diff --git a/.github/workflows/pipeline.yml b/.github/workflows/pipeline.yml
index b91c19505..012e3a9c3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pipeline.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pipeline.yml
@@ -131,12 +131,22 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v7
 
       - uses: actions/setup-go@v6
+        id: setup-go
         with:
           go-version-file: go.mod
 
       - name: Download dependencies
         run: go mod download
 
+      # Without this, the plugins suite recompiles every test plugin WASM module,
+      # which dominates the job runtime under -race.
+      - name: Cache the plugins test suite WASM compilation cache
+        uses: actions/cache@v6
+        with:
+          path: plugins/testdata/.wazero-cache
+          key: wazero-${{ runner.os }}-go${{ steps.setup-go.outputs.go-version }}-${{ hashFiles('plugins/testdata/*/*.go', 'plugins/testdata/*/go.*', 'plugins/pdk/go/**/*.go', 'plugins/pdk/go/go.*') }}
+          restore-keys: wazero-${{ runner.os }}-
+
       - name: Test
         run: go test -shuffle=on -tags netgo,sqlite_fts5 -race ./... -v
 
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 6459ded9b..810074e72 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -43,4 +43,7 @@ go.work*
 .playwright-mcp/
 
 # Temp benchmark files
-zz_*_test.go
\ No newline at end of file
+zz_*_test.go
+
+# wazero compilation cache for the plugins test suite
+/plugins/testdata/.wazero-cache/
diff --git a/plugins/plugins_suite_test.go b/plugins/plugins_suite_test.go
index 77956e2f9..c8585f2c1 100644
--- a/plugins/plugins_suite_test.go
+++ b/plugins/plugins_suite_test.go
@@ -25,7 +25,10 @@ import (
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
 )
 
-const testDataDir = "plugins/testdata"
+const (
+	testDataDir    = "plugins/testdata"
+	wazeroCacheDir = ".wazero-cache"
+)
 
 // Shared test state initialized in BeforeSuite
 var (
@@ -38,18 +41,10 @@ func TestPlugins(t *testing.T) {
 	tests.Init(t, false)
 	buildTestPlugins(t, testDataDir)
 
-	// Create a shared wazero compilation cache directory.
-	// All test managers will point CacheFolder here so that WASM compilation
-	// is done once per binary and then reused from disk cache.
-	sharedCacheDir, err := os.MkdirTemp("", "plugins-shared-cache-*")
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatalf("Failed to create shared cache dir: %v", err)
-	}
-	t.Cleanup(func() { os.RemoveAll(sharedCacheDir) })
-
-	// Set CacheFolder globally so all tests (including those using
-	// configtest.SetupConfig) inherit it without needing to set it manually.
-	conf.Server.CacheFolder = conf.NewDir(sharedCacheDir)
+	// Set globally so tests using configtest.SetupConfig inherit it. The cache
+	// persists between runs; entries are content-addressed, so a stale one only misses.
+	conf.Server.CacheFolder = conf.NewDir(filepath.Join(testDataDir, wazeroCacheDir))
+	conf.Server.Plugins.CacheSize = "1GB" // the default evicts the cache mid-run
 
 	log.SetLevel(log.LevelFatal)
 	RegisterFailHandler(Fail)
diff --git a/plugins/testdata/Makefile b/plugins/testdata/Makefile
index d53f2aaee..758497095 100644
--- a/plugins/testdata/Makefile
+++ b/plugins/testdata/Makefile
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ all: $(PLUGINS:%=%.ndp)
 
 clean:
 	rm -f $(PLUGINS:%=%.ndp) $(PLUGINS:%=%.wasm)
+	rm -rf .wazero-cache
 
 # PDK source files that trigger rebuild when changed (recursive)
 PDK_SOURCES := $(shell find ../pdk/go -name '*.go' 2>/dev/null)
@@ -22,10 +23,11 @@ PDK_SOURCES := $(shell find ../pdk/go -name '*.go' 2>/dev/null)
 	@rm -f plugin.wasm
 	@mv $< $<.tmp && mv $<.tmp $<  # Touch wasm to ensure it's older than ndp
 
-# Build the wasm binary
+# Build the wasm binary. -buildvcs=false keeps the bytes stable across commits, so
+# the test suite's wazero compilation cache still hits after a rebuild.
 %.wasm: %/*.go %/go.mod $(PDK_SOURCES)
 ifdef TINYGO
 	cd $* && tinygo build -target wasip1 -buildmode=c-shared -o ../$@ .
 else
-	cd $* && GOOS=wasip1 GOARCH=wasm go build -buildmode=c-shared -o ../$@ .
+	cd $* && GOOS=wasip1 GOARCH=wasm go build -buildvcs=false -buildmode=c-shared -o ../$@ .
 endif
\ No newline at end of file