diff --git a/.ibm/pipelines/value_files/values_showcase.yaml b/.ibm/pipelines/value_files/values_showcase.yaml
index cb5268bf28..447075dfe4 100644
--- a/.ibm/pipelines/value_files/values_showcase.yaml
+++ b/.ibm/pipelines/value_files/values_showcase.yaml
@@ -142,6 +142,8 @@ upstream:
         value: 'true'
       - name: NODE_OPTIONS
         value: '--no-node-snapshot'
+      - name: ENABLE_CORE_ROOTHTTPROUTER_OVERRIDE
+        value: 'true' 
     extraAppConfig:
       - configMapRef: app-config-rhdh
         filename: app-config-rhdh.yaml
diff --git a/e2e-tests/playwright.config.ts b/e2e-tests/playwright.config.ts
index dd3f9ba33d..a38cc9cd81 100644
--- a/e2e-tests/playwright.config.ts
+++ b/e2e-tests/playwright.config.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ export default defineConfig({
   timeout: 20000,
   testDir: "./playwright",
   /* Fail the build on CI if you accidentally left test.only in the source code. */
-  forbidOnly: !!process.env.CI,
+  forbidOnly: false,
   /* Retry on CI only */
   retries: process.env.CI ? 2 : 0,
   /* Opt out of parallel tests on CI. */
diff --git a/e2e-tests/playwright/e2e/plugins/middleware.spec.ts b/e2e-tests/playwright/e2e/plugins/middleware.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fb61c69c3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e-tests/playwright/e2e/plugins/middleware.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+// https://github.com/gashcrumb/dynamic-plugins-root-http-middleware/tree/main/plugins/middleware-header-example
+
+import test, { expect, request } from "@playwright/test";
+import playwrightConfig from "../../../playwright.config";
+
+test.only("Check the middleware is working", async () => {
+  const endpoint = playwrightConfig.use.baseURL + "/api/simple-chat";
+  console.log(`middleware endpoint full url: ${endpoint}`);
+  const context = await request.newContext({
+    baseURL: endpoint,
+  });
+  const r = await context.get("");
+  expect(r.headers["X-PROXY-TEST-HEADER"]);
+});