diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit-tests-internal.yml b/.github/workflows/unit-tests-internal.yml
index eb441856b72..6f2b32f620f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unit-tests-internal.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit-tests-internal.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ jobs:
     name: "🧪 Unit Tests: Internal"
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
+      # one flaky shard shouldn't cancel its siblings - lets us re-run only the failed shard
+      fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         shardIndex: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
         shardTotal: [8]
@@ -53,7 +55,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: ⬇️ Checkout repo
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
         with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-depth: 1
           persist-credentials: false
 
       - name: ⎔ Setup pnpm
@@ -84,8 +86,8 @@ jobs:
           echo "Pre-pulling Docker images with authenticated session..."
           docker pull postgres:14
           docker pull clickhouse/clickhouse-server:25.4-alpine
-          docker pull redis:7-alpine
-          docker pull testcontainers/ryuk:0.11.0
+          docker pull redis:7.2
+          docker pull testcontainers/ryuk:0.14.0
           docker pull electricsql/electric:1.2.4
           echo "Image pre-pull complete"
 
@@ -123,7 +125,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: ⬇️ Checkout repo
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
         with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-depth: 1
           persist-credentials: false
 
       - name: ⎔ Setup pnpm
diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit-tests-packages.yml b/.github/workflows/unit-tests-packages.yml
index 6dca4681926..5251a993313 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unit-tests-packages.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit-tests-packages.yml
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: ⬇️ Checkout repo
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
         with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-depth: 1
           persist-credentials: false
 
       - name: ⎔ Setup pnpm
@@ -84,8 +84,8 @@ jobs:
           echo "Pre-pulling Docker images with authenticated session..."
           docker pull postgres:14
           docker pull clickhouse/clickhouse-server:25.4-alpine
-          docker pull redis:7-alpine
-          docker pull testcontainers/ryuk:0.11.0
+          docker pull redis:7.2
+          docker pull testcontainers/ryuk:0.14.0
           docker pull electricsql/electric:1.2.4
           echo "Image pre-pull complete"
 
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: ⬇️ Checkout repo
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
         with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-depth: 1
           persist-credentials: false
 
       - name: ⎔ Setup pnpm
diff --git a/.github/workflows/unit-tests-webapp.yml b/.github/workflows/unit-tests-webapp.yml
index 8c38e325359..3517afbba49 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/unit-tests-webapp.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/unit-tests-webapp.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ jobs:
     name: "🧪 Unit Tests: Webapp"
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
+      # one flaky shard shouldn't cancel its siblings - lets us re-run only the failed shard
+      fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         shardIndex: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
         shardTotal: [8]
@@ -53,7 +55,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: ⬇️ Checkout repo
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
         with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-depth: 1
           persist-credentials: false
 
       - name: ⎔ Setup pnpm
@@ -84,9 +86,10 @@ jobs:
           echo "Pre-pulling Docker images with authenticated session..."
           docker pull postgres:14
           docker pull clickhouse/clickhouse-server:25.4-alpine
-          docker pull redis:7-alpine
-          docker pull testcontainers/ryuk:0.11.0
+          docker pull redis:7.2
+          docker pull testcontainers/ryuk:0.14.0
           docker pull electricsql/electric:1.2.4
+          docker pull minio/minio:latest
           echo "Image pre-pull complete"
 
       - name: 📥 Download deps
@@ -131,7 +134,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: ⬇️ Checkout repo
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
         with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-depth: 1
           persist-credentials: false
 
       - name: ⎔ Setup pnpm
diff --git a/internal-packages/run-engine/vitest.config.ts b/internal-packages/run-engine/vitest.config.ts
index c00c5438785..fc9a8f271e5 100644
--- a/internal-packages/run-engine/vitest.config.ts
+++ b/internal-packages/run-engine/vitest.config.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ export default defineConfig({
   test: {
     include: ["**/*.test.ts"],
     globals: true,
+    // CI-only: absorbs timing races (real-clock waits vs worker poll interval) under shard CPU contention
+    retry: process.env.CI ? 2 : 0,
     isolate: true,
     fileParallelism: false,
     testTimeout: 120_000,
diff --git a/internal-packages/schedule-engine/vitest.config.ts b/internal-packages/schedule-engine/vitest.config.ts
index cce9bda5415..e773ec6d163 100644
--- a/internal-packages/schedule-engine/vitest.config.ts
+++ b/internal-packages/schedule-engine/vitest.config.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ import { defineConfig } from "vitest/config";
 export default defineConfig({
   test: {
     globals: true,
+    // CI-only: absorbs timing races (real-clock waits vs worker poll interval) under shard CPU contention
+    retry: process.env.CI ? 2 : 0,
     environment: "node",
     setupFiles: ["./test/setup.ts"],
     testTimeout: 30000,
diff --git a/packages/redis-worker/vitest.config.ts b/packages/redis-worker/vitest.config.ts
index c4d431e10ff..452a66037d2 100644
--- a/packages/redis-worker/vitest.config.ts
+++ b/packages/redis-worker/vitest.config.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ export default defineConfig({
   test: {
     include: ["**/*.test.ts"],
     globals: true,
+    // CI-only: absorbs timing races (real-clock waits vs worker poll interval) under shard CPU contention
+    retry: process.env.CI ? 2 : 0,
     fileParallelism: false,
   },
 });