diff --git a/packages/engine/src/services/frameCapture-namePolyfill.test.ts b/packages/engine/src/services/frameCapture-namePolyfill.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b92f8f34
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/engine/src/services/frameCapture-namePolyfill.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import { dirname, resolve } from "node:path";
+
+// Regression coverage for the `window.__name` no-op shim that
+// `frameCapture.ts` registers via `page.evaluateOnNewDocument`.
+//
+// Background: `@hyperframes/engine` ships raw TypeScript (see
+// `packages/engine/package.json` — main and exports both point at
+// `./src/index.ts`). Downstream transpilers like tsx run esbuild with
+// keepNames=true, which wraps named functions in `__name(fn, "name")`
+// calls. When Puppeteer serializes a `page.evaluate(callback)` argument
+// via `Function.prototype.toString()`, those wrappers travel into the
+// browser and throw `ReferenceError: __name is not defined` unless we
+// install a no-op shim first.
+//
+// These tests intentionally do NOT launch a browser — the rest of this
+// package follows the same pure-unit-test convention. Instead they:
+//   1. Assert the polyfill is wired up at the source level so it cannot
+//      be silently removed by a careless edit.
+//   2. Probe the current Vitest runtime so a future maintainer can see at
+//      a glance whether nested named functions still get `__name(...)`
+//      wrappers under the test transformer. This is advisory: both
+//      outcomes are acceptable — the reported observation is what makes
+//      the test useful when the upstream behavior shifts.
+
+const __dirname = dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+const FRAME_CAPTURE_PATH = resolve(__dirname, "frameCapture.ts");
+
+describe("frameCapture __name polyfill", () => {
+  it("registers a window.__name shim via evaluateOnNewDocument", () => {
+    const source = readFileSync(FRAME_CAPTURE_PATH, "utf-8");
+
+    expect(source).toMatch(/page\.evaluateOnNewDocument\(/);
+    expect(source).toMatch(/typeof w\.__name !== "function"/);
+    expect(source).toMatch(/w\.__name\s*=\s*<T>/);
+  });
+
+  it("installs the shim before any awaited browser-version checks", () => {
+    const source = readFileSync(FRAME_CAPTURE_PATH, "utf-8");
+
+    const polyfillIndex = source.indexOf("page.evaluateOnNewDocument(");
+    const versionIndex = source.indexOf("await browser.version()");
+
+    expect(polyfillIndex).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+    expect(versionIndex).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+    expect(polyfillIndex).toBeLessThan(versionIndex);
+  });
+
+  it("documents the current transpiler behavior for nested named functions", () => {
+    function outer(): { wrapsNested: boolean; wrapsArrow: boolean } {
+      // The unused declarations are deliberate: we are inspecting whether the
+      // active transpiler rewrites `outer.toString()` to include
+      // `__name(nested, ...)` / `__name(arrowNested, ...)` wrappers.
+      // eslint-disable-next-line no-unused-vars
+      function nested() {
+        return 1;
+      }
+      // eslint-disable-next-line no-unused-vars
+      const arrowNested = () => 2;
+      const src = outer.toString();
+      return {
+        wrapsNested: /__name\(\s*nested\s*,/.test(src),
+        wrapsArrow: /__name\(\s*\(\)\s*=>\s*2\s*,/.test(src) || /__name\(\s*arrowNested/.test(src),
+      };
+    }
+
+    const { wrapsNested, wrapsArrow } = outer();
+
+    // Both outcomes are acceptable; the value of this test is in surfacing
+    // the runtime's behavior on the next failure (or first inspection).
+    // If both flags become false everywhere this engine is consumed, the
+    // polyfill above can probably be dropped. Until then it stays.
+    expect(typeof wrapsNested).toBe("boolean");
+    expect(typeof wrapsArrow).toBe("boolean");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/engine/src/services/frameCapture.ts b/packages/engine/src/services/frameCapture.ts
index 16b12ecb..1a0ba2f2 100644
--- a/packages/engine/src/services/frameCapture.ts
+++ b/packages/engine/src/services/frameCapture.ts
@@ -92,13 +92,32 @@ export async function createCaptureSession(
   const { browser, captureMode } = await acquireBrowser(chromeArgs, config);
 
   const page = await browser.newPage();
-  // Polyfill esbuild's keepNames helper inside the page. Tools like tsx/Bun
-  // transform this engine's source on the fly and wrap every named function
-  // with `__name(fn, "name")`. When `page.evaluate()` serializes a callback
-  // and ships it to the browser, those `__name(...)` calls would crash with
-  // `__name is not defined` because the helper only exists in Node. Defining
-  // a no-op shim once per page makes the engine work uniformly whether it is
-  // imported from compiled dist (no helper) or from source via tsx.
+  // Polyfill esbuild's keepNames helper inside the page.
+  //
+  // The engine is published as raw TypeScript (`packages/engine/package.json`
+  // points `main`/`exports` at `./src/index.ts`) and downstream consumers
+  // execute it through transpilers that may inject `__name(fn, "name")`
+  // wrappers around named functions. Empirically, this happens with:
+  //   - tsx (its esbuild loader runs with keepNames=true), used by the
+  //     producer's parity-harness, ad-hoc dev scripts, and the
+  //     `bun run --filter @hyperframes/engine test` Vitest path.
+  //   - any tsup/esbuild build that explicitly enables keepNames.
+  //
+  // The HeyGen CLI (`packages/cli`) bundles this engine via tsup with
+  // keepNames left at its default (false) — verified by grepping
+  // `packages/cli/dist/cli.js`, where `__name(...)` call sites are absent.
+  // Bun's TS loader also does not currently inject `__name`. Even so,
+  // anything that calls `page.evaluate(fn)` with a nested named function
+  // under tsx (most local development and tests) will serialize bodies
+  // like `__name(nested,"nested")` and crash with `__name is not defined`
+  // in the browser. The shim makes such calls a no-op.
+  //
+  // An alternative is to load browser-side code as raw text and inject it
+  // via `page.addScriptTag({ content: ... })` — see
+  // `packages/cli/src/commands/contrast-audit.browser.js` for that pattern.
+  // Until every `page.evaluate(fn)` call site migrates, this polyfill is
+  // the single line of defense. The companion regression test in
+  // `frameCapture-namePolyfill.test.ts` verifies the shim stays wired up.
   await page.evaluateOnNewDocument(() => {
     const w = window as unknown as { __name?: <T>(fn: T, _name: string) => T };
     if (typeof w.__name !== "function") {