diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 3047b21..9d3f9ae 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -111,11 +111,16 @@ RUN --network=none golangci-lint run --config .golangci.yml --build-tags browser
 # Nothing is wanted from js-lint; the copy is what makes this phase run it.
 COPY --from=js-lint /src/yarn.lock /dev/null
 
-# Test phase. -race needs cgo and so a C compiler, which the Debian Go image
-# ships and the alpine one does not. `make test` (script/test) builds this
-# stage alone; the build stage below depends on it.
+# Test phase. The tests run with cgo off and so without Go's race detector,
+# which needs cgo on Linux; sneak ruled the race detector out in
+# https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/webhooker/issues/538#issuecomment-153273.
+# `make test` (script/test) builds this stage alone; the build stage below
+# depends on it.
 #
-# golang:1.26.1-bookworm (Debian-based), 2026-03-17
+# golang:1.26.1-bookworm (Debian-based), 2026-03-17: the builder stage's
+# image, which that stage needs for its git and make. Its test step runs
+# under the image's bash, and the tests in internal/versionscript use its
+# git, make and sh, and skip when they are missing.
 FROM golang:1.26.1-bookworm@sha256:4465644228bc2857a954b092167e12aa59c006a3492282a6c820bf4755fd64a4 AS test
 
 WORKDIR /src
@@ -131,8 +136,8 @@ RUN script/assets
 # -timeout applies to each package on its own, so 90s has only to clear the
 # slowest one. -p 4 -parallel 8 keep the run under 2 GB of memory: at most
 # four test binaries build or run at once, each with at most eight parallel
-# tests. Under -race every test binary and every link costs a few hundred MB,
-# so the defaults (one per core) add up to several GB on a many-core host.
+# tests. The defaults are one per core, so without these the memory the run
+# needs grows with the host's core count.
 #
 # The first run has no -v: go test then prints one result line per package,
 # with its coverage, and for a package that fails, everything its tests
@@ -154,12 +159,12 @@ RUN script/assets
 SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
 RUN --mount=type=tmpfs,target=/tmp/tests,size=512m \
     export TMPDIR=/tmp/tests GOTMPDIR=/tmp; \
-    go test -race -cover -p 4 -parallel 8 -timeout 90s ./... 2>&1 | tee /tmp/go-test.log && exit 0; \
+    CGO_ENABLED=0 go test -cover -p 4 -parallel 8 -timeout 90s ./... 2>&1 | tee /tmp/go-test.log && exit 0; \
     tests="$(awk '/^--- FAIL: / { print $3 }' /tmp/go-test.log | paste -s -d '|' -)"; \
     packages="$(awk '/^FAIL\t/ { print $2 }' /tmp/go-test.log)"; \
     if [ -n "$tests" ]; then \
         echo "--- Rerunning the failed tests with -v for details ---"; \
-        go test -race -v -p 4 -parallel 8 -timeout 90s -run "^($tests)\$" $packages; \
+        CGO_ENABLED=0 go test -v -p 4 -parallel 8 -timeout 90s -run "^($tests)\$" $packages; \
     fi; \
     exit 1
 
diff --git a/Dockerfile.browser b/Dockerfile.browser
index d86835e..d482e60 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.browser
+++ b/Dockerfile.browser
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@ RUN go mod download
 COPY . .
 
 # The test binary embeds the templates and static files, so the browser
-# stage needs nothing else. -p 4 keeps the compile's memory down, as in
-# the test phase of Dockerfile.
-RUN make assets && go test -c -p 4 -tags browser -o /browser.test ./internal/server
+# stage needs nothing else. It is built with cgo off and -p 4 keeps the
+# compile's memory down, both as in the test phase of Dockerfile.
+RUN make assets && CGO_ENABLED=0 go test -c -p 4 -tags browser -o /browser.test ./internal/server
 
 # chromedp/headless-shell:151.0.7922.109 (Debian trixie), 2026-08-11. The
 # browser is on PATH as headless-shell, where the test's browser library
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 7eafaff..0847456 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ make assets     # Extract Alpine.js from 3p/ (build and dev run it)
 make fmt        # Format Go (gofmt + goimports) and Markdown (prettier, in Docker)
 make fmt-check  # Fail if gofmt or prettier would change anything (writes nothing)
 make lint       # Run golangci-lint and ESLint in Docker
-make test       # Run tests with race detection, in Docker
+make test       # Run tests with cgo off, in Docker
 make test-browser # Run the browser test in Docker (Dockerfile.browser)
 make check      # test + lint + fmt-check + css-check (CI gate)
 make build      # Build binary to bin/webhooker (version-stamped)
@@ -75,6 +75,11 @@ make css-check  # Fail if static/css/tailwind.css is stale (writes nothing)
 make clean      # Remove bin/
 ```
 
+The tests run with cgo off and so without Go's race detector, which needs cgo on
+Linux: an exception to the `-race` in the test phase of the vendored
+`REPO_POLICIES.md`, ruled by @sneak in
+https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/webhooker/issues/538#issuecomment-153273.
+
 ### Configuration
 
 All configuration is via environment variables. For local development, you can
@@ -3480,8 +3485,8 @@ fixed independently of the compiler's:
    `golangci-lint config verify` and `golangci-lint run`, both with
    `--network=none`, and depends on `js-lint` (it copies a file from it).
    `make lint` builds this stage alone.
-5. **Test phase** (`test`, `golang:1.26.1-bookworm`, whose C compiler `-race`
-   needs) — extracts Alpine.js, then runs `go test -race -cover` at most four
+5. **Test phase** (`test`, `golang:1.26.1-bookworm`, the builder stage's image)
+   — extracts Alpine.js, then runs `go test -cover` with cgo off, at most four
    packages and eight tests at a time, with a 90-second timeout per package. On
    a failure it runs only the failed tests again with `-v`, since verbose output
    from the whole suite would pass the 2 MiB at which the Docker build cuts off
diff --git a/internal/archive/evict_test.go b/internal/archive/evict_test.go
index 8eaf1ab..3cff0e8 100644
--- a/internal/archive/evict_test.go
+++ b/internal/archive/evict_test.go
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ func (r *racingWrites) wait() (bool, error) {
 // contending for the writer's mutex when the eviction takes it.
 // The write that wins the mutex after the eviction must abandon
 // its work rather than reopen the archive, leaving the writer
-// permanently handle-free. Run under -race.
+// permanently handle-free.
 func TestEvictWebhook_RacingWriteDoesNotReopenHandle(
 	t *testing.T,
 ) {
diff --git a/internal/archive/sweeper_test.go b/internal/archive/sweeper_test.go
index 5ef5aaa..249a57f 100644
--- a/internal/archive/sweeper_test.go
+++ b/internal/archive/sweeper_test.go
@@ -959,9 +959,11 @@ func TestArchiveSweep_SkipsDeletedWebhookTargets(t *testing.T) {
 	)
 }
 
-// TestArchiveSweep_ConcurrentWrites proves the sweep serialises
-// against writes through the target's writer mutex. Run under
-// -race, an unsynchronised sweep would be caught here.
+// TestArchiveSweep_ConcurrentWrites runs the sweep while writes to
+// the same target are under way. The sweep serialises against them
+// through the target's writer mutex; the suite runs without Go's race
+// detector, so a sweep that did not would fail this test only by
+// panicking, hanging or leaving no archive file.
 func TestArchiveSweep_ConcurrentWrites(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
diff --git a/internal/database/password.go b/internal/database/password.go
index e114cb6..b7b0320 100644
--- a/internal/database/password.go
+++ b/internal/database/password.go
@@ -67,9 +67,10 @@ func DefaultPasswordConfig() *PasswordConfig {
 // testArgon2Memory is the Argon2id memory cost, in KiB, that a test
 // binary hashes with: 1 MB instead of the shipped 64 MB. Every test
 // that starts a database hashes the bootstrap admin password, dozens
-// of them run in parallel, and under the race detector each 64 MB hash
-// holds about 150 MB. VerifyPassword reads the cost from the hash it
-// checks, so verification follows.
+// of them run in parallel, and each 64 MB hash holds at least 64 MB
+// while it runs (about 150 MB when the suite ran under the race
+// detector). VerifyPassword reads the cost from the hash it checks, so
+// verification follows.
 const testArgon2Memory = 1024
 
 // hashAtShippedCostInTest makes a test binary hash at the shipped
diff --git a/internal/logfield/logfield_test.go b/internal/logfield/logfield_test.go
index 4dad68e..9e59014 100644
--- a/internal/logfield/logfield_test.go
+++ b/internal/logfield/logfield_test.go
@@ -21,8 +21,9 @@ const budget = 64
 
 // batchRunes is how many consecutive code points the charge test logs
 // in one value from U+1000 up. Logging each of those on its own line
-// is too slow for the suite under the race detector; 4,096 at a time
-// is 271 batches, each logged on two lines, so 542 lines per handler.
+// was too slow for the suite when it ran under the race detector;
+// 4,096 at a time is 271 batches, each logged on two lines, so 542
+// lines per handler.
 const batchRunes = 4096
 
 // newHandlers are the two handlers internal/logger can install. Time
@@ -152,10 +153,10 @@ func TestEncodedBytes_ChargesAtLeastWhatTheHandlersEmit(t *testing.T) {
 		batches = append(batches, batch.String())
 	}
 
-	// What EncodedBytes charges for each batch. Under -race -cover this
-	// takes longer than logging the batches, so it is worked out once,
-	// by whichever handler finishes logging first, while the other is
-	// still logging.
+	// What EncodedBytes charges for each batch. When the suite ran
+	// under -race -cover this took longer than logging the batches, so
+	// it is worked out once, by whichever handler finishes logging
+	// first, while the other is still logging.
 	charged := sync.OnceValue(func() []int {
 		costs := make([]int, len(batches))
 
diff --git a/internal/server/early_shutdown_test.go b/internal/server/early_shutdown_test.go
index 8895394..43c6a21 100644
--- a/internal/server/early_shutdown_test.go
+++ b/internal/server/early_shutdown_test.go
@@ -10,14 +10,12 @@ import (
 	"sneak.berlin/go/webhooker/internal/server"
 )
 
-// earlyStopIterations is how many start/stop cycles the race test
+// earlyStopIterations is how many start/stop cycles the test below
 // runs. The window it aims at is the gap between the OnStart hook
 // returning and the serving goroutine reaching its first field
-// access, which is microseconds wide. The race detector reports an
-// unsynchronised pair whenever it observes one, but it has to observe
-// one, so a single cycle can miss purely on scheduling. Repetition
-// makes the observation reliable; the collaborators are built once,
-// so the cycles themselves are cheap.
+// access, which is microseconds wide, so a single cycle can miss it
+// purely on scheduling. Repetition makes hitting it reliable; the
+// collaborators are built once, so the cycles themselves are cheap.
 const earlyStopIterations = 25
 
 // TestEarlyShutdown_NoPanicAndNoRace stops the application
@@ -38,8 +36,9 @@ const earlyStopIterations = 25
 //
 // httpServer is now built in New, on the constructing goroutine, so
 // it is written before any hook exists and can never be nil.
-// sentryEnabled is atomic. This test is what catches either one
-// coming back — under -race, which is how the suite runs.
+// sentryEnabled is atomic. This test catches the nil dereference
+// coming back, as a panic. The suite runs without Go's race
+// detector, so the data race coming back would go unreported here.
 func TestEarlyShutdown_NoPanicAndNoRace(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()