diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
index f37f2cf..8ce322a 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -101,10 +101,10 @@ jobs:
       - name: Seed fixtures
         run: pnpm --filter @dorfteich/api db:seed
 
-      - name: Start api and web dev server
+      - name: Start api and static web server
         run: |
-          (cd apps/api && PORT=3001 node dist/main.js &)
-          (pnpm --filter @dorfteich/web dev -- --host --port 5173 --strictPort &)
+          (cd apps/api && PORT=3001 node dist/main.js > /tmp/api.log 2>&1 &)
+          (PORT=5173 node scripts/e2e-static-server.mjs > /tmp/web.log 2>&1 &)
           for i in $(seq 1 30); do
             curl -sf http://localhost:3001/api/v1/readyz >/dev/null && break
             sleep 2
@@ -119,6 +119,10 @@ jobs:
           E2E_BASE_URL=http://localhost:5173 E2E_MAILPIT_URL=http://mailpit:8025 \
             pnpm --filter @dorfteich/web exec playwright test e2e/auth.spec.ts
 
+      - name: Dump server logs on failure
+        if: failure()
+        run: tail -50 /tmp/api.log /tmp/web.log || true
+
   images:
     name: Build container images
     # PR-only: on main the CD workflow builds and pushes the same images —
diff --git a/eslint.config.mjs b/eslint.config.mjs
index 6dd6fa3..821c14e 100644
--- a/eslint.config.mjs
+++ b/eslint.config.mjs
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ export default tseslint.config(
     // Plain-Node maintenance scripts (no TypeScript, no bundler).
     files: ['scripts/**/*.mjs'],
     languageOptions: {
-      globals: { console: 'readonly', process: 'readonly' },
+      globals: { console: 'readonly', process: 'readonly', URL: 'readonly' },
     },
   },
   {
diff --git a/scripts/e2e-static-server.mjs b/scripts/e2e-static-server.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..15bb08d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/e2e-static-server.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+/**
+ * Minimal server for e2e runs: serves the built SPA (apps/web/dist) with
+ * SPA fallback and proxies /api/* to the api process — mirroring what
+ * nginx + Caddy do in production, without a dev server that may die
+ * under CI memory pressure. Node builtins only.
+ *
+ *   PORT=5173 API_TARGET=http://127.0.0.1:3001 node scripts/e2e-static-server.mjs
+ */
+import { readFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
+import { createServer, request as httpRequest } from 'node:http';
+import path from 'node:path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+const DIST = path.join(path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '../apps/web/dist');
+const PORT = Number(process.env.PORT ?? 5173);
+const API_TARGET = new URL(process.env.API_TARGET ?? 'http://127.0.0.1:3001');
+
+const MIME = {
+  '.html': 'text/html; charset=utf-8',
+  '.js': 'application/javascript',
+  '.css': 'text/css',
+  '.json': 'application/json',
+  '.svg': 'image/svg+xml',
+  '.png': 'image/png',
+  '.ico': 'image/x-icon',
+  '.woff2': 'font/woff2',
+};
+
+function proxyApi(req, res) {
+  const upstream = httpRequest(
+    {
+      hostname: API_TARGET.hostname,
+      port: API_TARGET.port,
+      path: req.url,
+      method: req.method,
+      headers: { ...req.headers, host: `${API_TARGET.hostname}:${API_TARGET.port}` },
+    },
+    (upstreamRes) => {
+      res.writeHead(upstreamRes.statusCode ?? 502, upstreamRes.headers);
+      upstreamRes.pipe(res);
+    },
+  );
+  upstream.on('error', () => {
+    res.writeHead(502).end('api unreachable');
+  });
+  req.pipe(upstream);
+}
+
+async function serveStatic(req, res) {
+  const urlPath = new URL(req.url, 'http://x').pathname;
+  // Path traversal guard: resolve inside dist or fall back to the shell.
+  const filePath = path.normalize(path.join(DIST, urlPath));
+  const target =
+    filePath.startsWith(DIST) && path.extname(filePath) ? filePath : path.join(DIST, 'index.html');
+  try {
+    const body = await readFile(target);
+    res.writeHead(200, {
+      'Content-Type': MIME[path.extname(target)] ?? 'application/octet-stream',
+    });
+    res.end(body);
+  } catch {
+    res.writeHead(404).end('not found');
+  }
+}
+
+createServer((req, res) => {
+  if (req.url.startsWith('/api/')) proxyApi(req, res);
+  else void serveStatic(req, res);
+}).listen(PORT, () => console.log(`e2e static server on :${PORT} → ${API_TARGET.href}`));