diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 7a104a0..b425e5e 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -12,6 +12,16 @@ import pytest
 os.environ.setdefault("TESTING", "1")
 os.environ.setdefault("JWT_SECRET_KEY", "test-secret-e2e")
 
+# Ensure directories exist for modules with module-level FileHandlers.
+# bot.py creates FileHandler(config.BOT_LOG_FILE) at import time.
+# config.py reads DATA_DIR at import time. We must ensure the directory
+# exists for whatever DATA_DIR resolves to (default: /data in Docker).
+import tempfile as _tf
+if "DATA_DIR" not in os.environ:
+    os.environ["DATA_DIR"] = os.path.join(_tf.gettempdir(), ".agnes-test-data")
+os.makedirs(os.path.join(os.environ["DATA_DIR"], "notifications"), exist_ok=True)
+os.makedirs(os.path.join(os.environ["DATA_DIR"], "state"), exist_ok=True)
+
 
 @pytest.fixture
 def e2e_env(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
diff --git a/tests/test_telegram_bot.py b/tests/test_telegram_bot.py
index c34616d..8e2c1e7 100644
--- a/tests/test_telegram_bot.py
+++ b/tests/test_telegram_bot.py
@@ -1,24 +1,10 @@
 """Tests for Telegram bot message handlers."""
 
 import asyncio
-import os
-import sys
-import tempfile
 from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, patch
 
 import pytest
 
-# Patch BOT_LOG_FILE at import time (before any fixture runs) so that
-# bot.py can be imported even when /data/notifications/ doesn't exist.
-# This is critical for pytest-xdist where module-scoped fixtures
-# may not run before the worker tries to import the module.
-_tmp_log = tempfile.mktemp(suffix=".log")
-
-import services.telegram_bot.config as _cfg
-_cfg.BOT_LOG_FILE = _tmp_log
-# Ensure the bot module is not cached with the old config
-sys.modules.pop("services.telegram_bot.bot", None)
-
 
 def _make_message(text: str, chat_id: int = 10) -> dict:
     return {"chat": {"id": chat_id}, "text": text}