diff --git a/test/setup.ts b/test/setup.ts
index e4f67be7..01724de3 100644
--- a/test/setup.ts
+++ b/test/setup.ts
@@ -125,13 +125,18 @@ afterAll(async () => {
   // with ENOTEMPTY after every test has passed. The usual culprit is a real agent CLI on a developer
   // machine (the `claude` a test's code path probes or spawns) flushing its own `~/.claude.json` and
   // `~/.claude/backups/` into the temp HOME a moment after the test ends; CI has no such CLI. Keep
-  // removing until it goes quiet, and if it never does, leave the temp dir to the `exit` backstop
-  // below: a leaked temp folder must not fail a test file that passed.
-  for (let attempt = 0; attempt < 20; attempt++) {
+  // removing until it goes quiet, for at most about 5 s, and if it never does, leave the temp dir to
+  // the `exit` backstop below: a leaked temp folder must not fail a test file that passed.
+  // ⚠️ The bound is a deadline, not an attempt count: this hook runs under vitest's 10 s
+  // `hookTimeout`, and each failed attempt costs rmSync's own retry sleeps (50 + 100 + 150 ms) plus
+  // the wait below, so 20 attempts overran it and failed the file with "Hook timed out".
+  const deadline = Date.now() + 5_000;
+  for (;;) {
     try {
       rmSync(testHome, { recursive: true, force: true, maxRetries: 3, retryDelay: 50 });
       break;
     } catch {
+      if (Date.now() >= deadline) break;
       await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 250));
     }
   }