diff --git a/apps/web-next/next.config.mjs b/apps/web-next/next.config.mjs
index eaa8607..fa80bf2 100644
--- a/apps/web-next/next.config.mjs
+++ b/apps/web-next/next.config.mjs
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ const nextConfig = {
     "@repo/blog",
     "@repo/core-api",
     "@repo/core-cms",
+    "@repo/core-events",
+    "@repo/core-realtime",
     "@repo/core-shared",
     "@repo/core-trpc",
     "@repo/core-ui",
diff --git a/apps/web-next/package.json b/apps/web-next/package.json
index 90f30d0..0614b3b 100644
--- a/apps/web-next/package.json
+++ b/apps/web-next/package.json
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   "type": "module",
   "scripts": {
     "build": "echo 'Next.js build requires full environment — use pnpm dev or docker'",
-    "dev": "tsx server.ts",
+    "dev": "TSX_TSCONFIG_PATH=../../tsconfig.json tsx server.ts",
     "start": "node --import tsx server.ts",
     "lint": "eslint .",
     "test": "vitest run --passWithNoTests",
diff --git a/apps/web-next/server.ts b/apps/web-next/server.ts
index d271648..9a4959b 100644
--- a/apps/web-next/server.ts
+++ b/apps/web-next/server.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ import {
   type IRealtimeAuthenticator,
 } from "@repo/core-realtime";
 import { SESSION_COOKIE } from "@repo/auth";
-import { authContainer } from "@repo/auth/di/container";
 import { AUTH_SYMBOLS } from "@repo/auth/di/symbols";
 import { bindAll } from "./src/server/bind-production.js";
 
@@ -35,6 +34,11 @@ const authenticator: IRealtimeAuthenticator = {
   authenticate: async ({ cookies }) => {
     const sessionId = cookies[SESSION_COOKIE];
     if (!sessionId) return null;
+    // Lazy-import the auth container after bindAll() has already populated it.
+    // Dynamic import defers tsx's module transformation to runtime, which lets
+    // reflect-metadata and the DI decorators resolve correctly in this server
+    // entry point.
+    const { authContainer } = await import("@repo/auth/di/container");
     const authService = authContainer.get<{
       validateSession: (id: string) => Promise<{ user: { id: string }; session: unknown } | null>;
     }>(AUTH_SYMBOLS.IAuthenticationService);
diff --git a/packages/core-eslint/rules/no-direct-socket-io.js b/packages/core-eslint/rules/no-direct-socket-io.js
index 6e854f5..63448a6 100644
--- a/packages/core-eslint/rules/no-direct-socket-io.js
+++ b/packages/core-eslint/rules/no-direct-socket-io.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 const ALLOWED = [
   /\/packages\/core-realtime\/src\//,
   /\/apps\/[^/]+\/server\.ts$/,
+  /\/apps\/[^/]+\/src\/.*\.test\.ts$/,
 ];
 
 export default {
diff --git a/packages/core-eslint/rules/no-direct-socket-io.test.js b/packages/core-eslint/rules/no-direct-socket-io.test.js
index 2837fce..bf74953 100644
--- a/packages/core-eslint/rules/no-direct-socket-io.test.js
+++ b/packages/core-eslint/rules/no-direct-socket-io.test.js
@@ -12,6 +12,9 @@ tester.run("no-direct-socket-io", rule, {
     { code: 'import { Server } from "socket.io";', filename: "/repo/packages/core-realtime/src/socket-io-realtime-server.ts" },
     // Allowed in app servers
     { code: 'import { Server } from "socket.io";', filename: "/repo/apps/web-next/server.ts" },
+    // Allowed in app integration tests (e.g. realtime-ping e2e)
+    { code: 'import { Server } from "socket.io";', filename: "/repo/apps/web-next/src/__tests__/realtime-ping.test.ts" },
+    { code: 'import { io } from "socket.io-client";', filename: "/repo/apps/web-next/src/__tests__/realtime-ping.test.ts" },
     // Allowed elsewhere when not importing socket.io
     { code: 'import { foo } from "bar";', filename: "/repo/packages/blog/src/foo.ts" },
   ],
diff --git a/tsconfig.json b/tsconfig.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0caab9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tsconfig.json
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://json.schemastore.org/tsconfig",
+  "compilerOptions": {
+    "experimentalDecorators": true,
+    "emitDecoratorMetadata": true
+  }
+}