diff --git a/apps/blog/migrations/0005_fix_category_verbose_name_plural.py b/apps/blog/migrations/0005_fix_category_verbose_name_plural.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7279444
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/blog/migrations/0005_fix_category_verbose_name_plural.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Generated by Django 5.2.12 on 2026-03-19 00:10
+
+from django.db import migrations
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ('blog', '0004_backfill_published_date'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AlterModelOptions(
+            name='category',
+            options={'ordering': ['sort_order', 'name'], 'verbose_name_plural': 'categories'},
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/apps/blog/models.py b/apps/blog/models.py
index cbd4535..507c61a 100644
--- a/apps/blog/models.py
+++ b/apps/blog/models.py
@@ -168,6 +168,7 @@ class Category(models.Model):
 
     class Meta:
         ordering = ["sort_order", "name"]
+        verbose_name_plural = "categories"
 
     def __str__(self):
         return self.name
diff --git a/apps/blog/tests/test_admin_experience.py b/apps/blog/tests/test_admin_experience.py
index 6e69d46..791f067 100644
--- a/apps/blog/tests/test_admin_experience.py
+++ b/apps/blog/tests/test_admin_experience.py
@@ -386,6 +386,31 @@ def test_article_save_autogenerates_summary_when_missing(article_index):
     assert article.summary == "This should become the summary text."
 
 
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+def test_category_verbose_name_plural():
+    """Category Meta should define verbose_name_plural as 'categories'."""
+    assert Category._meta.verbose_name_plural == "categories"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+@override_settings(ALLOWED_HOSTS=["testserver", "localhost", "127.0.0.1"])
+def test_snippet_category_listing_shows_categories(client, django_user_model):
+    """Categories created in the database should appear in the Snippets listing."""
+    Category.objects.create(name="Reviews", slug="reviews")
+    Category.objects.create(name="Tutorials", slug="tutorials")
+
+    admin = django_user_model.objects.create_superuser(
+        username="admin-cat", email="admin-cat@example.com", password="admin-pass"
+    )
+    client.force_login(admin)
+    response = client.get("/cms/snippets/blog/category/")
+    content = response.content.decode()
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert "Reviews" in content
+    assert "Tutorials" in content
+
+
 @pytest.mark.django_db
 def test_article_page_omits_admin_messages_on_frontend(article_page, rf):
     """Frontend templates should not render admin session messages."""
diff --git a/apps/core/tests/test_message_handling.py b/apps/core/tests/test_message_handling.py
index db49de0..839018c 100644
--- a/apps/core/tests/test_message_handling.py
+++ b/apps/core/tests/test_message_handling.py
@@ -76,3 +76,21 @@ def test_wagtail_admin_template_deduplicates_consecutive_messages(client, django
     assert response.status_code == 200
     assert content.count("has been updated.") == 1
     assert content.count("has been published.") == 1
+
+
+@pytest.mark.django_db
+@override_settings(ROOT_URLCONF="apps.core.tests.test_message_handling")
+def test_admin_messages_have_auto_clear(client, django_user_model):
+    """The messages container must set auto-clear so messages dismiss themselves."""
+    admin = django_user_model.objects.create_superuser(
+        username="admin-autoclear",
+        email="admin-autoclear@example.com",
+        password="admin-pass",
+    )
+    client.force_login(admin)
+
+    response = client.get("/cms/__tests__/admin-messages/")
+    content = response.content.decode()
+
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert "data-w-messages-auto-clear-value" in content
diff --git a/templates/wagtailadmin/base.html b/templates/wagtailadmin/base.html
index 973d7df..e413fb8 100644
--- a/templates/wagtailadmin/base.html
+++ b/templates/wagtailadmin/base.html
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
     {% keyboard_shortcuts_dialog %}
     <main class="content-wrapper w-overflow-x-hidden" id="main">
         <div class="content">
-            <div class="messages" role="status" data-controller="w-messages" data-action="w-messages:add@document->w-messages#add" data-w-messages-added-class="new" data-w-messages-show-class="appear" data-w-messages-show-delay-value="100">
+            <div class="messages" role="status" data-controller="w-messages" data-action="w-messages:add@document->w-messages#add" data-w-messages-added-class="new" data-w-messages-show-class="appear" data-w-messages-show-delay-value="100" data-w-messages-auto-clear-value="8000">
                 <ul data-w-messages-target="container">
                     {% if messages %}
                         {% for message in messages %}