diff --git a/.github/workflows/pipeline.yml b/.github/workflows/pipeline.yml
index 3fbe92fe..858468c2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pipeline.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pipeline.yml
@@ -201,6 +201,9 @@ jobs:
 
           nix build .#mlx
 
+      - name: Install macmon for hardware monitoring
+        run: brew install macmon
+
       - name: Load nix develop environment
         run: nix run github:nicknovitski/nix-develop/v1
 
diff --git a/dashboard/tests/e2e/chat-message.spec.ts b/dashboard/tests/e2e/chat-message.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8c3f4eef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dashboard/tests/e2e/chat-message.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+import { test, expect } from "@playwright/test";
+import {
+  waitForTopologyLoaded,
+  waitForModelCards,
+  waitForChatReady,
+  waitForAssistantMessage,
+  sendChatMessage,
+} from "../helpers/wait-for-ready";
+
+test.describe("Chat Message", () => {
+  test("should send a message and receive a response", async ({ page }) => {
+    // Increase timeout for this test since it involves model loading and inference
+    test.setTimeout(600000); // 10 minutes
+
+    await page.goto("/");
+    await waitForTopologyLoaded(page);
+    await waitForModelCards(page);
+
+    // Find and click on Qwen3-0.6B-4bit model card to launch it
+    const modelCard = page
+      .locator('[data-testid="model-card"]')
+      .filter({ hasText: /qwen.*0\.6b.*4bit/i })
+      .first();
+    await expect(modelCard).toBeVisible({ timeout: 10000 });
+
+    // Click the launch button
+    const launchButton = modelCard.locator('[data-testid="launch-button"]');
+    await launchButton.click();
+
+    // Wait for the model to be ready (may take time to download)
+    await expect(
+      page
+        .locator('[data-testid="instance-status"]')
+        .filter({ hasText: /READY/i })
+        .first(),
+    ).toBeVisible({ timeout: 300000 }); // 5 minutes for download
+
+    // Wait for chat to be ready
+    await waitForChatReady(page);
+
+    // Select the model in the chat selector if needed
+    const modelSelector = page.locator('[data-testid="chat-model-selector"]');
+    if (await modelSelector.isVisible()) {
+      await modelSelector.click();
+      await page.locator("text=/qwen.*0\\.6b/i").first().click();
+    }
+
+    // Send a simple message
+    await sendChatMessage(page, "What is 2+2?");
+
+    // Wait for assistant response
+    await waitForAssistantMessage(page, 120000); // 2 minutes for inference
+
+    // Verify the assistant message is visible
+    const assistantMessage = page
+      .locator('[data-testid="assistant-message"]')
+      .last();
+    await expect(assistantMessage).toBeVisible();
+
+    // The response should contain something (not empty)
+    const messageContent = await assistantMessage.textContent();
+    expect(messageContent).toBeTruthy();
+    expect(messageContent!.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/dashboard/tests/e2e/launch-instance.spec.ts b/dashboard/tests/e2e/launch-instance.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3f6fac57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dashboard/tests/e2e/launch-instance.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import { test, expect } from "@playwright/test";
+import {
+  waitForTopologyLoaded,
+  waitForModelCards,
+} from "../helpers/wait-for-ready";
+
+test.describe("Launch Instance", () => {
+  test("should launch Qwen3-0.6B-4bit model", async ({ page }) => {
+    await page.goto("/");
+    await waitForTopologyLoaded(page);
+    await waitForModelCards(page);
+
+    // Find and click on Qwen3-0.6B-4bit model card
+    const modelCard = page
+      .locator('[data-testid="model-card"]')
+      .filter({ hasText: /qwen.*0\.6b.*4bit/i })
+      .first();
+    await expect(modelCard).toBeVisible({ timeout: 10000 });
+
+    // Click the launch button
+    const launchButton = modelCard.locator('[data-testid="launch-button"]');
+    await launchButton.click();
+
+    // Wait for the model to start (status should change to READY or show download progress)
+    // The model may need to download first, so we wait with a longer timeout
+    await expect(
+      page
+        .locator('[data-testid="instance-status"]')
+        .filter({ hasText: /READY|downloading/i })
+        .first(),
+    ).toBeVisible({ timeout: 300000 }); // 5 minutes for download
+  });
+});