diff --git a/tests/edit.test.ts b/tests/edit.test.ts
index d2d9f67..0a32ab3 100644
--- a/tests/edit.test.ts
+++ b/tests/edit.test.ts
@@ -243,7 +243,8 @@ describe('planEdits: old -> new, the diff per file, the checks', () => {
 describe('CLI: storebound edit on a copy of the demo app', () => {
   const copy = (): string => {
     const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'sb-edit-'));
-    cpSync(join(ROOT, 'examples', 'demo-app'), dir, { recursive: true });
+    // only the tracked example: the gitignored .storebound/, renders, frames and video of a local checkout stay out
+    cpSync(join(ROOT, 'examples', 'demo-app'), dir, { recursive: true, filter: (src) => !/(^|[\\/])(\.storebound|renders|frames|video)([\\/]|$)/.test(src.slice(join(ROOT, 'examples', 'demo-app').length)) });
     return dir;
   };
   test('--show lists what the editors show', async () => {
diff --git a/tools/desktop-boot-check.ts b/tools/desktop-boot-check.ts
index 7e76f41..40af562 100644
--- a/tools/desktop-boot-check.ts
+++ b/tools/desktop-boot-check.ts
@@ -862,7 +862,7 @@ async function runEditorCase(browser: Browser, sidecar: Sidecar): Promise<CaseRe
   const unmocked = new Set<string>();
   const logged: string[] = [];
   const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'sb-boot-editor-'));
-  cpSync(join(EXAMPLES, 'demo-app'), dir, { recursive: true });
+  copyExample('demo-app', dir);
   const appstore = join(dir, 'store', 'appstore.md');
   const before = { md: readFileSync(appstore, 'utf8'), cfg: readFileSync(join(dir, 'storebound.config.ts'), 'utf8') };
   const fx = loadFixture('empty');
@@ -991,6 +991,15 @@ const ART_PULL_DRY = 'add       store/renders/en/ios69/ 2 files (01.png .. 02.pn
 /** A 1x1 PNG as the thumbnail art.thumb answers. */
 const THUMB = 'data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAIAAACQd1PeAAAADElEQVR4nGNgYGAAAAAEAAH2FzhVAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC';
 
+/** Copies an example as git has it: the example's own .gitignore entries (a local .storebound/, renders, frames) stay
+ *  out, so a checkout with generated files behaves like CI's clean one. */
+function copyExample(name: string, dir: string): void {
+  const src = join(EXAMPLES, name);
+  const ignored = (existsSync(join(src, '.gitignore')) ? readFileSync(join(src, '.gitignore'), 'utf8') : '')
+    .split('\n').map(l => l.trim()).filter(l => l && !l.startsWith('#')).map(l => l.replace(/^\/|\/$/g, ''));
+  cpSync(src, dir, { recursive: true, filter: f => { const rel = f.slice(src.length + 1).split('\\').join('/'); return !ignored.some(i => rel === i || rel.startsWith(`${i}/`)); } });
+}
+
 /**
  * The Store art tab of an app folder with pulled art: the live store art (art.live, canned) draws its thumbnails
  * (art.thumb data: URLs) with same / differs / not pulled per image, "Pull from stores" goes through the confirm dialog
@@ -1008,7 +1017,7 @@ async function runLiveArtCase(browser: Browser, sidecar: Sidecar): Promise<CaseR
   const unmocked = new Set<string>();
   const logged: string[] = [];
   const dir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'sb-boot-art-'));
-  cpSync(join(EXAMPLES, 'demo-app'), dir, { recursive: true });
+  copyExample('demo-app', dir);
   // a pulled Play screenshot in the renders folder (a real PNG, so the gallery and the replace dry run read it)
   const { encodePng } = await import('../tests/build-fixtures');
   const shot = encodePng(540, 960, () => [40, 120, 200], { colorType: 2 });