diff --git a/.gitlab/ci/rails/shared.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab/ci/rails/shared.gitlab-ci.yml
index ab1f1af7fd8dbd73fe6545560067d1891bf32c90..c650f9c373cbcd36d318c20bdb577a35735d0b8d 100644
--- a/.gitlab/ci/rails/shared.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab/ci/rails/shared.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -112,7 +112,20 @@ include:
     # spec/lib, yet background migration tests are also sitting there,
     # and they should run on their own jobs so we don't need to run them
     # in unit tests again.
-    - rspec_section rspec_parallelized_job "--fail-fast=${RSPEC_FAIL_FAST_THRESHOLD} --tag ~quarantine --tag ~level:background_migration --tag ~click_house"
+    - |
+      echo "=== Setting up Chrome memory optimization ==="
+      df -h /dev/shm
+      # Create a 1GB RAM-based tmpfs for Chrome (you have 3.9GB available)
+      mkdir -p /tmp/chrome-mem
+      if mount -t tmpfs -o size=1G tmpfs /tmp/chrome-mem; then
+        echo "✓ Created 1GB RAM disk at /tmp/chrome-mem"
+        export CHROME_TMPDIR=/tmp/chrome-mem
+        df -h /tmp/chrome-mem
+      else
+        echo "⚠ Could not create tmpfs, using regular disk"
+        export CHROME_TMPDIR=/tmp
+      fi
+      rspec_section rspec_parallelized_job "--fail-fast=${RSPEC_FAIL_FAST_THRESHOLD} --tag ~quarantine --tag ~level:background_migration --tag ~click_house"
   after_script:
     # We need this at the very top, because the section_start/section_end logic is defined there.
     - source scripts/utils.sh
diff --git a/.gitlab/ci/version.yml b/.gitlab/ci/version.yml
index 3d7ac30ab2d579de2ff48a31e7c4c6daa57e80ba..aab3b3de2c6b5616cc4871066d3f770a542f490a 100644
--- a/.gitlab/ci/version.yml
+++ b/.gitlab/ci/version.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 variables:
   BUILD_OS: "debian"
-  CHROME_VERSION: "123"
+  CHROME_VERSION: "138"
   DOCKER_VERSION: "27.4.1"
   EXIFTOOL_VERSION: "12.60"
   GCLOUD_VERSION: "413"
diff --git a/qa/Dockerfile b/qa/Dockerfile
index a10db24c2f0566b468584e9b6a7a173bb120e86c..4a66992bddabfa5a1654885a6a6a71b75b5538bc 100644
--- a/qa/Dockerfile
+++ b/qa/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ARG BUILD_OS=debian
-ARG CHROME_VERSION=123
+ARG CHROME_VERSION=138
 ARG DOCKER_VERSION=24.0.5
 ARG GCLOUD_VERSION=413
 ARG GIT_VERSION=2.51
diff --git a/spec/features/snippets/user_creates_snippet_spec.rb b/spec/features/snippets/user_creates_snippet_spec.rb
index e49b4707e2ed865c2dddc8682120118d19d8813e..4245839cfd93b4f6ef5d9b6e280fdb78fac0ee30 100644
--- a/spec/features/snippets/user_creates_snippet_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/snippets/user_creates_snippet_spec.rb
@@ -146,9 +146,7 @@ def fill_form
       # not anymore as requests when they come straight from memory cache.
       # accept_confirm is needed because of https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/262102
       reqs = inspect_requests do
-        visit("#{link}?ran=#{SecureRandom.base64(20)}") do
-          page.driver.browser.switch_to.alert.accept
-        end
+        visit("#{link}?ran=#{SecureRandom.base64(20)}")
       end
       expect(reqs.first.status_code).to eq(200)
     end
diff --git a/spec/support/capybara.rb b/spec/support/capybara.rb
index 7d58a81ede157753a7213b495b07f681a309e2eb..4156516090324e662a2a3672a2b49c2ea8fc91ce 100644
--- a/spec/support/capybara.rb
+++ b/spec/support/capybara.rb
@@ -41,12 +41,38 @@
 
   # Chrome won't work properly in a Docker container in sandbox mode
   options.add_argument("no-sandbox")
+  options.add_argument("--disable-features=ParallelDownloading")
+  options.add_argument("--disable-http2")  # HTTP/1.1 has different connection behavior
 
   options.add_argument("disable-search-engine-choice-screen")
 
   # Ensure the Chrome locale is `en` so all dates are deterministic regardless of local settings
   options.add_preference('intl.accept_languages', 'en')
 
+  if ENV['CI'] || ENV['CI_SERVER']
+    # Use the RAM disk if available, otherwise fallback to /tmp
+    chrome_dir = ENV['CHROME_TMPDIR'] || '/tmp'
+    
+    # Create unique directories for this process
+    process_dir = "#{chrome_dir}/chrome-#{Process.pid}-#{Time.now.to_i}"
+    FileUtils.mkdir_p(process_dir)
+    
+    # Use RAM-based directories for everything
+    options.add_argument("--user-data-dir=#{process_dir}/profile")
+    options.add_argument("--disk-cache-dir=#{process_dir}/cache")
+    options.add_argument("--crash-dumps-dir=#{process_dir}/crashes")
+    
+    # REMOVE or conditionally add disable-dev-shm-usage
+    # Since we're using our own tmpfs, we might not need this flag
+    if ENV['CHROME_TMPDIR'] && ENV['CHROME_TMPDIR'].include?('chrome-mem')
+      puts "Using RAM disk, skipping disable-dev-shm-usage flag"
+      # Don't add the flag - let Chrome use the fast path
+    else
+      puts "Using disk, adding disable-dev-shm-usage flag"
+      options.add_argument("disable-dev-shm-usage")
+    end
+  end
+
   unless ENV['WEBDRIVER_HEADLESS'] =~ /^(false|no|0)$/i || ENV['CHROME_HEADLESS'] =~ /^(false|no|0)$/i
     # Run headless by default unless WEBDRIVER_HEADLESS specified
     options.add_argument("headless")
@@ -60,9 +86,6 @@
     options.add_argument("disable-backgrounding-occluded-windows")
   end
 
-  # Disable /dev/shm use in CI. See https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/issues/4252
-  options.add_argument("disable-dev-shm-usage") if ENV['CI'] || ENV['CI_SERVER']
-
   # Set chrome default download path
   if ENV['DEFAULT_CHROME_DOWNLOAD_PATH']
     options.add_preference("download.default_directory", ENV['DEFAULT_CHROME_DOWNLOAD_PATH'])