diff --git a/packages/minerender/src/env/node/NodeCache.ts b/packages/minerender/src/env/node/NodeCache.ts
index d24c68fd..54c52911 100644
--- a/packages/minerender/src/env/node/NodeCache.ts
+++ b/packages/minerender/src/env/node/NodeCache.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import { PersistentCache } from "../../cache/PersistentCache";
 export class NodeCache extends PersistentCache<LocalStorage> {
 
     private initialized: Promise<unknown> | undefined;
+    private readonly pendingWrites = new Map<string, Promise<unknown>>();
 
     constructor(backing: LocalStorage) {
         super(backing);
@@ -26,7 +27,16 @@ export class NodeCache extends PersistentCache<LocalStorage> {
 
     async put<T>(key: string, value: T): Promise<T> {
         await this.ready();
-        return this.backing.setItem(key, value).then(res => res.content);
+        const previous = this.pendingWrites.get(key);
+        const write = (previous ? previous.catch(() => undefined) : Promise.resolve())
+            .then(() => this.backing.setItem(key, value))
+            .then(() => value);
+        this.pendingWrites.set(key, write);
+        try {
+            return await write;
+        } finally {
+            if (this.pendingWrites.get(key) === write) this.pendingWrites.delete(key);
+        }
     }
 
     async delete<T>(key: string): Promise<void> {
diff --git a/packages/minerender/src/env/node/NodeEnv.ts b/packages/minerender/src/env/node/NodeEnv.ts
index 61722903..6fbbb6fb 100644
--- a/packages/minerender/src/env/node/NodeEnv.ts
+++ b/packages/minerender/src/env/node/NodeEnv.ts
@@ -38,7 +38,10 @@ export class NodeEnv implements EnvProvider {
     openCache(name: string, version: number): PersistentCache {
         return new NodeCache(NodePersist.create({
             dir: name + version,
-            encoding: "utf8"
+            encoding: "utf8",
+            // node-persist's unref'd one-second write queue delays loads and lets Node exit before writes finish.
+            // NodeCache serializes writes to each key while allowing different files to write concurrently.
+            writeQueue: false
         }));
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/minerender/test/node/NodeCache.test.ts b/packages/minerender/test/node/NodeCache.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4f6f1b1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/minerender/test/node/NodeCache.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+import test from "ava";
+import { mkdtempSync, rmSync } from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { NodeCache, NodeEnv, PersistentCache, shutdown } from "../../dist/node/index.js";
+
+// Match node-persist's default writeQueueIntervalMs.
+const WRITE_QUEUE_INTERVAL_MS = 1000;
+
+const cacheDirectory = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "minerender-node-cache-test-"));
+class TestNodeEnv extends NodeEnv {
+    openCache(name: string, version: number) {
+        return super.openCache(join(cacheDirectory, name), version);
+    }
+}
+
+test.after.always(() => {
+    shutdown();
+    rmSync(cacheDirectory, { recursive: true, force: true });
+});
+
+test("persistent puts resolve without waiting for the write queue interval", async t => {
+    const cache = new TestNodeEnv().openCache("cache", PersistentCache.VERSION);
+    const start = performance.now();
+    t.is(await cache.put("first", 1), 1);
+    let writing = true;
+    const second = cache.put("second", 2).finally(() => { writing = false; });
+    await new Promise<void>(resolve => setImmediate(resolve));
+    t.true(writing, "the second put is still writing when the third starts");
+    const third = cache.put("third", 3);
+    await Promise.all([second, third]);
+    const elapsed = performance.now() - start;
+    t.true(elapsed < WRITE_QUEUE_INTERVAL_MS / 2, `three puts took ${elapsed.toFixed(1)} ms`);
+    t.is(await cache.get("first"), 1);
+    t.is(await cache.get("second"), 2);
+    t.is(await cache.get("third"), 3);
+});
+
+test("overlapping same-key puts integrate with disk storage and reopening", async t => {
+    const env = new TestNodeEnv();
+    const cache = env.openCache("overlap", PersistentCache.VERSION);
+    await cache.get("initialize");
+    await Promise.all([
+        cache.put("same", "a".repeat(2 * 1024 * 1024)),
+        cache.put("same", "small-last")
+    ]);
+    const reopened = env.openCache("overlap", PersistentCache.VERSION);
+    t.is(await reopened.get("same"), "small-last");
+});
+
+test("failed puts release queued and later writes without blocking other keys", async t => {
+    const failure = new Error("Write failed");
+    let rejectFirst!: (error: Error) => void;
+    let firstStarted!: () => void;
+    const started = new Promise<void>(resolve => { firstStarted = resolve; });
+    const calls: string[] = [];
+    const cache = new NodeCache({
+        init: async () => {},
+        setItem: async (key: string, value: string) => {
+            calls.push(`${key}:${value}`);
+            if (value === "first") {
+                firstStarted();
+                await new Promise<void>((_, reject) => { rejectFirst = reject; });
+            }
+            return { content: { key, value } };
+        }
+    } as never);
+    const first = cache.put("same", "first");
+    const rejected = t.throwsAsync(first, { is: failure });
+    await started;
+    const second = cache.put("same", "second");
+    try {
+        t.is(await cache.put("other", "independent"), "independent");
+        t.deepEqual(calls, ["same:first", "other:independent"]);
+    } finally {
+        rejectFirst(failure);
+        await rejected;
+        await second;
+    }
+    t.is(await second, "second");
+    t.is(await cache.put("same", "retry"), "retry");
+    t.deepEqual(calls, ["same:first", "other:independent", "same:second", "same:retry"]);
+    t.is((cache as unknown as { pendingWrites: Map<string, unknown> }).pendingWrites.size, 0);
+});