diff --git a/tests/e2e/ui/helpers/mcp.ts b/tests/e2e/ui/helpers/mcp.ts
index a2e7a601527..1ad82275f55 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/ui/helpers/mcp.ts
+++ b/tests/e2e/ui/helpers/mcp.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { expect, Page as PwPage } from "@playwright/test";
 import { navigateToPage } from "./navigation";
 import { Page } from "../fixtures/pages";
+import { masterKey } from "./traffic";
 
 /**
  * Creates an MCP server through the UI's discovery -> custom form flow and
@@ -52,6 +53,35 @@ export async function createMcpServer(page: PwPage, url: string): Promise<string
   return name;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Deletes every server carrying `serverName`, through the API.
+ *
+ * Cleaning up is not housekeeping here, it is what keeps the MCP specs
+ * runnable. Servers persist for the life of the database, the MCP page reaches
+ * out to each one it lists, and a server whose URL does not answer holds that
+ * up. Measured on a local stack: with eleven leaked servers, eight of them
+ * pointing at an unreachable host, navigateToPage's networkidle wait stopped
+ * settling inside 30s and every MCP spec failed -- including the ones that
+ * leaked nothing. Deleting the leftovers made all five pass again.
+ *
+ * Failures here are swallowed on purpose: this runs from afterEach, and a
+ * cleanup error reported as a test failure hides whatever the test itself
+ * found.
+ */
+export async function deleteMcpServerByName(page: PwPage, serverName: string): Promise<void> {
+  const headers = { Authorization: `Bearer ${masterKey()}` };
+  try {
+    const res = await page.request.get("/v1/mcp/server", { headers });
+    if (!res.ok()) return;
+    const servers = (await res.json()) as { server_id: string; server_name?: string }[];
+    for (const server of servers.filter((candidate) => candidate.server_name === serverName)) {
+      await page.request.delete(`/v1/mcp/server/${server.server_id}`, { headers });
+    }
+  } catch {
+    // best effort -- see above
+  }
+}
+
 /** Opens a server from the grid and switches to its MCP Tools tab. */
 export async function openMcpToolsTab(page: PwPage, serverName: string): Promise<void> {
   await page.getByTestId("mcp-servers-grid").getByText(serverName).first().click();
diff --git a/tests/e2e/ui/tests/mcp/mcpServerEdit.spec.ts b/tests/e2e/ui/tests/mcp/mcpServerEdit.spec.ts
index 56553171693..e4829000997 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/ui/tests/mcp/mcpServerEdit.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/e2e/ui/tests/mcp/mcpServerEdit.spec.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { test, expect, type Page as PlaywrightPage } from "@playwright/test";
 import { ADMIN_STORAGE_PATH } from "../../constants";
-import { createMcpServer } from "../../helpers/mcp";
+import { createMcpServer, deleteMcpServerByName } from "../../helpers/mcp";
 import { captureRequestBody, readBack } from "../../helpers/roundTrip";
 
 /**
@@ -36,6 +36,14 @@ test.describe("MCP Servers - edit and delete", () => {
     serverName = await createMcpServer(page, UNREACHABLE_URL);
   });
 
+  // The rename test leaves its server behind, and this spec's servers are the
+  // unreachable ones -- exactly the kind that slow the MCP page down for every
+  // later test. The delete test's server is already gone; deleting by name is
+  // a no-op then.
+  test.afterEach(async ({ page }) => {
+    await deleteMcpServerByName(page, serverName);
+  });
+
   test("Renaming a server's alias persists", async ({ page }) => {
     const before = await findServerByName(page, serverName);
     expect(before, `created server ${serverName} readable from /v1/mcp/server`).toBeTruthy();
diff --git a/tests/e2e/ui/tests/mcp/mcpServers.spec.ts b/tests/e2e/ui/tests/mcp/mcpServers.spec.ts
index 43f21e77fbd..d31503cf22f 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/ui/tests/mcp/mcpServers.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/e2e/ui/tests/mcp/mcpServers.spec.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { test, expect } from "@playwright/test";
 import { ADMIN_STORAGE_PATH } from "../../constants";
 import { navigateToPage } from "../../helpers/navigation";
 import { Page } from "../../fixtures/pages";
+import { deleteMcpServerByName } from "../../helpers/mcp";
 
 // Coverage scope: only the happy-path Streamable HTTP + None auth create flow.
 // See E2E_COVERAGE.md (#29 row) for the full list of uncovered MCP surfaces
@@ -11,6 +12,15 @@ import { Page } from "../../fixtures/pages";
 test.describe("MCP Servers", () => {
   test.use({ storageState: ADMIN_STORAGE_PATH });
 
+  let createdServerName = "";
+
+  // The server this test creates is unreachable, and the MCP page contacts
+  // every server it lists, so leaving it behind slows down every later MCP
+  // test. See deleteMcpServerByName for what that actually cost.
+  test.afterEach(async ({ page }) => {
+    if (createdServerName) await deleteMcpServerByName(page, createdServerName);
+  });
+
   test("Add a custom MCP server via the discovery → custom form", async ({ page }) => {
     await navigateToPage(page, Page.McpServers);
 
@@ -25,6 +35,7 @@ test.describe("MCP Servers", () => {
 
     // Name — no spaces or hyphens per validateMCPServerName
     const uniqueName = `e2e_mcp_${Date.now()}`;
+    createdServerName = uniqueName;
     await formModal.locator('input[id="server_name"]').fill(uniqueName);
 
     // Transport: Streamable HTTP — the only value the proxy actually accepts is "http"
@@ -48,8 +59,6 @@ test.describe("MCP Servers", () => {
     // Submit
     await formModal.getByRole("button", { name: /^Add MCP Server$/ }).click();
 
-    // No teardown needed — the e2e runner spins up a fresh DB per invocation.
-
     // Success toast and the new card in the server grid. Scope the lookup to
     // the MCP servers grid so the form modal's `server_name` input — which
     // still holds the timestamped value during its close animation — can't
diff --git a/tests/e2e/ui/tests/mcp/mcpTools.spec.ts b/tests/e2e/ui/tests/mcp/mcpTools.spec.ts
index 4f7fdaed9b2..83a065114cc 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/ui/tests/mcp/mcpTools.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/e2e/ui/tests/mcp/mcpTools.spec.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { test, expect, Locator } from "@playwright/test";
 import { ADMIN_STORAGE_PATH } from "../../constants";
-import { createMcpServer, openMcpToolsTab } from "../../helpers/mcp";
+import { createMcpServer, deleteMcpServerByName, openMcpToolsTab } from "../../helpers/mcp";
 
 // Covers the two MCP manual-QA items that mcpServers.spec.ts cannot: listing a
 // server's tools, and actually calling one. Both need an MCP server that really
@@ -47,6 +47,12 @@ test.describe("MCP Tools", () => {
     await openMcpToolsTab(page, serverName);
   });
 
+  // Servers outlive the test that made them, and the MCP page contacts every
+  // one it lists, so leaked servers make later MCP tests slower run by run.
+  test.afterEach(async ({ page }) => {
+    await deleteMcpServerByName(page, serverName);
+  });
+
   test("MCP Tools tab lists the tools the upstream server advertises", async ({ page }) => {
     // The list is fetched through the proxy on tab mount, so allow for a cold
     // upstream connection rather than the ~250ms a warm direct call takes.