diff --git a/tests/smoketests/object-oriented/blueprint.test.ts b/tests/smoketests/object-oriented/blueprint.test.ts
index 6d7878f3b..78962e61c 100644
--- a/tests/smoketests/object-oriented/blueprint.test.ts
+++ b/tests/smoketests/object-oriented/blueprint.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,11 @@
-import { SHORT_TIMEOUT, LONG_TIMEOUT, uniqueName, makeClientSDK, cleanUpPolicy } from '../utils';
+import {
+  SHORT_TIMEOUT,
+  LONG_TIMEOUT,
+  uniqueName,
+  makeClientSDK,
+  cleanUpPolicy,
+  createBlueprintWithRetry,
+} from '../utils';
 import { Blueprint, Devbox, NetworkPolicy, StorageObject } from '@runloop/api-client/sdk';
 
 const sdk = makeClientSDK();
@@ -10,7 +17,8 @@ describe('smoketest: object-oriented blueprint', () => {
 
     // Create blueprint in beforeAll to avoid test order dependency
     beforeAll(async () => {
-      blueprint = await sdk.blueprint.create(
+      blueprint = await createBlueprintWithRetry(
+        sdk,
         {
           name: uniqueName('sdk-blueprint'),
           dockerfile: 'FROM ubuntu:22.04\nRUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y curl',
@@ -136,7 +144,8 @@ describe('smoketest: object-oriented blueprint', () => {
           });
 
           // Create blueprint that uses the uploaded object as build context
-          blueprint = await sdk.blueprint.create(
+          blueprint = await createBlueprintWithRetry(
+            sdk,
             {
               name: uniqueName('sdk-blueprint-context'),
               dockerfile: `FROM ubuntu:22.04
@@ -218,7 +227,8 @@ COPY . .`,
           if (!contextDir) {
             throw new Error('Context directory not created');
           }
-          blueprint = await sdk.blueprint.create(
+          blueprint = await createBlueprintWithRetry(
+            sdk,
             {
               name: uniqueName('sdk-blueprint-context-dir'),
               dockerfile: `FROM ubuntu:22.04
@@ -283,7 +293,8 @@ COPY . .`,
         // First create a blueprint
         let blueprint: Blueprint | undefined;
         try {
-          blueprint = await sdk.blueprint.create(
+          blueprint = await createBlueprintWithRetry(
+            sdk,
             {
               name: uniqueName('sdk-blueprint-retrieve'),
               dockerfile: 'FROM ubuntu:22.04',
@@ -320,7 +331,8 @@ COPY . .`,
           expect(policy.id).toBeTruthy();
 
           // Create blueprint with network_policy_id at top level (for build)
-          blueprint = await sdk.blueprint.create(
+          blueprint = await createBlueprintWithRetry(
+            sdk,
             {
               name: uniqueName('sdk-blueprint-with-build-policy'),
               dockerfile: 'FROM ubuntu:22.04\nRUN apt-get update',
@@ -361,7 +373,8 @@ COPY . .`,
           expect(policy.id).toBeTruthy();
 
           // Create blueprint with launch_parameters including network_policy_id
-          blueprint = await sdk.blueprint.create(
+          blueprint = await createBlueprintWithRetry(
+            sdk,
             {
               name: uniqueName('sdk-blueprint-with-launch-policy'),
               dockerfile: 'FROM ubuntu:22.04',
diff --git a/tests/smoketests/utils.ts b/tests/smoketests/utils.ts
index d58b7cf5e..717fa0d7d 100644
--- a/tests/smoketests/utils.ts
+++ b/tests/smoketests/utils.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 import { Runloop, RunloopSDK } from '@runloop/api-client';
-import { NetworkPolicy, GatewayConfig, McpConfig } from '@runloop/api-client/sdk';
+import { Blueprint, NetworkPolicy, GatewayConfig, McpConfig } from '@runloop/api-client/sdk';
+import type { CreateParams as BlueprintCreateParams } from '@runloop/api-client/sdk/blueprint';
+import type { BlueprintView } from '@runloop/api-client/resources/blueprints';
+import type { LongPollRequestOptions } from '@runloop/api-client/lib/polling';
 
 /**
  * Run the smoke tests over HTTP/2 (the undici adapter) instead of the default
@@ -39,6 +42,128 @@ export const SHORT_TIMEOUT = 120_000;
 export const MEDIUM_TIMEOUT = 300_000;
 export const LONG_TIMEOUT = 600_000;
 
+/**
+ * Create a blueprint and probe for infra-side flakes.
+ *
+ * Dev-cluster blueprint builds intermittently fail with infra-side errors —
+ * BuildKit i/o timeouts resolving base images from the in-cluster registry
+ * mirror, S3 transit errors when the stage-context container downloads the
+ * build-context object. The SDK surfaces those as a RunloopError ("Blueprint
+ * <id> is in non-complete state failed"). A single flake in a `beforeAll`
+ * fixture otherwise cascades into many unrelated test failures, which buries
+ * the actual signal.
+ *
+ * This helper does NOT mask flakes — infra reliability is a customer-visible
+ * problem and the test suite needs to keep surfacing it. Behavior:
+ *   - First attempt fails with the terminal-failed shape: retry up to
+ *     `probeAttempts` more times to learn whether the failure is transient
+ *     (recovers on retry) or persistent (reproduces every time).
+ *   - The test ALWAYS fails — but with a diagnostic message that names the
+ *     classification and points at where to investigate.
+ *   - Other error shapes (auth, validation, etc.) re-throw unchanged.
+ */
+export async function createBlueprintWithRetry(
+  sdk: RunloopSDK,
+  params: BlueprintCreateParams,
+  options?: LongPollRequestOptions<BlueprintView> & {
+    probeAttempts?: number;
+    retryDelayMs?: number;
+  },
+): Promise<Blueprint> {
+  const { probeAttempts = 2, retryDelayMs = 5_000, ...createOptions } = options ?? {};
+  try {
+    return await sdk.blueprint.create(params, createOptions);
+  } catch (firstErr) {
+    if (!isTransientBlueprintBuildFailure(firstErr)) throw firstErr;
+
+    const firstFailedId = extractBlueprintIdFromError(firstErr);
+    if (firstFailedId) {
+      await sdk.blueprint
+        .fromId(firstFailedId)
+        .delete()
+        .catch(() => {});
+    }
+
+    const attemptOutcomes: string[] = [`attempt 1: failed (${firstFailedId ?? 'no id'})`];
+    let probeSucceededOn: number | undefined;
+    let probedBlueprint: Blueprint | undefined;
+
+    for (let probe = 1; probe <= probeAttempts; probe++) {
+      await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, retryDelayMs));
+      try {
+        probedBlueprint = await sdk.blueprint.create(params, createOptions);
+        attemptOutcomes.push(`attempt ${probe + 1}: succeeded (${probedBlueprint.id})`);
+        probeSucceededOn = probe + 1;
+        break;
+      } catch (probeErr) {
+        if (!isTransientBlueprintBuildFailure(probeErr)) {
+          throw flakeError(firstErr, attemptOutcomes, 'inconclusive (later attempt threw non-build-failed error)', probeErr);
+        }
+        const probeFailedId = extractBlueprintIdFromError(probeErr);
+        attemptOutcomes.push(`attempt ${probe + 1}: failed (${probeFailedId ?? 'no id'})`);
+        if (probeFailedId) {
+          await sdk.blueprint
+            .fromId(probeFailedId)
+            .delete()
+            .catch(() => {});
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
+    // Clean up the recovered blueprint so an eventual success doesn't leak resources —
+    // the test is going to fail, and downstream test steps shouldn't see this blueprint.
+    if (probedBlueprint) {
+      await probedBlueprint.delete().catch(() => {});
+    }
+
+    const classification =
+      probeSucceededOn !== undefined ?
+        `TRANSIENT infra flake (attempt ${probeSucceededOn} recovered)`
+      : `PERSISTENT infra failure (all ${1 + probeAttempts} attempts terminal-failed)`;
+
+    throw flakeError(firstErr, attemptOutcomes, classification);
+  }
+}
+
+const BLUEPRINT_FAILED_MSG_RE = /Blueprint (bpt_\S+) is in non-complete state failed/;
+
+const INFRA_FLAKE_INVESTIGATION_HINT = [
+  'Where to look next:',
+  '  - blueprint-operator dataset in Honeycomb (test env), filter blueprint_id=<id above>, look for the blueprint_build span.',
+  '  - Loki: {namespace=~"build-.*"} for the build pod logs (container "build" = BuildKit, "stage-context" = build-context fetch).',
+  '  - Known recurring infra causes:',
+  '      (a) BuildKit -> in-cluster registry mirror i/o timeout resolving base image manifest.',
+  '      (b) stage-context S3 download transient transport error (only 2 attempts in the builder today).',
+].join('\n');
+
+function flakeError(
+  firstErr: unknown,
+  attemptOutcomes: string[],
+  classification: string,
+  retryErr?: unknown,
+): Error {
+  const lines = [
+    `Blueprint build failed during smoketest — surfacing as test failure to keep infra signal visible.`,
+    `Classification: ${classification}`,
+    `First error: ${(firstErr as Error).message}`,
+  ];
+  if (retryErr) lines.push(`Probe error: ${(retryErr as Error).message}`);
+  lines.push('Probe sequence:');
+  for (const o of attemptOutcomes) lines.push(`  - ${o}`);
+  lines.push('');
+  lines.push(INFRA_FLAKE_INVESTIGATION_HINT);
+  return new Error(lines.join('\n'));
+}
+
+function isTransientBlueprintBuildFailure(err: unknown): boolean {
+  return err instanceof Error && BLUEPRINT_FAILED_MSG_RE.test(err.message);
+}
+
+function extractBlueprintIdFromError(err: unknown): string | undefined {
+  if (!(err instanceof Error)) return undefined;
+  return err.message.match(BLUEPRINT_FAILED_MSG_RE)?.[1];
+}
+
 /**
  * Helper to clean up a network policy, ignoring errors if already deleted.
  */