diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 4d75d3a17..551355954 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -134,8 +134,9 @@ jobs:
           port: ${{ job.services.postgres.ports['5432'] }}
       # One file at a time in a job: files that share CPU starve each other's real-time margins
       # and migrate.test.ts changes the roles of the whole server. The shards are the parallelism.
-      # `--test-force-exit` ends a file's process once its tests are done: a failed test that leaves a
-      # turn parked on a card keeps a timer alive, and its file used to hold the shard to the timeout.
+      # A file's process ends when nothing holds it: no `--test-force-exit`. Its `process.exit()` can
+      # deadlock on Node 24.21 joining a V8 compile worker parked until the main thread collects
+      # garbage (nodejs/node#54918), and held shard 3 to the timeout in about one run in eleven.
       - run: npm test -w @conexus/server
         env:
           TEST_SHARD: ${{ matrix.shard }}/6
diff --git a/apps/server/package.json b/apps/server/package.json
index 981f1ca80..e1c99b71e 100644
--- a/apps/server/package.json
+++ b/apps/server/package.json
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
     "pretest": "npm run build",
     "generate": "drizzle-kit generate",
     "typecheck": "tsc -p tsconfig.json",
-    "test": "MASTRA_AGENT_THREAD_LEASE_TTL_MS=3000 node --test --test-concurrency=1 --test-force-exit --test-timeout=120000 --test-reporter=../../scripts/test-reporter.ts $(node ../../scripts/server-shards.ts ${TEST_SHARD:-all})"
+    "test": "MASTRA_AGENT_THREAD_LEASE_TTL_MS=3000 node --test --test-concurrency=1 --test-timeout=120000 --test-reporter=../../scripts/test-reporter.ts $(node ../../scripts/server-shards.ts ${TEST_SHARD:-all})"
   },
   "dependencies": {
     "@ai-sdk/anthropic": "3.0.133",
diff --git a/apps/server/src/builder/agents/code-tool.test.ts b/apps/server/src/builder/agents/code-tool.test.ts
index 6b95e9a7c..9bc91e11b 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/builder/agents/code-tool.test.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/builder/agents/code-tool.test.ts
@@ -162,7 +162,9 @@ test('o turno parado enquanto o Worker sobe de novo solta a subida: o sinal do t
   const turn = on.conversation.say('E setembro?')
   await held.arrived
   assert.equal((await stopped(on.hub, on.ana, on.url)).statusCode, 200)
-  const patience = new Promise<string>((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 3000, 'STILL_WAITING'))
+  const patience = new Promise<string>((resolve) =>
+    setTimeout(resolve, 3000, 'STILL_WAITING').unref(),
+  )
   assert.equal(await Promise.race([held.ended, patience]), 'ABORTED', 'the upload kept waiting')
   assert.equal(endOf(await turn), 'aborted')
   assert.deepEqual(on.hub.tools.workers(), [], 'the stopped upload left nothing in the namespace')
diff --git a/apps/server/src/builder/conversation/conversation-preview.test.ts b/apps/server/src/builder/conversation/conversation-preview.test.ts
index 8a3543360..9389abdee 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/builder/conversation/conversation-preview.test.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/builder/conversation/conversation-preview.test.ts
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ test('a versão não espera o envio: com o envio parado, o fluxo já tem a vers
     while (!oursIn(before).includes('data-conexus-version')) before.push(await stream.next())
   })()
   await held.arrived
-  await Promise.race([reading, setTimeout(5_000)])
+  await Promise.race([reading, setTimeout(5_000, undefined, { ref: false })])
   assert.ok(oursIn(before).includes('data-conexus-version'), 'told while the send is held')
   assert.ok(oursIn(before).includes('preview:sending'))
   assert.ok(!oursIn(before).includes('agent_end'))
diff --git a/apps/server/src/builder/conversation/test-questions.ts b/apps/server/src/builder/conversation/test-questions.ts
index 48a01bf15..453c5043e 100644
--- a/apps/server/src/builder/conversation/test-questions.ts
+++ b/apps/server/src/builder/conversation/test-questions.ts
@@ -138,9 +138,12 @@ export function invocations(parts: MastraMessagePart[], toolCallId: string) {
 /** The parked runs in Mastra's database: one run keeps a snapshot of its loop and of its execution. */
 export const PARKED = `select distinct run_id from mastra.mastra_workflow_snapshot where snapshot->>'status' = 'suspended'`
 
-/** What `said` resolves to within `ms`, or `undefined`: a stream that says nothing fails the test, not hangs it. */
+/**
+ * What `said` resolves to within `ms`, or `undefined`: a stream that says nothing fails the test, not
+ * hangs it. The deadline does not hold the file's process once `said` has answered.
+ */
 export async function within<T>(ms: number, said: Promise<T>): Promise<T | undefined> {
-  return Promise.race([said, sleep(ms).then(() => undefined)])
+  return Promise.race([said, sleep(ms, undefined, { ref: false })])
 }
 
 /** What a call that Mastra closed without an answer reads as: the states of its `tool-invocation` part. */