diff --git a/.buildkite/test_areas/disaggregated.yaml b/.buildkite/test_areas/disaggregated.yaml
index d3e02be23981..67ea2f826583 100644
--- a/.buildkite/test_areas/disaggregated.yaml
+++ b/.buildkite/test_areas/disaggregated.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+# We assume uv pip install -r requirements/kv_connectors.txt is run in the image-build step.
 group: Disaggregated
 depends_on: 
   - image-build
@@ -11,7 +12,6 @@ steps:
     - vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/nixl/
     - tests/v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/
   commands:
-    - uv pip install --system -r /vllm-workspace/requirements/kv_connectors.txt
     - bash v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/config_sweep_accuracy_test.sh
 - label: Distributed FlashInfer NixlConnector PD accuracy (4 GPUs)
   key: distributed-flashinfer-nixlconnector-pd-accuracy-4-gpus
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ steps:
     - vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/nixl/
     - tests/v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/
   commands:
-    - uv pip install --system -r /vllm-workspace/requirements/kv_connectors.txt
     - FLASHINFER=1 bash v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/config_sweep_accuracy_test.sh
 
 - label: DP EP Distributed NixlConnector PD accuracy tests (4 GPUs)
@@ -34,7 +33,6 @@ steps:
     - vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/nixl/
     - tests/v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/
   commands:
-    - uv pip install --system -r /vllm-workspace/requirements/kv_connectors.txt
     - DP_EP=1 bash v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/config_sweep_accuracy_test.sh
 
 - label: CrossLayer KV layout Distributed NixlConnector PD accuracy tests (4 GPUs)
@@ -46,7 +44,6 @@ steps:
     - vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/nixl/
     - tests/v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/
   commands:
-    - uv pip install --system -r /vllm-workspace/requirements/kv_connectors.txt
     - CROSS_LAYERS_BLOCKS=True bash v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/config_sweep_accuracy_test.sh
 
 - label: Hybrid SSM NixlConnector PD accuracy tests (4 GPUs)
@@ -58,7 +55,6 @@ steps:
     - vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/nixl/
     - tests/v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/
   commands:
-    - uv pip install --system -r /vllm-workspace/requirements/kv_connectors.txt
     - HYBRID_SSM=1 bash v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/config_sweep_accuracy_test.sh
 
 - label: MultiConnector (Nixl+Offloading) PD accuracy (2 GPUs)
@@ -73,7 +69,6 @@ steps:
     - vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/offloading/
     - tests/v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/
   commands:
-    - uv pip install --system -r /vllm-workspace/requirements/kv_connectors.txt
     - bash v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/run_multi_connector_accuracy_test.sh
 
 - label: NixlConnector PD + Spec Decode acceptance (2 GPUs)
@@ -87,7 +82,6 @@ steps:
     - vllm/v1/worker/kv_connector_model_runner_mixin.py
     - tests/v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/
   commands:
-    - uv pip install --system -r /vllm-workspace/requirements/kv_connectors.txt
     - bash v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/config_sweep_spec_decode_test.sh
 
 - label: MultiConnector (Nixl+Offloading) PD edge cases (2 GPUs)
@@ -102,5 +96,4 @@ steps:
     - vllm/distributed/kv_transfer/kv_connector/v1/offloading/
     - tests/v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/
   commands:
-    - uv pip install --system -r /vllm-workspace/requirements/kv_connectors.txt
     - bash v1/kv_connector/nixl_integration/run_multi_connector_edge_case_test.sh
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 06cdc0b667f9..db758b76422b 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -887,6 +887,31 @@ RUN apt-get update -y \
 # We can specify the standard or nightly build of PyTorch
 ARG PYTORCH_NIGHTLY
 
+# install kv_connectors if requested (same logic as vllm-openai-base)
+ARG INSTALL_KV_CONNECTORS=false
+ARG CUDA_VERSION
+ARG torch_cuda_arch_list='7.5 8.0 8.6 8.9 9.0 10.0 11.0 12.0+PTX'
+ENV TORCH_CUDA_ARCH_LIST=${torch_cuda_arch_list}
+RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/opt/uv/cache \
+    --mount=type=bind,source=requirements/kv_connectors.txt,target=/tmp/kv_connectors.txt,ro \
+    CUDA_MAJOR="${CUDA_VERSION%%.*}"; \
+    CUDA_VERSION_DASH=$(echo $CUDA_VERSION | cut -d. -f1,2 | tr '.' '-'); \
+    CUDA_HOME=/usr/local/cuda; \
+    BUILD_PKGS="libcusparse-dev-${CUDA_VERSION_DASH} \
+                libcublas-dev-${CUDA_VERSION_DASH} \
+                libcusolver-dev-${CUDA_VERSION_DASH}"; \
+    if [ "$INSTALL_KV_CONNECTORS" = "true" ]; then \
+        uv pip install --system -r /tmp/kv_connectors.txt --no-build || ( \
+            apt-get update -y && \
+            apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends --allow-change-held-packages ${BUILD_PKGS} && \
+            uv pip install --system -r /tmp/kv_connectors.txt --no-build-isolation && \
+            apt-get purge -y ${BUILD_PKGS} && \
+            rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
+        ); \
+        uv pip uninstall --system nixl-cu12 nixl-cu13 2>/dev/null || true; \
+        uv pip install --system --no-deps nixl-cu${CUDA_MAJOR}; \
+    fi
+    
 # Install development dependencies (for testing)
 COPY requirements/lint.txt requirements/lint.txt
 COPY requirements/test/cuda.in requirements/test/cuda.in
@@ -936,6 +961,7 @@ COPY vllm/v1 /usr/local/lib/python${PYTHON_VERSION}/dist-packages/vllm/v1
 # will not be imported by other tests
 RUN mkdir src
 RUN mv vllm src/vllm
+
 #################### TEST IMAGE ####################
 
 #################### OPENAI API SERVER ####################
@@ -978,8 +1004,10 @@ RUN --mount=type=cache,target=/opt/uv/cache \
             # clean up -dev packages, keep runtime libraries
             rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
         ); \
-        # Force-reinstall the matching CUDA wheel so the correct nixl_ep_cpp.so is installed.
-        uv pip install --system --force-reinstall --no-deps nixl-cu${CUDA_MAJOR}; \
+        # Remove all nixl-cu* variants then install only the one matching this
+        # image's CUDA (nixl>=1.1.0 installs both)
+        uv pip uninstall --system nixl-cu12 nixl-cu13 2>/dev/null || true; \
+        uv pip install --system --no-deps nixl-cu${CUDA_MAJOR}; \
     fi
 
 # Optional override: install mooncake-transfer-engine from a URL instead of the
diff --git a/docker/docker-bake.hcl b/docker/docker-bake.hcl
index 94ca8397561a..1b58373afd0d 100644
--- a/docker/docker-bake.hcl
+++ b/docker/docker-bake.hcl
@@ -59,13 +59,14 @@ target "_common" {
   dockerfile = "docker/Dockerfile"
   context    = "."
   args = {
-    max_jobs             = MAX_JOBS
-    nvcc_threads         = NVCC_THREADS
-    torch_cuda_arch_list = TORCH_CUDA_ARCH_LIST
-    VLLM_BUILD_COMMIT    = VLLM_BUILD_COMMIT != "unknown" ? VLLM_BUILD_COMMIT : (COMMIT != "" ? COMMIT : "unknown")
-    VLLM_BUILD_PIPELINE  = VLLM_BUILD_PIPELINE
-    VLLM_BUILD_URL       = VLLM_BUILD_URL
-    VLLM_IMAGE_TAG       = VLLM_IMAGE_TAG
+    max_jobs              = MAX_JOBS
+    nvcc_threads          = NVCC_THREADS
+    torch_cuda_arch_list  = TORCH_CUDA_ARCH_LIST
+    INSTALL_KV_CONNECTORS = "true"
+    VLLM_BUILD_COMMIT     = VLLM_BUILD_COMMIT != "unknown" ? VLLM_BUILD_COMMIT : (COMMIT != "" ? COMMIT : "unknown")
+    VLLM_BUILD_PIPELINE   = VLLM_BUILD_PIPELINE
+    VLLM_BUILD_URL        = VLLM_BUILD_URL
+    VLLM_IMAGE_TAG        = VLLM_IMAGE_TAG
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/cuda/scripts/check_test_utils_no_cuda_init.py b/tests/cuda/scripts/check_test_utils_no_cuda_init.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..59151e02c4b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/cuda/scripts/check_test_utils_no_cuda_init.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
+"""Check that importing shared test utils does not initialize CUDA."""
+
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import torch  # noqa: E402
+
+assert not torch.cuda.is_initialized(), "CUDA initialized before import"
+
+
+def find_repo_root() -> Path:
+    for path in Path(__file__).resolve().parents:
+        if (path / "pyproject.toml").is_file() and (
+            path / "tests" / "utils.py"
+        ).is_file():
+            return path
+    raise RuntimeError("Could not locate vLLM repository root")
+
+
+# Buildkite runs CUDA tests from /vllm-workspace/tests, so the repository root
+# is not guaranteed to be importable when this script runs as a subprocess.
+sys.path.insert(0, str(find_repo_root()))
+
+from tests.utils import create_new_process_for_each_test  # noqa: E402, F401
+
+assert not torch.cuda.is_initialized(), "CUDA was initialized during tests.utils import"
+print("OK")
diff --git a/tests/cuda/test_platform_no_cuda_init.py b/tests/cuda/test_platform_no_cuda_init.py
index 697d2cfec8e1..943d19c343bf 100644
--- a/tests/cuda/test_platform_no_cuda_init.py
+++ b/tests/cuda/test_platform_no_cuda_init.py
@@ -35,6 +35,13 @@ def test_platform_import_does_not_init_cuda():
         pytest.fail(f"Platform import initialized CUDA:\n{result.stderr}")
 
 
+def test_tests_utils_import_does_not_init_cuda():
+    """Test that importing tests.utils does not initialize CUDA before fork."""
+    result = run_script("check_test_utils_no_cuda_init.py")
+    if result.returncode != 0:
+        pytest.fail(f"tests.utils import initialized CUDA:\n{result.stderr}")
+
+
 def test_device_count_respects_env_after_platform_import():
     """Test that device_count respects CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES after import."""
     result = run_script("check_device_count_respects_env.py")
diff --git a/tests/utils.py b/tests/utils.py
index 6a32f3e2e2d4..6ed312ac5e6b 100644
--- a/tests/utils.py
+++ b/tests/utils.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 from contextlib import ExitStack, contextmanager
 from multiprocessing import Process, get_context
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Any, Literal, cast
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Literal, cast
 from unittest.mock import patch
 
 import anthropic
@@ -47,14 +47,9 @@
 from vllm.engine.arg_utils import AsyncEngineArgs
 from vllm.entrypoints.cli.serve import ServeSubcommand
 from vllm.logger import init_logger
-from vllm.model_executor.kernels.linear import (
-    _KernelT,
-    init_fp8_linear_kernel,
-)
 from vllm.model_executor.layers.quantization.utils.quant_utils import (
     QuantKey,
 )
-from vllm.model_executor.model_loader import get_model_loader
 from vllm.platforms import current_platform
 from vllm.tokenizers import get_tokenizer
 from vllm.utils.argparse_utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
@@ -66,6 +61,9 @@
 
 logger = init_logger(__name__)
 
+if TYPE_CHECKING:
+    from vllm.model_executor.kernels.linear import _KernelT
+
 FP8_DTYPE = current_platform.fp8_dtype()
 
 
@@ -199,6 +197,10 @@ def _pre_download_model(self, model: str, args) -> None:
             model_config = engine_args.create_model_config()
             load_config = engine_args.create_load_config()
 
+            # Keep model-loader imports lazy: tests.utils is imported during
+            # pytest collection before some CUDA tests fork child processes.
+            from vllm.model_executor.model_loader import get_model_loader
+
             model_loader = get_model_loader(load_config)
             model_loader.download_model(model_config)
 
@@ -2094,7 +2096,7 @@ def __init__(
         out_dtype: torch.dtype | None = None,
         transpose_weights: bool = False,
         device: torch.device | None = None,
-        force_kernel: type[_KernelT] | None = None,
+        force_kernel: type["_KernelT"] | None = None,
     ):
         super().__init__()
         act_scale_desc = activation_quant_key.scale
@@ -2132,6 +2134,10 @@ def __init__(
 
         out_dtype = torch.get_default_dtype() if out_dtype is None else out_dtype
 
+        # Keep FP8 kernel imports lazy so importing tests.utils does not
+        # initialize CUDA before helpers fork child processes.
+        from vllm.model_executor.kernels.linear import init_fp8_linear_kernel
+
         self.kernel = init_fp8_linear_kernel(
             activation_quant_key=activation_quant_key,
             weight_quant_key=weight_quant_key,