diff --git a/laravel-lsp/src/tests/env_completion_context_gate.rs b/laravel-lsp/src/tests/env_completion_context_gate.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a7014cec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/laravel-lsp/src/tests/env_completion_context_gate.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,308 @@
+//! Which files the completion handler treats as env files (issue #345).
+//!
+//! `completion` picks the context helper for the cursor from the file's
+//! classification: an env file gets `${...}` interpolation, a PHPUnit XML file
+//! gets its `<env name="…">` and `<server name="…">` attributes, and everything
+//! else — PHP and Blade included — gets `env('...')` call completion. That
+//! choice used to gate on `path.contains(".env")`, a substring test over the
+//! whole path, so every file under a directory such as `.envs/` classified as
+//! an env file. A `.php` file there was handed the interpolation helper, so
+//! its `env('…')` calls never reached the call-context helper that completes
+//! them.
+//!
+//! `env_key_locator::path_is_env_file` now owns the decision, and its own unit
+//! tests pin the predicate. They say nothing about whether this dispatch
+//! consults it: a predicate can be perfect while the handler that classifies
+//! with it reads something else entirely. `env_source_registration_gate`
+//! makes the same argument for the Salsa-registration call site; this module
+//! is its counterpart for the completion call site.
+//!
+//! So everything here drives the **real** `textDocument/completion` request
+//! and asserts on the items it returns. The two directions are both pinned,
+//! because a one-directional test cannot tell a narrowed gate from a closed
+//! one:
+//!
+//! - a rejected file must not get interpolation completion, and
+//! - a real `.env` variant must still get it.
+
+use crate::LaravelLanguageServer;
+use std::fs;
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use tempfile::TempDir;
+use tower_lsp::lsp_types::{
+    CompletionParams, CompletionResponse, DidChangeTextDocumentParams, Position,
+    TextDocumentContentChangeEvent, TextDocumentIdentifier, TextDocumentPositionParams, Url,
+    VersionedTextDocumentIdentifier,
+};
+use tower_lsp::{LanguageServer, LspService};
+
+/// The variable the project's own `.env` declares. Deliberately unlike any
+/// real environment variable.
+///
+/// The handler offers only what the project declares. It *used to* merge the
+/// server's own `std::env::vars()` into that list and no longer does — the
+/// leak was issue #342, `main.rs` states its removal outright where the items
+/// are built, and `env_completion_system_leak` pins it. So this sentinel
+/// guards against a regression rather than describing current behaviour: were
+/// the merge ever to return, a name colliding with the machine's environment
+/// would make a rejection test's empty result mean "no match" instead of
+/// "no context", and it would pass for the wrong reason.
+const SENTINEL: &str = "ZL345_SENTINEL";
+
+/// The prefix typed at the cursor. Must remain a prefix of [`SENTINEL`], so
+/// every fixture below builds its template from this constant rather than
+/// spelling the prefix out: a rejection test asserts that *nothing* is
+/// offered, and a prefix that had drifted out of sync with the sentinel would
+/// satisfy that assertion by matching nothing at all. The positive tests share
+/// the constant and so keep it honest — they fail if it stops matching.
+///
+/// That downstream protection is real, but it lands in the wrong place: drift
+/// reddens the two positive controls, whose names point at env-variant
+/// classification and PHP call completion and say nothing about constant
+/// drift. The assertion below fails at the constants instead.
+const PREFIX: &str = "ZL345_";
+
+const _: () = assert!(
+    is_proper_prefix(PREFIX.as_bytes(), SENTINEL.as_bytes()),
+    "PREFIX must remain a proper prefix of SENTINEL: every fixture here types \
+     PREFIX at the cursor and expects SENTINEL back, so drift would leave the \
+     rejection tests asserting emptiness against a prefix that matches nothing"
+);
+
+/// Whether `prefix` is a proper prefix of `full`. A `const fn` because the
+/// invariant it serves is a property of the constants themselves, so it is
+/// checked when the crate compiles rather than when some test happens to run.
+const fn is_proper_prefix(prefix: &[u8], full: &[u8]) -> bool {
+    if prefix.len() >= full.len() {
+        return false;
+    }
+    let mut i = 0;
+    while i < prefix.len() {
+        if prefix[i] != full[i] {
+            return false;
+        }
+        i += 1;
+    }
+    true
+}
+
+/// A backend with `root_path` primed and the Salsa debounce removed, so a
+/// `did_change` can be awaited deterministically instead of slept on.
+/// Mirrors `env_source_registration_gate::backend_for`.
+async fn backend_for(root: &Path) -> LaravelLanguageServer {
+    let (service, _socket) = LspService::new(LaravelLanguageServer::new);
+    let backend = service.inner().clone();
+    *backend.root_path.write().await = Some(root.to_path_buf());
+    *backend.auto_complete_debounce_ms.write().await = 0;
+    backend
+}
+
+/// Register the project's `.env` as a real Salsa env source by driving the
+/// `did_change` handler, so the completion under test has something to offer.
+/// Without it every *rejection* assertion below would read "no items" and pass
+/// for the wrong reason. The two positive controls are what stop that going
+/// unnoticed: they require the sentinel back, so an unseeded harness fails
+/// them loudly instead of quietly satisfying their negative siblings.
+async fn seed_env_source(backend: &LaravelLanguageServer, root: &Path) {
+    let text = format!("{SENTINEL}=from_dot_env\n");
+    let path = root.join(".env");
+    fs::write(&path, &text).unwrap();
+    let uri = Url::from_file_path(&path).unwrap();
+    backend
+        .did_change(DidChangeTextDocumentParams {
+            text_document: VersionedTextDocumentIdentifier {
+                uri: uri.clone(),
+                version: 1,
+            },
+            content_changes: vec![TextDocumentContentChangeEvent {
+                range: None,
+                range_length: None,
+                text: text.clone(),
+            }],
+        })
+        .await;
+    if let Some(handle) = backend.pending_salsa_updates.write().await.remove(&uri) {
+        let _ = handle.await;
+    }
+}
+
+/// Build `(content, cursor position)` from a template carrying a single `◊`
+/// marker at the desired cursor, matching the convention in
+/// `query_chain_completion_handler`. The marker is stripped from the returned
+/// content; the position is its 0-based line + code-point column.
+fn cursor_at(template: &str) -> (String, Position) {
+    const MARK: char = '◊';
+    let byte_idx = template
+        .find(MARK)
+        .expect("template must contain the ◊ cursor marker");
+    let before = &template[..byte_idx];
+    let line = before.matches('\n').count() as u32;
+    let character = before.rsplit('\n').next().unwrap_or(before).chars().count() as u32;
+    (template.replace(MARK, ""), Position { line, character })
+}
+
+/// Write `rel` under `root`, open it in the server's document map, and drive
+/// the real `completion` request at the template's `◊` marker. Returns the
+/// offered labels — empty when the handler declines, which is what "not a
+/// completion context here" looks like from the client's side.
+async fn completion_labels(
+    backend: &LaravelLanguageServer,
+    root: &Path,
+    rel: &str,
+    template: &str,
+) -> Vec<String> {
+    let (content, position) = cursor_at(template);
+    let path: PathBuf = root.join(rel);
+    fs::create_dir_all(path.parent().unwrap()).unwrap();
+    fs::write(&path, &content).unwrap();
+    let uri = Url::from_file_path(&path).unwrap();
+    backend
+        .documents
+        .write()
+        .await
+        .insert(uri.clone(), (content, 1));
+
+    let response = backend
+        .completion(CompletionParams {
+            text_document_position: TextDocumentPositionParams {
+                text_document: TextDocumentIdentifier { uri },
+                position,
+            },
+            work_done_progress_params: Default::default(),
+            partial_result_params: Default::default(),
+            context: None,
+        })
+        .await
+        .expect("completion must not error");
+
+    match response {
+        None => Vec::new(),
+        Some(CompletionResponse::Array(items)) => items.into_iter().map(|i| i.label).collect(),
+        Some(CompletionResponse::List(list)) => list.items.into_iter().map(|i| i.label).collect(),
+    }
+}
+
+/// A `.php` file under a `.env`-named directory, with the cursor inside a
+/// `${...}` interpolation. Interpolation is env-file syntax, so the handler
+/// must not offer it here — under the old `path.contains(".env")` gate this
+/// file classified as an env file and the interpolation completed.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn php_under_an_env_named_directory_is_not_offered_interpolation() {
+    let dir = TempDir::new().unwrap();
+    let backend = backend_for(dir.path()).await;
+    seed_env_source(&backend, dir.path()).await;
+
+    let labels = completion_labels(
+        &backend,
+        dir.path(),
+        ".envs/deploy.php",
+        &format!("<?php\n$value = \"${{{PREFIX}◊}}\";\n"),
+    )
+    .await;
+
+    assert!(
+        labels.is_empty(),
+        "`.envs/deploy.php` is a PHP file whose *directory* merely mentions \
+         `.env`; `${{...}}` is env-file syntax and must not complete there. \
+         Got {labels:?}"
+    );
+}
+
+/// The same file reaching the PHP arm it belongs to. This is the positive half
+/// of the pair: a gate that classified nothing as an env file would satisfy
+/// the assertion above while breaking env completion everywhere, and a gate
+/// that classified this file as an env file would send `env('…')` to the
+/// interpolation helper, which finds no `${` and declines.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn php_under_an_env_named_directory_gets_env_call_completion() {
+    let dir = TempDir::new().unwrap();
+    let backend = backend_for(dir.path()).await;
+    seed_env_source(&backend, dir.path()).await;
+
+    let labels = completion_labels(
+        &backend,
+        dir.path(),
+        ".envs/deploy.php",
+        &format!("<?php\n$value = env('{PREFIX}◊');\n"),
+    )
+    .await;
+
+    assert!(
+        labels.iter().any(|l| l == SENTINEL),
+        "a PHP file must reach `env('…')` call completion regardless of a \
+         `.env` substring in its directory; got {labels:?}"
+    );
+}
+
+/// direnv's file. Starts with `.env`, is not a Laravel env file, and is
+/// common in Laravel repositories that pin per-project tooling.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn envrc_is_not_offered_interpolation() {
+    assert_rejects(".envrc").await;
+}
+
+/// A dot-less suffix — the variant arm requires the separating dot.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn environment_is_not_offered_interpolation() {
+    assert_rejects(".environment").await;
+}
+
+/// A non-dot separator. Named in the issue alongside `.envrc`.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn env_backup_is_not_offered_interpolation() {
+    assert_rejects(".env-backup").await;
+}
+
+/// Drive interpolation completion in `name` and require the handler to
+/// decline. Each caller is its own test so that reverting the gate reddens
+/// every rejected name independently — an assertion loop would stop at the
+/// first and credit only one row.
+async fn assert_rejects(name: &str) {
+    let dir = TempDir::new().unwrap();
+    let backend = backend_for(dir.path()).await;
+    seed_env_source(&backend, dir.path()).await;
+
+    let labels =
+        completion_labels(&backend, dir.path(), name, &format!("FOO=${{{PREFIX}◊}}\n")).await;
+
+    assert!(
+        labels.is_empty(),
+        "`{name}` is not a Laravel env file, so the project's env variables \
+         must not complete inside its `${{...}}`. Got {labels:?}"
+    );
+}
+
+/// The control. Every accepted variant the predicate documents must still
+/// reach interpolation completion through this same dispatch — the gate
+/// narrows the class, it does not close it.
+///
+/// The misses are collected and asserted once rather than asserted per
+/// iteration: an `assert!` inside the loop stops at the first failing variant,
+/// so a gate that dropped the whole `.env.<suffix>` arm would be credited by
+/// `.env.local` alone and leave `.env.example` and `.env.testing` unproven.
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn real_env_variants_are_still_offered_interpolation() {
+    let dir = TempDir::new().unwrap();
+    let backend = backend_for(dir.path()).await;
+    seed_env_source(&backend, dir.path()).await;
+
+    let mut missing = Vec::new();
+    for variant in [".env", ".env.local", ".env.example", ".env.testing"] {
+        let labels = completion_labels(
+            &backend,
+            dir.path(),
+            variant,
+            &format!("{SENTINEL}=from_dot_env\nOTHER=${{{PREFIX}◊}}\n"),
+        )
+        .await;
+        if !labels.iter().any(|l| l == SENTINEL) {
+            missing.push(variant);
+        }
+    }
+
+    assert!(
+        missing.is_empty(),
+        "every Laravel env variant must still complete `${{...}}` \
+         interpolation through this dispatch; these did not: {missing:?}"
+    );
+}
diff --git a/laravel-lsp/src/tests/mod.rs b/laravel-lsp/src/tests/mod.rs
index 9fd33eed..81f81b08 100644
--- a/laravel-lsp/src/tests/mod.rs
+++ b/laravel-lsp/src/tests/mod.rs
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ mod diagnostic_severity;
 mod directive_navigation_containment;
 mod directive_view_fallback;
 mod dynamic_where_sparseness;
+mod env_completion_context_gate;
 mod env_completion_system_leak;
 mod env_source_registration_gate;
 mod expected_path_diagnostic_containment;