diff --git a/__tests__/cpp-brace-scopes.test.ts b/__tests__/cpp-brace-scopes.test.ts
index f29c76b099..452113754e 100644
--- a/__tests__/cpp-brace-scopes.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/cpp-brace-scopes.test.ts
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ describe('scanCppBraceScopes', () => {
   });
 });
 
-describe.skipIf(!kernelAvailable)('C++ brace scopes: native kernel parity (error-extract hatch)', () => {
+describe.skipIf(!kernelAvailable || process.env.CODEGRAPH_KERNEL === '0')('C++ brace scopes: native kernel parity (error-extract hatch)', () => {
   beforeAll(async () => {
     await initGrammars();
     await loadGrammarsForLanguages(['cpp']);
diff --git a/__tests__/kernel-deep-nesting.test.ts b/__tests__/kernel-deep-nesting.test.ts
index 7529ff3b35..e6e7db7214 100644
--- a/__tests__/kernel-deep-nesting.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/kernel-deep-nesting.test.ts
@@ -113,7 +113,8 @@ function deepBraces(depth: number): string {
 const ENV_KEYS = ['CODEGRAPH_KERNEL', 'CODEGRAPH_KERNEL_LANGS', 'CODEGRAPH_KERNEL_PATH'] as const;
 let savedEnv: Record<string, string | undefined>;
 
-describe.skipIf(!kernelBuilt)('kernel deep-nesting guard (#1581)', () => {
+// CODEGRAPH_KERNEL=0 turns the kernel off: these assert what it does.
+describe.skipIf(!kernelBuilt || process.env.CODEGRAPH_KERNEL === '0')('kernel deep-nesting guard (#1581)', () => {
   let routed: Language[] = [];
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
diff --git a/__tests__/kernel-retry-materialize.test.ts b/__tests__/kernel-retry-materialize.test.ts
index 23965bd2dd..5de86ffcb8 100644
--- a/__tests__/kernel-retry-materialize.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/kernel-retry-materialize.test.ts
@@ -37,7 +37,8 @@ const KERNEL_PATH = path.join(
 );
 const kernelBuilt = fs.existsSync(KERNEL_PATH);
 
-describe.skipIf(!kernelBuilt)('kernel buffer-transport storage (#1541)', () => {
+// CODEGRAPH_KERNEL=0 turns the kernel off: these assert what it does.
+describe.skipIf(!kernelBuilt || process.env.CODEGRAPH_KERNEL === '0')('kernel buffer-transport storage (#1541)', () => {
   let dir: string;
   let cg: CodeGraph;