diff --git a/.claude/skills/orca-profiles/SKILL.md b/.claude/skills/orca-profiles/SKILL.md
index bb755d12fa..259564e063 100644
--- a/.claude/skills/orca-profiles/SKILL.md
+++ b/.claude/skills/orca-profiles/SKILL.md
@@ -91,7 +91,8 @@ Paths below are relative to this skill. Commands run from the repository root.
    ```
 
    On Windows use `py -3` instead of `python3`, and `scripts\check_profile.bat -Vendor "<Vendor>"`
-   / `scripts\check_profile.bat`. Logs: `.test/check_profiles/logs/<check>.log`.
+   / `scripts\check_profile.bat`. Logs land in a per-user cache dir (see
+   [validation.md](references/validation.md)).
    Id checks remain tree-wide under `--vendor`; filament-only bundles skip the default slice check.
    See [validation.md](references/validation.md) for flags, coverage and error remedies.
 5. **Verify the changed behavior.** Slice newly added non-default processes explicitly, and
diff --git a/.claude/skills/orca-profiles/references/validation.md b/.claude/skills/orca-profiles/references/validation.md
index aa2a7d348d..c23b555f49 100644
--- a/.claude/skills/orca-profiles/references/validation.md
+++ b/.claude/skills/orca-profiles/references/validation.md
@@ -20,8 +20,11 @@ default Windows client refuses to run a checked-out `.ps1` at all. The `.ps1` fi
 probing `py -3`, then `python`, then `python3`; run the tool by hand with `py -3` for the same reason.
 
 Every check in the run happens even after an earlier one fails; the script exits non-zero if any did, and writes
-`.test/check_profiles/logs/<check>.log` plus, on failure, `.test/check_profiles/pr_comment.md` — the same
-report CI posts on the PR. A stale `.test/check_profiles/.lock` after a crash must be removed by hand.
+`logs/<check>.log` plus, on failure, `pr_comment.md` under a per-user cache dir — the same report CI posts on the PR.
+That dir is `~/Library/Caches/orca-profile-check` on macOS, `${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-~/.cache}/orca-profile-check` on Linux
+and `%LOCALAPPDATA%\orca-profile-check` on Windows; it is named apart from OrcaSlicer's own per-user dirs and sits
+outside the checkout, so every worktree shares one copy. `--work-dir` / `-WorkDir` overrides it. A stale `.lock`
+there after a crash must be removed by hand.
 
 ## The five checks
 
@@ -150,9 +153,10 @@ Two things it therefore does **not** enforce:
 
 Built from `src/dev-utils/OrcaSlicer_profile_validator.cpp` (`-DORCA_TOOLS=ON`).
 Both scripts find a local build under `build*/` — `check_profile.sh` tries Release, RelWithDebInfo, then
-Debug, and `check_profile.ps1` adds MinSizeRel — else they download the nightly into
-`.test/check_profiles/validator`. Pass `--download` / `-Download` to match CI exactly, since a stale
-local build is used silently. Windows looks for `OrcaSlicer_profile_validator.exe`.
+Debug, and `check_profile.ps1` adds MinSizeRel — else they download the nightly into the
+`validator` subdirectory of the per-user cache dir (see above). Pass `--download` / `-Download` to
+match CI exactly, since a stale local build is used silently. Windows looks for
+`OrcaSlicer_profile_validator.exe`.
 
 If your build lives somewhere else entirely, point at it with `--validator` / `-Validator`, or set
 `ORCA_PROFILE_VALIDATOR` (`$env:ORCA_PROFILE_VALIDATOR` in PowerShell).
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a2a1520fd5..b029afa180 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -52,5 +52,4 @@ internal_docs/
 __pycache__/
 *.pyc
 *.opc
-/.test/
 docs/superpowers/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/check_profile.ps1 b/scripts/check_profile.ps1
index 1aa5a11bd7..c016e8f299 100644
--- a/scripts/check_profile.ps1
+++ b/scripts/check_profile.ps1
@@ -21,8 +21,10 @@
     normalize and update-index would still rewrite.
 
     Everything that has to be downloaded - the profile validator and the custom-preset fixture
-    archives - lands under <repo>\.test\check_profiles and is reused on the next run. That
-    directory also holds one log per check plus a copy of the comment CI would post on the PR.
+    archives - lands under a per-user cache directory (%LOCALAPPDATA%\orca-profile-check) and
+    is reused on the next run. Being outside the checkout, that directory is shared by every
+    worktree on the machine. It also holds one log per check plus a copy of the comment CI would
+    post on the PR.
 
     resources\profiles\user, which the validator creates as its data dir but a CI checkout never
     has, is moved aside for the duration of the run and restored on exit. Only one run per work
@@ -60,8 +62,8 @@
     Re-download the validator and fixtures instead of using the cache.
 
 .PARAMETER WorkDir
-    Downloads, logs and fixture trees (default: .test\check_profiles). Point it somewhere short,
-    such as D:\t, if a fixture tree trips Windows' 260-character path limit.
+    Downloads, logs and fixture trees (default: %LOCALAPPDATA%\orca-profile-check). Point it
+    somewhere short, such as D:\t, if a fixture tree trips Windows' 260-character path limit.
 
 .PARAMETER LogLevel
     Validator log level (default: 2, as in CI).
@@ -212,7 +214,10 @@ if ($Vendor) {
 $VendorArgs = if ($Vendor) { @('-v', $Vendor) } else { @() }
 $VendorPyArgs = if ($Vendor) { @('--vendor', $Vendor) } else { @() }
 
-if (-not $WorkDir) { $WorkDir = Join-Path $RepoRoot '.test\check_profiles' }
+if (-not $WorkDir) {
+    # Per-user cache dir, so every worktree on the machine shares one set of downloads.
+    $WorkDir = Join-Path ([Environment]::GetFolderPath('LocalApplicationData')) 'orca-profile-check'
+}
 $LogDir = Join-Path $WorkDir 'logs'
 try { New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $LogDir | Out-Null } catch { Die "cannot create ${LogDir}: $_" }
 $WorkDir = (Resolve-Path -LiteralPath $WorkDir).Path
diff --git a/scripts/check_profile.sh b/scripts/check_profile.sh
index 42e72b93f7..a6d7ca3b2e 100755
--- a/scripts/check_profile.sh
+++ b/scripts/check_profile.sh
@@ -7,8 +7,9 @@
 # continue-on-error), then the script exits non-zero once at the end.
 #
 # Everything that has to be downloaded - the profile validator and the custom-preset fixture
-# archives - lands under <repo>/.test/check_profiles/ and is reused on the next run. That
-# directory also holds one log per check plus a copy of the comment CI would post on the PR.
+# archives - lands under a per-user cache directory and is reused on the next run. Being outside
+# the checkout, that directory is shared by every worktree on the machine. It also holds one log
+# per check plus a copy of the comment CI would post on the PR.
 #
 # resources/profiles/user, which the validator creates as its data dir but a CI checkout never
 # has, is moved aside for the duration of the run and restored on exit. Only one run per work
@@ -33,9 +34,20 @@ SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
 REPO_ROOT="$(cd -- "${SCRIPT_DIR}/.." && pwd)"
 
 HOST_ARCH="$(uname -m)"
+HOST_OS="$(uname -s)"
+case "${HOST_OS}" in
+    Darwin*) HOST_OS=Darwin ;;
+    MINGW*|MSYS*|CYGWIN*) HOST_OS=Windows ;;
+    Linux*) HOST_OS=Linux ;;
+esac
 
 PROFILES_DIR="${REPO_ROOT}/resources/profiles"
-WORK_DIR="${REPO_ROOT}/.test/check_profiles"
+case "${HOST_OS}" in
+    Darwin) DEFAULT_WORK_DIR="${HOME}/Library/Caches/orca-profile-check" ;;
+    Windows) DEFAULT_WORK_DIR="${LOCALAPPDATA:-${HOME}/AppData/Local}/orca-profile-check" ;;
+    *) DEFAULT_WORK_DIR="${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-${HOME}/.cache}/orca-profile-check" ;;
+esac
+WORK_DIR="${DEFAULT_WORK_DIR}"
 VALIDATOR="${ORCA_PROFILE_VALIDATOR:-}"
 # Vendor to check, named after its <Vendor>.json - empty means every vendor, which is exactly what
 # both the validator's -v and orca_profile_tool.py check's --vendor take an empty value to mean.
@@ -75,7 +87,7 @@ Options:
                        downloaded for this platform
       --download       ignore local builds and use the downloaded nightly validator
       --refresh        re-download the validator and fixtures instead of using the cache
-      --work-dir DIR   downloads, logs and fixture trees (default: .test/check_profiles)
+      --work-dir DIR   downloads, logs and fixture trees (default: ${DEFAULT_WORK_DIR})
   -l, --log-level N    validator log level (default: ${LOG_LEVEL}, as in CI)
   -h, --help           show this help
 
@@ -304,8 +316,8 @@ EOF
 # holding the signed .app, Windows an .exe.
 download_validator() {
     local dest="${WORK_DIR}/validator" binary dmg app mounted app_src
-    case "$(uname -s)" in
-        Linux*)
+    case "${HOST_OS}" in
+        Linux)
             case "${HOST_ARCH}" in
                 arm64|aarch64) msg "the nightly Linux validator is x86_64; build it locally for ${HOST_ARCH}" ;;
             esac
@@ -313,7 +325,7 @@ download_validator() {
             fetch "${VALIDATOR_RELEASE_URL}/OrcaSlicer_profile_validator_Linux_Ubuntu2404_nightly" "${binary}" || return 1
             chmod +x "${binary}" || return 1
             ;;
-        Darwin*)
+        Darwin)
             dmg="${dest}/OrcaSlicer_profile_validator.dmg"
             app="${dest}/OrcaSlicer_profile_validator.app"
             binary="${app}/Contents/MacOS/OrcaSlicer_profile_validator"
@@ -332,13 +344,13 @@ download_validator() {
                 [ -x "${binary}" ] || { msg "no validator app inside ${dmg}"; return 1; }
             fi
             ;;
-        MINGW*|MSYS*|CYGWIN*)
+        Windows)
             binary="${dest}/OrcaSlicer_profile_validator.exe"
             fetch "${VALIDATOR_RELEASE_URL}/OrcaSlicer_profile_validator_Windows_nightly.exe" "${binary}" || return 1
             chmod +x "${binary}" || return 1
             ;;
         *)
-            msg "no nightly validator published for $(uname -s); build it (-DORCA_TOOLS=ON) and pass --validator"
+            msg "no nightly validator published for ${HOST_OS}; build it (-DORCA_TOOLS=ON) and pass --validator"
             return 1
             ;;
     esac