diff --git a/src/shared/utils/autoSeed.ts b/src/shared/utils/autoSeed.ts
index 77b7e06..0cafcf8 100644
--- a/src/shared/utils/autoSeed.ts
+++ b/src/shared/utils/autoSeed.ts
@@ -23,11 +23,14 @@
  * for the gate's purpose (stopping the dev seed from bloating a persistent
  * wallet) and is therefore left out until someone actually wants to opt in.
  *
- * `fixtureSeedEnabled()` BELOW IS NOT ENFORCED in `bootstrapWallet` here. On
- * ng-eventually it switches every route off, which stands down the @data
- * scenarios that seed; adopting that is a product decision, not a side effect of
- * recovering this file. Until it is taken, only the AUTOMATIC seed is gated — an
- * explicit `loadTestData()` still writes.
+ * `fixtureSeedEnabled()` BELOW IS DELIBERATELY NOT ENFORCED in `bootstrapWallet`
+ * here, and it is not a decision left pending: the intent behind it — stated
+ * 2026-09-21 — was to stop the dev app from creating fixtures BY ITSELF, and
+ * using fixtures in TESTS was never a problem. `autoSeedEnabled()` above is
+ * exactly that intent. The master switch overshoots it, because it also silences
+ * an explicit `loadTestData()`; on ng-eventually that cost the @data suite its
+ * fixtures (a caveat still open there). So the gate that governs the automatic
+ * seed is the one wired, and an explicit seed still writes.
  */
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/shared/utils/ngBootstrap.ts b/src/shared/utils/ngBootstrap.ts
index 55fa464..fe120b7 100644
--- a/src/shared/utils/ngBootstrap.ts
+++ b/src/shared/utils/ngBootstrap.ts
@@ -84,9 +84,19 @@ export async function bootstrapWallet(
   const graph = await ensureGraphNuri(ngUsers, ngParticipations);
   console.log('[Bootstrap] Using graph NURI:', graph);
 
-  // Seed users — one at a time with ORM flush between each
+  // Seed users — one at a time with ORM flush between each.
+  //
+  // ONLY A FEW, not all fourteen. The connected seed is LINEAR in the number of
+  // documents (one document per entity, each a serial round trip), so it writes
+  // only what is needed. Nothing in the @data layer looks a seeded profile up by
+  // name; what it needs is that SOME profile exists — one to answer
+  // `currentUserId`, and a non-empty set for "the wallet contains users". The
+  // first three are kept rather than one, so a participants list has somebody to
+  // show, and `@mariedupont` is among them because `FestipodDataContext` falls
+  // back to her when the account layer has not resolved.
+  const SEEDED_PROFILES = 3;
   const userIdMap = new Map<string, string>();
-  for (const u of seedUsers) {
+  for (const u of seedUsers.slice(0, SEEDED_PROFILES)) {
     ngUsers.add({
       "@graph": graph,
       "@type": "http://festipod.org/UserProfile",
@@ -122,23 +132,12 @@ export async function bootstrapWallet(
   }
   console.log('[Bootstrap] Seeded', eventIdMap.size, 'events');
 
-  // Seed participations with mapped IDs — one at a time
-  let partCount = 0;
-  for (const p of seedParticipations) {
-    const eventIri = eventIdMap.get(p.eventId) || p.eventId;
-    const userIri = userIdMap.get(p.userId) || p.userId;
-    ngParticipations.add({
-      "@graph": graph,
-      "@type": "http://festipod.org/Participation",
-      "@id": "",
-      event: eventIri,
-      user: userIri,
-      isConfirmed: p.isConfirmed,
-    } as FpParticipation);
-    await flushAndWait();
-    partCount++;
-  }
-  console.log('[Bootstrap] Seeded', partCount, 'participations');
+  // NO PARTICIPATIONS. The sign-up scenarios create theirs live, which is the
+  // behaviour they exist to exercise, and nothing asserts on a seeded one: a
+  // scenario's starting participant count is SET on the event
+  // (`updateEvent({ participantCount })`) and read back from it, never counted
+  // from Participation documents. Writing five here would cost five more serial
+  // round trips to furnish something no test looks at.
 
   return { seeded: true, userIdMap, eventIdMap };
 }