diff --git a/common/tools/dev-tool/src/commands/run/testVitest.ts b/common/tools/dev-tool/src/commands/run/testVitest.ts
index 60bc8a66f2ee..92b003efbe13 100644
--- a/common/tools/dev-tool/src/commands/run/testVitest.ts
+++ b/common/tools/dev-tool/src/commands/run/testVitest.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import { leafCommand, makeCommandInfo } from "../../framework/command";
 import { runTestsWithProxyTool } from "../../util/testUtils";
 import { createPrinter } from "../../util/printer";
 import { shouldStartRelay, startRelayServer } from "../../util/browserRelayServer";
+import { runTestProxyCommand } from "../../util/testProxyUtils";
 
 const log = createPrinter("test:vitest");
 
@@ -90,6 +91,13 @@ export default leafCommand(commandInfo, async (options) => {
   try {
     if (options["test-proxy"]) {
       if (options["test-proxy-debug"]) process.env["Logging__LogLevel__Default"] = "Debug";
+
+      // restore recordings first in CI to avoid impacting the first playback test
+      if (process.env["BUILD_BUILDNUMBER"]) {
+        log.info(`restoring recordings before testing`);
+        await runTestProxyCommand(["restore", "-a", "assets.json"]);
+      }
+
       return await runTestsWithProxyTool(command);
     }
 
diff --git a/common/tools/dev-tool/src/util/checkWithTimeout.ts b/common/tools/dev-tool/src/util/checkWithTimeout.ts
index 6c33280faadc..93f777b2cd50 100644
--- a/common/tools/dev-tool/src/util/checkWithTimeout.ts
+++ b/common/tools/dev-tool/src/util/checkWithTimeout.ts
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ export async function checkWithTimeout(
   return false;
 }
 
-async function delay(timeInMs: number) {
+export async function delay(timeInMs: number) {
   return new Promise((resolve) => {
     log.info(`waiting for ${timeInMs}ms`);
     setTimeout(resolve, timeInMs);
diff --git a/common/tools/dev-tool/src/util/testProxyUtils.ts b/common/tools/dev-tool/src/util/testProxyUtils.ts
index 25c5b1ffaf0a..37123030691c 100644
--- a/common/tools/dev-tool/src/util/testProxyUtils.ts
+++ b/common/tools/dev-tool/src/util/testProxyUtils.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ import envPaths from "env-paths";
 import { promisify } from "node:util";
 import { PassThrough } from "node:stream";
 import { pipeline } from "node:stream/promises";
+import { delay } from "./checkWithTimeout";
 
 const log = createPrinter("test-proxy");
 const downloadLocation = path.join(envPaths("azsdk-dev-tool").cache, "test-proxy");
@@ -183,15 +184,15 @@ function runCommand(executable: string, argv: string[], options: SpawnOptions =
 }
 
 export async function runTestProxyCommand(argv: string[]): Promise<void> {
-  const result = runCommand(await getTestProxyExecutable(), argv, {
+  const executable = await getTestProxyExecutable();
+  await delay(1000);
+  await runCommand(executable, argv, {
     stdio: "inherit",
     env: { ...process.env },
   }).result;
   if (await fs.pathExists("assets.json")) {
     await linkRecordingsDirectory();
   }
-
-  return result;
 }
 
 export function createAssetsJson(project: ProjectInfo): Promise<void> {
diff --git a/sdk/ai/ai-inference-rest/vitest.config.ts b/sdk/ai/ai-inference-rest/vitest.config.ts
index ff0784ba04af..e9f8ed547c7e 100644
--- a/sdk/ai/ai-inference-rest/vitest.config.ts
+++ b/sdk/ai/ai-inference-rest/vitest.config.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ export default mergeConfig(
   defineConfig({
     test: {
       testTimeout: 50000,
-      hookTimeout: 50000,
     },
   }),
 );
diff --git a/sdk/ai/ai-projects/vitest.config.ts b/sdk/ai/ai-projects/vitest.config.ts
index 95d8903c0f43..c906eb67fc7e 100644
--- a/sdk/ai/ai-projects/vitest.config.ts
+++ b/sdk/ai/ai-projects/vitest.config.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ export default mergeConfig(
   defineConfig({
     test: {
       testTimeout: 100000,
-      hookTimeout: 50000,
     },
   })
 );