diff --git a/.env.development b/.env.development
index 51af17ea2..ba9d3917f 100644
--- a/.env.development
+++ b/.env.development
@@ -9,10 +9,11 @@ VITE_KC_SITE_BASE_URL=https://dev.zoo.dev
 VITE_KC_SITE_APP_URL=https://app.dev.zoo.dev
 VITE_KC_SKIP_AUTH=false
 VITE_KC_CONNECTION_TIMEOUT_MS=5000
-#VITE_KC_DEV_TOKEN="optional token from dev.zoo.dev to skip auth in the app"
+#VITE_KC_DEV_TOKEN="optional token to skip auth in the app"
+#token="required token for playwright. TODO: clean up env vars in #3973"
 
 RUST_BACKTRACE=1
 PYO3_PYTHON=/usr/local/bin/python3
-#KITTYCAD_API_TOKEN="required token from dev.zoo.dev for engine testing"
+#KITTYCAD_API_TOKEN="required token for engine testing"
 
 FAIL_ON_CONSOLE_ERRORS=true
diff --git a/.github/workflows/e2e-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/e2e-tests.yml
index 74705590c..dab5f80cb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/e2e-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/e2e-tests.yml
@@ -229,7 +229,6 @@ jobs:
           max_attempts: 5
         env:
           token: ${{ secrets.KITTYCAD_API_TOKEN_DEV }}
-          snapshottoken: ${{ secrets.KITTYCAD_API_TOKEN }}
           TAB_API_URL: ${{ secrets.TAB_API_URL }}
           TAB_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.TAB_API_KEY }}
           CI_COMMIT_SHA: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index cda4766d1..f21a03c17 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -198,15 +198,9 @@ For more information on fuzzing you can check out
 
 ### Playwright tests
 
-You will need a `./e2e/playwright/playwright-secrets.env` file:
+Prepare these system dependencies:
 
-```bash
-$ touch ./e2e/playwright/playwright-secrets.env
-$ cat ./e2e/playwright/playwright-secrets.env
-token=<zoo.dev/account/api-tokens>
-snapshottoken=<zoo.dev/account/api-tokens>
-```
-or use `export` to set the environment variables `token` and `snapshottoken`.
+- Set $token from https://zoo.dev/account/api-tokens
 
 #### Snapshot tests (Google Chrome on Ubuntu only)
 
diff --git a/e2e/playwright/fixtures/signInPageFixture.ts b/e2e/playwright/fixtures/signInPageFixture.ts
index 7d071533c..9f5ea8296 100644
--- a/e2e/playwright/fixtures/signInPageFixture.ts
+++ b/e2e/playwright/fixtures/signInPageFixture.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import type { Locator, Page } from '@playwright/test'
-import { secrets } from '@e2e/playwright/secrets'
+import { token } from '@e2e/playwright/test-utils'
 
 export class SignInPageFixture {
   public page: Page
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ export class SignInPageFixture {
     // Device flow: stolen from the tauri days
     // https://github.com/KittyCAD/modeling-app/blob/d916c7987452e480719004e6d11fd2e595c7d0eb/e2e/tauri/specs/app.spec.ts#L19
     const headers = {
-      Authorization: `Bearer ${secrets.token}`,
+      Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
       Accept: 'application/json',
       'Content-Type': 'application/json',
     }
diff --git a/e2e/playwright/secrets.ts b/e2e/playwright/secrets.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index e39f7d00f..000000000
--- a/e2e/playwright/secrets.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
-import { readFileSync } from 'fs'
-
-const secrets: Record<string, string> = {}
-const secretsPath = './e2e/playwright/playwright-secrets.env'
-try {
-  const file = readFileSync(secretsPath, 'utf8')
-  file
-    .split('\n')
-    .filter((line) => line && line.length > 1)
-    .forEach((line) => {
-      // Allow line comments.
-      if (line.trimStart().startsWith('#')) return
-      const [key, value] = line.split('=')
-      // prefer env vars over secrets file
-      secrets[key] = process.env[key] || (value as any).replaceAll('"', '')
-    })
-} catch (error: unknown) {
-  void error
-  // probably running in CI
-  console.warn(
-    `Error reading ${secretsPath}; environment variables will be used`
-  )
-}
-secrets.token = secrets.token || process.env.token || ''
-secrets.snapshottoken = secrets.snapshottoken || process.env.snapshottoken || ''
-// add more env vars here to make them available in CI
-
-export { secrets }
diff --git a/e2e/playwright/test-utils.ts b/e2e/playwright/test-utils.ts
index b93afb186..d258c23dc 100644
--- a/e2e/playwright/test-utils.ts
+++ b/e2e/playwright/test-utils.ts
@@ -13,11 +13,15 @@ import fsp from 'fs/promises'
 import pixelMatch from 'pixelmatch'
 import type { Protocol } from 'playwright-core/types/protocol'
 import { PNG } from 'pngjs'
+import dotenv from 'dotenv'
+
+const NODE_ENV = process.env.NODE_ENV || 'development'
+dotenv.config({ path: [`.env.${NODE_ENV}.local`, `.env.${NODE_ENV}`] })
+export const token = process.env.token || ''
 
 import type { ProjectConfiguration } from '@rust/kcl-lib/bindings/ProjectConfiguration'
 
 import { isErrorWhitelisted } from '@e2e/playwright/lib/console-error-whitelist'
-import { secrets } from '@e2e/playwright/secrets'
 import { TEST_SETTINGS, TEST_SETTINGS_KEY } from '@e2e/playwright/storageStates'
 import { test } from '@e2e/playwright/zoo-test'
 
@@ -891,7 +895,7 @@ export async function setup(
       localStorage.setItem('PLAYWRIGHT_TEST_DIR', PLAYWRIGHT_TEST_DIR)
     },
     {
-      token: secrets.token,
+      token,
       settingsKey: TEST_SETTINGS_KEY,
       settings: settingsToToml({
         settings: {
@@ -919,7 +923,7 @@ export async function setup(
   await context.addCookies([
     {
       name: COOKIE_NAME,
-      value: secrets.token,
+      value: token,
       path: '/',
       domain: 'localhost',
       secure: true,
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 20e075f06..b2cb9144b 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -2492,6 +2492,7 @@
     },
     "node_modules/@clack/prompts/node_modules/is-unicode-supported": {
       "version": "1.3.0",
+      "extraneous": true,
       "inBundle": true,
       "license": "MIT",
       "engines": {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e8d02495e..59ad40f02 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -137,8 +137,8 @@
     "test:unit:components": "jest -c jest-component-unit-tests/jest.config.ts --rootDir jest-component-unit-tests/",
     "test:unit:kcl-samples": "vitest run --mode development ./src/lang/kclSamples.test.ts",
     "test:playwright:electron": "playwright test --config=playwright.electron.config.ts --grep-invert=@snapshot",
-    "test:playwright:electron:local": "npm run tronb:vite:dev && NODE_ENV=development playwright test --config=playwright.electron.config.ts --grep-invert=@snapshot --grep-invert=\"$(curl --silent https://test-analysis-bot.hawk-dinosaur.ts.net/projects/KittyCAD/modeling-app/tests/disabled/regex)\"",
-    "test:playwright:electron:local-engine": "npm run tronb:vite:dev && NODE_ENV=development playwright test --config=playwright.electron.config.ts --grep-invert='@snapshot|@skipLocalEngine' --grep-invert=\"$(curl --silent https://test-analysis-bot.hawk-dinosaur.ts.net/projects/KittyCAD/modeling-app/tests/disabled/regex)\"",
+    "test:playwright:electron:local": "npm run tronb:vite:dev && playwright test --config=playwright.electron.config.ts --grep-invert=@snapshot --grep-invert=\"$(curl --silent https://test-analysis-bot.hawk-dinosaur.ts.net/projects/KittyCAD/modeling-app/tests/disabled/regex)\"",
+    "test:playwright:electron:local-engine": "npm run tronb:vite:dev && playwright test --config=playwright.electron.config.ts --grep-invert='@snapshot|@skipLocalEngine' --grep-invert=\"$(curl --silent https://test-analysis-bot.hawk-dinosaur.ts.net/projects/KittyCAD/modeling-app/tests/disabled/regex)\"",
     "test:unit:local": "npm run simpleserver:bg && npm run test:unit; kill-port 3000",
     "test:unit:kcl-samples:local": "npm run simpleserver:bg && npm run test:unit:kcl-samples; kill-port 3000"
   },