diff --git a/apps/bulldozer-js/src/index.ts b/apps/bulldozer-js/src/index.ts
index 01bbf6036..04a3e92d1 100644
--- a/apps/bulldozer-js/src/index.ts
+++ b/apps/bulldozer-js/src/index.ts
@@ -1088,7 +1088,9 @@ runAsynchronously(async () => {
           memory: serviceMemoryUsage(),
         }, { suppressInNodeEnvDevelopment: true });
       }
-      await wait(1000);
+      // The HTTP server owns this periodic loop's lifetime; after it closes,
+      // waiting for the next tick must not keep the process alive.
+      await wait(1000, { unref: true });
     });
   }
 });
diff --git a/packages/shared/src/utils/promises.tsx b/packages/shared/src/utils/promises.tsx
index 36f7c77c1..88776203e 100644
--- a/packages/shared/src/utils/promises.tsx
+++ b/packages/shared/src/utils/promises.tsx
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ export function concatStacktracesIfRejected<T>(promise: Promise<T>): void {
   });
 }
 
-export async function wait(ms: number) {
+export async function wait(ms: number, options?: { unref?: boolean }) {
   if (!Number.isFinite(ms) || ms < 0) {
     throw new HexclaveAssertionError(`wait() requires a non-negative integer number of milliseconds to wait. (found: ${ms}ms)`);
   }
@@ -267,7 +267,10 @@ export async function wait(ms: number) {
     throw new HexclaveAssertionError("The maximum timeout for wait() is 2147483647ms (2**31 - 1). (found: ${ms}ms)");
   }
   return await traceSpan({ description: 'wait(...)', attributes: { 'stack.wait.ms': ms } }, async (span) => {
-    return await new Promise<void>(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
+    return await new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
+      const timeout = setTimeout(resolve, ms);
+      if (options?.unref === true && typeof timeout === "object") timeout.unref();
+    });
   });
 }
 import.meta.vitest?.test("wait", async ({ expect }) => {
@@ -280,6 +283,10 @@ import.meta.vitest?.test("wait", async ({ expect }) => {
   // Test with zero
   await expect(wait(0)).resolves.toBeUndefined();
 
+  // Node's unref option must preserve the normal wait behavior while another
+  // referenced handle (the test runner) owns the process lifetime.
+  await expect(wait(0, { unref: true })).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+
   // Test with negative number
   await expect(wait(-10)).rejects.toThrow("wait() requires a non-negative integer");
 
diff --git a/scripts/reseed-bulldozer.sh b/scripts/reseed-bulldozer.sh
index 544d8f88d..f990543d1 100755
--- a/scripts/reseed-bulldozer.sh
+++ b/scripts/reseed-bulldozer.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ echo "Starting temporary bulldozer-js on port $BULLDOZER_PORT ..."
 # Run the server directly (single node process, so we can reliably kill it) via
 # tsx's node loader — the same entrypoint the package's `start` script uses.
 (
-  cd "$BULLDOZER_DIR" && exec node --import tsx --expose-gc src/index.ts
+  cd "$BULLDOZER_DIR" && NODE_ENV=development exec node --import tsx --expose-gc src/index.ts
 ) &
 BULLDOZER_PID=$!