diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/api/core.test.ts b/frontend/src/lib/api/core.test.ts
index c71b2b01..2f23ca1f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/api/core.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/api/core.test.ts
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ describe("req — a file, not a parsed answer", () => {
     // A zip. Without the `raw` branch this falls into `r.json()`, throws on the first byte, and the
     // download dies as an opaque failure — which no lane would see, because the only consumer test
     // mocks the api method wholesale.
-    const zip = new Response(new Blob(["PK"]), {
+    const zip = new Response("PK", {
       status: 200,
       headers: {
         "content-type": "application/zip",
@@ -234,7 +234,16 @@ describe("req — a file, not a parsed answer", () => {
 
     expect(r).toBe(zip);
     expect(r.headers.get("content-disposition")).toContain("siftlode-debug-260919.zip");
-    expect(await r.blob()).toBeInstanceOf(Blob); // the body is still there to be read
+    // NOT `toBeInstanceOf(Blob)`: that asserts which realm built the body, not that there is one.
+    // Under jsdom the ambient `Blob` is jsdom's class, while `Response.blob()` hands back node's own
+    // on Node 22 and jsdom's on Node 24 — so the same assertion passed here and failed on the server
+    // gate (measured 2026-09-20). Nor `.text()`, for the mirror-image reason: jsdom's Blob has no
+    // such method, so reading the bytes back is green on 22 and red on 24. The brand and the size
+    // are the two things both realms agree on, and they are what this test means.
+    const body = await r.blob();
+    expect(Object.prototype.toString.call(body)).toBe("[object Blob]");
+    expect(body.size).toBe(4); // the body is still there to be read, all four of its bytes
+    expect(body.type).toBe("application/zip");
   });
 
   it("still refuses before the body is touched, so a refusal is shown and not saved", async () => {
diff --git a/frontend/src/lib/api/diagnostics.dom.test.ts b/frontend/src/lib/api/diagnostics.dom.test.ts
index 68ba8010..af46e429 100644
--- a/frontend/src/lib/api/diagnostics.dom.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/lib/api/diagnostics.dom.test.ts
@@ -42,7 +42,10 @@ describe("debugExport", () => {
 
     expect(out.name).toBe("siftlode-debug-20260919-1402-abc123.zip");
     // The body is read as bytes, not parsed: `r.json()` on a zip would throw on its first one.
-    expect(out.blob).toBeInstanceOf(Blob);
+    // Brand, not `toBeInstanceOf(Blob)` — that asks which realm built the body: under jsdom the
+    // ambient `Blob` is jsdom's class, while `Response.blob()` returns node's own on Node 22 and
+    // jsdom's on Node 24, so the instance check passed locally and failed on the server gate.
+    expect(Object.prototype.toString.call(out.blob)).toBe("[object Blob]");
     expect(out.blob.size).toBe(4);
   });