diff --git a/codex-rs/core/tests/suite/shell_command.rs b/codex-rs/core/tests/suite/shell_command.rs
index 6aa0da2d3..1df65056d 100644
--- a/codex-rs/core/tests/suite/shell_command.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/core/tests/suite/shell_command.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+use std::time::Duration;
+
 use anyhow::Result;
 use codex_core::features::Feature;
 use core_test_support::assert_regex_match;
@@ -15,6 +17,10 @@ use core_test_support::test_codex::test_codex;
 use serde_json::json;
 use test_case::test_case;
 
+/// Use this timeout if, empirically, a test seems to need more time than the
+/// default.
+const MEDIUM_TIMEOUT: Duration = Duration::from_secs(5);
+
 fn shell_responses_with_timeout(
     call_id: &str,
     command: &str,
@@ -70,11 +76,11 @@ async fn mount_shell_responses_with_timeout(
     call_id: &str,
     command: &str,
     login: Option<bool>,
-    timeout_ms: i64,
+    timeout: Duration,
 ) {
     mount_sse_sequence(
         harness.server(),
-        shell_responses_with_timeout(call_id, command, login, timeout_ms),
+        shell_responses_with_timeout(call_id, command, login, timeout.as_millis() as i64),
     )
     .await;
 }
@@ -209,7 +215,14 @@ async fn shell_command_times_out_with_timeout_ms() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     } else {
         "sleep 5"
     };
-    mount_shell_responses_with_timeout(&harness, call_id, command, None, 200).await;
+    mount_shell_responses_with_timeout(
+        &harness,
+        call_id,
+        command,
+        None,
+        Duration::from_millis(200),
+    )
+    .await;
     harness
         .submit("run a long command with a short timeout")
         .await?;
@@ -240,11 +253,12 @@ async fn unicode_output(login: bool) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     .await?;
 
     let call_id = "unicode_output";
-    mount_shell_responses(
+    mount_shell_responses_with_timeout(
         &harness,
         call_id,
         "git -c alias.say='!printf \"%s\" \"naïve_café\"' say",
         Some(login),
+        MEDIUM_TIMEOUT,
     )
     .await;
     harness.submit("run the command without login").await?;
@@ -269,11 +283,12 @@ async fn unicode_output_with_newlines(login: bool) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     .await?;
 
     let call_id = "unicode_output";
-    mount_shell_responses(
+    mount_shell_responses_with_timeout(
         &harness,
         call_id,
         "echo 'line1\nnaïve café\nline3'",
         Some(login),
+        MEDIUM_TIMEOUT,
     )
     .await;
     harness.submit("run the command without login").await?;