthyCache === null) {
-      serverHealthyCache = await isServerHealthy();
+      if (process.env.SUPERSYNC_SERVER_HEALTHY !== undefined) {
+        serverHealthyCache = process.env.SUPERSYNC_SERVER_HEALTHY === 'true';
+      } else {
+        // Fallback for when tests are run directly without going through globalSetup
+        // (e.g., `npx playwright test --config ... e2e/tests/sync/foo.spec.ts`)
+        serverHealthyCache = await isServerHealthy();
+      }
       if (!serverHealthyCache) {
         console.warn(
           'SuperSync server not healthy at http://localhost:1901 - skipping tests',
@@ -69,9 +78,13 @@ export const test = base.extend<SuperSyncFixtures>({
    * Tests are automatically skipped if the server is not healthy.
    */
   serverHealthy: async ({}, use, testInfo) => {
-    // Only check once per worker
+    // Only check once per worker — use globalSetup env var if available (see testRunId above)
     if (serverHealthyCache === null) {
-      serverHealthyCache = await isServerHealthy();
+      if (process.env.SUPERSYNC_SERVER_HEALTHY !== undefined) {
+        serverHealthyCache = process.env.SUPERSYNC_SERVER_HEALTHY === 'true';
+      } else {
+        serverHealthyCache = await isServerHealthy();
+      }
       if (!serverHealthyCache) {
         console.warn(
           'SuperSync server not healthy at http://localhost:1901 - skipping tests',
diff --git a/e2e/global-setup.ts b/e2e/global-setup.ts
index 9217ded795..b390d4cb6e 100644
--- a/e2e/global-setup.ts
+++ b/e2e/global-setup.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { FullConfig } from '@playwright/test';
 import { execSync } from 'child_process';
 import * as fs from 'fs';
 import * as path from 'path';
+import { isServerHealthy } from './utils/supersync-helpers';
 
 /**
  * Warm up the dev server by fetching the app once before any tests start.
@@ -69,6 +70,20 @@ const globalSetup = async (config: FullConfig): Promise<void> => {
     config.projects[0]?.use?.baseURL ||
     'http://localhost:4242';
   await warmUpDevServer(baseURL);
+
+  // Check SuperSync server health ONCE here, before workers start.
+  // Without this, each worker checks independently on startup — with many workers
+  // running simultaneously, the concurrent health-check requests can overload the
+  // supersync server and cause false negatives, making workers skip all their tests.
+  // By storing the result in an env var set before workers are forked, every worker
+  // reads the cached result instantly instead of making HTTP requests.
+  const healthy = await isServerHealthy().catch(() => false);
+  process.env.SUPERSYNC_SERVER_HEALTHY = healthy ? 'true' : 'false';
+  if (healthy) {
+    console.log('SuperSync server healthy — supersync tests will run');
+  } else {
+    console.log('SuperSync server not available — supersync tests will be skipped');
+  }
 };
 
 export default globalSetup;
diff --git a/e2e/utils/supersync-helpers.ts b/e2e/utils/supersync-helpers.ts
index 5d7ffd404f..af68ed6797 100644
--- a/e2e/utils/supersync-helpers.ts
+++ b/e2e/utils/supersync-helpers.ts
@@ -239,8 +239,34 @@ export const createSimulatedClient = async (
     }
   });
 
-  // Navigate to app and wait for ready
-  await page.goto('/');
+  // Navigate to app with retry for transient ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED.
+  // Under parallel load (many workers × 2-3 browser contexts each), the Angular
+  // dev server can temporarily refuse connections. Retrying recovers from this
+  // without failing the test outright.
+  let lastGotoError: Error | null = null;
+  for (let attempt = 0; attempt < 3; attempt++) {
+    try {
+      await page.goto('/');
+      lastGotoError = null;
+      break;
+    } catch (e) {
+      lastGotoError = e as Error;
+      const isConnectionRefused = lastGotoError.message.includes(
+        'ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED',
+      );
+      if (attempt < 2 && isConnectionRefused) {
+        const delay = 1000 * (attempt + 1);
+        console.log(
+          `[Client ${clientName}] page.goto('/') failed (attempt ${attempt + 1}/3): ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED — retrying in ${delay}ms`,
+        );
+        await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, delay));
+      } else {
+        break; // Non-connection error or last attempt — let it throw below
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  if (lastGotoError) throw lastGotoError;
+
   await waitForAppReady(page);
 
   const workView = new WorkViewPage(page, `${clientName}-${testPrefix}`);