diff --git a/apps/desktop/e2e/prompt-rail.spec.ts b/apps/desktop/e2e/prompt-rail.spec.ts
index 7af51a35c2..87cf9551e1 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/e2e/prompt-rail.spec.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/e2e/prompt-rail.spec.ts
@@ -137,8 +137,49 @@ interface ActivePromptRailSnapshot {
   sourceTurnId: string | null;
 }
 
-async function activePromptRailSnapshot(page: Page): Promise<ActivePromptRailSnapshot> {
-  return page.evaluate(async ({ promptCount }) => {
+interface RailStateSnapshot extends ActivePromptRailSnapshot {
+  scrollTop: number;
+  scrollHeight: number;
+  clientHeight: number;
+}
+
+interface RailSettleArgs {
+  promptCount: number;
+  quietFrames: number;
+  timeoutMs: number;
+}
+
+type RailSettleOutcome =
+  | { settled: true; state: RailStateSnapshot }
+  | { settled: false; state: RailStateSnapshot | null };
+
+// The rail resolves on the frame after a scroll and keeps re-resolving for
+// six frames after each transcript mutation, and the transcript keeps
+// remeasuring under them — so a snapshot can agree mid-settle and differ one
+// mutation later. After a scroll to the bottom that remeasure grows
+// `scrollHeight` while `scrollTop` stays put, the atEnd branch flips, and the
+// current tick moves off the last prompt for good: a stable flip that no
+// fixed delay between two reads can rule out (#4675 and the 4-worker stress
+// on its review thread). The observable quiet state is instead one full read
+// — tick mapping plus the scroll metrics that feed it — unchanged across six
+// consecutive painted frames while mapping to the Turn being read. Every
+// input the rail's resolver reacts to (scroll, mutation, geometry) is then
+// exactly what produced the asserted state, so the reads a test makes after
+// this helper see the same rail. The loop resolves with the state it
+// verified; the passing path reads nothing after it.
+//
+// The loop runs in one `page.evaluate` so the per-frame reads cannot straddle
+// a protocol round trip, and it is passed as a real function: a string
+// pageFunction is evaluated as an expression and never invoked.
+const RAIL_QUIET_FRAMES = 6;
+const RAIL_SETTLE_TIMEOUT_MS = 10_000;
+
+async function settlePromptRailInPage({
+  promptCount,
+  quietFrames,
+  timeoutMs,
+}: RailSettleArgs): Promise<RailSettleOutcome> {
+  const read = (): RailStateSnapshot => {
     const root = document.querySelector<HTMLElement>('[data-chat-scroll-container="true"]');
     if (!root) throw new Error('the chat scroll container is missing');
     const ticks = [...document.querySelectorAll<HTMLElement>('.maka-prompt-rail-tick')];
@@ -175,9 +216,7 @@ async function activePromptRailSnapshot(page: Page): Promise<ActivePromptRailSna
       : readingBandTurns[0] ?? scrollportTurns[0] ?? null;
     const expectedRailIndex = sourceTurn === null || ticks.length === 0
       ? null
-      : Math.round(
-        sourceTurn.index * (ticks.length - 1) / (promptCount - 1),
-      );
+      : Math.round(sourceTurn.index * (ticks.length - 1) / (promptCount - 1));
     const expectedId = expectedRailIndex === null
       ? null
       : ticks[expectedRailIndex]?.dataset.promptTurnId ?? null;
@@ -185,25 +224,50 @@ async function activePromptRailSnapshot(page: Page): Promise<ActivePromptRailSna
       currentIds,
       expectedId,
       sourceTurnId: sourceTurn?.id ?? null,
+      scrollTop: root.scrollTop,
+      scrollHeight: root.scrollHeight,
+      clientHeight: root.clientHeight,
+    };
+  };
+  return new Promise<RailSettleOutcome>((resolve) => {
+    let previousKey: string | null = null;
+    let quietFramesSeen = 0;
+    let lastState: RailStateSnapshot | null = null;
+    const timer = setTimeout(
+      () => resolve({ settled: false, state: lastState }),
+      timeoutMs,
+    );
+    const frame = (): void => {
+      const state = read();
+      const key = JSON.stringify(state);
+      quietFramesSeen = key === previousKey ? quietFramesSeen + 1 : 0;
+      previousKey = key;
+      lastState = state;
+      const agreed = state.expectedId !== null
+        && state.currentIds.length === 1
+        && state.currentIds[0] === state.expectedId;
+      if (agreed && quietFramesSeen >= quietFrames) {
+        clearTimeout(timer);
+        resolve({ settled: true, state });
+        return;
+      }
+      requestAnimationFrame(frame);
     };
-  }, { promptCount: PROMPT_RAIL_PROMPT_COUNT });
+    frame();
+  });
 }
 
 async function expectPromptRailMatchesReadingPosition(page: Page): Promise<void> {
-  let lastSnapshot: ActivePromptRailSnapshot | null = null;
-  try {
-    await expect.poll(async () => {
-      lastSnapshot = await activePromptRailSnapshot(page);
-      return lastSnapshot.expectedId !== null
-        && lastSnapshot.currentIds.length === 1
-        && lastSnapshot.currentIds[0] === lastSnapshot.expectedId;
-    }, { message: 'the one current tick maps from the Turn being read' }).toBe(true);
-  } catch {
-    throw new Error(`the prompt rail did not settle on the reading position: ${JSON.stringify(lastSnapshot)}`);
+  const outcome = await page.evaluate(settlePromptRailInPage, {
+    promptCount: PROMPT_RAIL_PROMPT_COUNT,
+    quietFrames: RAIL_QUIET_FRAMES,
+    timeoutMs: RAIL_SETTLE_TIMEOUT_MS,
+  });
+  if (!outcome.settled) {
+    throw new Error(`the prompt rail did not settle on the reading position: ${JSON.stringify(outcome.state)}`);
   }
-  const snapshot = await activePromptRailSnapshot(page);
-  expect(snapshot.expectedId, `no visible Turn in ${JSON.stringify(snapshot)}`).not.toBeNull();
-  expect(snapshot.currentIds).toEqual([snapshot.expectedId]);
+  expect(outcome.state.expectedId, `no visible Turn in ${JSON.stringify(outcome.state)}`).not.toBeNull();
+  expect(outcome.state.currentIds).toEqual([outcome.state.expectedId]);
 }
 
 async function scrollTranscriptThroughHistory(page: Page): Promise<void> {