diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/main/__tests__/e2e-fixture-usage-fold.test.ts b/apps/desktop/src/main/__tests__/e2e-fixture-usage-fold.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e76a385ecb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/main/__tests__/e2e-fixture-usage-fold.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+import { mkdtemp, rm } from 'node:fs/promises';
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
+import { join } from 'node:path';
+import { strict as assert } from 'node:assert';
+import { test } from 'node:test';
+import { resolveStorageRoot, tryAcquireInteractiveRootOwner } from '@maka/storage/root-authority';
+import { openInteractiveUsageStoresForWrite } from '@maka/storage/usage-stores';
+import { seedE2eFixture } from '../e2e-fixture.js';
+import { usageStatsRecords } from '../e2e-fixture/scenarios-usage.js';
+import { E2E_FIXTURE_NOW } from '../e2e-fixture/seed-helpers.js';
+
+test('settings-usage fixture folds the canonical usage projection until no run is pending', async () => {
+  const workspaceRoot = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'e2e-usage-fold-'));
+  try {
+    await seedE2eFixture({
+      workspaceRoot,
+      fixture: {
+        scenario: 'settings-usage',
+        workspaceName: 'e2e-fixture-settings-usage',
+        reducedMotion: false,
+        theme: null,
+        locale: null,
+        timezone: null,
+        platform: null,
+      },
+      now: E2E_FIXTURE_NOW,
+      // The scenario seeds five model-call runs, under the ledger's default
+      // 16-run pass bound, so a single-pass seed would satisfy the assertions
+      // below. Capping each pass at 2 forces the fold to loop (2 + 2 + 1), which
+      // makes a reverted single-pass seed fail the first-read assertion.
+      projectionCatchUpLimit: 2,
+    });
+
+    const storageRoot = await resolveStorageRoot({ path: workspaceRoot, kind: 'interactive' });
+    const owner = await tryAcquireInteractiveRootOwner(storageRoot);
+    assert.ok(owner, 'the fixture must release the storage root so readers can acquire it');
+    const usage = await openInteractiveUsageStoresForWrite(owner.lease);
+    try {
+      // The page's first read must already see every seeded model call; the
+      // fixture folds the appended attempts into the read model before closing.
+      const expectedRequests = usageStatsRecords(E2E_FIXTURE_NOW).modelCalls.length;
+      const summary = await usage.modelCalls.modelCallSummary({ range: 'all' }, E2E_FIXTURE_NOW);
+      assert.equal(
+        summary.projection.totalRequests,
+        expectedRequests,
+        'the first read must see every seeded model call',
+      );
+      // One catch-up pass bounds how many lagging runs it folds, so a complete
+      // fold leaves nothing pending for later reads to repair.
+      const projection = await usage.modelCalls.catchUpModelCallProjection();
+      assert.equal(projection.pendingRuns, 0, 'no lagging run may outlive the fixture seed');
+    } finally {
+      await usage.close();
+      await owner.close();
+    }
+  } finally {
+    await rm(workspaceRoot, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  }
+});
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/main/e2e-fixture.ts b/apps/desktop/src/main/e2e-fixture.ts
index 9a9661efa8..c88a3365c6 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/main/e2e-fixture.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/main/e2e-fixture.ts
@@ -218,6 +218,8 @@ export async function seedE2eFixture(input: {
   workspaceRoot: string;
   fixture: E2eFixture;
   now?: number;
+  /** Test seam: bounds lagging runs per fold pass; unset keeps the ledger default. */
+  projectionCatchUpLimit?: number;
 }): Promise<void> {
   const now = input.now ?? E2E_FIXTURE_NOW;
   const scenario = input.fixture.scenario;
@@ -305,7 +307,9 @@ export async function seedE2eFixture(input: {
       // One pass bounds how many lagging runs it processes, and the padded
       // fixture creates hundreds of runs, so fold until nothing is pending.
       for (;;) {
-        const projection = await usage.modelCalls.catchUpModelCallProjection();
+        const projection = await usage.modelCalls.catchUpModelCallProjection({
+          limit: input.projectionCatchUpLimit,
+        });
         if (projection.pendingRuns === 0) break;
       }
       await usage.flush();