diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 755e799e..fefdd8b6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -109,6 +109,11 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
         with:
           node-version: '22'
+      - name: a headless Chromium for the text-overlap sweep (Playwright outside the tree; the gate finds it through IGNEUM_PLAYWRIGHT_DIR)
+        run: |
+          mkdir -p /tmp/pw && cd /tmp/pw && npm init -y >/dev/null && npm i --no-audit --no-fund playwright@1.56 | tail -1
+          npx playwright install --with-deps chromium | tail -1
+          echo "IGNEUM_PLAYWRIGHT_DIR=/tmp/pw" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
       - name: the tree gate, tools/ci/pre-push.sh --ci (the same script the pre-push hook runs; one line per check, a red check prints its output)
         run: bash tools/ci/pre-push.sh --ci
       - name: public stats API answers with the documented fields (the live site; master only, the endpoints exist there after the merge)
diff --git a/tools/ci/README.md b/tools/ci/README.md
index 7b1c8503..5b45cfb1 100644
--- a/tools/ci/README.md
+++ b/tools/ci/README.md
@@ -2,5 +2,6 @@
 
 | Check | What it fails | Since |
 |---|---|---|
+| no text overlaps (`overlap-check.mjs`) | A served page, or a miner or wallet screen (behind `IGNEUM_OVERLAP_APPS=1`), where a visible run of text is covered by another element (a pill over a caption, a label over a value, a card over its neighbour, text under the header at rest), clipped by an overflow-hidden ancestor, or past the viewport; a page that scrolls sideways. Five widths, light and dark, the home hero at rest and at each step. A fixture with one deliberate overlap of each kind must be flagged first (`--self-test`). Needs a headless Chromium: CI installs Playwright; the Mac ships the pages to build-2 (`infra/build-server/overlap-browser.sh`). | 7 October 2026: the hero's step pill sat on the caption's second line ("Two thirds of the weight sign. The checkpoint locks.") at every desktop width, found by the project lead on the live site |
 
 | kill by exact command or pid file (owed as a check) | 6 October 2026, 21:09Z: a Mac-side `pkill -f <log file name>` matched nothing (the log name was a redirect, not part of the command line), the roll-everything script lived on and wiped a box it had been told to hold. Rule: a job is stopped by its pid file (`tools/fleet/fleet-bg.sh start|stop <name>`) or by a pattern anchored on its exact command line (`^python3 -u /root/fleet/in/box-prover.py`), never by a word that may or may not appear in it. The check that flags a `pkill -f`/`pgrep -f` whose literal is a path or a name that never starts a command line is owed to the CI lane |
diff --git a/tools/ci/pre-push.sh b/tools/ci/pre-push.sh
index 1d05e2a6..d8d0ff60 100755
--- a/tools/ci/pre-push.sh
+++ b/tools/ci/pre-push.sh
@@ -47,6 +47,14 @@ site_build() {
   (cd "$SITE_TMP/site" && SITE_DOWNLOADS_OFFLINE=1 node build.mjs)
 }
 
+overlap_sweep() {
+  # tools/ci/overlap-check.mjs: the known-failed fixture first, then the built site (the gate's temporary copy locally, the tree in
+  # CI). A browser is needed: CI installs Playwright in the workflow; a machine without one ships the pages to a build box
+  # (nothing heavy on the Mac). IGNEUM_OVERLAP_APPS=1 adds the miner and wallet UIs through their mocks (slower, the box).
+  local dir="site"; [ "$MODE" = ci ] || dir="$SITE_TMP/site"
+  if [ "${IGNEUM_OVERLAP_APPS:-0}" = 1 ]; then node tools/ci/overlap-check.mjs --self-test --site "$dir" --apps .; else node tools/ci/overlap-check.mjs --self-test --site "$dir"; fi
+}
+
 structural_checks() {
   run "no conflict markers in tracked files"                                   bash tools/ci/no-conflict-markers.sh
   run "every tracked path is valid on Windows (colon, trailing dot, reserved names, length)"  bash tools/ci/windows-paths-check.sh
@@ -101,6 +109,7 @@ tree_checks() {
   run "chain scene: the site's and the app's copies are scene/ byte for byte, the palette tokens live once (self-test, then the tree)" bash -c 'node tools/scene/sync.mjs --self-test && node tools/scene/sync.mjs --check'
   run "chain scene: a push paints with the document hidden and no animation frame (the blank /live of 7 Oct 2026; known-failed first)" node tools/scene/paint-test.cjs
   run "chain scene: the live feed contract (the recorded reply validates; a rewritten miner, a float now, a stray key refused)" node --test tools/scene/feed-contract.test.mjs
+  run "no text overlaps: every served page at 390 to 1600 px, light and dark, the hero at each step (self-test first; IGNEUM_OVERLAP_APPS=1 adds the miner and wallet UIs)" overlap_sweep
   run "explorer, emission and public stats unit tests"                         node --test site/lib/explorer.test.mjs site/lib/emission.test.mjs site/api/public-stats.test.mjs
   run "ship tool self-test"                                                    node tools/ship-app.mjs --self-test
   run "relay unit tests"                                                       node --test relay/test/parse.test.mjs relay/test/auth.test.mjs relay/test/wake.test.mjs relay/test/ember.test.mjs