diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 9ca12c7cae..a832c0a0af 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        shard: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
+        shard: [1, 2, 3, 4]
     permissions:
       contents: read
     steps:
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Desktop E2E build
         run: pnpm -C desktop build:e2e
       - name: Desktop smoke e2e
-        run: cd desktop && pnpm exec playwright test --project=smoke --shard=${{ matrix.shard }}/8
+        run: cd desktop && pnpm exec playwright test --project=smoke --shard=${{ matrix.shard }}/4
       - name: Summarize flaky tests
         if: ${{ !cancelled() }}
         run: node scripts/summarize-flaky-tests.mjs playwright-report.json "Desktop Smoke E2E (${{ matrix.shard }})"
diff --git a/desktop/playwright.config.ts b/desktop/playwright.config.ts
index 30f9a7f6c2..8a950ff6e1 100644
--- a/desktop/playwright.config.ts
+++ b/desktop/playwright.config.ts
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
     baseURL: "http://127.0.0.1:4173",
     screenshot: "only-on-failure",
     trace: "on-first-retry",
-    video: "retain-on-failure",
+    video: "on-first-retry",
   },
   projects: [
     {