diff --git a/internal/store/store.go b/internal/store/store.go
index 7ef6e78..1f42b19 100644
--- a/internal/store/store.go
+++ b/internal/store/store.go
@@ -38,6 +38,20 @@ func Open(path string) (*DB, error) {
 		"_pragma=busy_timeout(5000)",
 		"_pragma=foreign_keys(ON)",
 		"_pragma=synchronous(NORMAL)",
+		// Every write transaction takes the write lock up front.
+		//
+		// Without this, `BEGIN` is deferred: a transaction starts as a reader and
+		// asks for the write lock at its first UPDATE. SQLite refuses that upgrade
+		// with SQLITE_BUSY *immediately* and does not apply busy_timeout to it —
+		// backing off cannot help, because the transaction is already holding a
+		// read snapshot that the other writer is invalidating. So the timeout above
+		// looks like it covers writer contention and covers none of it: two people
+		// saving at the same moment get a 500 in two milliseconds.
+		//
+		// `immediate` takes the lock at BEGIN instead, where busy_timeout does
+		// apply and the second writer waits its turn. The driver leaves read-only
+		// transactions deferred, so readers still run concurrently.
+		"_txlock=immediate",
 		// Keep the temp b-trees FTS5 and ORDER BY build in memory rather than
 		// spilling them into the data volume.
 		"_pragma=temp_store(MEMORY)",
diff --git a/internal/store/store_test.go b/internal/store/store_test.go
index 29450df..0013413 100644
--- a/internal/store/store_test.go
+++ b/internal/store/store_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package store
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"fmt"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"testing"
 )
@@ -95,6 +96,51 @@ func TestPragmasAreSet(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+// Two people saving at the same moment must both succeed.
+//
+// This is a regression test for a specific and badly-behaved failure: with the
+// default deferred BEGIN, a write transaction starts as a reader and asks for the
+// write lock partway through. SQLite refuses that upgrade with SQLITE_BUSY at once
+// and does *not* apply busy_timeout to it — so the contention surfaced as a 500
+// two milliseconds after the request arrived, while every single-threaded test
+// passed. `_txlock=immediate` is what makes the timeout actually cover writers.
+func TestConcurrentWritersDoNotHitSQLiteBusy(t *testing.T) {
+	db := openTest(t)
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	seedTaskFixtures(t, db)
+
+	const writers = 8
+	errs := make(chan error, writers)
+
+	start := make(chan struct{})
+	for i := range writers {
+		go func(i int) {
+			<-start // all of them ask for the write lock at once
+			errs <- db.CreateTask(ctx, &Task{
+				ProjectID: "p1",
+				Content:   fmt.Sprintf("opgave %d", i),
+				CreatedBy: "u1",
+			}, nil)
+		}(i)
+	}
+	close(start)
+
+	for range writers {
+		if err := <-errs; err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("concurrent write failed: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	var n int
+	if err := db.QueryRowContext(ctx,
+		`SELECT count(*) FROM tasks WHERE project_id = 'p1'`).Scan(&n); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if n != writers {
+		t.Errorf("wrote %d tasks, want %d", n, writers)
+	}
+}
+
 // The FTS index is kept in step with `tasks` by triggers rather than by application
 // code, so a task written by any path at all is searchable. That contract is worth
 // a test of its own.