diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-docs-only.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-docs-only.yml
index cdb9de7e0..5563383e1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-docs-only.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-docs-only.yml
@@ -111,9 +111,13 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Check no planning docs committed
         run: ./scripts/check_no_planning_docs.sh
+
       - name: Check CI paths stay in sync
         run: ./scripts/check_ci_paths_sync.sh
 
+      - name: Check io_uring lane --lib precondition
+        run: ./scripts/check_uring_lane_lib_only.sh
+
   test-and-lint:
     name: Test and Lint
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 085ed83a4..45f462b0d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -144,9 +144,13 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Check no planning docs committed
         run: ./scripts/check_no_planning_docs.sh
+
       - name: Check CI paths stay in sync
         run: ./scripts/check_ci_paths_sync.sh
 
+      - name: Check io_uring lane --lib precondition
+        run: ./scripts/check_uring_lane_lib_only.sh
+
   test-and-lint:
     name: Test and Lint
     if: github.event_name != 'pull_request' || github.event.action != 'closed'
@@ -197,8 +201,14 @@ jobs:
       # Clippy runs before the test pass: lint failures are the most common
       # CI-only breakage and should surface in minutes, not after 20+ minutes
       # of tests.
+      # Sampled too: clippy is the natural control arm for any CARGO_BUILD_JOBS
+      # experiment, since --all-targets is check-only for workspace members and
+      # never links the ~100 test binaries the limit exists to throttle.
       - name: Run clippy lints
-        run: cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings
+        run: |
+          ./scripts/ci/resource_sampler.sh start clippy
+          trap './scripts/ci/resource_sampler.sh stop' EXIT
+          cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings
 
       - name: Run nextest tests
         env:
@@ -207,33 +217,8 @@ jobs:
           CARGO_BUILD_JOBS: "2"
         run: |
           mkdir -p artifacts/test-and-lint
-          # Evidence sampler for issue #5394: the post-mortem pgrep below runs
-          # only after `timeout` has already TERM'd the whole cargo process
-          # group, so it cannot name a wedged process. Sample system and
-          # process state every 60s instead; the last samples before the
-          # timeout show what was stuck (rustc, linker, build script, memory
-          # pressure, ...). The log rides along in the existing artifact.
-          (
-            while true; do
-              {
-                echo "=== $(date --utc --iso-8601=seconds)"
-                echo "--- load";  cat /proc/loadavg
-                echo "--- psi";   grep -H . /proc/pressure/* 2>/dev/null || true
-                echo "--- mem";   free -m
-                echo "--- disk";  df -h / /home/runner 2>/dev/null || df -h /
-                echo "--- top-rss"
-                ps -eo pid,ppid,stat,etime,rss,pcpu,args --sort=-rss | head -15
-                echo "--- build/test processes"
-                ps -eo pid,ppid,stat,etime,rss,pcpu,args | grep -E '[c]argo|[r]ustc|[n]extest|[c]ollect2|rust-ll[d]|[b]uild-script|deps[/]' || true
-                echo "--- d-state (uninterruptible IO)"
-                ps -eo pid,stat,etime,args | awk 'NR > 1 && $2 ~ /D/' || true
-                echo
-              } >> artifacts/test-and-lint/sampler.log 2>&1 || true
-              sleep 60
-            done
-          ) &
-          sampler_pid=$!
-          trap 'kill "${sampler_pid}" 2>/dev/null || true' EXIT
+          ./scripts/ci/resource_sampler.sh start nextest
+          trap './scripts/ci/resource_sampler.sh stop' EXIT
           set +e
           NEXTEST_HIDE_PROGRESS_BAR=1 timeout --verbose --signal=TERM --kill-after=30s 75m \
             cargo nextest run --profile ci --all --exclude e2e_test \
@@ -592,7 +577,17 @@ jobs:
           RUSTFS_IO_URING_READ_ENABLE: "true"
           RUSTFS_URING_TESTS_MUST_RUN: "1"
           TMPDIR: /mnt/rustfs-odirect
-        run: cargo test -p rustfs-ecstore uring_ -- --test-threads=1 --nocapture
+        # --lib narrows what gets compiled, not what gets run: every selected
+        # test lives in the lib target. The 7 integration binaries under
+        # crates/ecstore/tests/ each reported "running 0 tests" here, so they
+        # were compiled and linked for nothing.
+        #
+        # The `uring_` filter must stay exactly as it is. libtest matches on
+        # substring, so it also selects names containing `during_` — 6 of the 18
+        # selected tests are such incidental matches. Narrowing the filter to
+        # `io_uring` would silently drop them, which is a coverage change.
+        # scripts/check_uring_lane_lib_only.sh guards the --lib precondition.
+        run: cargo test -p rustfs-ecstore --lib uring_ -- --test-threads=1 --nocapture
 
   e2e-tests:
     name: End-to-End Tests
diff --git a/scripts/check_uring_lane_lib_only.sh b/scripts/check_uring_lane_lib_only.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..a862d996b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/check_uring_lane_lib_only.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# The io_uring CI lane runs `cargo test -p rustfs-ecstore --lib uring_`.
+#
+# `--lib` is there to avoid compiling and linking the 7 integration binaries
+# under crates/ecstore/tests/, which selected zero tests for this filter. That is
+# only safe while it stays true: add a matching test under tests/ and `--lib`
+# would skip it silently, with CI staying green — the failure mode is invisible,
+# so it is asserted here instead.
+#
+# The pattern must use the same `uring_` substring semantics as libtest, which
+# also matches names containing `during_`. Narrowing it to `io_uring` would make
+# this guard disagree with the filter it is protecting.
+#
+# Usage: scripts/check_uring_lane_lib_only.sh
+set -euo pipefail
+
+cd "$(dirname "$0")/.."
+
+TESTS_DIR="crates/ecstore/tests"
+
+if [ ! -d "$TESTS_DIR" ]; then
+    echo "OK: $TESTS_DIR does not exist; nothing for --lib to miss"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+hits="$(grep -rEn '^[[:space:]]*(pub[[:space:]]+)?(async[[:space:]]+)?fn[[:space:]]+[A-Za-z0-9_]*uring_' \
+        "$TESTS_DIR" || true)"
+
+if [ -n "$hits" ]; then
+    echo "ERROR: test functions matching the 'uring_' substring found under $TESTS_DIR:" >&2
+    printf '%s\n' "$hits" | sed 's/^/  /' >&2
+    echo "" >&2
+    echo "The io_uring lane in .github/workflows/ci.yml uses --lib, so these would" >&2
+    echo "never run and CI would stay green. Pick one:" >&2
+    echo "  - move them into a #[cfg(test)] mod under crates/ecstore/src, or" >&2
+    echo "  - drop --lib from that step (and pay the link cost for all 7 binaries), or" >&2
+    echo "  - add an explicit --test <name> for the binary and update this script." >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "OK: no 'uring_'-matching test functions under $TESTS_DIR; --lib is safe"
diff --git a/scripts/ci/resource_sampler.sh b/scripts/ci/resource_sampler.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..4c3148848
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/ci/resource_sampler.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,107 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Background resource sampler for the Test and Lint lane (issue #5394).
+#
+# The post-mortem `pgrep` in ci.yml runs only after `timeout` has already TERM'd
+# the whole cargo process group, so it can never name a wedged process. This
+# samples every 60s instead; the last samples before a timeout show what was
+# stuck — rustc, the linker, a build script, memory pressure.
+#
+# WHY THE CGROUP READINGS MATTER
+#
+# The runners are ARC (Actions Runner Controller) pods, so /proc/loadavg,
+# /proc/pressure/*, `free` and `df` are all *node*-level: they include every
+# other runner pod scheduled on the same Kubernetes node. A sample showing high
+# I/O pressure says nothing about whether *this* job caused it. Measured
+# evidence: one sample reported loadavg 6.67 with 832 threads node-wide while
+# `ps` inside the pod showed about 10 processes.
+#
+# Only the /sys/fs/cgroup/* values and `ps` are attributable to this job, so
+# those are what any CARGO_BUILD_JOBS experiment must be judged on. The
+# node-level readings are kept — co-tenancy is itself a real cause of stalls,
+# and a 9m57s `git checkout` was traced to it — but labelled NODE-LEVEL so
+# nobody reads them as this pod's own load.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   scripts/ci/resource_sampler.sh start <phase>   # e.g. clippy, nextest, doctest
+#   scripts/ci/resource_sampler.sh stop
+#
+# Safe to call `stop` when nothing is running, and safe to `start` a new phase
+# while another is sampling — the previous one is stopped first. Never fails the
+# calling step: this is diagnostics, not a gate.
+set -uo pipefail
+
+# GNU date on the runners; the fallback keeps local smoke tests on macOS quiet.
+now() { date --utc --iso-8601=seconds 2>/dev/null || date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S+00:00; }
+
+LOG_DIR="artifacts/test-and-lint"
+LOG_FILE="${LOG_DIR}/sampler.log"
+PID_FILE="${LOG_DIR}/.sampler.pid"
+INTERVAL="${SAMPLER_INTERVAL_SECS:-60}"
+
+stop_sampler() {
+    [ -f "$PID_FILE" ] || return 0
+    local pid
+    pid="$(cat "$PID_FILE" 2>/dev/null || true)"
+    if [ -n "${pid:-}" ]; then
+        kill "$pid" 2>/dev/null || true
+    fi
+    rm -f "$PID_FILE"
+}
+
+sample_once() {
+    echo "=== $(now)"
+
+    # Attributable to this pod: cgroup v2 accounting and our own process table.
+    echo "--- POD cpu/mem limits"
+    grep -H . /sys/fs/cgroup/cpu.max /sys/fs/cgroup/memory.max \
+              /sys/fs/cgroup/memory.peak /sys/fs/cgroup/memory.current 2>/dev/null || true
+    echo "--- POD pressure (cgroup v2, this pod only)"
+    grep -H . /sys/fs/cgroup/cpu.pressure /sys/fs/cgroup/io.pressure \
+              /sys/fs/cgroup/memory.pressure 2>/dev/null || true
+    echo "--- POD nproc"; nproc 2>/dev/null || true
+
+    # NODE-LEVEL: shared with every other runner pod on this Kubernetes node.
+    # Useful for spotting co-tenancy, useless for attributing load to this job.
+    echo "--- NODE-LEVEL load (shared with co-tenant runners)"; cat /proc/loadavg 2>/dev/null || true
+    echo "--- NODE-LEVEL psi (shared with co-tenant runners)"
+    grep -H . /proc/pressure/* 2>/dev/null || true
+    echo "--- NODE-LEVEL mem (shared with co-tenant runners)"; free -m 2>/dev/null || true
+    echo "--- NODE-LEVEL disk (shared with co-tenant runners)"
+    df -h / /home/runner 2>/dev/null || df -h / 2>/dev/null || true
+
+    echo "--- top-rss"
+    ps -eo pid,ppid,stat,etime,rss,pcpu,args --sort=-rss 2>/dev/null | head -15 || true
+    echo "--- build/test processes"
+    ps -eo pid,ppid,stat,etime,rss,pcpu,args 2>/dev/null \
+        | grep -E '[c]argo|[r]ustc|[n]extest|[c]ollect2|rust-ll[d]|[b]uild-script|deps[/]' || true
+    echo "--- d-state (uninterruptible IO)"
+    ps -eo pid,stat,etime,args 2>/dev/null | awk 'NR > 1 && $2 ~ /D/' || true
+    echo
+}
+
+case "${1:-}" in
+    start)
+        phase="${2:-unknown}"
+        mkdir -p "$LOG_DIR"
+        stop_sampler
+        {
+            echo "--- phase=${phase} started_at=$(now) runner=${RUNNER_NAME:-unknown}"
+        } >> "$LOG_FILE" 2>&1 || true
+        (
+            while true; do
+                sample_once >> "$LOG_FILE" 2>&1 || true
+                sleep "$INTERVAL"
+            done
+        ) &
+        echo $! > "$PID_FILE"
+        ;;
+    stop)
+        stop_sampler
+        ;;
+    *)
+        echo "usage: $0 start <phase> | stop" >&2
+        exit 2
+        ;;
+esac
+
+exit 0