diff --git a/scripts/harb-evaluator/evaluate.sh b/scripts/harb-evaluator/evaluate.sh
index e691637..303c75e 100755
--- a/scripts/harb-evaluator/evaluate.sh
+++ b/scripts/harb-evaluator/evaluate.sh
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ readonly REPO_REMOTE="${HARB_REPO_REMOTE:-origin}"
 readonly CODEBERG_REPO="${CODEBERG_REPO:-johba/harb}"
 readonly REPO_ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")/../.." && pwd)"
 readonly EVALUATOR_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
-readonly SCENARIOS_DIR="$EVALUATOR_DIR/scenarios"
 
 readonly ANVIL_TIMEOUT=120       # seconds to wait for anvil healthy
 readonly BOOTSTRAP_TIMEOUT=180   # seconds to wait for bootstrap container exit
@@ -166,6 +165,7 @@ log "Installing Playwright browser binaries..."
 # ── Clone holdout scenarios ────────────────────────────────────────────
 # The holdout scenarios live in a separate repo so the dev-agent cannot
 # see them. Clone into .holdout-scenarios/ inside the worktree.
+# NOTE: Requires SSH key with read access to johba/harb-holdout-scenarios on Codeberg.
 readonly HOLDOUT_REPO="ssh://git@codeberg.org/johba/harb-holdout-scenarios.git"
 readonly HOLDOUT_DIR="$WORKTREE_DIR/.holdout-scenarios"
 log "Cloning holdout scenarios from $HOLDOUT_REPO..."
@@ -173,7 +173,8 @@ git clone --quiet "$HOLDOUT_REPO" "$HOLDOUT_DIR" \
   || infra_error "Failed to clone holdout scenarios repo"
 
 # Export the scenarios directory for holdout.config.ts
-export HOLDOUT_SCENARIOS_DIR=".holdout-scenarios/scenarios"
+# Must be absolute path — Playwright resolves testDir relative to config file's directory.
+export HOLDOUT_SCENARIOS_DIR="$HOLDOUT_DIR/scenarios"
 
 # ── Boot the stack ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 cd "$WORKTREE_DIR"
diff --git a/scripts/harb-evaluator/holdout.config.ts b/scripts/harb-evaluator/holdout.config.ts
index 1409390..562fef1 100644
--- a/scripts/harb-evaluator/holdout.config.ts
+++ b/scripts/harb-evaluator/holdout.config.ts
@@ -14,10 +14,16 @@ import { defineConfig, devices } from '@playwright/test';
  *   STACK_RPC_URL            – Anvil JSON-RPC endpoint
  *   STACK_WEBAPP_URL         – Vite dev server URL
  *   STACK_GRAPHQL_URL        – Ponder GraphQL endpoint
- *   HOLDOUT_SCENARIOS_DIR    – Path to cloned scenarios (default: scripts/harb-evaluator/scenarios)
+ *   HOLDOUT_SCENARIOS_DIR    – Path to cloned scenarios
  */
+
+const scenariosDir = process.env.HOLDOUT_SCENARIOS_DIR;
+if (!scenariosDir) {
+  throw new Error('HOLDOUT_SCENARIOS_DIR env var required — run via evaluate.sh');
+}
+
 export default defineConfig({
-  testDir: process.env.HOLDOUT_SCENARIOS_DIR ?? './scenarios',
+  testDir: scenariosDir,
   fullyParallel: false,
   // evaluate.sh sets CI=true before invoking playwright, so forbidOnly is always
   // active in the evaluator context. Accidental test.only() in any scenario file