diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 4da2d797ebb..d88c2597cef 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ cpu.out
 /indexers
 /log
 /public/assets/img/avatar
+/tests/e2e-output
 /tests/integration/gitea-integration-*
 /tests/integration/indexers-*
 /tests/*.ini
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 1df5b36cce8..baa288061fa 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -178,7 +178,15 @@ Here's how to run the test suite:
 | :------------------------------------------ | :------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
 |``make test[\#SpecificTestName]``            |  run unit test(s)                                        |                                             |
 |``make test-sqlite[\#SpecificTestName]``     |  run [integration](tests/integration) test(s) for SQLite | [More details](tests/integration/README.md) |
-|``make test-e2e``                            |  run [end-to-end](tests/e2e) test(s) using Playwright    | Requires a running Gitea server             |
+|``make test-e2e``                            |  run [end-to-end](tests/e2e) test(s) using Playwright    |                                             |
+
+- e2e test environment variables
+
+|  Variable       | Description                                                                 |
+| :-------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+|``E2E_URL``      | URL of the Gitea server to test against (default: read from ``app.ini``)    |
+|``E2E_DEBUG``    | When set, show Gitea server output (only for auto-started server)           |
+|``E2E_FLAGS``    | Additional flags passed to Playwright (e.g. ``--headed --debug``)           |
 
 ## Translation
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index cf61bc89a27..e619e06096e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -559,7 +559,7 @@ playwright: deps-frontend
 
 .PHONY: test-e2e
 test-e2e: playwright
-	EXECUTABLE=$(EXECUTABLE) ./tools/test-e2e.sh $(E2E_FLAGS)
+	@EXECUTABLE=$(EXECUTABLE) ./tools/test-e2e.sh $(E2E_FLAGS)
 
 .PHONY: bench-sqlite
 bench-sqlite: integrations.sqlite.test generate-ini-sqlite
diff --git a/playwright.config.ts b/playwright.config.ts
index a194960a502..0bc844f6626 100644
--- a/playwright.config.ts
+++ b/playwright.config.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import {defineConfig, devices} from '@playwright/test';
 
 export default defineConfig({
   testDir: './tests/e2e/',
+  outputDir: './tests/e2e-output/',
   testMatch: /.*\.test\.ts/,
   forbidOnly: Boolean(env.CI),
   reporter: 'list',
diff --git a/tools/test-e2e.sh b/tools/test-e2e.sh
index 67b46698d95..ac43bb82e47 100755
--- a/tools/test-e2e.sh
+++ b/tools/test-e2e.sh
@@ -23,13 +23,41 @@ E2E_URL="${E2E_URL%/}"
 
 echo "Using Gitea server: $E2E_URL"
 
+SERVER_PID=""
+cleanup() {
+  if [ -n "$SERVER_PID" ]; then
+    echo "Stopping temporary Gitea server (PID $SERVER_PID)..."
+    kill "$SERVER_PID" 2>/dev/null || true
+    wait "$SERVER_PID" 2>/dev/null || true
+  fi
+}
+trap cleanup EXIT
+
+# For local development, if no gitea server is running, start a temporary one.
+if [ -z "${CI:-}" ] && ! curl -sf --max-time 5 "$E2E_URL" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+  if [ ! -x "./$EXECUTABLE" ]; then
+    echo "error: ./$EXECUTABLE not found or not executable, run 'make backend' first" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  echo "Starting temporary Gitea server..."
+  if [ -n "${E2E_DEBUG:-}" ]; then
+    "./$EXECUTABLE" web &
+  else
+    "./$EXECUTABLE" web > /dev/null 2>&1 &
+  fi
+  SERVER_PID=$!
+fi
+
 # Verify server is reachable, retry for up to 2 minutes for slow startup
 MAX_WAIT=120
 ELAPSED=0
 while ! curl -sf --max-time 5 "$E2E_URL" > /dev/null 2>&1; do
+  if [ -n "$SERVER_PID" ] && ! kill -0 "$SERVER_PID" 2>/dev/null; then
+    echo "error: Gitea server process exited unexpectedly" >&2
+    exit 1
+  fi
   if [ "$ELAPSED" -ge "$MAX_WAIT" ]; then
     echo "error: Gitea server at $E2E_URL is not reachable after ${MAX_WAIT}s" >&2
-    echo "Start Gitea first: ./${EXECUTABLE}" >&2
     exit 1
   fi
   sleep 2
@@ -54,4 +82,4 @@ export E2E_URL
 export E2E_USER
 export E2E_PASSWORD
 
-exec pnpm exec playwright test "$@"
+pnpm exec playwright test "$@"