diff --git a/core/db_cgo.go b/core/db_cgo.go
index 10f3241d..02555c74 100644
--- a/core/db_cgo.go
+++ b/core/db_cgo.go
@@ -10,7 +10,10 @@ import (
 )
 
 func connectDB(dbPath string) (*dbx.DB, error) {
-	pragmas := "_foreign_keys=1&_journal_mode=WAL&_synchronous=NORMAL&_busy_timeout=8000"
+	// note: the busy_timeout pragma must be first because
+	// the connection needs to be set to block on busy before WAL mode
+	// is set in case it hasn't been already set by another connection
+	pragmas := "_busy_timeout=10000&_journal_mode=WAL&_foreign_keys=1&_synchronous=NORMAL"
 
 	db, openErr := dbx.MustOpen("sqlite3", fmt.Sprintf("%s?%s", dbPath, pragmas))
 	if openErr != nil {
diff --git a/core/db_nocgo.go b/core/db_nocgo.go
index 63939c4f..dd3dfb27 100644
--- a/core/db_nocgo.go
+++ b/core/db_nocgo.go
@@ -4,13 +4,29 @@ package core
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/pocketbase/dbx"
 	_ "modernc.org/sqlite"
 )
 
 func connectDB(dbPath string) (*dbx.DB, error) {
-	pragmas := "_pragma=foreign_keys(1)&_pragma=journal_mode(WAL)&_pragma=synchronous(NORMAL)&_pragma=busy_timeout(8000)&_pragma=journal_size_limit(100000000)"
+	// note: the busy_timeout pragma must be first because
+	// the connection needs to be set to block on busy before WAL mode
+	// is set in case it hasn't been already set by another connection
+	pragmas := "_pragma=busy_timeout(100000)&_pragma=journal_mode(WAL)&_pragma=foreign_keys(1)&_pragma=synchronous(NORMAL)&_pragma=journal_size_limit(100000000)"
 
-	return dbx.MustOpen("sqlite", fmt.Sprintf("%s?%s", dbPath, pragmas))
+	db, err := dbx.MustOpen("sqlite", fmt.Sprintf("%s?%s", dbPath, pragmas))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// use a fixed connection pool to limit the SQLITE_BUSY errors
+	//
+	// @see https://gitlab.com/cznic/sqlite/-/issues/115
+	db.DB().SetMaxOpenConns(200)
+	db.DB().SetMaxIdleConns(200)
+	db.DB().SetConnMaxIdleTime(5 * time.Minute)
+
+	return db, nil
 }
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index ac8ca6ea..fd0305dc 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ go 1.18
 
 require (
 	github.com/AlecAivazis/survey/v2 v2.3.6
-	github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go v1.44.126
+	github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go v1.44.127
 	github.com/disintegration/imaging v1.6.2
 	github.com/domodwyer/mailyak/v3 v3.3.4
 	github.com/fatih/color v1.13.0
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ require (
 	google.golang.org/protobuf v1.28.1 // indirect
 	lukechampine.com/uint128 v1.2.0 // indirect
 	modernc.org/cc/v3 v3.40.0 // indirect
-	modernc.org/ccgo/v3 v3.16.13-0.20221017192402-261537637ce8 // indirect
+	modernc.org/ccgo/v3 v3.16.13 // indirect
 	modernc.org/libc v1.21.4 // indirect
 	modernc.org/mathutil v1.5.0 // indirect
 	modernc.org/memory v1.4.0 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index ab307b5e..85dbccc3 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -207,6 +207,8 @@ github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go v1.44.45/go.mod h1:y4AeaBuwd2Lk+GepC1E9v0qOiTws0MIWAX4
 github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go v1.44.68/go.mod h1:y4AeaBuwd2Lk+GepC1E9v0qOiTws0MIWAX4oIKwKHZo=
 github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go v1.44.126 h1:7HQJw2DNiwpxqMe2H7odGNT2rhO4SRrUe5/8dYXl0Jk=
 github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go v1.44.126/go.mod h1:y4AeaBuwd2Lk+GepC1E9v0qOiTws0MIWAX4oIKwKHZo=
+github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go v1.44.127 h1:IoO2VfuIQg1aMXnl8l6OpNUKT4Qq5CnJMOyIWoTYXj0=
+github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go v1.44.127/go.mod h1:y4AeaBuwd2Lk+GepC1E9v0qOiTws0MIWAX4oIKwKHZo=
 github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2 v0.18.0/go.mod h1:JWVYvqSMppoMJC0x5wdwiImzgXTI9FuZwxzkQq9wy+g=
 github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2 v1.16.8/go.mod h1:6CpKuLXg2w7If3ABZCl/qZ6rEgwtjZTn4eAf4RcEyuw=
 github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2 v1.17.1 h1:02c72fDJr87N8RAC2s3Qu0YuvMRZKNZJ9F+lAehCazk=
@@ -2317,6 +2319,8 @@ modernc.org/cc/v3 v3.40.0 h1:P3g79IUS/93SYhtoeaHW+kRCIrYaxJ27MFPv+7kaTOw=
 modernc.org/cc/v3 v3.40.0/go.mod h1:/bTg4dnWkSXowUO6ssQKnOV0yMVxDYNIsIrzqTFDGH0=
 modernc.org/ccgo/v3 v3.16.13-0.20221017192402-261537637ce8 h1:0+dsXf0zeLx9ixj4nilg6jKe5Bg1ilzBwSFq4kJmIUc=
 modernc.org/ccgo/v3 v3.16.13-0.20221017192402-261537637ce8/go.mod h1:fUB3Vn0nVPReA+7IG7yZDfjv1TMWjhQP8gCxrFAtL5g=
+modernc.org/ccgo/v3 v3.16.13 h1:Mkgdzl46i5F/CNR/Kj80Ri59hC8TKAhZrYSaqvkwzUw=
+modernc.org/ccgo/v3 v3.16.13/go.mod h1:2Quk+5YgpImhPjv2Qsob1DnZ/4som1lJTodubIcoUkY=
 modernc.org/ccorpus v1.11.6 h1:J16RXiiqiCgua6+ZvQot4yUuUy8zxgqbqEEUuGPlISk=
 modernc.org/httpfs v1.0.6 h1:AAgIpFZRXuYnkjftxTAZwMIiwEqAfk8aVB2/oA6nAeM=
 modernc.org/libc v1.21.4 h1:CzTlumWeIbPV5/HVIMzYHNPCRP8uiU/CWiN2gtd/Qu8=