diff --git a/ct/karakeep.sh b/ct/karakeep.sh
index c52db636c..560e564cd 100644
--- a/ct/karakeep.sh
+++ b/ct/karakeep.sh
@@ -88,8 +88,9 @@ EOF
       $STD corepack disable
     fi
     sed -i "s/^SERVER_VERSION=.*$/SERVER_VERSION=${CHECK_UPDATE_RELEASE#v}/" /etc/karakeep/karakeep.env
+    # Node 24.19.x crashes better-sqlite3 on cleanup (karakeep-app/karakeep#2989); stay on 22 LTS until upstream reverts.
     MODULE_VERSION="$(jq -r '.packageManager | split("@")[1]' /opt/karakeep/package.json)"
-    NODE_VERSION="24" NODE_MODULE="corepack,pnpm@${MODULE_VERSION}" setup_nodejs
+    NODE_VERSION="22" NODE_MODULE="corepack,pnpm@${MODULE_VERSION}" setup_nodejs
     setup_meilisearch
 
     msg_info "Updating Karakeep"
@@ -101,8 +102,9 @@ EOF
     cd /opt/karakeep/apps/web 
     $STD pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
     $STD pnpm build
-    cd /opt/karakeep/apps/workers 
+    cd /opt/karakeep/apps/workers
     $STD pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
+    $STD pnpm rebuild better-sqlite3
     $STD pnpm build
     cd /opt/karakeep/apps/cli 
     $STD pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
diff --git a/install/karakeep-install.sh b/install/karakeep-install.sh
index 4f1d0c3ab..6148c4349 100644
--- a/install/karakeep-install.sh
+++ b/install/karakeep-install.sh
@@ -31,8 +31,9 @@ setup_meilisearch
 
 fetch_and_deploy_gh_release "karakeep" "karakeep-app/karakeep" "tarball"
 cd /opt/karakeep
+# Node 24.19.x crashes better-sqlite3 on cleanup (karakeep-app/karakeep#2989); stay on 22 LTS until upstream reverts.
 MODULE_VERSION="$(jq -r '.packageManager | split("@")[1]' /opt/karakeep/package.json)"
-NODE_VERSION="24" NODE_MODULE="pnpm@${MODULE_VERSION}" setup_nodejs
+NODE_VERSION="22" NODE_MODULE="pnpm@${MODULE_VERSION}" setup_nodejs
 
 msg_info "Installing external JavaScript Extension for yt-dlp"
 $STD pip install -U yt-dlp-ejs --break-system-packages