From d2b8d45d2031738f902586b748972c997ebb53a6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ScriptedAlchemy <zackary.l.jackson@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:11:42 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] test: migrate recursive rmSync to removeTree(Sync) and
 gate rmSync, rmdir, and maxRetries: 0

---
 .../tests/check-test-remove-tree.test.ts      | 37 +++++++++++++++++++
 .../tests/playground-service.test.ts          |  6 +--
 .../tests/support/remove-tree.test.ts         | 13 ++++++-
 .../agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.ts |  6 +++
 .../agent-bundle/tests/support/shared-pack.ts |  4 +-
 .../rsc-runtime/tests/plugin-root.test.ts     |  7 ++--
 scripts/check-test-remove-tree.mjs            | 24 +++++++++---
 7 files changed, 81 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-)

diff --git a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/check-test-remove-tree.test.ts b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/check-test-remove-tree.test.ts
index 21665c6c9..183fc11c4 100644
--- a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/check-test-remove-tree.test.ts
+++ b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/check-test-remove-tree.test.ts
@@ -484,3 +484,40 @@ it('flags fs.promises.rm and wrapped callees or callee objects', () => {
     `await fs.other.rm(root, { ${recursiveTrue} });`,
   ]))).toEqual([]);
 });
+
+it('flags recursive rmSync, rmdir, and rmdirSync with the same rules', () => {
+  expect(recursiveRmCalls(sample([
+    "import { rmSync, rmdirSync as removeDirSync } from 'node:fs';",
+    "import { rmdir } from 'node:fs/promises';",
+    "import * as fs from 'node:fs';",
+    `rmSync(root, { force: true, ${recursiveTrue} });`,
+    `removeDirSync(root, { ${recursiveTrue} });`,
+    `await rmdir(root, { ${recursiveTrue} });`,
+    `fs.rmSync(root, { ${recursiveTrue} });`,
+    `await fs.promises.rmdir(root, { ${recursiveTrue} });`,
+    `(fs.rmdirSync)!(root, { ${recursiveTrue} });`,
+  ]))).toEqual([4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9].map((line) => expect.objectContaining({ hasRetries: false, line })));
+
+  expect(bareRecursiveRmFailures('packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts', sample([
+    "import { rmSync, rmdirSync } from 'node:fs';",
+    'rmSync(file);',
+    `rmSync(root, { ${recursiveTrue}, maxRetries: 5 });`,
+    `rmdirSync(root, { ${recursiveTrue}, maxRetries: 5 });`,
+    'rmdirSync(root);',
+    `const cleanup = (rmSync) => rmSync(root, { ${recursiveTrue} });`,
+    `other.rmSync(root, { ${recursiveTrue} });`,
+  ]))).toEqual([]);
+});
+
+it('treats maxRetries: 0 as not retried', () => {
+  expect(bareRecursiveRmFailures('packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts', sample([
+    "import { rm } from 'node:fs/promises';",
+    "import { rmSync } from 'node:fs';",
+    `await rm(root, { ${recursiveTrue}, maxRetries: 0 });`,
+    `rmSync(root, { ${recursiveTrue}, "maxRetries": 0x0 });`,
+    `await rm(root, { ${recursiveTrue}, maxRetries: 1 });`,
+  ]))).toEqual([
+    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:3 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree.',
+    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:4 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree.',
+  ]);
+});
diff --git a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/playground-service.test.ts b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/playground-service.test.ts
index 36ca65655..d5475e08d 100644
--- a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/playground-service.test.ts
+++ b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/playground-service.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { mkdirSync, readdirSync, renameSync, rmSync, symlinkSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { mkdirSync, readdirSync, renameSync, symlinkSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { appendFile, link, mkdtemp, mkdir, readdir, readFile, rm, symlink, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
 import { dirname, join } from 'node:path';
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import {
   type PlaygroundServiceOptions,
   type PlaygroundTraceEvent,
 } from '../src/dev/playground/playground-store.ts';
-import { removeTree } from './support/remove-tree.ts';
+import { removeTree, removeTreeSync } from './support/remove-tree.ts';
 
 interface SessionIndex {
   readonly kind: 'agent-bundle-playground-session-index';
@@ -1690,7 +1690,7 @@ it('rolls back a failed pre-publication object without changing an unrelated dir
     const pendingRoot = join(fixture.storageRoot, 'session-index', '.pending');
     const blocked = new PlaygroundService({
       now: () => {
-        rmSync(pendingRoot, { force: true, recursive: true });
+        removeTreeSync(pendingRoot);
         writeFileSync(pendingRoot, 'blocked\n', 'utf8');
         return new Date('2026-08-16T00:00:00.000Z');
       },
diff --git a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.test.ts b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.test.ts
index 7f431b01a..0168c69bb 100644
--- a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.test.ts
+++ b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.test.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
-import { mkdtemp, rm as removeDirectory, stat, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
+import { mkdir, mkdtemp, rm as removeDirectory, stat, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
 import { join } from 'node:path';
 
 import { expect, it } from '@rstest/core';
 
-import { removeTree, type TreeRemoval } from './remove-tree.ts';
+import { removeTree, removeTreeSync, type TreeRemoval } from './remove-tree.ts';
 
 const emptyError = Object.assign(new Error('ENOTEMPTY: directory not empty, rmdir'), { code: 'ENOTEMPTY' });
 
@@ -37,3 +37,12 @@ it('removeTree surfaces a persistent ENOTEMPTY', async () => {
   expect((await stat(root)).isDirectory()).toBe(true);
   await removeTree(root);
 });
+
+it('removeTreeSync deletes a nested tree and tolerates a missing path', async () => {
+  const root = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'remove-tree-sync-'));
+  await mkdir(join(root, 'nested'));
+  await writeFile(join(root, 'nested', 'kept.txt'), 'x\n');
+  removeTreeSync(root);
+  await expect(stat(root)).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: 'ENOENT' });
+  removeTreeSync(root);
+});
diff --git a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.ts b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.ts
index e164d4329..d12465458 100644
--- a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.ts
+++ b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { rmSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { rm as removeDirectory } from 'node:fs/promises';
 
 const nodeRetryCodes = new Set(['EBUSY', 'EMFILE', 'ENFILE', 'ENOTEMPTY', 'EPERM']);
@@ -28,3 +29,8 @@ export const removeTree = async (path: string, fs: TreeRemoval = defaultRemoval)
     }
   }
 };
+
+/** For callers that cannot await, such as `exit` handlers. Node retries the same codes with the same linear backoff. */
+export const removeTreeSync = (path: string): void => {
+  rmSync(path, { force: true, maxRetries, recursive: true, retryDelay });
+};
diff --git a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/shared-pack.ts b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/shared-pack.ts
index dee1e81d1..d8a9a629b 100644
--- a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/shared-pack.ts
+++ b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/shared-pack.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import { execFile as executeFile } from 'node:child_process';
-import { rmSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { mkdir, mkdtemp, readFile, readdir, symlink } from 'node:fs/promises';
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
 import { join } from 'node:path';
@@ -8,6 +7,7 @@ import { promisify } from 'node:util';
 import { isolatedCommandEnvironment } from '../../../../rstest.worker-isolation.ts';
 import { pnpmPack, type PnpmPackOutput as SharedPackOutput } from '../../../../scripts/pnpm-pack.mjs';
 import { packOutputFromJson } from '../../src/build/pack-inventory.ts';
+import { removeTreeSync } from './remove-tree.ts';
 
 const execFile = promisify(executeFile);
 const workspaceRoot = process.cwd();
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ const packOnce = async (packageName: SharedPackPackage): Promise<SharedPack> =>
   }
   const destination = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'agent-bundle-shared-pack-'));
   process.once('exit', () => {
-    rmSync(destination, { force: true, recursive: true });
+    removeTreeSync(destination);
   });
   return pnpmPack({
     cwd: join(workspaceRoot, 'packages', sharedPackDirectories[packageName]),
diff --git a/packages/rsc-runtime/tests/plugin-root.test.ts b/packages/rsc-runtime/tests/plugin-root.test.ts
index 94a8b7d5b..cec8ca6ca 100644
--- a/packages/rsc-runtime/tests/plugin-root.test.ts
+++ b/packages/rsc-runtime/tests/plugin-root.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { createHash } from 'node:crypto';
-import { mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, realpathSync, rmSync, symlinkSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, realpathSync, symlinkSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
 import { basename, join, resolve } from 'node:path';
 
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import {
   userDataStateRoot,
   userStateHome,
 } from '../src/plugin-root.js';
+import { removeTree } from '../../agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.ts';
 
 const digest16 = (path: string): string => createHash('sha256').update(path).digest('hex').slice(0, 16);
 
@@ -197,7 +198,7 @@ describe('resolvePluginRoot (#468)', () => {
     expect(pluginStateSegment(root)).toBe(`plugin-${digest16(resolve(root))}`);
   });
 
-  it('digests real roots canonically and missing roots by their resolved spelling', () => {
+  it('digests real roots canonically and missing roots by their resolved spelling', async () => {
     const directory = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'agent-bundle-plugin-root-'));
     try {
       const root = join(directory, 'curator');
@@ -214,7 +215,7 @@ describe('resolvePluginRoot (#468)', () => {
       const resolvedMissing = resolve(missing);
       expect(pluginStateSegment(missing)).toBe(`${basename(resolvedMissing)}-${digest16(resolvedMissing)}`);
     } finally {
-      rmSync(directory, { force: true, recursive: true });
+      await removeTree(directory);
     }
   });
 });
diff --git a/scripts/check-test-remove-tree.mjs b/scripts/check-test-remove-tree.mjs
index d6db27b84..ffedc9f0f 100644
--- a/scripts/check-test-remove-tree.mjs
+++ b/scripts/check-test-remove-tree.mjs
@@ -1,11 +1,18 @@
 /**
- * Test teardown that deletes a tree calls `removeTree`. A bare `rm` with
- * `recursive: true` and no `maxRetries` races a late writer and flakes with ENOTEMPTY.
+ * Test teardown that deletes a tree calls `removeTree` (`removeTreeSync` where it
+ * cannot await). A bare `rm` with `recursive: true` and no nonzero `maxRetries`
+ * races a late writer and flakes with ENOTEMPTY. `rmSync`, `rmdir`, and
+ * `rmdirSync` follow the same rules as `rm`.
  *
  * Catches bare `rm(`, aliased `import { rm as remove }` calls, and `ns.rm(` or
  * `ns.promises.rm(` when `ns` is a namespace/default import from node:fs, fs, or
  * their /promises forms. The same wrappers as the options argument are unwrapped
  * around the callee and its object, and `?.` member access counts.
+ * ponytail: only literal options and direct import bindings are read; options held
+ * in a variable or spread, a non-literal `recursive`, a non-literal `maxRetries`
+ * (counted as retried), and indirect bindings (local
+ * aliases, destructuring, dynamic import/require, `ns['rm']`, `.call`) are not
+ * followed. Closing that needs data-flow analysis, not a wider AST match.
  *
  * Call, option, and import-binding detection is parser-backed (typescript-5):
  * only real node:fs(/promises) ImportDeclaration bindings count, only Node-bound
@@ -36,6 +43,8 @@ const roots = [
 
 const nodeFsSpecifier = /^(?:node:)?fs(?:\/promises)?$/u;
 
+const removalNames = new Set(['rm', 'rmSync', 'rmdir', 'rmdirSync']);
+
 const isRemoveTreeHelper = (file) => /(?:^|\/)remove-tree\.ts$/u.test(file.replaceAll('\\', '/'));
 
 const walk = async (directory, files) => {
@@ -54,7 +63,7 @@ const walk = async (directory, files) => {
 };
 
 /**
- * Named/aliased rm bindings and namespace/default/`promises` bindings that expose .rm.
+ * Named/aliased removal bindings and namespace/default/`promises` bindings that expose them.
  * Import bindings are collected from the TypeScript AST so comments and local
  * identifiers cannot forge Node fs.rm bindings.
  */
@@ -99,7 +108,7 @@ export const removalBindings = (text, fileName = 'bindings.ts') => {
         ? element.name.text
         : element.propertyName.text;
       const localName = element.name.text;
-      if (importedName === 'rm') {
+      if (removalNames.has(importedName)) {
         bareNames.add(localName);
         continue;
       }
@@ -254,7 +263,10 @@ const optionsFlags = (optionsArg) => {
     if (key === 'recursive' && property.initializer.kind === ts.SyntaxKind.TrueKeyword) {
       recursive = true;
     }
-    if (key === 'maxRetries') hasRetries = true;
+    if (key === 'maxRetries') {
+      const retries = unwrapExpression(property.initializer);
+      hasRetries = !ts.isNumericLiteral(retries) || Number(retries.text) !== 0;
+    }
   }
   return { recursive, hasRetries };
 };
@@ -265,7 +277,7 @@ const isNodeBoundRmCall = (callee, bareNames, namespaceNames) => {
   if (ts.isIdentifier(expression)) {
     return bareNames.has(expression.text) && !identifierIsLocallyShadowed(expression);
   }
-  if (!ts.isPropertyAccessExpression(expression) || expression.name.text !== 'rm') return false;
+  if (!ts.isPropertyAccessExpression(expression) || !removalNames.has(expression.name.text)) return false;
   let object = unwrapExpression(expression.expression);
   if (ts.isPropertyAccessExpression(object) && object.name.text === 'promises') {
     object = unwrapExpression(object.expression);

From 429ab7e4b354133f28fe0ce286121c9d2d59e647 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ScriptedAlchemy <zackary.l.jackson@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:16:22 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] test: give removeTreeSync removeTree's retry loop and
 name it in the gate message

---
 .../tests/check-test-remove-tree.test.ts      | 18 ++++++------
 .../tests/support/remove-tree.test.ts         | 23 +++++++++++++++
 .../agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.ts | 28 +++++++++++++++----
 scripts/check-test-remove-tree.mjs            |  2 +-
 4 files changed, 56 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)

diff --git a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/check-test-remove-tree.test.ts b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/check-test-remove-tree.test.ts
index 183fc11c4..848160d9e 100644
--- a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/check-test-remove-tree.test.ts
+++ b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/check-test-remove-tree.test.ts
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ it('exempts the canonical removeTree helper and formats lint failures', () => {
     `await fs.rm(root, { ${recursiveTrue} });`,
   ]);
   expect(bareRecursiveRmFailures('packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts', escaped)).toEqual([
-    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:2 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree.',
+    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:2 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree (removeTreeSync if it cannot await).',
   ]);
 });
 
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ it('matches $-suffixed removal aliases literally', () => {
     "import { rm as remove$ } from 'node:fs/promises';",
     `await remove$(root, { ${recursiveTrue} })`,
   ]))).toEqual([
-    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:2 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree.',
+    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:2 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree (removeTreeSync if it cannot await).',
   ]);
 });
 
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ it('still gates aliased and namespace Node fs.rm without maxRetries', () => {
     "import { rm as remove } from 'node:fs/promises';",
     `await remove(path, { ${recursiveTrue} });`,
   ]))).toEqual([
-    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:2 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree.',
+    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:2 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree (removeTreeSync if it cannot await).',
   ]);
 
   const aliasedRetried = recursiveRmCalls(sample([
@@ -350,13 +350,13 @@ it('parses TSX and JS test files with their own script kind', () => {
     `await rm(root, { ${recursiveTrue} });`,
   ]);
   expect(bareRecursiveRmFailures('packages/workbench/tests/view.test.tsx', tsx)).toEqual([
-    'packages/workbench/tests/view.test.tsx:3 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree.',
+    'packages/workbench/tests/view.test.tsx:3 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree (removeTreeSync if it cannot await).',
   ]);
   expect(bareRecursiveRmFailures('packages/agent-bundle/tests/fixture.mjs', sample([
     "import * as fs from 'node:fs/promises';",
     `await fs.rm(root, { ${recursiveTrue} });`,
   ]))).toEqual([
-    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/fixture.mjs:2 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree.',
+    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/fixture.mjs:2 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree (removeTreeSync if it cannot await).',
   ]);
 });
 
@@ -379,7 +379,7 @@ it('flags promises-namespace and asserted options without maxRetries', () => {
     "import { promises as fs } from 'node:fs';",
     `await fs.rm(path, { ${recursiveTrue} });`,
   ]))).toEqual([
-    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:2 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree.',
+    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:2 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree (removeTreeSync if it cannot await).',
   ]);
   expect(bareRecursiveRmFailures('packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts', sample([
     "import { promises as fs } from 'node:fs';",
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ it('flags promises-namespace and asserted options without maxRetries', () => {
     "import { rm } from 'node:fs/promises';",
     `await rm(root, { ${recursiveTrue} } as const);`,
   ]))).toEqual([
-    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:2 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree.',
+    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:2 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree (removeTreeSync if it cannot await).',
   ]);
 
   expect(recursiveRmCalls(sample([
@@ -517,7 +517,7 @@ it('treats maxRetries: 0 as not retried', () => {
     `rmSync(root, { ${recursiveTrue}, "maxRetries": 0x0 });`,
     `await rm(root, { ${recursiveTrue}, maxRetries: 1 });`,
   ]))).toEqual([
-    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:3 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree.',
-    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:4 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree.',
+    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:3 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree (removeTreeSync if it cannot await).',
+    'packages/agent-bundle/tests/example.test.ts:4 bare recursive rm. Use removeTree (removeTreeSync if it cannot await).',
   ]);
 });
diff --git a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.test.ts b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.test.ts
index 0168c69bb..7a4d3c885 100644
--- a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.test.ts
+++ b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.test.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { rmSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { mkdir, mkdtemp, rm as removeDirectory, stat, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
 import { join } from 'node:path';
@@ -46,3 +47,25 @@ it('removeTreeSync deletes a nested tree and tolerates a missing path', async ()
   await expect(stat(root)).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: 'ENOENT' });
   removeTreeSync(root);
 });
+
+it('removeTreeSync retries ENOTEMPTY with backoff and surfaces a persistent one', async () => {
+  const root = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'remove-tree-sync-retry-'));
+  await writeFile(join(root, 'kept.txt'), 'x\n');
+  let attempts = 0;
+  const started = Date.now();
+  removeTreeSync(root, (path, options) => {
+    attempts += 1;
+    if (attempts === 1) throw emptyError;
+    rmSync(path, options);
+  });
+  expect(attempts).toBe(2);
+  expect(Date.now() - started).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(45);
+  await expect(stat(root)).rejects.toMatchObject({ code: 'ENOENT' });
+
+  let persistent = 0;
+  expect(() => removeTreeSync(root, () => {
+    persistent += 1;
+    throw emptyError;
+  })).toThrow(emptyError);
+  expect(persistent).toBe(6);
+});
diff --git a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.ts b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.ts
index d12465458..50e99c90b 100644
--- a/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.ts
+++ b/packages/agent-bundle/tests/support/remove-tree.ts
@@ -9,10 +9,21 @@ export type TreeRemoval = {
   readonly rm: (path: string, options: { readonly force: true; readonly recursive: true }) => Promise<void>;
 };
 
+export type SyncTreeRemoval = (path: string, options: { readonly force: true; readonly recursive: true }) => void;
+
 const delay = (milliseconds: number): Promise<void> => new Promise((resolve) => {
   setTimeout(resolve, milliseconds);
 });
 
+const delaySync = (milliseconds: number): void => {
+  Atomics.wait(new Int32Array(new SharedArrayBuffer(4)), 0, 0, milliseconds);
+};
+
+const isRetryable = (error: unknown): boolean => {
+  const code = typeof error === 'object' && error !== null && 'code' in error ? error.code : undefined;
+  return typeof code === 'string' && nodeRetryCodes.has(code);
+};
+
 const defaultRemoval: TreeRemoval = {
   rm: (path, options) => removeDirectory(path, options),
 };
@@ -23,14 +34,21 @@ export const removeTree = async (path: string, fs: TreeRemoval = defaultRemoval)
       await fs.rm(path, { force: true, recursive: true });
       return;
     } catch (error) {
-      const code = typeof error === 'object' && error !== null && 'code' in error ? error.code : undefined;
-      if (attempt === maxRetries || typeof code !== 'string' || !nodeRetryCodes.has(code)) throw error;
+      if (attempt === maxRetries || !isRetryable(error)) throw error;
       await delay(retryDelay * (attempt + 1));
     }
   }
 };
 
-/** For callers that cannot await, such as `exit` handlers. Node retries the same codes with the same linear backoff. */
-export const removeTreeSync = (path: string): void => {
-  rmSync(path, { force: true, maxRetries, recursive: true, retryDelay });
+/** `removeTree` for callers that cannot await, such as `exit` handlers. */
+export const removeTreeSync = (path: string, remove: SyncTreeRemoval = rmSync): void => {
+  for (let attempt = 0; attempt <= maxRetries; attempt += 1) {
+    try {
+      remove(path, { force: true, recursive: true });
+      return;
+    } catch (error) {
+      if (attempt === maxRetries || !isRetryable(error)) throw error;
+      delaySync(retryDelay * (attempt + 1));
+    }
+  }
 };
diff --git a/scripts/check-test-remove-tree.mjs b/scripts/check-test-remove-tree.mjs
index ffedc9f0f..2d1fbdaae 100644
--- a/scripts/check-test-remove-tree.mjs
+++ b/scripts/check-test-remove-tree.mjs
@@ -329,7 +329,7 @@ export const bareRecursiveRmFailures = (file, text) => {
   const failures = [];
   for (const call of recursiveRmCalls(text, file)) {
     if (call.hasRetries) continue;
-    failures.push(`${file}:${call.line} bare recursive rm. Use removeTree.`);
+    failures.push(`${file}:${call.line} bare recursive rm. Use removeTree (removeTreeSync if it cannot await).`);
   }
   return failures;
 };