diff --git a/frontend/tests/e2e/support/api.ts b/frontend/tests/e2e/support/api.ts
index 282ca15..2f15b9f 100644
--- a/frontend/tests/e2e/support/api.ts
+++ b/frontend/tests/e2e/support/api.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 import { APIRequestContext, expect } from '@playwright/test';
 
+// Re-exported so specs get it from './fixtures' with everything else, rather
+// than reaching into support/ directly — fixtures.ts does `export * from
+// './support/api'`. It lives in its own module because that one imports
+// nothing, which is what lets the Vitest unit suite cover it without loading
+// @playwright/test. See findOrFail.ts.
+export { findOrFail } from './findOrFail';
+
 /**
  * Where the app under test is served.
  *
diff --git a/frontend/tests/e2e/support/findOrFail.ts b/frontend/tests/e2e/support/findOrFail.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d971086
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/tests/e2e/support/findOrFail.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/**
+ * Picks one row out of a collection, failing loudly when it is not there.
+ *
+ * The pattern this replaces is `collection.find(...)` dereferenced straight
+ * away — `customers.find(c => c.email === x).id`. When the row is missing the
+ * test dies with "Cannot read properties of undefined" pointing at a line of
+ * test plumbing, which says nothing about what was expected. The suite runs
+ * fullyParallel against one shared database, so a lookup over a collection
+ * other specs also write to can miss for reasons that have nothing to do with
+ * the behaviour under test (#241).
+ *
+ * Deliberately imports nothing. It lives apart from `api.ts` so the Vitest
+ * unit suite can cover it without pulling `@playwright/test` — and therefore a
+ * browser harness — into a run configured for `environment: 'node'`.
+ *
+ * Throws rather than returning null: every caller wants the row, and an
+ * Error at the point of the miss beats a null threaded through three more
+ * lines before something else fails.
+ */
+export function findOrFail<T>(
+  items: T[],
+  predicate: (item: T) => boolean,
+  description: string
+): T {
+  const found = items.find(predicate);
+
+  if (found === undefined) {
+    // The count matters as much as the description: "0 rows" means the
+    // fixture never landed, while "37 rows" means it landed and the predicate
+    // is wrong. Those are different bugs and the message should tell them
+    // apart without a re-run.
+    throw new Error(
+      `expected to find ${description}, but none of the ${items.length} rows matched`
+    );
+  }
+
+  return found;
+}
diff --git a/frontend/tests/unit/findOrFail.test.ts b/frontend/tests/unit/findOrFail.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f9551d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/tests/unit/findOrFail.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import { findOrFail } from '../e2e/support/findOrFail';
+
+interface Row {
+  id: number;
+  name: string;
+}
+
+const rows: Row[] = [
+  { id: 1, name: 'first' },
+  { id: 2, name: 'second' }
+];
+
+describe('findOrFail', () => {
+  it('returns the matching row', () => {
+    expect(findOrFail(rows, (r) => r.name === 'second', 'the second row')).toEqual({
+      id: 2,
+      name: 'second'
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('returns the first match when several qualify', () => {
+    expect(findOrFail(rows, () => true, 'anything').id).toBe(1);
+  });
+
+  // The whole point. Dereferencing a missed `.find()` gives "Cannot read
+  // properties of undefined" pointing at test plumbing; this says what was
+  // wanted and how many rows were searched.
+  it('throws naming what it looked for', () => {
+    expect(() => findOrFail(rows, (r) => r.name === 'absent', 'the absent row')).toThrow(
+      /the absent row/
+    );
+  });
+
+  it('reports how many rows it searched', () => {
+    expect(() => findOrFail(rows, () => false, 'nothing')).toThrow(/2 rows/);
+  });
+
+  it('says so when the collection was empty, which reads differently', () => {
+    expect(() => findOrFail([], () => true, 'anything')).toThrow(/0 rows/);
+  });
+});