diff --git a/tests/runner-e2e/README.md b/tests/runner-e2e/README.md
index fccbbca6255..4525a9359f4 100644
--- a/tests/runner-e2e/README.md
+++ b/tests/runner-e2e/README.md
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ sandbox rather than waiting for Daytona's idle timeout.
 
 `daytona-journal-continuity` is one explicit-only native Codex cell. Select
 `daytona-journal-continuity.runner-codex.daytona.large-journal-three-turn`.
-It reuses the three-turn warm workflow with a browser-submitted 220 KiB
+It reuses the three-turn warm workflow with a browser-submitted 180 KiB
 synthetic brief and four MiB of bounded command output through the real provider. Before the first browser follow-up,
 a read-only controller journal oracle requires the exact completed run's journal
 to exceed two MiB. Only byte counts enter evidence. No runner state or database
diff --git a/tests/runner-e2e/catalog.ts b/tests/runner-e2e/catalog.ts
index 0c5c6f01aba..fd65481cd31 100644
--- a/tests/runner-e2e/catalog.ts
+++ b/tests/runner-e2e/catalog.ts
@@ -885,7 +885,7 @@ export const daytonaLargeJournalTask: RunnerTaskFixture = {
     warmTurnInstructions(1, nonce),
     "The following synthetic reference sample is task data for the persistence diagnostic. Do not analyze, reproduce, or edit it; follow the instructions above.",
     "BEGIN SYNTHETIC REFERENCE SAMPLE",
-    ("synthetic-reference-sample " + "x".repeat(52) + "\n").repeat(2816),
+    ("synthetic-reference-sample " + "x".repeat(52) + "\n").repeat(2304),
     "END SYNTHETIC REFERENCE SAMPLE",
   ].join("\n"),
 };
@@ -1079,7 +1079,7 @@ export const runnerSuites: readonly RunnerSuiteFixture[] = [
     environments: [daytonaWarmEnvironment],
     tasks: [daytonaLargeJournalTask],
     expectedMatrixSize: 1,
-    definitionMetadata: { version: 2, journalMinimumBytes: 2 * 1024 * 1024, briefBytes: 220 * 1024, outputChunks: 64, scheduling: "explicit-only" },
+    definitionMetadata: { version: 2, journalMinimumBytes: 2 * 1024 * 1024, briefBytes: 180 * 1024, outputChunks: 64, scheduling: "explicit-only" },
   },
 ] as const;