diff --git a/eform-client/playwright.config.ts b/eform-client/playwright.config.ts
index 6281d512..64b24ee1 100644
--- a/eform-client/playwright.config.ts
+++ b/eform-client/playwright.config.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,14 @@ import { defineConfig } from '@playwright/test';
 export default defineConfig({
   testDir: 'playwright/e2e',
   workers: 1,
+  // Explicit fail-fast — do NOT raise this. Shard b's specs form a chain of
+  // cumulative state mutations on a shared worker / week range with no
+  // per-spec DB reset; retrying through a partial failure stacks writes and
+  // produces confusing cascade failures downstream (e.g. expected 88.36, got
+  // 156.38 from a doubled WorkingHours pass). The actual fix for the
+  // underlying flake source belongs in test isolation (worker isolation OR
+  // a test-only reset endpoint), not in masking via retries.
+  retries: 0,
   use: {
     baseURL: 'http://localhost:4200',
     viewport: { width: 1920, height: 1080 },