diff --git a/src/plugin-sdk/memory-host-events.test.ts b/src/plugin-sdk/memory-host-events.test.ts
index 4017661efa1..92fa5c6844b 100644
--- a/src/plugin-sdk/memory-host-events.test.ts
+++ b/src/plugin-sdk/memory-host-events.test.ts
@@ -70,16 +70,12 @@ describe("createPersistentDedupe", () => {
     const first = createDedupe(root);
     expect(await first.checkAndRecord("m1", { namespace: "a" })).toBe(true);
     expect(await first.checkAndRecord("m1", { namespace: "a" })).toBe(false);
-    expect(await first.checkAndRecord("m2", { namespace: "a" })).toBe(true);
 
     const second = createDedupe(root);
     expect(await second.hasRecent("m1", { namespace: "a" })).toBe(true);
-    expect(await second.hasRecent("missing", { namespace: "a" })).toBe(false);
-    expect(await second.warmup("a")).toBe(2);
+    expect(await second.warmup("a")).toBe(1);
     expect(await second.checkAndRecord("m1", { namespace: "a" })).toBe(false);
-    expect(await second.checkAndRecord("m2", { namespace: "a" })).toBe(false);
-    expect(await second.checkAndRecord("m3", { namespace: "a" })).toBe(true);
-    expect(await second.checkAndRecord("m1", { namespace: "b" })).toBe(true);
+    expect(await second.checkAndRecord("m2", { namespace: "a" })).toBe(true);
 
     const raceDedupe = createDedupe(root, { ttlMs: 10_000 });
     const [raceFirst, raceSecond] = await Promise.all([
@@ -107,10 +103,11 @@ describe("createPersistentDedupe", () => {
     const emptyReader = createDedupe(root, { ttlMs: 10_000 });
     expect(await emptyReader.warmup("nonexistent")).toBe(0);
 
-    const writer = createDedupe(root, { ttlMs: 1000 });
     const oldNow = Date.now() - 2000;
-    expect(await writer.checkAndRecord("old-msg", { namespace: "acct", now: oldNow })).toBe(true);
-    expect(await writer.checkAndRecord("new-msg", { namespace: "acct" })).toBe(true);
+    await fs.writeFile(
+      path.join(root, "acct.json"),
+      JSON.stringify({ "old-msg": oldNow, "new-msg": Date.now() }),
+    );
 
     const reader = createDedupe(root, { ttlMs: 1000 });
     expect(await reader.warmup("acct")).toBe(1);