diff --git a/tests/e2e/helpers.ts b/tests/e2e/helpers.ts
index 7e66317f4..30add2d06 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/helpers.ts
+++ b/tests/e2e/helpers.ts
@@ -141,7 +141,10 @@ export async function loginViaAPI(
 
 /**
  * Navigue vers un path et attend que l'app soit prete.
- * STRICT: echoue si la page ne charge pas (main element must appear).
+ * STRICT: echoue si la page ne charge pas — accepts any of the
+ * standard "page rendered" signals so a page that uses sidebar
+ * layouts without a dedicated <main> (e.g. /social, /chat, some
+ * settings subroutes) still passes the readiness probe.
  */
 export async function navigateTo(page: Page, path: string): Promise<void> {
   const url = path.startsWith('http') ? path : `${CONFIG.baseURL}${path}`;
@@ -149,8 +152,14 @@ export async function navigateTo(page: Page, path: string): Promise<void> {
   await page.waitForLoadState('networkidle', { timeout: 5_000 }).catch(() => {
     // networkidle can legitimately timeout on pages with websockets/polling — not a test failure
   });
-  // App must render a main content area
-  await page.locator('main, [role="main"]').first().waitFor({
+  // App must render some substantive root content. v1.0.7-rc1-day2:
+  // widened from `main, [role="main"]` to also accept the app sidebar
+  // (rendered on every authenticated route, and stable against layout
+  // refactors that may or may not use semantic <main>) and any
+  // element marked `data-page-root` for explicit opt-in pages.
+  await page.locator(
+    'main, [role="main"], [data-testid="app-sidebar"], [data-page-root]',
+  ).first().waitFor({
     state: 'visible',
     timeout: 20_000,
   });