diff --git a/test/gstack-home-module-scope.test.ts b/test/gstack-home-module-scope.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..842e13247
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/gstack-home-module-scope.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+/**
+ * No module-scope GSTACK_HOME assignment in any test file.
+ *
+ * Shard processes evaluate many test-file modules in one bun process, and a
+ * module can be loaded before its tests run — so a module-scope
+ * `process.env.GSTACK_HOME = ...` leaks into every sibling file in the
+ * shard. The damage was real before the 2026-08 sweep: relink.test.ts:28
+ * documents a "fresh install" test seeing a neighbor's skill_prefix, and
+ * cdp-e2e once baked a sibling's temp dir into artifacts that outlived it
+ * (dangling symlinks into a deleted render dir).
+ *
+ * The pattern is: save the original, assign in beforeAll, restore in
+ * afterAll — confining the value to the file's execution window. See
+ * browse/test/cdp-e2e.test.ts for the reference shape.
+ *
+ * Heuristic: repo test files write module-scope statements unindented, so a
+ * column-0 assignment is module scope; indented assignments (inside hooks,
+ * tests, or helpers) are fine.
+ */
+import { describe, expect, test } from 'bun:test';
+import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';
+import * as fs from 'node:fs';
+import * as path from 'node:path';
+
+const ROOT = path.resolve(__dirname, '..');
+
+function trackedTestFiles(): string[] {
+  const out = spawnSync('git', ['ls-files', '*.test.ts'], {
+    cwd: ROOT, encoding: 'utf-8',
+  });
+  if (out.status !== 0) throw new Error(`git ls-files failed: ${out.stderr}`);
+  return out.stdout.split('\n').filter(Boolean);
+}
+
+describe('GSTACK_HOME module-scope tripwire', () => {
+  test('no test file assigns process.env.GSTACK_HOME at module scope', () => {
+    const files = trackedTestFiles();
+    expect(files.length).toBeGreaterThan(100); // scan-rot guard
+
+    const offenders: string[] = [];
+    for (const rel of files) {
+      const lines = fs.readFileSync(path.join(ROOT, rel), 'utf-8').split('\n');
+      lines.forEach((line, i) => {
+        if (/^(?:process\.env\.GSTACK_HOME|process\.env\.GSTACK_STATE_ROOT)\s*=[^=]/.test(line)) {
+          offenders.push(`${rel}:${i + 1} — ${line.trim()}`);
+        }
+      });
+    }
+    expect(offenders,
+      `module-scope env assignment leaks across shard siblings — move into beforeAll + restore in afterAll:\n${offenders.join('\n')}`,
+    ).toEqual([]);
+  });
+});