diff --git a/codecov.yml b/codecov.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f8981dcb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/codecov.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+ignore:
+  - "tests/**"
diff --git a/components/SettingsView.tsx b/components/SettingsView.tsx
index d294e9b1..9ed262bf 100644
--- a/components/SettingsView.tsx
+++ b/components/SettingsView.tsx
@@ -38,14 +38,17 @@ import { ViewErrorBoundary } from './ui/ViewErrorBoundary';
 
 // --- SUB-COMPONENTS ---
 
+// QNBS-v3: stable data-testid lets E2E recovery navigation target a category without matching translated label text
 const NavButton: FC<{
+  id: string;
   icon: React.ReactNode;
   label: string;
   isActive: boolean;
   onClick: () => void;
-}> = React.memo(({ icon, label, isActive, onClick }) => (
+}> = React.memo(({ id, icon, label, isActive, onClick }) => (
   <button
     type="button"
+    data-testid={`settings-nav-${id}`}
     onClick={onClick}
     aria-current={isActive ? 'page' : undefined}
     className={`flex items-center flex-shrink-0 md:flex-shrink md:w-full px-3 py-2 text-left rounded-md transition-colors whitespace-nowrap md:whitespace-normal ${isActive ? 'bg-[var(--nav-background-active)] text-[var(--nav-text-active)]' : 'hover:bg-[var(--nav-background-hover)] text-[var(--sc-text-secondary)] hover:text-[var(--sc-text-primary)]'}`}
@@ -365,6 +368,7 @@ const SettingsViewUI: FC = () => {
               filteredNavCategories.map((cat) => (
                 <NavButton
                   key={cat.id}
+                  id={cat.id}
                   icon={cat.icon}
                   label={cat.label}
                   isActive={activeCategory === cat.id}
@@ -379,6 +383,7 @@ const SettingsViewUI: FC = () => {
                   .map((cat) => (
                     <NavButton
                       key={cat.id}
+                      id={cat.id}
                       icon={cat.icon}
                       label={cat.label}
                       isActive={activeCategory === cat.id}
@@ -396,6 +401,7 @@ const SettingsViewUI: FC = () => {
                       {groupCats.map((cat) => (
                         <NavButton
                           key={cat.id}
+                          id={cat.id}
                           icon={cat.icon}
                           label={cat.label}
                           isActive={activeCategory === cat.id}
diff --git a/components/Sidebar.tsx b/components/Sidebar.tsx
index 8df4098c..2d80de3e 100644
--- a/components/Sidebar.tsx
+++ b/components/Sidebar.tsx
@@ -77,7 +77,9 @@ const BottomTabItem: React.FC<{
   isActive: boolean;
   onClick: () => void;
   sectionId?: string;
-}> = React.memo(({ icon, label, isActive, onClick, sectionId }) => {
+  // QNBS-v3: stable data-tour anchor lets E2E recovery navigation find this button without matching translated label text
+  dataTour?: string;
+}> = React.memo(({ icon, label, isActive, onClick, sectionId, dataTour }) => {
   // QNBS-v3: colored icon dot for mobile tab bar via section SSOT
   const sectionConfig = sectionId ? APP_SECTIONS[sectionId as keyof typeof APP_SECTIONS] : null;
   const iconColor = sectionConfig && !isActive ? sectionConfig.textColor : '';
@@ -86,6 +88,7 @@ const BottomTabItem: React.FC<{
     <button
       type="button"
       onClick={onClick}
+      data-tour={dataTour}
       className={`relative flex flex-col items-center justify-center flex-1 min-h-[44px] py-2 transition-colors duration-200 touch-manipulation outline-none focus-visible:ring-2 focus-visible:ring-[var(--sc-ring-focus)] rounded-lg ${
         isActive ? 'text-[var(--nav-text-active)]' : 'text-[var(--sc-text-muted)]'
       }`}
@@ -201,6 +204,7 @@ export const Sidebar: React.FC<SidebarProps> = ({
           label={t('common.more')}
           isActive={isSidebarOpen || !isTabBarView}
           onClick={() => setIsSidebarOpen(!isSidebarOpen)}
+          dataTour="nav-more"
         />
       </nav>
 
@@ -299,4 +303,4 @@ export const Sidebar: React.FC<SidebarProps> = ({
       </aside>
     </>
   );
-};
\ No newline at end of file
+};
diff --git a/components/settings/DataSection.tsx b/components/settings/DataSection.tsx
index e9cfa3e7..96d0e8fc 100644
--- a/components/settings/DataSection.tsx
+++ b/components/settings/DataSection.tsx
@@ -418,9 +418,11 @@ export const DataSection: FC = () => {
                   {t('settings.data.dangerZone.factoryReset.hint')}
                 </p>
               </div>
+              {/* QNBS-v3: stable data-testid lets E2E recovery navigation target this button without matching translated label text */}
               <Button
                 variant="danger"
                 size="sm"
+                data-testid="factory-reset-button"
                 onClick={() => setModal({ state: 'factoryReset', payload: {} })}
                 className="shrink-0"
               >
diff --git a/components/settings/SettingsModals.tsx b/components/settings/SettingsModals.tsx
index 932c6cc2..40b9b879 100644
--- a/components/settings/SettingsModals.tsx
+++ b/components/settings/SettingsModals.tsx
@@ -138,7 +138,12 @@ export const SettingsModals: FC = () => {
             <Button variant="secondary" onClick={() => setModal({ state: 'closed', payload: {} })}>
               {t('common.cancel')}
             </Button>
-            <Button variant="danger" onClick={() => void handleFactoryReset()}>
+            {/* QNBS-v3: stable data-testid lets E2E recovery navigation target this button without matching translated label text */}
+            <Button
+              variant="danger"
+              onClick={() => void handleFactoryReset()}
+              data-testid="factory-reset-confirm-button"
+            >
               {t('settings.data.dangerZone.factoryReset.modalConfirm')}
             </Button>
           </div>
diff --git a/tests/e2e/helpers.ts b/tests/e2e/helpers.ts
index 8ac3f72a..cb09a4e3 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/helpers.ts
+++ b/tests/e2e/helpers.ts
@@ -29,6 +29,21 @@ export async function clickNavItem(page: Page, name: RegExp): Promise<void> {
   await page.locator('#sidebar-mobile').getByRole('button', { name }).click();
 }
 
+/** Locale-independent Settings navigation: same mobile-aware fallback as clickNavItem, keyed on the stable `data-tour="nav-settings"` anchor instead of translated visible text. */
+async function clickSettingsNavItem(page: Page): Promise<void> {
+  const desktopBtn = page.locator('#sidebar [data-tour="nav-settings"]');
+  if (await desktopBtn.isVisible({ timeout: 1500 }).catch(() => false)) {
+    await desktopBtn.click();
+    return;
+  }
+  // QNBS-v3: data-tour="nav-more" (not a translated /More/i label) so this stays locale-independent on a non-English mobile boot.
+  const moreBtn = page.locator('[data-tour="nav-more"]');
+  await expect(moreBtn).toBeVisible({ timeout: 8000 });
+  await moreBtn.click();
+  await page.locator('#sidebar-mobile').waitFor({ state: 'visible' });
+  await page.locator('#sidebar-mobile [data-tour="nav-settings"]').click();
+}
+
 // QNBS-v3: Stable Writer `#writer-section-select` + option handling avoids Playwright strict-mode / native-<option> visibility pitfalls that broke CI E2E.
 
 /** Writer section `<Select>` — stable id to avoid picking tone/tool comboboxes elsewhere on the page. */
@@ -147,6 +162,19 @@ export async function waitForMainChrome(page: Page): Promise<void> {
   ]);
 }
 
+/** QNBS-v3: explicit discriminated startup state, not boolean soup — repeatedly asking "is the portal visible?" via isVisible().catch(()=>false) can't distinguish "main chrome" from "still loading" and silently swallows genuine errors as false. */
+export type StartupState = 'WELCOME_PORTAL' | 'MAIN_CHROME';
+
+/** Resolves which of waitForSpaReady()'s two shapes the current document actually reached. */
+export async function resolveStartupState(page: Page): Promise<StartupState> {
+  await waitForSpaReady(page);
+  const portal = page.getByTestId('welcome-portal');
+  if (await portal.isVisible().catch(() => false)) {
+    return 'WELCOME_PORTAL';
+  }
+  return 'MAIN_CHROME';
+}
+
 /** Language toggle on the welcome portal (EN must be active for English copy in assertions). */
 export async function selectEnglish(page: Page): Promise<void> {
   const enBtn = page.getByRole('button', { name: /^EN$/i }).first();
@@ -179,36 +207,20 @@ export async function ensureBlankProject(page: Page): Promise<void> {
  * waitForSpaReady()'s two success shapes the app actually booted into. A cold CI boot has landed
  * in an already-mounted main shell with a persisted project instead of the portal — a startup-
  * state precondition gap distinct from the (fixed) portal-activation auto-seed race.
- * Contract: guarantees the portal is reached, locale-independently — it does NOT guarantee
- * English. A caller needing English selects it itself (export.spec.ts already does this for the
- * fresh-boot case). Recovers via the real Settings → Data & Backups → Factory Reset flow when
- * main chrome is active so no React/Redux/storage internals are touched — only supported app
- * behavior.
+ * Contract: guarantees the portal is reached, locale-independently. Recovers via the real
+ * Settings → Data & Backups → Factory Reset flow when main chrome is active so no React/Redux/
+ * storage internals are touched — only supported app behavior.
  */
 export async function ensureWelcomePortalEntry(page: Page): Promise<void> {
-  await waitForSpaReady(page);
   const portal = page.getByTestId('welcome-portal');
-  if (await portal.isVisible({ timeout: 3000 }).catch(() => false)) {
+  if ((await resolveStartupState(page)) === 'WELCOME_PORTAL') {
     return;
   }
-  // QNBS-v3: force English before the locale-dependent recovery flow below, or a persisted non-EN/DE language would hang it.
-  await page.evaluate(() => localStorage.setItem('worldscript-language', 'en'));
-  await page.reload();
-  await waitForSpaReady(page);
-  // QNBS-v3: this reload can itself race a pending debounced autosave and land back in WelcomePortal instead of main chrome — accept either state again rather than assuming main chrome.
-  if (await portal.isVisible({ timeout: 3000 }).catch(() => false)) {
-    return;
-  }
-  await waitForMainChrome(page);
-  await clickNavItem(page, /Settings/i);
-  await page
-    .getByRole('button', { name: /Data & Backups|Daten & Backups/i })
-    .first()
-    .click();
-  await page.getByRole('button', { name: /Factory Reset|Werkseinstellungen/i }).click();
-  await page
-    .getByRole('button', { name: /Delete everything & restart|Alles löschen & neu starten/i })
-    .click();
+  // QNBS-v3: every step below uses a stable data-tour/data-testid anchor, never translated text — Playwright's own docs say addInitScript execution order across registrations is unspecified, so this cannot rely on forcing a language first.
+  await clickSettingsNavItem(page);
+  await page.getByTestId('settings-nav-data').click();
+  await page.getByTestId('factory-reset-button').click();
+  await page.getByTestId('factory-reset-confirm-button').click();
   await waitForSpaReady(page);
   await expect(portal).toBeVisible({ timeout: 15000 });
 }
diff --git a/tests/e2e/onboarding-entry-precondition.spec.ts b/tests/e2e/onboarding-entry-precondition.spec.ts
index 6d6ad87e..097cb1e4 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/onboarding-entry-precondition.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/e2e/onboarding-entry-precondition.spec.ts
@@ -42,6 +42,22 @@ test.describe('WelcomePortal entry precondition (CI-only)', () => {
     await expect(page.getByRole('button', { name: /Start a New Project/i })).toBeVisible();
   });
 
+  test('reaches the entry point via the recovery flow with a persisted non-English language, on Mobile Chrome and desktop alike', async ({
+    page,
+  }) => {
+    // QNBS-v3: a fresh boot lands on the portal regardless of locale — this combines a persisted main-chrome project with a non-English language so a mobile "More"-button locale regression actually fails, on every project including Mobile Chrome.
+    await page.goto('/');
+    await ensureBlankProject(page);
+    await expect(page.getByText(/All changes saved/i)).toBeVisible({ timeout: 10000 });
+    await page.addInitScript(() => localStorage.setItem('worldscript-language', 'es'));
+    await page.reload();
+    await waitForMainChrome(page);
+    // QNBS-v3: asserts the applied locale, not just the persisted seed — a broken addInitScript or a failed es bundle load could otherwise pass this test vacuously in English.
+    await expect(page.locator('html')).toHaveAttribute('lang', 'es');
+    await ensureWelcomePortalEntry(page);
+    await expect(page.getByTestId('welcome-portal')).toBeVisible();
+  });
+
   test('reaches the entry point when its own internal reload can race a pending autosave', async ({
     page,
   }) => {