diff --git a/pkg/rabbitmq/main_test.go b/pkg/rabbitmq/main_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8d3edb10f85
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/rabbitmq/main_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+package rabbitmq_test
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"log"
+	"os"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/cozy/cozy-stack/pkg/config/config"
+	"github.com/cozy/cozy-stack/pkg/couchdb"
+	"github.com/spf13/viper"
+)
+
+// TestMain bootstraps the views and indexes that production stacks create
+// at startup via stack.Start → couchdb.InitGlobalDB. Tests in this package
+// call lifecycle.Create / instance.Get directly without going through
+// testutils.NewSetup → GetTestInstance → stack.Start, so they never trigger
+// that init themselves.
+//
+// They've historically relied on the side effect that earlier model/* test
+// packages bootstrap the global DB and that the design doc persists in the
+// shared CouchDB service across test binaries — but Go's test result cache
+// can let those packages be skipped (cached "ok"), and then this implicit
+// dependency breaks. See the CI flake debugged on PR #4716: the second
+// lifecycle.Create call inside TestSyncCreatedOrgContact failed with
+// "CouchDB(not_found): missing" because instance.Service.Get queried
+// _design/domain-and-aliases on the global instances DB and that design
+// doc had never been created.
+//
+// TODO: the more robust fix is to make instance.Service.Get treat any
+// CouchDB "not_found" as ErrNotFound (it currently only handles
+// no_db_file / "Database does not exist."). That would remove the implicit
+// dependency for every package, not just this one. The repercussions on
+// other Get callers haven't been fully audited though, so this localized
+// bootstrap stays in place until that broader change is vetted.
+func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
+	if err := loadTestConfigForMain(); err != nil {
+		log.Fatalf("rabbitmq tests: could not load test config: %s", err)
+	}
+	// Best-effort: if CouchDB is unreachable, individual tests that need it
+	// will fail via testutils.NeedCouchdb(t). We don't want TestMain itself
+	// to hard-fail in environments where CouchDB is intentionally absent.
+	if _, err := couchdb.CheckStatus(context.Background()); err == nil {
+		if err := couchdb.InitGlobalDB(context.Background()); err != nil {
+			log.Printf("rabbitmq tests: could not init global CouchDB: %s", err)
+		}
+	}
+	os.Exit(m.Run())
+}
+
+// loadTestConfigForMain mirrors config.UseTestFile but without the
+// *testing.T plumbing so it can be called from TestMain.
+func loadTestConfigForMain() error {
+	v := viper.New()
+	v.SetConfigName("cozy.test")
+	v.AddConfigPath("$HOME/.cozy")
+	v.SetEnvKeyReplacer(strings.NewReplacer(".", "_"))
+	v.SetEnvPrefix("cozy")
+	v.AutomaticEnv()
+	v.SetDefault("host", "localhost")
+	v.SetDefault("port", 8080)
+	v.SetDefault("assets", "./assets")
+	v.SetDefault("subdomains", "nested")
+	v.SetDefault("fs.url", "mem://test")
+	v.SetDefault("couchdb.url", "http://localhost:5984/")
+	v.SetDefault("log.level", "info")
+	if err := v.ReadInConfig(); err != nil {
+		if _, isMissing := err.(viper.ConfigFileNotFoundError); !isMissing {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return config.UseViper(v)
+}