@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+// test-budget: 80 — spawns the real producer once per single-cause fixture: five sequential boots of the built `os dev` (a supervisor plus its `serve` child) under a real pty, each on a fresh database, held 2 s past the MCP block and stopped by a typed Ctrl+C; the boots are the subject, because the order defect was a race one boot can miss; slowest CI reading 59.4 s of the five scheduled runs 41199450735…41271604267, x 1.25, rounded up
 
 /**
  * #22410 — the first screen of `os dev` prints in ONE fixed order, each block
 
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+// test-budget: 40 — spawns the real producer once per single-cause fixture: two sequential boots of the built `os dev` on one database file (a fresh boot that creates the tables the stale shape is staged on, then the refused boot that runs the upgrade ceremony and starts), each stopped by SIGTERM; slowest CI reading 29.0 s of the five scheduled runs 41199450735…41271604267, x 1.25, rounded up
 
 /**
  * #26615 — the card's third target, run against the BUILT CLI: a development
 
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+// test-budget: 30 — spawns the real producer once per single-cause fixture: three sequential boots of the built CLI on one database file (a fresh `os dev`, an `os dev` restart over the staged legacy index, a production `os serve` over the restaged index), each a leg the file pins, stopped by SIGTERM; slowest CI reading 22.9 s of the five scheduled runs 41199450735…41271604267, x 1.25, rounded up
 
 /**
  * #21733 — the card's acceptance, run against the BUILT CLI: a plain `os dev`
 
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+// test-budget: 40 — spawns the real producer once per single-cause fixture: six spawns of the source CLI, one per distinct (command, shape) pair (doctor, diff --json, migrate meta --json, each over the two-package config and its one-package control), two alive at once; slowest CI reading 31.3 s of the five scheduled runs 41199450735…41271604267 (spawned through the tsx binary then), x 1.25, rounded up
 
 /**
  * #22288 — `os doctor`, `os diff` and `os migrate meta` judged a multi-package
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
 import { delimiter, join } from 'node:path';
 import { FILE_REFERENCES_MIGRATION_ID } from '@objectstack/spec/system';
 
-import { CLI, TSX, childEnv } from './helpers/serve-process.js';
+import { CLI, childEnv } from './helpers/serve-process.js';
 import { linkSpec } from './helpers/define-stack-fixture.js';
 
 interface Run { code: number; stdout: string; stderr: string }
@@ -76,8 +77,10 @@ let stubBinDir = '';
 
 function runCli(args: string[], cwd: string): Promise<Run> {
   return new Promise((resolvePromise) => {
+    // `process.execPath`, not the tsx binary: the same `bin/run-dev.js` entry and
+    // the same `src/`, without the second node process tsx's launcher starts.
     execFile(
-      TSX,
+      process.execPath,
       [CLI, ...args],
       // Artifact-less on purpose: the config is the only input these commands read.
       // The stub `pnpm` leads `PATH` for every child; only `doctor` calls it.
 
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+// test-budget: 50 — spawns the real producer once per single-cause fixture: two sequential boots of the source `os serve --dev` on one database file, the restart being the subject, each stopped by SIGTERM; slowest CI reading 35.1 s of the five scheduled runs 41199450735…41271604267 (spawned through the tsx binary then), x 1.25, rounded up
 
 /**
  * #17676 ruling A' item 5 — the card's acceptance, run as HTTP against the real
@@ -63,7 +64,6 @@ import {
   CLI,
   E2E_SECRET_KEY,
   KERNEL_ASSIGNED_PORT,
-  TSX,
   childEnv,
   probeThroughChild,
   readKernelAssignedPort,
@@ -110,7 +110,9 @@ const dirs: string[] = [];
 /** Boot `os serve --dev` on `db` and keep it running until {@link stop}. */
 function bootServe(dir: string, db: string): Promise<LiveServe> {
   return new Promise((resolveBoot, rejectBoot) => {
-    const child = spawn(TSX, [CLI, 'serve', 'objectstack.config.ts', '-p', KERNEL_ASSIGNED_PORT, '--dev'], {
+    // `process.execPath`, not the tsx binary: the same `bin/run-dev.js` entry and
+    // the same `src/`, without the second node process tsx's launcher starts.
+    const child = spawn(process.execPath, [CLI, 'serve', 'objectstack.config.ts', '-p', KERNEL_ASSIGNED_PORT, '--dev'], {
       cwd: dir,
       stdio: ['pipe', 'pipe', 'pipe'],
       // `childEnv`, never a bare `...process.env` — see its header.
 
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 // Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.
+// test-budget: 30 — spawns the real producer once per single-cause fixture: three sequential child processes (project A, project B, a second boot of A), each loading the real `os serve` state writer from `src/commands/serve.ts` through tsx, about 4 s of module load apiece; distinct pids and a clean exit per child are the subject; slowest CI reading 19.7 s of the five scheduled runs 41199450735…41271604267, x 1.25, rounded up
 
 /**
  * #15733 — the runtime state file is keyed by the PROJECT, not by the
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@`
`1`	`1`	`// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.`
	`2`	+// test-budget: 80 — spawns the real producer once per single-cause fixture: five sequential boots of the built `os dev` (a supervisor plus its `serve` child) under a real pty, each on a fresh database, held 2 s past the MCP block and stopped by a typed Ctrl+C; the boots are the subject, because the order defect was a race one boot can miss; slowest CI reading 59.4 s of the five scheduled runs 41199450735…41271604267, x 1.25, rounded up
`2`	`3`
`3`	`4`	`/**`
`4`	`5`	* #22410 — the first screen of `os dev` prints in ONE fixed order, each block
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@`
`1`	`1`	`// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.`
	`2`	+// test-budget: 40 — spawns the real producer once per single-cause fixture: two sequential boots of the built `os dev` on one database file (a fresh boot that creates the tables the stale shape is staged on, then the refused boot that runs the upgrade ceremony and starts), each stopped by SIGTERM; slowest CI reading 29.0 s of the five scheduled runs 41199450735…41271604267, x 1.25, rounded up
`2`	`3`
`3`	`4`	`/**`
`4`	`5`	`* #26615 — the card's third target, run against the BUILT CLI: a development`
Original file line number	Diff line number	Diff line change
`@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@`
`1`	`1`	`// Copyright (c) 2026 ObjectStack. Licensed under the Apache-2.0 license.`
	`2`	+// test-budget: 30 — spawns the real producer once per single-cause fixture: three sequential boots of the built CLI on one database file (a fresh `os dev`, an `os dev` restart over the staged legacy index, a production `os serve` over the restaged index), each a leg the file pins, stopped by SIGTERM; slowest CI reading 22.9 s of the five scheduled runs 41199450735…41271604267, x 1.25, rounded up
`2`	`3`
`3`	`4`	`/**`
`4`	`5`	* #21733 — the card's acceptance, run against the BUILT CLI: a plain `os dev`