diff --git a/docs/agents/pull-requests.md b/docs/agents/pull-requests.md
index 41645e35d2..be9164b36e 100644
--- a/docs/agents/pull-requests.md
+++ b/docs/agents/pull-requests.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   code-quality/dead-code risk is relevant, CI guards are green, no conflict markers or unmerged
   paths remain.
 - A local unit-only run is not CI-green. Use `pnpm test:unit` for the repo unit bundle, or
-  `vitest run --project unit-core --project subprocess-stub --project fuzz-worker` directly.
+  `vitest run --project unit-core --project fuzz-worker` directly.
   The **Integration Tests** and **Coverage** jobs run the `provider-integration` project —
   verify those green on the actual PR head.
 - Device-facing behavior is not merge-ready without real simulator/emulator/device evidence for the
diff --git a/docs/agents/testing.md b/docs/agents/testing.md
index 23cdce629c..c289c3da52 100644
--- a/docs/agents/testing.md
+++ b/docs/agents/testing.md
@@ -159,12 +159,13 @@ Lock plans come from the production request-lock decisions — never hand-author
 modeled boundary is documented in the harness module, and every failure prints its exact replay
 command.
 
-## The `subprocess-stub` project
+## Real-subprocess-spawn tests
 
-`SUBPROCESS_STUB_TESTS` enumerates the few files that spawn real subprocesses per case. They run in
-a serialized Vitest project so host contention cannot turn internal budgets into generic timeouts.
-Membership requires naming the real spawned process; environment isolation alone does not qualify.
-There is no unit-test retry layer — fix or remove flakes.
+`SUBPROCESS_STUB_TESTS` enumerates the few files that spawn a real subprocess per case. They ran
+serialized in their own Vitest project until #1823's kill criterion: now un-serialized in
+`unit-core`'s default forks pool, reverted if a timeout-shaped failure appears within 20 consecutive
+CI runs. Still excluded from the mutation lane either way. There is no unit-test retry layer — fix
+or remove flakes.
 
 ## Speed rules
 
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6f3914b759..171686ccd5 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@
     "test-app:maestro:ios": "pnpm test-app:maestro --platform ios",
     "test-app:maestro:android": "pnpm test-app:maestro --platform android",
     "test": "pnpm test:unit",
-    "test:unit": "vitest run --project unit-core --project subprocess-stub --project fuzz-worker",
+    "test:unit": "vitest run --project unit-core --project fuzz-worker",
     "test:maestro-compat": "vitest run --project unit-core packages/maestro src/daemon/adapters/maestro src/compat/__tests__/replay-input.test.ts",
     "test:coverage": "vitest run --coverage --project=!fuzz-worker && pnpm test:fuzz-worker",
     "test:coverage:ci": "vitest run --coverage --project=!fuzz-worker && pnpm test:fuzz-worker",
diff --git a/scripts/fuzz/harness.test.ts b/scripts/fuzz/harness.test.ts
index ae0e9058f9..55e0764c93 100644
--- a/scripts/fuzz/harness.test.ts
+++ b/scripts/fuzz/harness.test.ts
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ describe('fuzz invariant classifier', () => {
 
 describe('fuzz harness self-check', () => {
   // One run asserts both the report and its envelope: a second full self-check would cost five
-  // more worker startups in the serialized subprocess-stub project (#1823) for no new signal.
+  // more real worker startups (#1823) for no new signal.
   it('catches every seeded violation kind and writes the self-check envelope', () => {
     const dir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), 'fuzz-selfcheck-'));
     const { status, stdout } = runHarness([
diff --git a/scripts/mutation/test-scope.ts b/scripts/mutation/test-scope.ts
index caa87ccb38..9127825d9b 100644
--- a/scripts/mutation/test-scope.ts
+++ b/scripts/mutation/test-scope.ts
@@ -9,9 +9,10 @@
 // own static module graph.
 //
 // Two files are removed from whatever Vitest returns:
-//   - the subprocess-stub group (it spawns stubbed binaries and waits real
-//     subprocess/retry/poll time — out of scope by the issue's constraint, and
-//     thousands of mutant runs would turn it into timeout noise);
+//   - the real-subprocess-spawn tests (SUBPROCESS_STUB_TESTS in vitest.config.ts —
+//     spawns stubbed binaries and waits real subprocess/retry/poll time, out of scope
+//     by the issue's constraint, and thousands of mutant runs would turn it into
+//     timeout noise regardless of whether Vitest itself still serializes it, #1823);
 //   - tests that cannot run in the thread pool Stryker's vitest runner forces:
 //     the in-process CLI-capture tests (`process.chdir` throws in a worker
 //     thread) and the `node:worker_threads` PNG pipeline tests (a worker inside
diff --git a/src/__tests__/test-utils/fake-adb.ts b/src/__tests__/test-utils/fake-adb.ts
index 6529235fd9..86b16dacd2 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/test-utils/fake-adb.ts
+++ b/src/__tests__/test-utils/fake-adb.ts
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ export type FakeAdbProviderExtras = AndroidAdbProvider extends infer P
  * installs per request and the provider-scenario lane exercises. Prefer this
  * over PATH-stub subprocess helpers (`withMockedAdb`): no PATH
  * mutation, no spawns, no real subprocess waits, so converted files can leave
- * the serialized `subprocess-stub` project (#1823).
+ * SUBPROCESS_STUB_TESTS in vitest.config.ts (#1823).
  *
  * The fake `exec` receives device-scoped args without a leading
  * `-s <serial>`: scoped providers are per-device, and raw `runCmd('adb', …)`
diff --git a/vitest.config.ts b/vitest.config.ts
index ae6ba7f6da..300b481c52 100644
--- a/vitest.config.ts
+++ b/vitest.config.ts
@@ -2,12 +2,15 @@ import { defineConfig } from 'vitest/config';
 import { resolveVitestMaxWorkers } from './scripts/lib/vitest-concurrency.ts';
 import slowTestGateReporter from './scripts/vitest-slow-test-reporter.ts';
 
-// Files that spawn a real subprocess per case, so under broad file parallelism the
-// spawns get starved past an internal budget and production returns a generic
-// timeout instead of the asserted error. The subprocess-stub project below runs
-// them one at a time to bound that contention; per-file `process.env` isolation is
-// already delivered by `pool: forks` + `isolate: true` on every project.
-// Membership and the project's deletion test live in issue #1823.
+// Files that spawn a real subprocess per case. They used to run one at a time in
+// their own serialized `subprocess-stub` project so broad file parallelism couldn't
+// starve a spawn past its internal budget and turn it into a generic timeout.
+// #1823 is now running that project's own kill criterion: un-serialized here in
+// `unit-core`'s default forks pool, watched for 20 consecutive CI runs with no
+// timeout-shaped failure. Revert (restore the project, restore this list to
+// unit-core's exclude) the moment one appears. Still excluded from the mutation
+// lane via SERIALIZED_TESTS below regardless of this experiment's outcome —
+// thousands of mutant reruns times a real spawn per case is timeout noise either way.
 const SUBPROCESS_STUB_TESTS: readonly string[] = [
   // Stubs npx plus the package managers and spawns a real Metro dev server per case.
   'src/__tests__/client-metro.test.ts',
@@ -48,9 +51,11 @@ const FUZZ_WORKER_TESTS: readonly string[] = [
   'scripts/fuzz/corpus-replay.test.ts',
 ];
 /**
- * Everything the serialized projects own, which is what the fast lane must not also collect.
- * The two lists above stay module-local: this union is the whole cross-file surface, and the
- * mutation lane wants exactly it — every test the root config declines to run in parallel.
+ * Every test the mutation lane must not collect: a real per-case subprocess spawn is
+ * timeout noise under thousands of mutant reruns, independent of whether Vitest also
+ * serializes it — `fuzz-worker` still does; `subprocess-stub`'s former members no
+ * longer do (#1823). The two lists above stay module-local: this union is the whole
+ * cross-file surface, and the mutation lane wants exactly it.
  */
 export const SERIALIZED_TESTS: readonly string[] = [...SUBPROCESS_STUB_TESTS, ...FUZZ_WORKER_TESTS];
 
@@ -114,6 +119,10 @@ export default defineConfig({
           include: [
             'src/**/*.test.ts',
             'packages/*/src/**/*.test.ts',
+            // The subprocess watchdog self-check (#1823): spawns a real node subprocess per
+            // case, one hangs on purpose (#1414). Formerly a `subprocess-stub` member; see
+            // SUBPROCESS_STUB_TESTS above for the kill-criterion experiment this rides.
+            'scripts/fuzz/harness.test.ts',
             // The validation fuzz generators' expectation gates (#1781 B2): in-process, no
             // subprocess or worker, so they ride the fast lane unlike their serialized siblings.
             'scripts/fuzz/validation-arbitraries.test.ts',
@@ -179,25 +188,15 @@ export default defineConfig({
             // The Maestro conformance oracle runs via `node --test` in its own CI
             // job (scripts/maestro-conformance), like the layering guard.
           ],
-          exclude: [...SERIALIZED_TESTS],
+          exclude: [...FUZZ_WORKER_TESTS],
           setupFiles: SETUP_FILES,
         },
       },
       {
         test: {
-          name: 'subprocess-stub',
-          include: [...SUBPROCESS_STUB_TESTS],
-          setupFiles: SETUP_FILES,
-          fileParallelism: false,
-          isolate: true,
-          maxWorkers: 1,
-        },
-      },
-      {
-        test: {
-          // Same serialization as its sibling above, for the same contention reason: the
-          // per-case watchdog budget is real wall clock. The project exists so the coverage
-          // run can leave it out, not to run it differently.
+          // Serialized for the same contention reason `subprocess-stub` used to be (#1823):
+          // the per-case watchdog budget is real wall clock. The project exists so the
+          // coverage run can leave it out (see the comment above), not to run it differently.
           name: 'fuzz-worker',
           include: [...FUZZ_WORKER_TESTS],
           setupFiles: SETUP_FILES,
diff --git a/vitest.mutation.config.ts b/vitest.mutation.config.ts
index 5555841e2c..9b73834fa7 100644
--- a/vitest.mutation.config.ts
+++ b/vitest.mutation.config.ts
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ const workspaceAliases = workspaceSourceAliases(repoRoot);
 // (`vitest related` over the mutated files) and hands it over through
 // AGENT_DEVICE_MUTATION_TEST_FILES; the fallback is the deterministic unit suite,
 // which keeps `pnpm exec stryker run` usable by hand. Excluded either way: the
-// serialized groups (subprocess-stub and fuzz-worker) and the CLI-capture tests — see
+// real-subprocess-spawn tests (SERIALIZED_TESTS — #1823, only `fuzz-worker` still
+// runs them in a serialized Vitest project) and the CLI-capture tests — see
 // scripts/mutation/test-scope.ts for why, and why excluding them cannot hide a
 // surviving mutant.
 const scope = readTestScope();