diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a2a5e4ec..711467a5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -28,3 +28,6 @@ tsconfig.focus.json
 
 # Subagent-driven-development scratch (ledger, briefs, review packages)
 .superpowers/
+
+# Scratch modules written by tests that must resolve this workspace.
+.tmp-tests/
diff --git a/packages/compiler/test/apis-server-emit.test.ts b/packages/compiler/test/apis-server-emit.test.ts
index 43536044..3f23279b 100644
--- a/packages/compiler/test/apis-server-emit.test.ts
+++ b/packages/compiler/test/apis-server-emit.test.ts
@@ -1,29 +1,20 @@
 import { afterEach, expect, test } from "bun:test";
-import { mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync, symlinkSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 import { join } from "node:path";
 import { parse } from "@wrnexus/syntax";
 import { runWithRequestContext } from "@wrnexus/core";
 import { generate } from "../src/codegen.ts";
 
-// The generated module dynamically imported below is written to an OS
-// tmpdir with no node_modules of its own, so Node's bare-specifier
-// resolution for "@wrnexus/core" would otherwise walk up to whatever
-// (possibly stale, globally-installed) copy happens to sit outside the
-// workspace. Symlink the workspace package in so it resolves to the real,
-// currently-built `@wrnexus/core` — the same one every other package in
-// this repo gets via its own `node_modules/@wrnexus/core` symlink.
-const WORKSPACE_CORE = join(import.meta.dir, "../../core");
-
-function linkWorkspaceCore(root: string): void {
-  const scopeDir = join(root, "node_modules", "@wrnexus");
-  mkdirSync(scopeDir, { recursive: true });
-  symlinkSync(
-    WORKSPACE_CORE,
-    join(scopeDir, "core"),
-    process.platform === "win32" ? "junction" : "dir",
-  );
-}
+// The generated module dynamically imported below resolves "@wrnexus/core"
+// by walking up from its own directory, so it is written inside the repo
+// rather than an OS tmpdir: the walk then reaches this workspace's
+// node_modules and loads the very same module instance the test itself
+// holds. That identity is what these tests rest on -- the request context
+// lives in an AsyncLocalStorage inside `@wrnexus/core`, and a second copy of
+// the package (which is what a junction from another volume produced) has a
+// store of its own that the test could never populate.
+const WORKSPACE_TMP = join(import.meta.dir, "../../../.tmp-tests");
 
 const ROOT_TSCONFIG = join(import.meta.dir, "../../../tsconfig.json").replace(/\\/g, "/");
 // The repo's own tsc, not a `bunx`-fetched one — `bunx tsc` can resolve an
@@ -69,10 +60,9 @@ function typecheckGenerated(source: string): { ok: boolean; output: string } {
 }
 
 async function importServerModule(source: string): Promise<any> {
-  const root = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "wrnexus-apis-server-exec-"));
+  mkdirSync(WORKSPACE_TMP, { recursive: true });
+  const root = mkdtempSync(join(WORKSPACE_TMP, "apis-server-exec-"));
   roots.push(root);
-  mkdirSync(root, { recursive: true });
-  linkWorkspaceCore(root);
   const file = join(root, "page.ts");
   writeFileSync(file, source);
   return import(`${file.replace(/\\/g, "/")}?t=${Date.now()}`);