diff --git a/packages/studio/src/components/renders/RenderQueue.test.tsx b/packages/studio/src/components/renders/RenderQueue.test.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a714193fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/studio/src/components/renders/RenderQueue.test.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+// @vitest-environment happy-dom
+
+import { act } from "react";
+import { createRoot, type Root } from "react-dom/client";
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { RenderQueue } from "./RenderQueue";
+
+Object.assign(globalThis, { IS_REACT_ACT_ENVIRONMENT: true });
+
+let root: Root | null = null;
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  if (root) act(() => root?.unmount());
+  root = null;
+  document.body.innerHTML = "";
+});
+
+function mountRenderQueue(onStartRender: ReturnType<typeof vi.fn>) {
+  const host = document.createElement("div");
+  document.body.append(host);
+  root = createRoot(host);
+  act(() => {
+    root?.render(
+      <RenderQueue
+        jobs={[]}
+        projectId="demo"
+        onDelete={vi.fn()}
+        onClearCompleted={vi.fn()}
+        onStartRender={onStartRender}
+        isRendering={false}
+        compositionDimensions={{ width: 1920, height: 1080 }}
+      />,
+    );
+  });
+  return host;
+}
+
+describe("RenderQueue resolution submission", () => {
+  it("submits the canonical landscape 4K preset selected by the user", () => {
+    const onStartRender = vi.fn();
+    const host = mountRenderQueue(onStartRender);
+    const resolutionSelect = [...host.querySelectorAll("select")].find((select) =>
+      [...select.options].some((option) => option.textContent?.startsWith("4K")),
+    );
+    if (!resolutionSelect) throw new Error("resolution selector did not render");
+
+    act(() => {
+      resolutionSelect.value = "4k";
+      resolutionSelect.dispatchEvent(new Event("change", { bubbles: true }));
+    });
+
+    const exportButton = [...host.querySelectorAll("button")].find(
+      (button) => button.textContent === "Export",
+    );
+    if (!exportButton) throw new Error("export button did not render");
+    act(() => {
+      exportButton.dispatchEvent(new MouseEvent("click", { bubbles: true }));
+    });
+
+    expect(onStartRender).toHaveBeenCalledWith("mp4", "standard", "landscape-4k", 30);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/components/renders/RenderQueue.tsx b/packages/studio/src/components/renders/RenderQueue.tsx
index 71c142ad4..46f1958bc 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/components/renders/RenderQueue.tsx
+++ b/packages/studio/src/components/renders/RenderQueue.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { memo, useState, useRef, useEffect, useId } from "react";
+import { CANVAS_DIMENSIONS } from "@hyperframes/parsers";
 import { RenderQueueItem } from "./RenderQueueItem";
 import { Button } from "../ui/Button";
 import type { RenderJob, ResolutionPreset } from "./useRenderQueue";
@@ -53,17 +54,6 @@ const SCALE_LABEL: Record<RenderScale, string> = {
   "4k": "4K",
 };
 
-// Mirrors `CANVAS_DIMENSIONS` in @hyperframes/core. Studio can't import from
-// the core barrel (it transitively pulls in node:fs) and the values are stable.
-const CANVAS_DIMENSIONS: Record<ResolutionPreset, CompositionDimensions> = {
-  landscape: { width: 1920, height: 1080 },
-  portrait: { width: 1080, height: 1920 },
-  "landscape-4k": { width: 3840, height: 2160 },
-  "portrait-4k": { width: 2160, height: 3840 },
-  square: { width: 1080, height: 1080 },
-  "square-4k": { width: 2160, height: 2160 },
-};
-
 type CompAspect = "landscape" | "portrait" | "square";
 
 function compAspect(dims: CompositionDimensions | null | undefined): CompAspect {
@@ -254,7 +244,7 @@ function FormatExportButton({
   const persisted = getPersistedRenderSettings();
   const [format, setFormat] = useState<"mp4" | "webm" | "mov">(persisted.format);
   const [quality, setQuality] = useState<"draft" | "standard" | "high">(persisted.quality);
-  const [resolution, setResolution] = useState<ResolutionPreset | "auto">("auto");
+  const [resolution, setResolution] = useState<RenderScale>("auto");
   const [fps, setFps] = useState<24 | 30 | 60>(persisted.fps);
 
   // MOV (ProRes) is a fixed-quality codec — quality selector has no effect.
@@ -290,7 +280,7 @@ function FormatExportButton({
           <span className="text-[10px] text-panel-text-4">Resolution</span>
           <select
             value={resolution}
-            onChange={(e) => setResolution(e.target.value as ResolutionPreset | "auto")}
+            onChange={(e) => setResolution(e.target.value as RenderScale)}
             disabled={isRendering}
             className={selectCls}
           >
@@ -352,8 +342,9 @@ function FormatExportButton({
           // loading already disables the button; this guard also stops a
           // double-click in the same frame from enqueueing two renders.
           if (isRendering) return;
-          trackStudioEvent("render_start", { format, quality, resolution, fps });
-          void onStartRender(format, quality, resolution, fps);
+          const outputResolution = resolveResolution(resolution, compositionDimensions);
+          trackStudioEvent("render_start", { format, quality, resolution: outputResolution, fps });
+          void onStartRender(format, quality, outputResolution, fps);
         }}
         className="w-full text-[11px] font-semibold"
       >
diff --git a/packages/studio/src/components/renders/useRenderQueue.ts b/packages/studio/src/components/renders/useRenderQueue.ts
index 0e808f87e..7928950fc 100644
--- a/packages/studio/src/components/renders/useRenderQueue.ts
+++ b/packages/studio/src/components/renders/useRenderQueue.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { useState, useEffect, useCallback, useRef, useMemo } from "react";
+import type { CanvasResolution } from "@hyperframes/parsers";
 import { trackStudioRenderStart } from "../../telemetry/events";
 import { getAnonymousId } from "../../telemetry/config";
 import { generateId } from "../../utils/generateId";
@@ -14,17 +15,10 @@ export interface RenderJob {
   durationMs?: number;
 }
 
-// Mirrors `CanvasResolution` from @hyperframes/core. Kept local because
-// studio's tsconfig doesn't include node types, and the core barrel
-// transitively pulls in modules with `node:fs` imports. Drift risk is
-// low (6 string literals kept in sync manually with CANVAS_DIMENSIONS).
-export type ResolutionPreset =
-  | "landscape"
-  | "portrait"
-  | "landscape-4k"
-  | "portrait-4k"
-  | "square"
-  | "square-4k";
+// The CLI consumes this same source through @hyperframes/core's re-export.
+// Importing from the browser-safe parsers package avoids the core barrel's
+// Node-only transitive modules without duplicating the preset union in Studio.
+export type ResolutionPreset = CanvasResolution;
 
 export interface StartRenderOptions {
   fps?: number;
diff --git a/packages/studio/vite.browser.test.ts b/packages/studio/vite.browser.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..411c693c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/studio/vite.browser.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+const launch = vi.fn();
+
+vi.mock("puppeteer-core", () => ({
+  default: { launch },
+}));
+
+describe("generateThumbnail", () => {
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    launch.mockReset();
+    launch.mockRejectedValue(new Error("browser launch failed"));
+  });
+
+  it("contains browser launch failures and retries them on the next request", async () => {
+    const { generateThumbnail } = await import("./vite.browser");
+    const options = {
+      project: { dir: "/tmp/hyperframes-thumbnail-test" },
+      compPath: "index.html",
+      seekTime: 0.5,
+      previewUrl: "http://localhost/preview",
+      width: 1920,
+      height: 1080,
+      format: "jpeg" as const,
+    };
+
+    await expect(generateThumbnail(options)).resolves.toBeNull();
+    await expect(generateThumbnail({ ...options, seekTime: 1 })).resolves.toBeNull();
+
+    expect(launch).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+  });
+});
+
+describe("findSystemChrome", () => {
+  it("uses the CLI browser override before legacy producer and system paths", async () => {
+    const { findSystemChrome } = await import("./vite.browser");
+    const pathExists = vi.fn(() => true);
+
+    expect(
+      findSystemChrome(
+        {
+          HYPERFRAMES_BROWSER_PATH: "/custom/browser",
+          PRODUCER_HEADLESS_SHELL_PATH: "/legacy/browser",
+        },
+        pathExists,
+      ),
+    ).toBe("/custom/browser");
+    expect(pathExists).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/studio/vite.browser.ts b/packages/studio/vite.browser.ts
index 9d1482cdf..737a67476 100644
--- a/packages/studio/vite.browser.ts
+++ b/packages/studio/vite.browser.ts
@@ -20,12 +20,22 @@ const CHROME_PATHS = [
   "/usr/bin/chromium-browser",
 ];
 
+/** Resolve the same explicit browser overrides used by the CLI before system paths. */
+export function findSystemChrome(
+  env: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env,
+  pathExists: (path: string) => boolean = existsSync,
+): string | undefined {
+  const override = env["HYPERFRAMES_BROWSER_PATH"] ?? env["PRODUCER_HEADLESS_SHELL_PATH"];
+  if (override && pathExists(override)) return override;
+  return CHROME_PATHS.find((path) => pathExists(path));
+}
+
 async function getSharedBrowser(): Promise<import("puppeteer-core").Browser | null> {
   if (_browser?.connected) return _browser;
   if (_browserLaunchPromise) return _browserLaunchPromise;
-  _browserLaunchPromise = (async () => {
+  const launchPromise = (async () => {
     const puppeteer = await import("puppeteer-core");
-    const executablePath = CHROME_PATHS.find((p) => existsSync(p));
+    const executablePath = findSystemChrome();
     if (!executablePath) return null;
     _browser = await puppeteer.default.launch({
       headless: true,
@@ -40,15 +50,14 @@ async function getSharedBrowser(): Promise<import("puppeteer-core").Browser | nu
         "--enable-unsafe-swiftshader",
       ],
     });
-    _browserLaunchPromise = null;
     return _browser;
   })();
-  return _browserLaunchPromise;
-}
-
-/** The system Chrome executable path (undefined if not found). */
-export function findSystemChrome(): string | undefined {
-  return CHROME_PATHS.find((p) => existsSync(p));
+  _browserLaunchPromise = launchPromise;
+  try {
+    return await launchPromise;
+  } finally {
+    if (_browserLaunchPromise === launchPromise) _browserLaunchPromise = null;
+  }
 }
 
 // In-flight thumbnail dedup
@@ -121,10 +130,10 @@ export async function generateThumbnail(opts: GenerateThumbnailOptions): Promise
   let bufferPromise = _thumbnailInflight.get(cacheKey);
   if (!bufferPromise) {
     bufferPromise = (async () => {
-      const browser = await getSharedBrowser();
-      if (!browser) return null;
-      let page: Awaited<ReturnType<typeof browser.newPage>> | null = null;
+      let page: Awaited<ReturnType<import("puppeteer-core").Browser["newPage"]>> | null = null;
       try {
+        const browser = await getSharedBrowser();
+        if (!browser) return null;
         page = await browser.newPage();
         await page.setViewport({
           width: opts.width,
@@ -196,7 +205,8 @@ export async function generateThumbnail(opts: GenerateThumbnailOptions): Promise
       }
     })();
     _thumbnailInflight.set(cacheKey, bufferPromise);
-    bufferPromise.finally(() => _thumbnailInflight.delete(cacheKey));
+    const clearInflight = () => _thumbnailInflight.delete(cacheKey);
+    bufferPromise.then(clearInflight, clearInflight);
   }
   return bufferPromise;
 }