diff --git a/crates/yaak-web/Cargo.toml b/crates/yaak-web/Cargo.toml
index fc13fa53..02e83860 100644
--- a/crates/yaak-web/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/yaak-web/Cargo.toml
@@ -16,15 +16,22 @@ wasm-opt = false # Matches yaak-templates; wasm-opt has caused errors in CI
 [lib]
 crate-type = ["cdylib", "rlib"]
 
+# The whole crate is `#![cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")]`: on a native target it
+# is empty, so a workspace-wide `cargo test` neither builds SQLite's wasm shim
+# for the host (which fails) nor links a browser-only runtime. Everything that
+# only exists for wasm is a target-scoped dependency for the same reason.
+
 [dependencies]
-console_error_panic_hook = "0.1"
-js-sys = "0.3"
 log = { workspace = true }
 serde = { workspace = true, features = ["derive"] }
-serde-wasm-bindgen = "0.6.5"
 serde_json = { workspace = true }
+yaak-models = { workspace = true }
+
+[target.'cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")'.dependencies]
+console_error_panic_hook = "0.1"
+js-sys = "0.3"
+serde-wasm-bindgen = "0.6.5"
 sqlite-wasm-rs = "0.5"
 sqlite-wasm-vfs = "0.2"
 wasm-bindgen = "0.2.100"
 wasm-bindgen-futures = "0.4"
-yaak-models = { workspace = true }
diff --git a/crates/yaak-web/pkg/yaak_web_bg.wasm b/crates/yaak-web/pkg/yaak_web_bg.wasm
index f4680c64..347a3236 100644
Binary files a/crates/yaak-web/pkg/yaak_web_bg.wasm and b/crates/yaak-web/pkg/yaak_web_bg.wasm differ
diff --git a/crates/yaak-web/src/lib.rs b/crates/yaak-web/src/lib.rs
index d768b735..e2a764d3 100644
--- a/crates/yaak-web/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/yaak-web/src/lib.rs
@@ -15,6 +15,11 @@
 //! its model store coherent, and blob storage. Sending, plugins, git, sync and
 //! everything else with a socket or a filesystem behind it lives elsewhere.
 
+// Nothing in here means anything off wasm32, and building it there would drag
+// SQLite's wasm C shim into a native compile. So on any other target the crate
+// is empty — a workspace-wide `cargo test` passes through it.
+#![cfg(target_arch = "wasm32")]
+
 use std::cell::RefCell;
 use std::sync::mpsc;
 
diff --git a/packages/platform/src/web/connection.ts b/packages/platform/src/web/connection.ts
index b43d8580..ceeba8b2 100644
--- a/packages/platform/src/web/connection.ts
+++ b/packages/platform/src/web/connection.ts
@@ -137,6 +137,12 @@ export class WorkerConnection {
    * only then gives up on sharing and takes a dedicated worker.
    */
   private replaceWorker(why: string): void {
+    // Let go of the port that never answered. If a slow shared worker does
+    // come up later, it will find its port closed and — since it takes the
+    // same lock the replacement takes — cannot open the database beneath us.
+    if (this.port instanceof MessagePort) this.port.close();
+    else this.port.terminate();
+
     if (this.sharedAttempts < MAX_SHARED_ATTEMPTS) {
       console.warn(`Reconnecting to the database worker (${why})`);
       this.port = this.connectShared();
diff --git a/packages/platform/src/web/protocol.ts b/packages/platform/src/web/protocol.ts
index 71ad16f0..67623f0f 100644
--- a/packages/platform/src/web/protocol.ts
+++ b/packages/platform/src/web/protocol.ts
@@ -38,8 +38,13 @@ export type FromWorker =
 export const WORKER_NAME = "yaak-db";
 
 /**
- * The Web Lock a dedicated (non-shared) worker takes so a second tab cannot
- * open a second SQLite over the same pages. Shared workers don't need it: the
- * browser guarantees one of them.
+ * The Web Lock every worker takes before opening the database, shared or not.
+ *
+ * A SharedWorker is the *preferred* owner because the browser gives all tabs
+ * the same one — but it is not the *guarantee*. A tab that gave up waiting for
+ * a slow shared worker and fell back to a dedicated one must not find the
+ * shared worker starting up behind it and opening a second SQLite over the
+ * same pages. The lock is what makes "one database owner per origin" true no
+ * matter how the workers arrived.
  */
 export const DB_LOCK_NAME = "yaak-db";
diff --git a/packages/platform/src/web/worker.ts b/packages/platform/src/web/worker.ts
index daa72f5d..cf3384bf 100644
--- a/packages/platform/src/web/worker.ts
+++ b/packages/platform/src/web/worker.ts
@@ -10,10 +10,12 @@
  * `model_writes` out to every port — so two tabs are coherent for the same
  * reason two desktop windows are, not because of a side channel.
  *
- * It runs as a SharedWorker where the browser has one, which is what makes
- * "one database, many tabs" true by construction. Where it doesn't (Android
- * Chrome), it runs as a dedicated worker and takes a Web Lock so a second tab
- * fails to open loudly instead of opening a second SQLite over the same pages.
+ * It runs as a SharedWorker where the browser has one, which is what gives
+ * every tab the same worker. Where it doesn't (Android Chrome), it runs as a
+ * dedicated worker instead. Either way it takes a Web Lock before opening the
+ * database, and that lock — not the worker kind — is what guarantees there is
+ * exactly one SQLite over these pages: a second worker, however it came to
+ * exist, fails loudly rather than opening another.
  */
 
 import { DB_LOCK_NAME, type FromWorker, type ToWorker } from "./protocol";
@@ -47,43 +49,57 @@ function errorMessage(err: unknown): string {
   return String(err);
 }
 
+/**
+ * How long to wait for the database lock before concluding someone else has it
+ * for good. The wait exists for one case: a tab reloading itself. Its old
+ * worker still holds the lock while it is torn down, and the new worker only
+ * needs it to let go — which takes milliseconds, not seconds. Anything longer
+ * is a live worker in another tab, and the honest answer is to say so.
+ */
+const LOCK_TIMEOUT_MS = 3000;
+
+const ALREADY_OPEN =
+  "Yaak is already open in another tab, and this browser can't share a database between tabs. Close the other tab, or use it instead.";
+
+/**
+ * Take the lock, or explain why not.
+ *
+ * Held for the life of the worker: the callback's promise never settles, so
+ * the browser keeps the lock until this worker is gone. Requested with a
+ * timeout rather than `ifAvailable`, so a dying predecessor's brief hold is
+ * waited out but a live one is reported.
+ */
+function acquireDatabaseLock(): Promise<void> {
+  if (typeof navigator.locks === "undefined") {
+    // No way to guarantee exclusivity; proceed and hope. This is old browsers
+    // only, and they will get one tab working.
+    return Promise.resolve();
+  }
+  return new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
+    navigator.locks
+      .request(DB_LOCK_NAME, { signal: AbortSignal.timeout(LOCK_TIMEOUT_MS) }, () => {
+        resolve();
+        return new Promise<void>(() => {});
+      })
+      .catch((err: unknown) => {
+        const name = (err as { name?: string } | null)?.name;
+        reject(name === "AbortError" || name === "TimeoutError" ? new Error(ALREADY_OPEN) : err);
+      });
+  });
+}
+
 /**
  * Open the database, once, for everyone.
  *
- * In a dedicated worker this also takes the lock. `ifAvailable` returns null
- * rather than queueing, because queueing would mean a second tab silently
- * hangs until the first closes — worse than telling it what is going on.
+ * Lock first, then load the model layer, then open — in that order, so a
+ * worker that will never own the database also never downloads and compiles
+ * the wasm for it.
  */
-function bootOnce(isShared: boolean): Promise<void> {
+function bootOnce(): Promise<void> {
   if (booted != null) return booted;
 
   booted = (async () => {
-    if (!isShared) {
-      if (typeof navigator.locks === "undefined") {
-        // No way to guarantee exclusivity; proceed and hope. This is old
-        // browsers only, and they will get one tab working.
-        const loaded = await import("@yaakapp-internal/web");
-        await loaded.boot();
-        engine = loaded;
-        return;
-      }
-      const held = await new Promise<boolean>((resolve) => {
-        void navigator.locks.request(DB_LOCK_NAME, { ifAvailable: true }, (lock) => {
-          if (lock == null) {
-            resolve(false);
-            return;
-          }
-          resolve(true);
-          // Hold the lock for as long as this worker lives
-          return new Promise<void>(() => {});
-        });
-      });
-      if (!held) {
-        throw new Error(
-          "Yaak is already open in another tab, and this browser can't share a database between tabs. Close the other tab, or use it instead.",
-        );
-      }
-    }
+    await acquireDatabaseLock();
     const loaded = await import("@yaakapp-internal/web");
     await loaded.boot();
     engine = loaded;
@@ -159,7 +175,7 @@ async function handle(port: MessagePort, message: ToWorker): Promise<void> {
   }
 }
 
-function attach(port: MessagePort, isShared: boolean): void {
+function attach(port: MessagePort): void {
   ports.add(port);
   port.onmessage = (e: MessageEvent<ToWorker>) => void handle(port, e.data);
   port.start?.();
@@ -167,7 +183,7 @@ function attach(port: MessagePort, isShared: boolean): void {
   // Proof of life, before boot: the tab is timing this.
   send(port, { type: "hello" });
 
-  bootOnce(isShared).then(
+  bootOnce().then(
     () => send(port, { type: "ready" }),
     (err) => send(port, { type: "boot_error", message: errorMessage(err) }),
   );
@@ -178,8 +194,8 @@ function attach(port: MessagePort, isShared: boolean): void {
 const scope = self as unknown as { onconnect?: unknown };
 if ("onconnect" in scope) {
   (self as unknown as SharedWorkerGlobalScope).onconnect = (e: MessageEvent) => {
-    attach(e.ports[0]!, true);
+    attach(e.ports[0]!);
   };
 } else {
-  attach(self as unknown as MessagePort, false);
+  attach(self as unknown as MessagePort);
 }