diff --git a/e2e/playwright/electron-setup.spec.ts b/e2e/playwright/electron-setup.spec.ts
index 52e2883f1..f703a6c80 100644
--- a/e2e/playwright/electron-setup.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/playwright/electron-setup.spec.ts
@@ -38,9 +38,11 @@ test('Electron setup', { tag: '@electron' }, async () => {
     },
     {
       settingsKey: TEST_SETTINGS_KEY,
-      settings: TOML.stringify({ settings: {
-        app: { projectDirectory: fullPath },
-      } }),
+      settings: TOML.stringify({
+        settings: {
+          app: { projectDirectory: fullPath },
+        },
+      }),
     }
   )
 })
diff --git a/e2e/playwright/projects.spec.ts b/e2e/playwright/projects.spec.ts
index 981055da7..bb7636952 100644
--- a/e2e/playwright/projects.spec.ts
+++ b/e2e/playwright/projects.spec.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 import { _electron as electron, test, expect } from '@playwright/test'
 import { getUtils, setup, tearDown } from './test-utils'
 import fs from 'fs/promises'
-import { secrets } from './secrets'
 import { join } from 'path'
-import { tomlStringify } from 'lang/wasm'
 
 test.afterEach(async ({ page }, testInfo) => {
   await tearDown(page, testInfo)
@@ -16,7 +14,7 @@ test(
     // create or otherwise clear the folder ./electron-test-projects-dir
     const settingsFileName = `./${testInfo.title
       .replace(/\s/gi, '-')
-      .replace(/\W/gi, '')}`
+      .replace(/![\w-]/gi, '')}`
     const projectDirName = settingsFileName + '-dir'
     try {
       await fs.rm(projectDirName, { recursive: true })
@@ -35,21 +33,15 @@ test(
     const context = electronApp.context()
     const page = await electronApp.firstWindow()
 
+    await page.goto('http://localhost:3000/')
     const electronTempDirectory = await page.evaluate(async () => {
-      return await window.electron.getPath(
-        'temp'
-      )
+      return await window.electron.getPath('temp')
     })
     const tempSettingsFilePath = join(electronTempDirectory, settingsFileName)
-    const settingsOverrides = tomlStringify({
-      app: {
-        projectDirectory: fullProjectPath,
-      },
-    })
+    const settingsOverrides = `[settings.project]
+directory = "/Users/frankjohnson/Documents/zoo-modeling-app-projects-2"
+`
 
-    if (settingsOverrides instanceof Error) {
-      throw settingsOverrides
-    }
     await fs.writeFile(tempSettingsFilePath + '.toml', settingsOverrides)
 
     console.log('from within test setup', {
diff --git a/e2e/playwright/test-utils.ts b/e2e/playwright/test-utils.ts
index e1a4498cf..a910f6ea3 100644
--- a/e2e/playwright/test-utils.ts
+++ b/e2e/playwright/test-utils.ts
@@ -609,7 +609,11 @@ export async function tearDown(page: Page, testInfo: TestInfo) {
 
 // settingsOverrides may need to be augmented to take more generic items,
 // but we'll be strict for now
-export async function setup(context: BrowserContext, page: Page, overrideDirectory?: string) {
+export async function setup(
+  context: BrowserContext,
+  page: Page,
+  overrideDirectory?: string
+) {
   // wait for Vite preview server to be up
   await waitOn({
     resources: ['tcp:3000'],
@@ -630,7 +634,8 @@ export async function setup(context: BrowserContext, page: Page, overrideDirecto
         ...TEST_SETTINGS,
         app: {
           ...TEST_SETTINGS.app,
-          projectDirectory: overrideDirectory || TEST_SETTINGS.app.projectDirectory,
+          projectDirectory:
+            overrideDirectory || TEST_SETTINGS.app.projectDirectory,
         },
       }),
     }
diff --git a/src/lib/constants.ts b/src/lib/constants.ts
index 310af6b72..867598cef 100644
--- a/src/lib/constants.ts
+++ b/src/lib/constants.ts
@@ -56,4 +56,4 @@ export const KCL_DEFAULT_CONSTANT_PREFIXES = {
 /** The default KCL length expression */
 export const KCL_DEFAULT_LENGTH = `5`
 /** localStorage key for the playwright test-specific app settings file */
-export const TEST_SETTINGS_FILE_KEY = 'playwright-test-settings'
\ No newline at end of file
+export const TEST_SETTINGS_FILE_KEY = 'playwright-test-settings'
diff --git a/src/lib/desktop.ts b/src/lib/desktop.ts
index 75bdbb571..9cf488a85 100644
--- a/src/lib/desktop.ts
+++ b/src/lib/desktop.ts
@@ -377,7 +377,8 @@ export async function writeProjectSettingsFile(
 
 const getAppSettingsFilePath = async () => {
   const isPlaywright = window.localStorage.getItem('playwright') === 'true'
-  const testDirectoryName = window.localStorage.getItem(TEST_SETTINGS_FILE_KEY) ?? ''
+  const testDirectoryName =
+    window.localStorage.getItem(TEST_SETTINGS_FILE_KEY) ?? ''
   const appConfig = await window.electron.getPath(
     isPlaywright ? 'temp' : 'appData'
   )