diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index aa95599..deda64c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ data/
 data-*/
 logs/
 .ejclaw-reviewer-runtime/
+# Scratch dirs created in CWD by outbound-attachments tests; leak into the repo
+# root only when a test run is interrupted mid-flight.
+.ejclaw-attachment-*/
+.ejclaw-*images-*/
 
 # Groups - only track base structure and specific CLAUDE.md files
 groups-*/
diff --git a/src/paired-execution-context.test.ts b/src/paired-execution-context.test.ts
index 43d0a2b..6e52f51 100644
--- a/src/paired-execution-context.test.ts
+++ b/src/paired-execution-context.test.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,19 @@ vi.mock('./logger.js', () => ({
   },
 }));
 
+// This suite verifies the flag-OFF ("by default") carry-forward behavior. Pin
+// the switch to false so the result is deterministic regardless of the
+// deployment's .env override (the flag-ON path is covered separately in
+// paired-execution-context-carry-forward.test.ts).
+vi.mock('./config.js', async () => {
+  const actual =
+    await vi.importActual<typeof import('./config.js')>('./config.js');
+  return {
+    ...actual,
+    PAIRED_CARRY_FORWARD_LATEST_OWNER_FINAL: false,
+  };
+});
+
 import * as db from './db.js';
 import * as config from './config.js';
 import {