HMR overlay captures test clicks and cannot be disabled

Describe the bug

When using Vitest browser mode, tests re-run before the error HMR overlay is removed. This causes test interactions (like clicks) to be intercepted by the overlay, resulting in unintended behaviour such as opening editor links from the stack trace.

Additionally, the server.hmr.overlay: false configuration option in vitest.browser.config.ts is ignored and does not disable the overlay as expected.

Reproduction

Checkout vitest-hmr-overlay-troubleshoot.

git clone https://github.com/steedems/vitest-hmr-overlay-troubleshoot.git

1. Run pnpm test:browser - test should pass
2. Introduce a syntax error in HelloWorld.test.tsx (e.g., remove a quote from the test name)
3. HMR overlay appears showing the syntax error and stack trace ✓
4. Fix the syntax error
5. The test re-runs before the HMR overlay is removed. Therefore, clicks fired by the test itself underneath the overlay are captured by the overlay and links of the stack trace are opened in the editor ✗

Additional issue:

• Setting server.hmr.overlay: false in vitest.browser.config.ts has no effect. The overlay is always shown.

System Info

System:
    OS: macOS 15.6.1
    CPU: (10) arm64 Apple M2 Pro
    Memory: 91.61 MB / 16.00 GB
    Shell: 5.9 - /bin/zsh
  Binaries:
    Node: 20.17.0 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.17.0/bin/node
    Yarn: 1.22.22 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.17.0/bin/yarn
    npm: 10.8.2 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.17.0/bin/npm
    pnpm: 9.12.1 - ~/Library/pnpm/pnpm
    Watchman: 2024.09.23.00 - /opt/homebrew/bin/watchman
  Browsers:
    Chrome: 139.0.7258.157
    Safari: 18.6
  npmPackages:
    @vitejs/plugin-react: ^5.0.0 => 5.0.2
    @vitest/browser: ^3.2.4 => 3.2.4
    playwright: ^1.55.0 => 1.55.0
    vite: ^7.1.2 => 7.1.5
    vitest: ^3.2.4 => 3.2.4
    vitest-browser-react: ^1.0.1 => 1.0.1

Used Package Manager

pnpm

Validations

• Follow our Code of Conduct
• Read the Contributing Guidelines.
• Read the docs.
• Check that there isn't already an issue that reports the same bug to avoid creating a duplicate.
• Check that this is a concrete bug. For Q&A open a GitHub Discussion or join our Discord Chat Server.
• The provided reproduction is a minimal reproducible example of the bug.

Start by running pnpm test:browser in the vitest-hmr-overlay-troubleshoot reproduction, then inspect vitest.browser.config.ts and HelloWorld.test.tsx while reproducing the syntax-error and fix sequence. Trace the browser-mode HMR overlay behavior and configuration handling; done means the overlay no longer intercepts rerun clicks and server.hmr.overlay: false disables it.