diff --git a/apps/desktop/electron/main.ts b/apps/desktop/electron/main.ts
index e0dd2c4fb54..517121c2061 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/electron/main.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/electron/main.ts
@@ -7608,6 +7608,14 @@ function createWindow() {
     }
   })
 
+  // Under Playright testing, instantly show the window.
+  // `ready-to-show` doesn't fire in some testing envs.
+  if (process.env.TEST_WORKER_INDEX !== undefined) {
+      if (mainWindow && !mainWindow.isDestroyed() && !mainWindow.isVisible()) {
+        mainWindow.show()
+      }
+  }
+
   mainWindow.on('will-enter-full-screen', () => sendWindowStateChanged(true))
   mainWindow.on('enter-full-screen', () => sendWindowStateChanged(true))
   mainWindow.on('will-leave-full-screen', () => sendWindowStateChanged(false))
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/store/session.ts b/apps/desktop/src/store/session.ts
index dbfd7dbc799..9d596a3b822 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/store/session.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/store/session.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import type { ConnectionState } from '@hermes/shared'
 import { atom, computed } from 'nanostores'
 
 import { lastVisibleMessageIsUser } from '@/app/chat/thread-loading'
@@ -213,7 +214,7 @@ export function mergeSessionPage(
 }
 
 export const $connection = atom<HermesConnection | null>(null)
-export const $gatewayState = atom('idle')
+export const $gatewayState = atom<ConnectionState>('idle')
 export const $sessions = atom<SessionInfo[]>([])
 export const $sessionsTotal = atom<number>(0)
 // Cron-job sessions (source === 'cron') are fetched as their own list so the
@@ -319,7 +320,7 @@ export const $modelPickerOpen = atom(false)
 export const $sessionPickerOpen = atom(false)
 
 export const setConnection = (next: Updater<HermesConnection | null>) => updateAtom($connection, next)
-export const setGatewayState = (next: Updater<string>) => updateAtom($gatewayState, next)
+export const setGatewayState = (next: Updater<ConnectionState>) => updateAtom($gatewayState, next)
 export const setSessions = (next: Updater<SessionInfo[]>) => updateAtom($sessions, next)
 export const setSessionsTotal = (next: Updater<number>) => updateAtom($sessionsTotal, next)
 export const setCronSessions = (next: Updater<SessionInfo[]>) => updateAtom($cronSessions, next)
diff --git a/apps/desktop/tsconfig.json b/apps/desktop/tsconfig.json
index 8af5d47ffb2..a00bad75fb0 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/tsconfig.json
+++ b/apps/desktop/tsconfig.json
@@ -23,5 +23,6 @@
     }
   },
   "include": ["src", "../shared/src"],
+  "exclude": ["e2e", "electron", "playwright.config.ts"],
   "references": [{ "path": "./tsconfig.electron.json" }]
 }
diff --git a/nix/devShell.nix b/nix/devShell.nix
index e93e10ef056..c5dfa6cf1f6 100644
--- a/nix/devShell.nix
+++ b/nix/devShell.nix
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@
           ${combinedNonNpm}
           ${hermesNpmLib.mkNpmDevShellHook npmPackageJsonPaths}
 
+          # Force Node to use Nix's playwright-test binary instead of node_modules/.bin
+          export PATH="${pkgs.playwright-test}/bin:$PATH"
+
           # for the devshell to pick up the src
           export HERMES_PYTHON_SRC_ROOT=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)
           echo "Hermes Agent dev shell in $HERMES_PYTHON_SRC_ROOT"