diff --git a/.github/workflows/budibase_ci.yml b/.github/workflows/budibase_ci.yml
index 2876d60f51..6dccaa9f46 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/budibase_ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/budibase_ci.yml
@@ -108,6 +108,10 @@ jobs:
         with:
           node-version: 20.x
           cache: yarn
+      - name: Pull testcontainers images
+        run: |
+          docker pull budibase/couchdb
+
       - run: yarn --frozen-lockfile
       - name: Test
         run: |
@@ -163,13 +167,15 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Pull testcontainers images
         run: |
-          docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest
-          docker pull mysql:8.3
-          docker pull postgres:16.1-bullseye
-          docker pull mongo:7.0-jammy
-          docker pull mariadb:lts
-          docker pull testcontainers/ryuk:0.5.1
-          docker pull budibase/couchdb
+          docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest &
+          docker pull mysql:8.3 &
+          docker pull postgres:16.1-bullseye &
+          docker pull mongo:7.0-jammy &
+          docker pull mariadb:lts &
+          docker pull testcontainers/ryuk:0.5.1 &
+          docker pull budibase/couchdb &
+
+          wait $(jobs -p)
 
       - run: yarn --frozen-lockfile
 
diff --git a/globalSetup.ts b/globalSetup.ts
index a1f66d4fc8..cc3ec6bb24 100644
--- a/globalSetup.ts
+++ b/globalSetup.ts
@@ -1,36 +1,51 @@
 import { GenericContainer, Wait } from "testcontainers"
+import lockfile from "proper-lockfile"
 
 export default async function setup() {
-  let couchdb = new GenericContainer("budibase/couchdb")
-    .withExposedPorts(5984)
-    .withEnvironment({
-      COUCHDB_PASSWORD: "budibase",
-      COUCHDB_USER: "budibase",
-    })
-    .withCopyContentToContainer([
-      {
-        content: `
+  if (process.env.REUSE_CONTAINERS) {
+    // If you run multiple tests at the same time, it's possible for the CouchDB
+    // shared container to get started multiple times despite having an
+    // identical reuse hash. To avoid that, we do a filesystem-based lock so
+    // that only one globalSetup.ts is running at a time.
+    lockfile.lockSync("globalSetup.lock")
+  }
+
+  try {
+    let couchdb = new GenericContainer("budibase/couchdb")
+      .withExposedPorts(5984)
+      .withEnvironment({
+        COUCHDB_PASSWORD: "budibase",
+        COUCHDB_USER: "budibase",
+      })
+      .withCopyContentToContainer([
+        {
+          content: `
           [log]
           level = warn
         `,
-        target: "/opt/couchdb/etc/local.d/test-couchdb.ini",
-      },
-    ])
-    .withWaitStrategy(
-      Wait.forSuccessfulCommand(
-        "curl http://budibase:budibase@localhost:5984/_up"
-      ).withStartupTimeout(20000)
-    )
+          target: "/opt/couchdb/etc/local.d/test-couchdb.ini",
+        },
+      ])
+      .withWaitStrategy(
+        Wait.forSuccessfulCommand(
+          "curl http://budibase:budibase@localhost:5984/_up"
+        ).withStartupTimeout(20000)
+      )
 
-  if (process.env.REUSE_CONTAINERS) {
-    couchdb = couchdb.withReuse()
+    if (process.env.REUSE_CONTAINERS) {
+      couchdb = couchdb.withReuse()
+    }
+
+    if (process.env.CONTAINER_NAMESPACE) {
+      couchdb = couchdb.withLabels({
+        "org.testcontainers.namespace": process.env.CONTAINER_NAMESPACE,
+      })
+    }
+
+    await couchdb.start()
+  } finally {
+    if (process.env.REUSE_CONTAINERS) {
+      lockfile.unlockSync("globalSetup.lock")
+    }
   }
-
-  if (process.env.CONTAINER_NAMESPACE) {
-    couchdb = couchdb.withLabels({
-      "org.testcontainers.namespace": process.env.CONTAINER_NAMESPACE,
-    })
-  }
-
-  await couchdb.start()
 }
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c927002c88..90675ce8c8 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
     "@babel/preset-env": "^7.22.5",
     "@esbuild-plugins/tsconfig-paths": "^0.1.2",
     "@types/node": "20.10.0",
+    "@types/proper-lockfile": "^4.1.4",
     "@typescript-eslint/parser": "6.9.0",
     "esbuild": "^0.18.17",
     "esbuild-node-externals": "^1.8.0",
@@ -116,5 +117,7 @@
   "engines": {
     "node": ">=20.0.0 <21.0.0"
   },
-  "dependencies": {}
+  "dependencies": {
+    "proper-lockfile": "^4.1.2"
+  }
 }
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 6acdcce3b6..516ec66c30 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -5875,6 +5875,13 @@
     "@types/pouchdb-node" "*"
     "@types/pouchdb-replication" "*"
 
+"@types/proper-lockfile@^4.1.4":
+  version "4.1.4"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/proper-lockfile/-/proper-lockfile-4.1.4.tgz#cd9fab92bdb04730c1ada542c356f03620f84008"
+  integrity sha512-uo2ABllncSqg9F1D4nugVl9v93RmjxF6LJzQLMLDdPaXCUIDPeOJ21Gbqi43xNKzBi/WQ0Q0dICqufzQbMjipQ==
+  dependencies:
+    "@types/retry" "*"
+
 "@types/qs@*":
   version "6.9.7"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/qs/-/qs-6.9.7.tgz#63bb7d067db107cc1e457c303bc25d511febf6cb"
@@ -5937,6 +5944,11 @@
   dependencies:
     "@types/node" "*"
 
+"@types/retry@*":
+  version "0.12.5"
+  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/retry/-/retry-0.12.5.tgz#f090ff4bd8d2e5b940ff270ab39fd5ca1834a07e"
+  integrity sha512-3xSjTp3v03X/lSQLkczaN9UIEwJMoMCA1+Nb5HfbJEQWogdeQIyVtTvxPXDQjZ5zws8rFQfVfRdz03ARihPJgw==
+
 "@types/rimraf@^3.0.2":
   version "3.0.2"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@types/rimraf/-/rimraf-3.0.2.tgz#a63d175b331748e5220ad48c901d7bbf1f44eef8"