diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 1eb8b897d73..08623c57194 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -4468,9 +4468,32 @@ jobs:
   # backend through DEV_PROXY_TARGET. ⛔ No retry wrapper and no
   # `continue-on-error` anywhere in this job: a red run is a red check.
   #
-  # Gated as Build & E2E UI is. Not behind Build UI Deps: this job builds a
-  # larger closure (the CLI and the showcase app's) than the seven packages that
-  # job hands on, so it restores Build Core's turbo seed instead.
+  # Gated as Build & E2E UI is, OR'd with `core` (#27550). Build & E2E UI
+  # builds the Console against the seven packages it compiles from, so a diff
+  # that reaches none of them cannot move its answer. This job runs the Console
+  # against a REAL server, and a server-only diff (objectql, runtime, rest, a
+  # plugin, the showcase app) breaks the Console there with no ui path touched:
+  # the access, record-save, Studio-save and screen-flow defects that reached
+  # main before #27550 were all of that kind. `core` (packages/**, examples/**,
+  # apps/!(docs)/** and the root build inputs) is the widening, not a narrower
+  # list of the backend's closure: over the last 60 completed pull_request
+  # runs before #27550 (59 graded, one `action_required`), today's gate ran 35;
+  # `|| core` runs 55; a filter naming only the CLI's and the showcase app's
+  # 67-package dependency closure would run 50. The five runs between the two
+  # were skills-only diffs, and that closure would be a second hand-kept
+  # recognizer of the backend's dependency graph, the drift THE FILTER CONTRACT
+  # fails open against. On merge_group `core` is always 'true', so every queue
+  # entry runs this job too.
+  #
+  # Not behind Build UI Deps: this job builds a larger closure (the CLI and the
+  # showcase app's) than the seven packages that job hands on, so it restores
+  # Build Core's turbo seed instead.
+  #
+  # BUDGET: the "Run the live e2e specs" step stays under 2 minutes (14-24 s,
+  # median 21 s, over the 35 runs above). The widened gate puts this step on
+  # most pull requests and on every queue entry, so a spec that would push it
+  # over stays in `test:e2e:live:nightly` instead of joining the `:ci`
+  # allowlist.
   #
   # Ceiling: there is no CI population yet, so it is derived from one cold
   # local run on 4 shared cores (#27154, 2026-10-28), by the rule above Lint UI:
@@ -4480,7 +4503,7 @@ jobs:
   live-e2e-ui:
     name: Live E2E UI
     needs: filter
-    if: ${{ !cancelled() && needs.filter.outputs.ui_tree != 'false' && (needs.filter.outputs.ui != 'false' || needs.filter.outputs.ui_consumers != 'false') }}
+    if: ${{ !cancelled() && needs.filter.outputs.ui_tree != 'false' && (needs.filter.outputs.ui != 'false' || needs.filter.outputs.ui_consumers != 'false' || needs.filter.outputs.core != 'false') }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     timeout-minutes: 40
     permissions: