diff --git a/quickshell/Services/PluginService.qml b/quickshell/Services/PluginService.qml
index f07a3e3d0..7b074334a 100644
--- a/quickshell/Services/PluginService.qml
+++ b/quickshell/Services/PluginService.qml
@@ -1108,16 +1108,11 @@ Singleton {
         }
         const path = getPluginStatePath(pluginId);
         try {
-            const fv = stateSaveFvComp.createObject(root, {
+            const fv = stateLoadFvComp.createObject(root, {
                 path: path
             });
             _stateWriters[pluginId] = fv;
-            fv.loaded.connect(function () {
-                fv.setText(content);
-            });
-            fv.loadFailed.connect(function () {
-                fv.setText(content);
-            });
+            fv.setText(content);
         } catch (e) {
             log.warn("Failed to write state for", pluginId, e.message);
         }
@@ -1132,14 +1127,6 @@ Singleton {
         }
     }
 
-    Component {
-        id: stateSaveFvComp
-        FileView {
-            blockWrites: true
-            atomicWrites: true
-        }
-    }
-
     function _flushDirtyStates() {
         const dirty = _stateDirtyPlugins;
         _stateDirtyPlugins = {};
diff --git a/quickshell/tests/plugin-state.test.mjs b/quickshell/tests/plugin-state.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1a8822d91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/quickshell/tests/plugin-state.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import vm from "node:vm";
+import test from "node:test";
+
+const source = readFileSync(new URL("../Services/PluginService.qml", import.meta.url), "utf8");
+
+// Mirrors Quickshell's FileView, where `loaded` is a bool property and not a connectable signal.
+function fileView(disk, blockLoading) {
+    return {
+        createObject(_, props) {
+            return {
+                path: props.path,
+                loaded: !!blockLoading,
+                text() { return disk.get(this.path) ?? ""; },
+                setText(content) { disk.set(this.path, content); },
+                destroy() {}
+            };
+        }
+    };
+}
+
+function service() {
+    const disk = new Map();
+    const context = vm.createContext({
+        JSON, Object,
+        _stateCache: {}, _stateLoaded: {}, _stateWriters: {}, _stateDirtyPlugins: {}, _stateDirCreated: true,
+        _stateWriteTimer: { restart() {} },
+        stateLoadFvComp: fileView(disk, true),
+        stateSaveFvComp: fileView(disk, false),
+        Paths: { state: "/state", strip: path => path, mkdir() {} },
+        log: { warn() {} },
+        pluginStateChanged() {}
+    });
+    context.root = context;
+    for (const match of source.matchAll(/^    function (\w+)\([^\n]*\)(?:: \w+)? \{\n[\s\S]*?^    \}/gm))
+        vm.runInContext(match[0], context);
+    return { context, disk };
+}
+
+test("the first state save after a plugin reload reaches disk", () => {
+    const { context, disk } = service();
+    const path = context.getPluginStatePath("fixture");
+    for (const existing of [false, true]) {
+        disk.clear();
+        context._stateCache = {};
+        context._stateLoaded = {};
+        context._stateWriters = {};
+        if (existing)
+            disk.set(path, JSON.stringify({ count: 0 }));
+        context.savePluginState("fixture", "count", 1);
+        context._flushDirtyStates();
+        context._cleanupPluginStateWriter("fixture");
+        context.savePluginState("fixture", "count", 2);
+        context._flushDirtyStates();
+        assert.equal(JSON.parse(disk.get(path)).count, 2);
+    }
+});