diff --git a/dashboards/admin-web/e2e/dashboard-reliability.spec.ts b/dashboards/admin-web/e2e/dashboard-reliability.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c5d2c6f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dashboards/admin-web/e2e/dashboard-reliability.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+import { test, expect, type Page, type Route } from '@playwright/test';
+
+function authenticate(page: Page) {
+  return page.addInitScript(() => {
+    localStorage.setItem('admin_access_token', 'mock-token');
+    localStorage.setItem('admin_refresh_token', 'mock-refresh');
+    localStorage.setItem(
+      'admin_auth_user',
+      JSON.stringify({
+        email: 'admin@example.com',
+        name: 'Admin User',
+        role: 'super_admin',
+      })
+    );
+  });
+}
+
+async function fulfillJson(route: Route, body: unknown, status = 200) {
+  await route.fulfill({
+    status,
+    contentType: 'application/json',
+    body: JSON.stringify(body),
+  });
+}
+
+test.describe('Admin dashboard reliability', () => {
+  test('shows an in-page retry path when dashboard APIs fail', async ({ page }) => {
+    await authenticate(page);
+
+    let recover = false;
+    await page.route('**/api/dashboard/stats', route =>
+      recover
+        ? fulfillJson(route, {
+            users: { total: 42, byPlan: { pro: 20 } },
+            tokens: { active: 7 },
+            usage: { totalWords: 8400, totalDictations: 120, totalCost: 12.34 },
+            audit: { total: 2, failedLogins: 0 },
+          })
+        : fulfillJson(route, { error: 'stats unavailable' }, 503)
+    );
+    await page.route('**/api/usage**', route =>
+      recover
+        ? fulfillJson(route, {
+            records: [
+              {
+                date: '2026-05-30',
+                tokensUsed: 8400,
+                dictations: 120,
+                costUsd: 12.34,
+                model: 'gpt-4o-mini',
+              },
+            ],
+          })
+        : fulfillJson(route, { error: 'usage unavailable' }, 503)
+    );
+    await page.route('**/api/users**', route =>
+      recover
+        ? fulfillJson(route, {
+            users: [
+              {
+                id: 'u1',
+                name: 'Admin User',
+                email: 'admin@example.com',
+                plan: 'pro',
+                status: 'active',
+                createdAt: '2026-05-01T00:00:00Z',
+                lastActive: '2026-05-30T00:00:00Z',
+                totalTokensUsed: 8400,
+                totalRequests: 120,
+                monthlySpend: 12.34,
+              },
+            ],
+            total: 1,
+            byPlan: { pro: 1 },
+          })
+        : fulfillJson(route, { error: 'users unavailable' }, 503)
+    );
+    await page.route('**/api/analytics/revenue**', route =>
+      recover
+        ? fulfillJson(route, {
+            mrr: 199,
+            arr: 2388,
+            mrrChange: 8,
+            totalRevenue: 2388,
+            revenueByMonth: [],
+            churnRate: 2,
+            churnCount: 1,
+            ltv: 1200,
+            arpu: 99,
+            newSubscriptions: 3,
+            canceledSubscriptions: 1,
+          })
+        : fulfillJson(route, { error: 'revenue unavailable' }, 503)
+    );
+
+    await page.goto('/');
+    await expect(page.getByRole('heading', { name: /could not load dashboard/i })).toBeVisible();
+
+    recover = true;
+    await page.getByRole('button', { name: /retry/i }).click();
+    await expect(page.getByRole('heading', { name: 'Dashboard' })).toBeVisible();
+    await expect(page.getByText('42', { exact: true }).first()).toBeVisible();
+    await expect(page.getByRole('main').getByText('Admin User')).toBeVisible();
+  });
+});
diff --git a/dashboards/admin-web/playwright.config.ts b/dashboards/admin-web/playwright.config.ts
index 369fabd0..105f6f0e 100644
--- a/dashboards/admin-web/playwright.config.ts
+++ b/dashboards/admin-web/playwright.config.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 import { defineConfig, devices } from '@playwright/test';
 
+const port = Number(process.env.ADMIN_WEB_E2E_PORT ?? 3101);
+const baseURL = process.env.ADMIN_WEB_E2E_URL ?? `http://127.0.0.1:${port}`;
+
 export default defineConfig({
   testDir: './e2e',
   fullyParallel: true,
@@ -8,7 +11,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
   workers: process.env.CI ? 1 : undefined,
   reporter: 'html',
   use: {
-    baseURL: 'http://localhost:3001',
+    baseURL,
     trace: 'on-first-retry',
   },
   projects: [
@@ -18,9 +21,9 @@ export default defineConfig({
     },
   ],
   webServer: {
-    command: 'npm run dev',
-    url: 'http://localhost:3001',
-    reuseExistingServer: !process.env.CI,
-    timeout: 30_000,
+    command: `pnpm exec next dev -H 127.0.0.1 -p ${port}`,
+    url: baseURL,
+    reuseExistingServer: process.env.ADMIN_WEB_REUSE_SERVER === '1',
+    timeout: 60_000,
   },
 });
diff --git a/dashboards/admin-web/src/app/(dashboard)/page.tsx b/dashboards/admin-web/src/app/(dashboard)/page.tsx
index 9211b795..7b516d90 100644
--- a/dashboards/admin-web/src/app/(dashboard)/page.tsx
+++ b/dashboards/admin-web/src/app/(dashboard)/page.tsx
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import {
   ArrowDownRight,
   RefreshCw,
   Cpu,
+  AlertCircle,
 } from 'lucide-react';
 import { Card, CardContent, CardHeader, CardTitle } from '@/components/ui/card';
 import { Badge } from '@/components/ui/badge';
@@ -218,6 +219,7 @@ export default function DashboardPage() {
   const [revenue, setRevenue] = useState<RevenueAnalytics | null>(null);
   const [loading, setLoading] = useState(true);
   const [refreshing, setRefreshing] = useState(false);
+  const [loadError, setLoadError] = useState<string | null>(null);
   const [lastUpdated, setLastUpdated] = useState<Date | null>(null);
 
   const fetchData = useCallback(async (isRefresh = false) => {
@@ -230,15 +232,29 @@ export default function DashboardPage() {
         apiGetRevenueAnalytics(6),
       ]);
 
+      let successfulSections = 0;
+      const failures: string[] = [];
+
       if (statsRes.status === 'fulfilled' && statsRes.value.data) {
+        successfulSections += 1;
         setStats(prev => mergeApiStats(prev, statsRes.value.data!));
+      } else {
+        failures.push('dashboard stats');
       }
       if (usageRes.status === 'fulfilled' && usageRes.value.data?.records?.length) {
+        successfulSections += 1;
         const metrics = usageRecordsToDailyMetrics(usageRes.value.data.records);
         setDailyMetrics(metrics);
         setModelUsage(buildModelUsage(usageRes.value.data.records));
+      } else if (usageRes.status === 'fulfilled' && usageRes.value.data) {
+        successfulSections += 1;
+        setDailyMetrics([]);
+        setModelUsage([]);
+      } else {
+        failures.push('usage');
       }
       if (usersRes.status === 'fulfilled' && usersRes.value.data?.users?.length) {
+        successfulSections += 1;
         setRecentUsers(
           usersRes.value.data.users
             .sort((a, b) => b.lastActive.localeCompare(a.lastActive))
@@ -256,9 +272,22 @@ export default function DashboardPage() {
               monthlySpend: u.monthlySpend,
             }))
         );
+      } else if (usersRes.status === 'fulfilled' && usersRes.value.data) {
+        successfulSections += 1;
+        setRecentUsers([]);
+      } else {
+        failures.push('users');
       }
       if (revenueRes.status === 'fulfilled' && revenueRes.value.data) {
+        successfulSections += 1;
         setRevenue(revenueRes.value.data);
+      } else {
+        failures.push('revenue');
+      }
+      if (successfulSections === 0) {
+        setLoadError(`Could not load ${failures.join(', ')}. Check the API connection and retry.`);
+      } else {
+        setLoadError(null);
       }
       setLastUpdated(new Date());
     } finally {
@@ -303,6 +332,24 @@ export default function DashboardPage() {
         </p>
       </div>
 
+      {loadError && !loading && (
+        <Card className="border-destructive/40 bg-destructive/5">
+          <CardContent className="flex flex-col gap-4 p-6 sm:flex-row sm:items-center sm:justify-between">
+            <div className="flex gap-3">
+              <AlertCircle className="mt-0.5 h-5 w-5 shrink-0 text-destructive" aria-hidden />
+              <div>
+                <h2 className="font-semibold text-destructive">Could not load dashboard</h2>
+                <p className="mt-1 text-sm text-muted-foreground">{loadError}</p>
+              </div>
+            </div>
+            <Button variant="outline" onClick={() => fetchData(true)} disabled={refreshing}>
+              <RefreshCw className={`mr-2 h-4 w-4 ${refreshing ? 'animate-spin' : ''}`} />
+              Retry
+            </Button>
+          </CardContent>
+        </Card>
+      )}
+
       {/* KPI Cards */}
       {loading ? (
         <div className="grid gap-4 md:grid-cols-2 lg:grid-cols-3">