diff --git a/tests/e2e/CLAUDE.md b/tests/e2e/CLAUDE.md
index 0e1eafb5196..a916adc38d4 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/tests/e2e/CLAUDE.md
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ other.<area>.<case>.<assertion>
 ```
 
 ## Hard Rules
-- no monkeypatching, mock tests or unit tests of any kind. if a contributor asks you to write an end to end test, do NOT stage a unit test with it. if you find a product gap, call it out in the PR description
+- no monkeypatching or mock tests, and do not substitute unit tests for e2e feature coverage. if a contributor asks you to write an end to end test, do NOT stage a unit test alongside it; if you find a product gap, call it out in the PR description instead. tests that cover the harness itself (the coverage_registry collector, the claude_code drivers, and similar tooling under tests/e2e/) are allowed, carry no `e2e` marker, and run regardless of whether a proxy is up
 
 - use model management endpoints to create new models for a test. this could be in a conftest / inline for each test. ask the user what they want.
 
diff --git a/tests/e2e/conftest.py b/tests/e2e/conftest.py
index 3aec104c861..51e7215c753 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/e2e/conftest.py
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 """Shared fixtures for all live e2e suites under tests/e2e/.
 
-Design rule: hard failures only. Live tests (marked `e2e`) fail when no proxy
-answers or when credentials/env are missing; they never skip. Pure unit coverage
-of the harness itself carries no `e2e` marker and runs regardless of whether a
-proxy is up.
+Design rule: a test marked `e2e` skips when no proxy answers its liveness probe,
+but once a request reaches the proxy any wrong behavior is a hard failure, never
+a skip. The `logging/` suite is the deliberate exception: it hard-fails instead
+of skipping when its proxy or credentials are missing. Pure coverage of the
+harness itself carries no `e2e` marker and runs regardless of whether a proxy is
+up.
 
 Lifecycle: the `resources` fixture maps the init -> run -> teardown contract
 (lifecycle.E2ECase) onto pytest - setup is init(), the test body is run(), and
@@ -64,15 +66,29 @@ def _proxy_fail_reason() -> str | None:
     return None
 
 
+_LOGGING_SUITE_DIR = Path(__file__).parent / "logging"
+
+
+def _hard_fails_on_dead_proxy(item: pytest.Item) -> bool:
+    """The `logging/` suite deliberately hard-fails (never skips) when its proxy or
+    credentials are missing; every other suite skips when no proxy answers."""
+    return _LOGGING_SUITE_DIR in item.path.parents
+
+
 def pytest_runtest_setup(item: pytest.Item) -> None:
-    """Hard-fail `e2e`-marked tests unless a proxy answers its liveness probe.
-    Unmarked tests (unit coverage of the harness) don't touch the proxy, so they
-    run even when none is up. Never skip for a missing proxy."""
+    """Skip `e2e`-marked tests when no proxy answers its liveness probe, so an
+    absent proxy is a skip rather than a failure. Wrong behavior once a request
+    reaches the proxy is still a hard failure. The `logging/` suite hard-fails
+    instead of skipping. Unmarked tests (coverage of the harness) don't touch the
+    proxy, so they run even when none is up."""
     if item.get_closest_marker("e2e") is None:
         return
     reason = _proxy_fail_reason()
-    if reason is not None:
+    if reason is None:
+        return
+    if _hard_fails_on_dead_proxy(item):
         pytest.fail(reason)
+    pytest.skip(reason)
 
 
 def pytest_runtest_call(item: pytest.Item) -> None: