diff --git a/projects/kit/offline/src/lib/offline-repository-concurrency.ts b/projects/kit/offline/src/lib/offline-repository-concurrency.ts
index 8a8b4a3..06f49d6 100644
--- a/projects/kit/offline/src/lib/offline-repository-concurrency.ts
+++ b/projects/kit/offline/src/lib/offline-repository-concurrency.ts
@@ -20,8 +20,7 @@ export class OfflineReplicaTransientWriteError extends Error {
   }
 }
 
-export function normalizeOfflineReplicaTransientWriteError(error: unknown): unknown {
-  if (error instanceof OfflineReplicaTransientWriteError) return error;
+function transientSqliteLockReason(error: unknown): Extract<OfflineReplicaTransientWriteReason, 'sqlite_busy' | 'sqlite_locked'> | null {
   const code =
     typeof error === 'object' && error !== null && typeof (error as { code?: unknown }).code === 'string'
       ? (error as { code: string }).code.toUpperCase()
@@ -29,7 +28,7 @@ export function normalizeOfflineReplicaTransientWriteError(error: unknown): unkn
   const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : typeof error === 'string' ? error : '';
   const normalizedMessage = message.toUpperCase();
   if (code.includes('SQLITE_BUSY') || normalizedMessage.includes('SQLITE_BUSY')) {
-    return new OfflineReplicaTransientWriteError('sqlite_busy', message || 'SQLite is busy.', { cause: error });
+    return 'sqlite_busy';
   }
   if (
     code.includes('SQLITE_LOCKED') ||
@@ -37,7 +36,28 @@ export function normalizeOfflineReplicaTransientWriteError(error: unknown): unkn
     message.includes('database is locked') ||
     message.includes('database table is locked')
   ) {
-    return new OfflineReplicaTransientWriteError('sqlite_locked', message || 'SQLite database is locked.', { cause: error });
+    return 'sqlite_locked';
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
+/** Returns whether SQLite reported a transient busy/locked condition in any supported error shape. */
+export function isTransientSqliteLockError(error: unknown): boolean {
+  return error instanceof OfflineReplicaTransientWriteError
+    ? error.reason === 'sqlite_busy' || error.reason === 'sqlite_locked'
+    : transientSqliteLockReason(error) !== null;
+}
+
+export function normalizeOfflineReplicaTransientWriteError(error: unknown): unknown {
+  if (error instanceof OfflineReplicaTransientWriteError) return error;
+  const reason = transientSqliteLockReason(error);
+  if (reason) {
+    const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : typeof error === 'string' ? error : '';
+    return new OfflineReplicaTransientWriteError(
+      reason,
+      message || (reason === 'sqlite_busy' ? 'SQLite is busy.' : 'SQLite database is locked.'),
+      { cause: error },
+    );
   }
   return error;
 }
diff --git a/projects/kit/offline/src/lib/sqlite-offline-repository.spec.ts b/projects/kit/offline/src/lib/sqlite-offline-repository.spec.ts
index e30f7e8..8134175 100644
--- a/projects/kit/offline/src/lib/sqlite-offline-repository.spec.ts
+++ b/projects/kit/offline/src/lib/sqlite-offline-repository.spec.ts
@@ -562,6 +562,32 @@ describe('createCommunitySqliteDriver', () => {
     expect(connection.closeConnection).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
+  it('retries a transient native database lock while setting the journal mode', async () => {
+    const database = createDatabase();
+    vi.mocked(database.open)
+      .mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('Open: database is locked (code 5), while compiling: PRAGMA journal_mode'))
+      .mockResolvedValueOnce(undefined);
+    const connection: CommunitySqliteConnection = {
+      isSecretStored: vi.fn(async () => ({ result: true })),
+      setEncryptionSecret: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+      createConnection: vi.fn(async () => database),
+      closeConnection: vi.fn(async () => undefined),
+    };
+    const timeout = vi.spyOn(globalThis, 'setTimeout').mockImplementation((handler: TimerHandler) => {
+      if (typeof handler === 'function') handler();
+      return 0 as unknown as ReturnType<typeof setTimeout>;
+    });
+
+    await expect(createCommunitySqliteDriver(connection).open({ databaseName: 'product-offline' })).resolves.toEqual({
+      databaseId: 'product-offline',
+    });
+    timeout.mockRestore();
+
+    expect(database.open).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+    expect(connection.createConnection).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+    expect(connection.closeConnection).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
   it('recovers the connection orphaned when database open fails before a later retry', async () => {
     const failedDatabase = createDatabase();
     vi.mocked(failedDatabase.open).mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('database open failed'));
diff --git a/projects/kit/offline/src/lib/sqlite-offline-repository.ts b/projects/kit/offline/src/lib/sqlite-offline-repository.ts
index 7ad6c11..a7d3d5b 100644
--- a/projects/kit/offline/src/lib/sqlite-offline-repository.ts
+++ b/projects/kit/offline/src/lib/sqlite-offline-repository.ts
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ import {
   type OfflineScope,
 } from './offline-repository';
 import {
+  isTransientSqliteLockError,
   normalizeOfflineReplicaTransientWriteError,
   OFFLINE_REPOSITORY_ATOMIC_MUTATION,
   OfflineReplicaTransientWriteError,
@@ -120,6 +121,7 @@ export async function createRandomOfflineEncryptionKey(): Promise<string> {
 }
 
 const settledSqliteOperation = async (): Promise<void> => undefined;
+const COMMUNITY_SQLITE_OPEN_RETRY_DELAYS_MS = [50, 150, 300] as const;
 
 interface CachedCommunitySqliteDriver {
   driver: CommunitySqliteDriver;
@@ -136,6 +138,19 @@ function sqliteErrorMessage(error: unknown): string {
   return String(error);
 }
 
+async function openCommunitySqliteDatabase(database: CommunitySqliteDatabase): Promise<void> {
+  for (const delayMs of COMMUNITY_SQLITE_OPEN_RETRY_DELAYS_MS) {
+    const result = await database.open().then(
+      () => ({ ok: true }) as const,
+      (error: unknown) => ({ ok: false, error }) as const,
+    );
+    if (result.ok) return;
+    if (!isTransientSqliteLockError(result.error)) throw result.error;
+    await new Promise<void>((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, delayMs));
+  }
+  await database.open();
+}
+
 function normalizeCommunitySqliteDatabaseName(database: string): string {
   return database.endsWith('.db') ? database.slice(0, -3) : database;
 }
@@ -236,7 +251,7 @@ export function createCommunitySqliteDriver(
     const opening = (async () => {
       await ensureSecret(createEncryptionKey);
       const value = await createReloadSafeCommunitySqliteDatabase(connection, databaseName, encrypted);
-      await value.open();
+      await openCommunitySqliteDatabase(value);
       databases.set(databaseKey, value);
       return value;
     })();