diff --git a/crates/platform/src/process.rs b/crates/platform/src/process.rs
index fd949ced..3d6076a1 100644
--- a/crates/platform/src/process.rs
+++ b/crates/platform/src/process.rs
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ impl Process {
         // output is piped here, so it never needs one.
         #[cfg(windows)]
         wrap.wrap(process_wrap::std::JobObject).wrap(process_wrap::std::CreationFlags(windows::Win32::System::Threading::CREATE_NO_WINDOW));
-        let mut child = wrap.spawn().map_err(|e| spawn_error(&name, &self.program, self.cwd.as_deref(), e, self.remediation.as_deref()))?;
+        let mut child = spawn_retrying(|| wrap.spawn()).map_err(|e| spawn_error(&name, &self.program, self.cwd.as_deref(), e, self.remediation.as_deref()))?;
         let pid = child.id();
         let start = Instant::now();
         let activity = Arc::new(AtomicU64::new(0));
@@ -359,6 +359,21 @@ impl Process {
     }
 }
 
+/// Start a program, trying again for about a third of a second while its file is busy. A program
+/// just written (an agent's update, a test's stand-in) can still be open for writing in a child
+/// another thread is starting, and Linux then refuses to run it ("Text file busy").
+fn spawn_retrying<T>(mut spawn: impl FnMut() -> std::io::Result<T>) -> std::io::Result<T> {
+    let mut wait = Duration::from_millis(5);
+    for _ in 0..6 {
+        match spawn() {
+            Err(e) if e.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::ExecutableFileBusy => std::thread::sleep(wait),
+            started => return started,
+        }
+        wait = wait.saturating_mul(2);
+    }
+    spawn()
+}
+
 /// The child gets [`search_path`](crate::which::search_path), which is also where a bare program
 /// name is looked up on Unix, so an app opened from the Dock starts what a shell would.
 fn use_search_path(cmd: &mut std::process::Command) {
@@ -932,7 +947,7 @@ impl Launch {
             const CREATE_NO_WINDOW: u32 = 0x0800_0000;
             cmd.creation_flags(CREATE_NO_WINDOW);
         }
-        let child = cmd.spawn().map_err(|e| spawn_error(&name, &self.program, self.cwd.as_deref(), e, self.remediation.as_deref()))?;
+        let child = spawn_retrying(|| cmd.spawn()).map_err(|e| spawn_error(&name, &self.program, self.cwd.as_deref(), e, self.remediation.as_deref()))?;
         let launched = Launched { pid: child.id(), started: Instant::now(), state: Arc::new(Mutex::new(LaunchState { child: Some(child), ended: None })) };
         // Reap it when it closes. If no thread can be made the child still runs (and `ended`
         // stays unknown); on Unix it stays a zombie until we exit, which is harmless.
@@ -1284,6 +1299,30 @@ mod launch_tests {
 mod error_tests {
     use super::*;
 
+    /// A busy program file is tried again; any other error, or a file that stays busy, is returned.
+    #[test]
+    fn a_busy_program_file_is_tried_again() {
+        let busy = || std::io::Error::from(std::io::ErrorKind::ExecutableFileBusy);
+        let mut tries = 0;
+        let started = spawn_retrying(|| {
+            tries += 1;
+            if tries < 3 { Err(busy()) } else { Ok(tries) }
+        });
+        assert_eq!(started.ok(), Some(3));
+        let mut tries = 0;
+        let missing = spawn_retrying(|| -> std::io::Result<()> {
+            tries += 1;
+            Err(std::io::Error::from(std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound))
+        });
+        assert_eq!((missing.map_err(|e| e.kind()), tries), (Err(std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound), 1));
+        let mut tries = 0;
+        let stays_busy = spawn_retrying(|| -> std::io::Result<()> {
+            tries += 1;
+            Err(busy())
+        });
+        assert_eq!((stays_busy.map_err(|e| e.kind()), tries), (Err(std::io::ErrorKind::ExecutableFileBusy), 7));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn a_crash_is_named_by_its_error_not_its_last_stack_frame() {
         let bun = "error: No provider is set up\n      at loadConfig (/$bunfs/root/chunk-qqmzrn42.js:12:40)\n      at <anonymous> (/$bunfs/root/chunk-qqmzrn42.js:96:6417)\n";
diff --git a/docs/pitfalls.md b/docs/pitfalls.md
index 8c25715e..396924ea 100644
--- a/docs/pitfalls.md
+++ b/docs/pitfalls.md
@@ -110,6 +110,12 @@ CI the banner moved the layout under another test running beside it, and its cli
 same temp directory, and game detection walked up and found the game. Give each case its own
 `tempfile::tempdir()`.
 
+**A script written and run at once.** Tests that write a stand-in program and start it failed now
+and then on Linux with "Text file busy": another test thread was starting a child at that moment,
+and the child still held the new file open for writing. Starting a program goes through
+`process::spawn_retrying`, which tries a busy file again for a moment; don't add a sleep to a test
+instead.
+
 **Proving a refactor changed nothing.** Unit tests that check substrings can miss changed prompts.
 For a refactor that must keep output identical, dump the outputs for every combination before and
 after and compare them byte for byte (done for every brief across 162 combinations in R1.1).