diff --git a/.woodpecker/main.yaml b/.woodpecker/main.yaml
index e162d39..780f59a 100644
--- a/.woodpecker/main.yaml
+++ b/.woodpecker/main.yaml
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ steps:
       - pip install -r requirements.dev.txt
       - cd ./src
       # Also collectstatic'd here; output sits in the shared workspace so
-      # the downstream parallel FT steps don't have to repeat it.
+      # the downstream FT steps don't have to repeat it.
       - python manage.py collectstatic --noinput
       - python manage.py test functional_tests --tag=two-browser
       - python manage.py test functional_tests --tag=sequential
@@ -64,19 +64,31 @@ steps:
           - "requirements.txt"
           - ".woodpecker/main.yaml"
 
-  # ── Parallel FT split ─────────────────────────────────────────────────
+  # ── FT split (sequential for now) ─────────────────────────────────────
   #
   # test_game_room_* is the heaviest cluster — 9 Selenium-driven room-flow
   # FTs that historically dominate the FT step wall-clock (~70% of the
   # ~40-min single-step runs). Split off into its own step (`test-FTs-room`)
-  # that runs in parallel with the rest (`test-FTs-non-room`). Both depend
-  # on test-two-browser-FTs (which leaves collectstatic'd assets in the
-  # shared workspace), so neither parallel step re-runs collectstatic.
+  # so the partition is visible in the pipeline view; the non-room bucket
+  # runs first as `test-FTs-non-room`. test-FTs-non-room depends on
+  # test-two-browser-FTs (collectstatic'd assets in shared workspace);
+  # test-FTs-room depends on test-FTs-non-room.
   #
-  # Tradeoff: 2 concurrent Selenium/Firefox containers on the runner
-  # instead of 1, in exchange for roughly halved test-FT wall-clock when
-  # the partition stays balanced. If the runner thrashes, drop the
-  # `depends_on` from one to serialize them again.
+  # NOTE — currently sequential, not parallel. Both FT steps share the
+  # workspace AND fall back to SQLite (only test-UTs-n-ITs has
+  # `DATABASE_URL` pointing at the postgres service). When they ran
+  # concurrently (both depending on test-two-browser-FTs), the second
+  # step to start hit a half-created `src/test_db.sqlite3` and prompted
+  # "Type 'yes' to delete the existing test database" → EOFError under
+  # non-interactive CI stdin. See pipeline run #296.
+  #
+  # To re-parallelise later, give each step its own DB:
+  #   - point `DATABASE_URL` at distinct sqlite paths per step
+  #     (e.g. `sqlite:////tmp/test_db_room.sqlite3` vs `_non_room`), or
+  #   - have each step point at its own postgres DB (the existing
+  #     `postgres` service already exposes one; spin up a second or
+  #     `CREATE DATABASE` per step).
+  # Until then, test-FTs-room runs after test-FTs-non-room.
 
   - name: test-FTs-non-room
     image: gitea.earthmanrpg.me/discoman/python-tdd-ci:latest
@@ -108,7 +120,7 @@ steps:
   - name: test-FTs-room
     image: gitea.earthmanrpg.me/discoman/python-tdd-ci:latest
     depends_on:
-      - test-two-browser-FTs
+      - test-FTs-non-room
     environment:
       HEADLESS: 1
       CELERY_BROKER_URL: redis://redis:6379/0
@@ -122,8 +134,9 @@ steps:
       - pip install -r requirements.dev.txt
       - cd ./src
       # Heavy Selenium room flows — 9 files (deck_contrib, gatekeeper,
-      # invite, select_role/sea/sig/sky, tray, tray_tooltip) isolated into
-      # their own parallel sub-step.
+      # invite, select_role/sea/sig/sky, tray, tray_tooltip) isolated
+      # into their own sub-step. Runs after test-FTs-non-room (shared
+      # SQLite test DB; see split-rationale comment above).
       - python manage.py test --parallel --exclude-tag=channels --exclude-tag=two-browser $(ls functional_tests/test_game_room_*.py | sed 's|/|.|g;s|\.py||')
     when:
       - event: push