diff --git a/packages/pglite/src/pglite.ts b/packages/pglite/src/pglite.ts
index 15a91d05..808b98d5 100644
--- a/packages/pglite/src/pglite.ts
+++ b/packages/pglite/src/pglite.ts
@@ -415,6 +415,7 @@ export class PGlite
     // Close the database
     try {
       await this.execProtocol(serialize.end())
+      this.mod!._pg_shutdown()
     } catch (e) {
       const err = e as { name: string; status: number }
       if (err.name === 'ExitStatus' && err.status === 0) {
diff --git a/packages/pglite/src/postgresMod.ts b/packages/pglite/src/postgresMod.ts
index baf4d1ca..5eb7a1ea 100644
--- a/packages/pglite/src/postgresMod.ts
+++ b/packages/pglite/src/postgresMod.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ export interface PostgresMod
   INITIAL_MEMORY: number
   pg_extensions: Record<string, Promise<Blob | null>>
   _pg_initdb: () => number
+  _pg_shutdown: () => void
   _interactive_write: (msgLength: number) => void
   _interactive_one: () => void
   _interactive_read: () => number