diff --git a/Sources/ContainerTestSupport/ContainerFixture+ImageHelpers.swift b/Sources/ContainerTestSupport/ContainerFixture+ImageHelpers.swift
index 4dc3a199..ffdc48db 100644
--- a/Sources/ContainerTestSupport/ContainerFixture+ImageHelpers.swift
+++ b/Sources/ContainerTestSupport/ContainerFixture+ImageHelpers.swift
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
 import Foundation
+import SystemPackage
 import Testing
 
 // MARK: - Image inspect types
@@ -69,6 +70,27 @@ extension ContainerFixture {
         try run(args).check()
     }
 
+    /// Saves `image` to ``WarmupImage/cacheTarPath``, overwriting any existing archive.
+    ///
+    /// Called once per image by the `ImageWarmup` suite. No `--platform`/`--os`/`--arch`
+    /// is passed, so `image save` captures every platform the image supports.
+    public func cacheWarmupImage(_ image: WarmupImage) throws {
+        try FileManager.default.createDirectory(
+            atPath: WarmupImage.cacheDirectory.string, withIntermediateDirectories: true)
+        try run(["image", "save", "--output", image.cacheTarPath.string, image.rawValue])
+            .check("failed to cache \(image.rawValue)")
+    }
+
+    /// Reloads `image` from its cached tar archive rather than pulling over the network.
+    ///
+    /// Use this in serial tests to restore a warmup image after a destructive operation
+    /// (`image rm --all`, `image prune`) removes it from the store. Requires the
+    /// `ImageWarmup` suite to have already run and populated the cache.
+    public func restoreWarmupImage(_ image: WarmupImage) throws {
+        try run(["image", "load", "--input", image.cacheTarPath.string])
+            .check("failed to restore \(image.rawValue) from cache")
+    }
+
     /// Returns the full inspect output for an image, including variant information.
     public func doInspectImages(_ name: String) throws -> [ImageInspectOutput] {
         let result = try run(["image", "inspect", name]).check()
diff --git a/Sources/ContainerTestSupport/WarmupImage.swift b/Sources/ContainerTestSupport/WarmupImage.swift
index 307f9aa4..069ed256 100644
--- a/Sources/ContainerTestSupport/WarmupImage.swift
+++ b/Sources/ContainerTestSupport/WarmupImage.swift
@@ -14,10 +14,29 @@
 // limitations under the License.
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
+import ContainerPersistence
+import SystemPackage
+
 /// Images preloaded by the ``ImageWarmup`` suite before concurrent tests run.
 /// Add new commonly-used images here; the warmup pass pulls them in parallel.
 public enum WarmupImage: String, CaseIterable, Sendable {
     case alpine320 = "ghcr.io/linuxcontainers/alpine:3.20"
     case alpine318 = "ghcr.io/linuxcontainers/alpine:3.18"
     case busybox136 = "ghcr.io/containerd/busybox:1.36"
+
+    /// Directory under app-root holding OCI tar archives of each warmup image.
+    ///
+    /// Living under app-root (rather than a scratch dir tied to a single
+    /// fixture) means the cache survives across the warmup/concurrent/serial
+    /// `swift test` invocations, which run as separate processes, and rides
+    /// along whatever process clears app-root between full test runs — no
+    /// dedicated cleanup needed.
+    public static var cacheDirectory: FilePath {
+        PathUtils.BaseConfigPath.appRoot.basePath().appending("test-image-cache")
+    }
+
+    /// Path to this image's cached OCI tar archive.
+    public var cacheTarPath: FilePath {
+        Self.cacheDirectory.appending("\(self).tar")
+    }
 }
diff --git a/Tests/IntegrationTests/Images/TestCLIImagePruneSerial.swift b/Tests/IntegrationTests/Images/TestCLIImagePruneSerial.swift
index 40ea3644..5bd5632e 100644
--- a/Tests/IntegrationTests/Images/TestCLIImagePruneSerial.swift
+++ b/Tests/IntegrationTests/Images/TestCLIImagePruneSerial.swift
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ struct TestCLIImagePruneSerial {
             try? f.doRemoveImages()
             f.addCleanup { try? f.doRemoveImages() }
 
-            try f.doPull(alpine)
-            try f.doPull(busybox)
+            try f.restoreWarmupImage(.alpine320)
+            try f.restoreWarmupImage(.busybox136)
             #expect(try f.isImagePresent(alpine), "expected \(alpine) to be pulled")
             #expect(try f.isImagePresent(busybox), "expected \(busybox) to be pulled")
 
@@ -84,8 +84,8 @@ struct TestCLIImagePruneSerial {
                 try? f.doRemoveImages()
             }
 
-            try f.doPull(alpine)
-            try f.doPull(busybox)
+            try f.restoreWarmupImage(.alpine320)
+            try f.restoreWarmupImage(.busybox136)
             #expect(try f.isImagePresent(alpine), "expected \(alpine) to be pulled")
             #expect(try f.isImagePresent(busybox), "expected \(busybox) to be pulled")
 
diff --git a/Tests/IntegrationTests/System/TestCLISystemDFSerial.swift b/Tests/IntegrationTests/System/TestCLISystemDFSerial.swift
index fbf3a97e..26149e9d 100644
--- a/Tests/IntegrationTests/System/TestCLISystemDFSerial.swift
+++ b/Tests/IntegrationTests/System/TestCLISystemDFSerial.swift
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ struct TestCLISystemDFSerial {
     @Test func imageDiskUsageIsPopulatedAfterPull() async throws {
         try await ContainerFixture.with { f in
             try withCleanImageStore(f) {
-                try f.doPull(self.alpine)
+                try f.restoreWarmupImage(.alpine320)
                 let stats = try systemDiskUsage(f)
                 #expect(stats.images.total >= 1)
                 #expect(stats.images.active == 0)
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ struct TestCLISystemDFSerial {
     @Test func tagsDoNotDoubleCountImageStorage() async throws {
         try await ContainerFixture.with { f in
             try withCleanImageStore(f) {
-                try f.doPull(self.alpine)
+                try f.restoreWarmupImage(.alpine320)
                 let before = try systemDiskUsage(f)
                 try f.doImageTag(self.alpine, newName: "local/system-df-alpine:tag-one")
                 try f.doImageTag(self.alpine, newName: "local/system-df-alpine:tag-two")
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ struct TestCLISystemDFSerial {
         try await ContainerFixture.with { f in
             try withCleanImageStore(f) {
                 let baseline = try systemDiskUsage(f)
-                try f.doPull(self.alpine)
+                try f.restoreWarmupImage(.alpine320)
                 try f.doImageTag(self.alpine, newName: "local/system-df-alpine:delete-probe")
                 let beforeDelete = try systemDiskUsage(f)
 
diff --git a/Tests/IntegrationTests/Warmup/ImageWarmup.swift b/Tests/IntegrationTests/Warmup/ImageWarmup.swift
index aa22d7bf..8399a16b 100644
--- a/Tests/IntegrationTests/Warmup/ImageWarmup.swift
+++ b/Tests/IntegrationTests/Warmup/ImageWarmup.swift
@@ -20,13 +20,16 @@ import Testing
 /// Pulls each image in ``WarmupImage`` in parallel before concurrent
 /// integration tests run. The Makefile's warmup pass runs this suite first
 /// so that ``ContainerFixture/copyWarmupImage(_:)`` can tag from a
-/// pre-populated store rather than pulling on demand.
+/// pre-populated store rather than pulling on demand, and so that
+/// ``ContainerFixture/restoreWarmupImage(_:)`` has a cached tar archive to
+/// reload from after a serial test wipes the image store.
 @Suite
 struct ImageWarmup {
     @Test(arguments: WarmupImage.allCases)
     func pull(image: WarmupImage) async throws {
         try await ContainerFixture.with { f in
             try f.run(["image", "pull", image.rawValue]).check("failed to pull \(image.rawValue)")
+            try f.cacheWarmupImage(image)
         }
     }
 }