diff --git a/src/review/visual/paths.ts b/src/review/visual/paths.ts
index 29ac0b011f..298a63e345 100644
--- a/src/review/visual/paths.ts
+++ b/src/review/visual/paths.ts
@@ -1,17 +1,17 @@
 // Visual-path classifier (reviewbot→gittensory convergence — visual capture port).
 //
 // PORTED VERBATIM from reviewbot's src/agents/gittensory/capabilities.ts `isVisualPath` (the three
-// VISUAL_PATTERNS), with the first pattern's app-folder segment widened to a wildcard (#3611 follow-up) so it
-// isn't gittensory-ui-only — see capture.ts's DEFAULT_ROUTE_FILE for the same generalization. This is the
-// EMPHATIC gate: screenshots fire ONLY for WEB-VISIBLE changes — any frontend app folder (apps/*/**, e.g.
-// apps/gittensory-ui/** or apps/ui/**), a public asset (public/**, e.g. an OG image), or a front-of-house
-// source extension (.tsx/.jsx/.css/.scss/.sass/.less/.html/.svg/.astro/.vue/.svelte/.mdx). A backend change
+// VISUAL_PATTERNS), keeping capture scoped to file types and public assets that are directly web-visible.
+// Route inference is still generalized in capture.ts's DEFAULT_ROUTE_FILE, but this cost gate must not treat
+// every apps/* file as visual: screenshot-enabled repos often keep backend/config/docs files there too. This is
+// the EMPHATIC gate: screenshots fire ONLY for WEB-VISIBLE changes — a public asset (public/**, e.g. an OG
+// image), or a front-of-house source extension
+// (.tsx/.jsx/.css/.scss/.sass/.less/.html/.svg/.astro/.vue/.svelte/.mdx). A backend change
 // (.ts/.md/.json/.py/...) matches NONE of these, so capture never triggers for it.
 //
 // PURE — no imports, no I/O. Callers MUST filter changed files through this before any capture.
 
 const VISUAL_PATTERNS: RegExp[] = [
-  /^apps\/[^/]+\//i,
   /(^|\/)public\//i,
   /\.(tsx|jsx|css|scss|sass|less|html|svg|astro|vue|svelte|mdx)$/i,
 ];
diff --git a/test/unit/visual-paths.test.ts b/test/unit/visual-paths.test.ts
index 785e621049..2daee5dfc7 100644
--- a/test/unit/visual-paths.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/visual-paths.test.ts
@@ -2,19 +2,10 @@ import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
 import { isVisualPath } from "../../src/review/visual/paths";
 
 describe("isVisualPath (web-visible-only capture gate)", () => {
-  it("matches frontend app paths (apps/gittensory-ui/**)", () => {
+  it("matches frontend route files by web-visible extension, including generalized apps/* route folders", () => {
     expect(isVisualPath("apps/gittensory-ui/src/routes/index.tsx")).toBe(true);
     expect(isVisualPath("apps/gittensory-ui/src/routes/app.analytics.tsx")).toBe(true);
-    // Even a non-source file under the UI app is web-visible scope.
-    expect(isVisualPath("apps/gittensory-ui/public/og.png")).toBe(true);
-    expect(isVisualPath("apps/gittensory-ui/README.md")).toBe(true);
-  });
-
-  it("matches ANY app folder, not just gittensory-ui (#3611 follow-up — e.g. metagraphed's apps/ui/**)", () => {
     expect(isVisualPath("apps/ui/src/routes/index.tsx")).toBe(true);
-    // Same non-extension-matching-file case as gittensory-ui above, now for a different app folder name.
-    expect(isVisualPath("apps/ui/components.json")).toBe(true);
-    expect(isVisualPath("apps/marketing-site/README.md")).toBe(true);
   });
 
   it("matches public asset paths (public/** — OG images etc.) at any depth", () => {
@@ -55,12 +46,15 @@ describe("isVisualPath (web-visible-only capture gate)", () => {
       "Cargo.toml",
       "src/data/seed.sql",
       "config.yaml",
+      "apps/api/src/server.ts",
+      "apps/ui/components.json",
+      "apps/marketing-site/README.md",
     ]) {
       expect(isVisualPath(path), path).toBe(false);
     }
   });
 
-  it("is case-insensitive on extensions and the app prefix", () => {
+  it("is case-insensitive on extensions", () => {
     expect(isVisualPath("APPS/GITTENSORY-UI/src/Page.TSX")).toBe(true);
     expect(isVisualPath("src/Icon.SVG")).toBe(true);
     // A .ts (backend) must still be false even upper-cased — it is not a web-visible extension.