diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 755e799ee..fefdd8b69 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 7b1c85030..342f555ea 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 Josh 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 1d05e2a69..d8d0ff606 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