diff --git a/src/shell/interpreter.zig b/src/shell/interpreter.zig
index 5f17bd8f2d..fc3db716b6 100644
--- a/src/shell/interpreter.zig
+++ b/src/shell/interpreter.zig
@@ -4931,8 +4931,8 @@ pub const Interpreter = struct {
                 .child = undefined,
                 .buffered_closed = buffered_closed,
             } };
-            const subproc = switch (Subprocess.spawnAsync(this.base.eventLoop(), &shellio, spawn_args, &this.exec.subproc.child)) {
-                // FIXME: There's a race condition where this could change variants before spawnAsync returns.
+            var did_exit_immediately = false;
+            const subproc = switch (Subprocess.spawnAsync(this.base.eventLoop(), &shellio, spawn_args, &this.exec.subproc.child, &did_exit_immediately)) {
                 .result => this.exec.subproc.child,
                 .err => |*e| {
                     this.exec = .none;
@@ -4943,6 +4943,17 @@ pub const Interpreter = struct {
             subproc.ref();
             this.spawn_arena_freed = true;
             arena.deinit();
+
+            if (did_exit_immediately) {
+                if (subproc.process.hasExited()) {
+                    // process has already exited, we called wait4(), but we did not call onProcessExit()
+                    subproc.process.onExit(subproc.process.status, &std.mem.zeroes(bun.spawn.Rusage));
+                } else {
+                    // process has already exited, but we haven't called wait4() yet
+                    // https://cs.github.com/libuv/libuv/blob/b00d1bd225b602570baee82a6152eaa823a84fa6/src/unix/process.c#L1007
+                    subproc.process.wait(false);
+                }
+            }
         }
 
         fn setStdioFromRedirect(stdio: *[3]shell.subproc.Stdio, flags: ast.RedirectFlags, val: shell.subproc.Stdio) void {
@@ -10591,9 +10602,9 @@ pub const Interpreter = struct {
                         if (err == .sys and
                             err.sys.getErrno() == .BUSY and
                             (task.tgt_absolute != null and
-                            err.sys.path.eqlUTF8(task.tgt_absolute.?)) or
+                                err.sys.path.eqlUTF8(task.tgt_absolute.?)) or
                             (task.src_absolute != null and
-                            err.sys.path.eqlUTF8(task.src_absolute.?)))
+                                err.sys.path.eqlUTF8(task.src_absolute.?)))
                         {
                             log("{} got ebusy {d} {d}", .{ this, this.state.exec.ebusy.tasks.items.len, this.state.exec.paths_to_copy.len });
                             this.state.exec.ebusy.tasks.append(bun.default_allocator, task) catch bun.outOfMemory();
diff --git a/src/shell/subproc.zig b/src/shell/subproc.zig
index 9ced2d1fa7..cec72799ae 100644
--- a/src/shell/subproc.zig
+++ b/src/shell/subproc.zig
@@ -746,6 +746,7 @@ pub const ShellSubprocess = struct {
         shellio: *ShellIO,
         spawn_args_: SpawnArgs,
         out: **@This(),
+        notify_caller_process_already_exited: *bool,
     ) bun.shell.Result(void) {
         var arena = bun.ArenaAllocator.init(bun.default_allocator);
         defer arena.deinit();
@@ -761,6 +762,7 @@ pub const ShellSubprocess = struct {
             &spawn_args,
             shellio,
             out,
+            notify_caller_process_already_exited,
         )) {
             .result => |subproc| subproc,
             .err => |err| return .{ .err = err },
@@ -778,6 +780,7 @@ pub const ShellSubprocess = struct {
         spawn_args: *SpawnArgs,
         shellio: *ShellIO,
         out_subproc: **@This(),
+        notify_caller_process_already_exited: *bool,
     ) bun.shell.Result(*@This()) {
         const is_sync = config.is_sync;
 
@@ -876,26 +879,16 @@ pub const ShellSubprocess = struct {
             subprocess.stdin.pipe.signal = JSC.WebCore.Signal.init(&subprocess.stdin);
         }
 
-        var send_exit_notification = false;
-
         if (comptime !is_sync) {
             switch (subprocess.process.watch()) {
                 .result => {},
                 .err => {
-                    send_exit_notification = true;
+                    notify_caller_process_already_exited.* = true;
                     spawn_args.lazy = false;
                 },
             }
         }
 
-        defer {
-            if (send_exit_notification) {
-                // process has already exited
-                // https://cs.github.com/libuv/libuv/blob/b00d1bd225b602570baee82a6152eaa823a84fa6/src/unix/process.c#L1007
-                subprocess.wait(subprocess.flags.is_sync);
-            }
-        }
-
         if (subprocess.stdin == .buffer) {
             subprocess.stdin.buffer.start().assert();
         }
@@ -1128,10 +1121,10 @@ pub const PipeReader = struct {
         if (Environment.isWindows) {
             this.reader.source =
                 switch (result) {
-                .buffer => .{ .pipe = this.stdio_result.buffer },
-                .buffer_fd => .{ .file = bun.io.Source.openFile(this.stdio_result.buffer_fd) },
-                .unavailable => @panic("Shouldn't happen."),
-            };
+                    .buffer => .{ .pipe = this.stdio_result.buffer },
+                    .buffer_fd => .{ .file = bun.io.Source.openFile(this.stdio_result.buffer_fd) },
+                    .unavailable => @panic("Shouldn't happen."),
+                };
         }
         this.reader.setParent(this);
 
diff --git a/test/js/bun/shell/shell-immediate-exit-fixture.js b/test/js/bun/shell/shell-immediate-exit-fixture.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f007b2bab7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/js/bun/shell/shell-immediate-exit-fixture.js
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import { $, which } from "bun";
+
+const cat = which("cat");
+
+const promises = [];
+for (let j = 0; j < 500; j++) {
+  for (let i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
+    promises.push($`${cat} ${import.meta.path}`.text().then(() => {}));
+  }
+  if (j % 10 === 0) {
+    await Promise.all(promises);
+    promises.length = 0;
+    console.count("Ran");
+  }
+}
+
+await Promise.all(promises);
diff --git a/test/js/bun/shell/shell-load.test.ts b/test/js/bun/shell/shell-load.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2f05a75289
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/js/bun/shell/shell-load.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+import { describe, test, expect } from "bun:test";
+import { isCI, isWindows } from "harness";
+import path from "path";
+describe("shell load", () => {
+  // windows process spawning is a lot slower
+  test.skipIf(isCI && isWindows)("immediate exit", () => {
+    expect([path.join(import.meta.dir, "./shell-immediate-exit-fixture.js")]).toRun();
+  });
+});