diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 30653784e5..b3dd654b10 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -949,26 +949,6 @@ jobs:
         with:
           path: .turbo/cache
           key: turbo-tests-${{ hashFiles('package-lock.json') }}-${{ github.run_id }}
-      # The miner/MCP packages compile IN PLACE (tsconfig outDir "." -- lib/foo.ts emits lib/foo.js next to
-      # its source, gitignored). The two --force builds above therefore leave compiled .js siblings for every
-      # .ts under packages/loopover-{miner,mcp}/{lib,bin} -- and once those exist, Vite resolves the packages'
-      # NodeNext .js-suffixed import specifiers to the REAL compiled files instead of falling back to the .ts
-      # source (the fallback vitest.config.ts's coverage globs document depending on). That breaks the
-      # coverage run twice over: vitest --changed's import-graph tracing can't relate a changed .ts to the
-      # tests importing it (the module graph holds the .js identity), and executed-module coverage is
-      # attributed to the .js ids, flatlining every changed .ts to 0% -- the 2026-07-24 "(0%/99%)
-      # codecov/patch on every packages/** PR" incident, introduced when the 3-shard consolidation moved
-      # these builds into the same job as the coverage run (the shards never built these packages).
-      # Reproduced/bisected locally on vitest 4.1.9: with lib/*.js present the scoped run selected 1 test
-      # file and reported the changed attempt-cli.ts at 0%; after this clean it selected 4 and reported 100%.
-      # Nothing in the coverage run needs the built output at runtime: both CLI harnesses spawn the .ts
-      # entrypoints via --experimental-strip-types (test/unit/support/{mcp,miner}-cli-harness.ts), and the
-      # one artifact-dependent test (check-miner-package.test.ts's npm-pack dry-run) is excluded from the
-      # coverage run below and re-run after a rebuild in "Pack-integrity test" at the end of this job.
-      # -fdX removes ONLY gitignored files, so tracked sources are untouchable by construction; the binary
-      # verification above already ran, and "Save Turborepo cache" already captured the build outputs.
-      - name: Remove in-place package build output before coverage
-        run: git clean -fdX packages/loopover-miner packages/loopover-mcp
       - name: Prepare test reports dir
         run: mkdir -p reports/junit
       - name: Test with coverage
@@ -1032,16 +1012,10 @@ jobs:
               --exclude "test/unit/mcp-discovery.test.ts"
             )
           fi
-          # check-miner-package.test.ts is ALWAYS excluded from the coverage run -- its npm-pack dry-run
-          # needs the in-place build output that "Remove in-place package build output before coverage"
-          # just deleted (see that step's comment for why the emit must not exist here). It runs in
-          # "Pack-integrity test" at the end of this job instead, after a rebuild, with coverage disabled --
-          # it only spawns scripts/check-miner-package.ts as a subprocess, so it never contributed
-          # v8-visible coverage in this run anyway.
-          EXCLUDE_ARGS+=(--exclude "test/unit/check-miner-package.test.ts")
           if [ "$SKIP_MINER_TEST_HARNESS" = "true" ]; then
             echo "Skipping the self-contained miner-package tests (no packages/loopover-miner-relevant paths changed)."
             EXCLUDE_ARGS+=(
+              --exclude "test/unit/check-miner-package.test.ts"
               --exclude "test/unit/miner-calibration-types.test.ts"
             )
           fi
@@ -1176,18 +1150,6 @@ jobs:
           override_commit: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
           override_pr: ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
           fail_ci_if_error: false
-      # Rebuild the in-place emit (deleted before the coverage run -- see "Remove in-place package build
-      # output before coverage") and run the one test that genuinely needs it: check-miner-package.test.ts's
-      # npm-pack dry-run over the built package layout. Coverage stays disabled -- the test only spawns
-      # scripts/check-miner-package.ts as a subprocess, so excluding it from the coverage run loses nothing.
-      # Gated exactly like its old in-suite inclusion: every push, or a PR whose changed paths matched the
-      # minerTestHarness filter (the same condition SKIP_MINER_TEST_HARNESS negates above). The implicit
-      # success() on this if means it never runs after a failed suite, matching the old in-suite behavior.
-      - name: Pack-integrity test (rebuilds in-place emit)
-        if: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' || needs.changes.outputs.minerTestHarness == 'true' }}
-        run: |
-          npx turbo run build:tsc build:verify --filter=@loopover/miner --force
-          npx vitest run --coverage.enabled=false test/unit/check-miner-package.test.ts
 
   # Single required status check. Branch protection points at "validate"; this
   # aggregates the path-aware jobs (the PR-only dependency review gate lives inside
diff --git a/vitest.config.ts b/vitest.config.ts
index a42547bfca..ca03371938 100644
--- a/vitest.config.ts
+++ b/vitest.config.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,38 @@
+import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
+import { dirname, isAbsolute, resolve as resolvePath } from "node:path";
 import { defineConfig } from "vitest/config";
 
 const junitPath = process.env.VITEST_JUNIT_PATH;
 
+// In-process imports must resolve the miner/mcp packages' NodeNext ".js"-suffixed specifiers to the
+// .ts SOURCE even when the in-place compiled .js exists on disk (both packages emit next to their
+// sources -- tsconfig outDir "."; CI builds them before the coverage run, and local checkouts
+// accumulate the same gitignored emit). Without this, Vite resolves the literal .js file, v8
+// coverage attributes every hit to the built-file identity (flatlining the .ts to 0% -- the
+// 2026-07-24 codecov/patch (0%/99%) incident), and --changed's import-graph tracing can't relate a
+// changed .ts to the tests importing it. Deleting the emit before the coverage run instead (the
+// first attempt at fixing that incident) broke the OTHER class of tests: subprocess-spawning ones
+// (the CLI harnesses and the MCP stdio tests) run under plain Node outside Vite's resolver and
+// genuinely need the built .js at spawn time. This plugin serves both: in-process resolution always
+// lands on the .ts (correct identity for coverage + tracing), while spawned subprocesses keep the
+// built artifacts on disk. Scoped to exactly the two in-place-emit packages -- engine emits to
+// dist/ and must keep resolving through its package boundary unchanged.
+const IN_PLACE_EMIT_RE = /packages\/loopover-(?:miner|mcp)\/(?:lib|bin)\/.*\.js$/;
+const preferTsSourceForInPlaceEmit = {
+  name: "loopover:prefer-ts-source-for-in-place-emit",
+  enforce: "pre" as const,
+  resolveId(source: string, importer: string | undefined) {
+    if (!importer || !source.endsWith(".js")) return null;
+    if (!source.startsWith("./") && !source.startsWith("../") && !isAbsolute(source)) return null;
+    const candidate = isAbsolute(source) ? source : resolvePath(dirname(importer), source);
+    if (!IN_PLACE_EMIT_RE.test(candidate)) return null;
+    const tsSibling = `${candidate.slice(0, -3)}.ts`;
+    return existsSync(tsSibling) ? tsSibling : null;
+  },
+};
+
 export default defineConfig({
+  plugins: [preferTsSourceForInPlaceEmit],
   ssr: {
     noExternal: ["agents", "partyserver"],
   },