diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index c80a8a41..af042e09 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -475,20 +475,19 @@ def live_gui(request) -> Generator["_LiveGuiHandle", None, None]:
  gui_script = os.path.abspath("sloppy.py")
  diag = VerificationLogger("live_gui_startup", "live_gui_diag")
  diag.log_state("GUI Script", "N/A", "gui_2.py")
- 
+
  # 1. Create the run workspace (one per pytest invocation, shared by the
  #    single owner worker that actually runs live_gui tests).
+ # Per-run isolation: each `uv run pytest` gets a fresh timestamped folder.
+ # Per-test pollution is INTENTIONAL (exposes fragility, per the
+ # workspace_path_finalize_20260609 spec).
+ # NOTE: do NOT rmtree the workspace here. With xdist, 16 workers share this
+ # path concurrently; an rmtree-by-any-worker would delete the dir between
+ # another worker's mkdir and lock acquisition, causing FileNotFoundError.
+ # The timestamp-based name provides enough isolation for normal use; if you
+ # re-run within the same second, just wait a second.
  temp_workspace = _RUN_WORKSPACE
- if temp_workspace.exists():
-  for _ in range(5):
-   try:
-    shutil.rmtree(temp_workspace)
-    break
-   except OSError:
-    time.sleep(0.5)
- # Create the workspace directory before writing files
  temp_workspace.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
- 
  # Create minimal project files to avoid cluttering root
  (temp_workspace / "manual_slop.toml").write_text("[project]\nname = 'TestProject'\n\n[conductor]\ndir = 'conductor'\n", encoding="utf-8")
  (temp_workspace / "conductor" / "tracks").mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)