diff --git a/uploads-route.test.js b/uploads-route.test.js
index 7d30b0e..7fbee51 100644
--- a/uploads-route.test.js
+++ b/uploads-route.test.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ const test = require("node:test");
 const assert = require("node:assert/strict");
 const fs = require("node:fs");
 const path = require("node:path");
+const os = require("node:os");
 const { spawn } = require("node:child_process");
 const http = require("node:http");
 
@@ -37,9 +38,22 @@ function waitForServer(url, timeoutMs = 10000) {
 }
 
 let child;
+let cwd;
 test.before(async () => {
+  // server.js resolves uploads/ relative to its own __dirname, not PORT —
+  // a past version of this test spawned server.js with cwd: __dirname
+  // (the real repo) and then rm -rf'd the whole uploads/ directory in
+  // test.after as "cleanup", which wiped real uploaded content on every
+  // `node --test` run. Spawn from an isolated tmpdir copy instead, same
+  // pattern as dressup-generate.test.js / dance-channel.test.js, so this
+  // test can never touch the real repo's uploads/.
+  cwd = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "uploads-route-test-"));
+  for (const f of ["server.js", "ingest.js", "uploads.js", "store.js", "dressup-store.js", "prompt-template.js"]) {
+    fs.copyFileSync(path.join(__dirname, f), path.join(cwd, f));
+  }
+
   child = spawn(process.execPath, ["server.js"], {
-    cwd: __dirname,
+    cwd,
     // H3_CONSOLE_BASE cleared: this test only exercises the upload route,
     // no need for the spawned copy to also hit the real H3 Console /
     // race the live pm2 instance on library.json's periodic sync.
@@ -58,10 +72,7 @@ test.before(async () => {
 
 test.after(() => {
   child.kill();
-  // uploads/ written by this test run lands under the real repo path
-  // (server.js resolves it relative to __dirname, not PORT) — clean it up.
-  const dir = path.join(__dirname, "uploads");
-  fs.rmSync(dir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  fs.rmSync(cwd, { recursive: true, force: true });
 });
 
 test("uploading a real mp4 via /api/admin/upload-video returns a URL that GET /uploads/* serves back as video/mp4", async () => {