diff --git a/docs/file-access-protocol.md b/docs/file-access-protocol.md
index de6b6553..c3123749 100644
--- a/docs/file-access-protocol.md
+++ b/docs/file-access-protocol.md
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ The Go client is `sandboxfs.NewClient(stream)`. It has one method per operation,
 
 Cancelling a call's context returns at once with `Cancelled` or `DeadlineExceeded`. A call cancelled before its request is written fails with `EffectNone`. After the request is written, the client sends `CancelRequest` for it and discards the late response, and the failure is `EffectNone` for a [side-effect-free request](#effects-and-cancellation) and `EffectPossible` for every other one. Cancelling a call while its request is being written fails the stream instead, because a partial frame cannot be withdrawn. A cancel that races the completion of a write may still fail the stream, and the requests in flight then fail with `EffectPossible`.
 
+To learn what a cancelled request did, interrupt it instead: a call whose context comes from `sandboxfs.WithInterrupt` sends `CancelRequest` when the interrupt channel closes and keeps waiting for the request's own response, so it returns the request's result or the service's failure with its effect. A FUSE frontend uses this for a waiting lock, which may be acquired just before the cancellation arrives.
+
 When the stream fails, every request in flight fails with `Unknown` and `EffectPossible`, and later calls fail with `EffectNone`; `errors.Is(err, sandboxfs.ErrTransport)` matches both. `Client.Done` closes and `Client.Err` returns the cause. To continue, open a new stream for the same attachment with `ExpectedServerInstanceID` set, as the [Sandbox link protocol](sandbox-link-protocol.md) describes. `InstanceChanged` then means every node, handle and lock of the attachment is gone.
 
 ## Implement a service
diff --git a/internal/sandboxfs/client.go b/internal/sandboxfs/client.go
index 7e41e393..6d29da43 100644
--- a/internal/sandboxfs/client.go
+++ b/internal/sandboxfs/client.go
@@ -246,17 +246,26 @@ func roundTrip[R message](ctx context.Context, c *Client, q Request) (R, error)
 		return zero, fail
 	}
 	var out outcome
-	select {
-	case out = <-cl.ch:
-	case <-ctx.Done():
-		if c.abandon(id, cl) {
-			effect := sandboxwire.EffectPossible
-			if sideEffectFree(q) {
-				effect = sandboxwire.EffectNone
+	interrupt, _ := ctx.Value(interruptKey{}).(<-chan struct{})
+wait:
+	for {
+		select {
+		case out = <-cl.ch:
+			break wait
+		case <-interrupt:
+			interrupt = nil
+			go c.cancel(id)
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			if c.abandon(id, cl) {
+				effect := sandboxwire.EffectPossible
+				if sideEffectFree(q) {
+					effect = sandboxwire.EffectNone
+				}
+				return zero, contextFailure(ctx.Err(), effect)
 			}
-			return zero, contextFailure(ctx.Err(), effect)
+			out = <-cl.ch
+			break wait
 		}
-		out = <-cl.ch
 	}
 	if out.fail != nil {
 		return zero, out.fail
@@ -264,6 +273,16 @@ func roundTrip[R message](ctx context.Context, c *Client, q Request) (R, error)
 	return out.msg.(R), nil
 }
 
+type interruptKey struct{}
+
+// WithInterrupt returns a context whose calls send CancelRequest once
+// interrupt closes and keep waiting for the request's own response, so a call
+// returns the request's real outcome: its result, or the service's failure
+// with its effect. Ending the context still abandons the call.
+func WithInterrupt(ctx context.Context, interrupt <-chan struct{}) context.Context {
+	return context.WithValue(ctx, interruptKey{}, interrupt)
+}
+
 func contextFailure(err error, effect sandboxwire.Effect) *Failure {
 	code := CodeCancelled
 	if errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
diff --git a/internal/sandboxfs/client_test.go b/internal/sandboxfs/client_test.go
index ee4534a0..8453bb02 100644
--- a/internal/sandboxfs/client_test.go
+++ b/internal/sandboxfs/client_test.go
@@ -31,3 +31,27 @@ func TestCancelAfterWriteKeepsStream(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("describe after the cancellation: %v; stream: %v", err, c.Err())
 	}
 }
+
+// finisher completes Describe after its request is cancelled, as a lock
+// acquired just before CancelRequest arrives does.
+type finisher struct{ Service }
+
+func (finisher) Describe(ctx context.Context, _ Attachment, _ *DescribeRequest) (*DescribeResponse, error) {
+	<-ctx.Done()
+	return &DescribeResponse{ServerInstanceID: testInstance, Capabilities: testCaps}, nil
+}
+
+// An interrupt cancels the request and still returns its own outcome.
+func TestInterruptReturnsOutcome(t *testing.T) {
+	cc, sc := net.Pipe()
+	a := Attachment{ID: sandboxwire.NewID(), ServerInstanceID: testInstance, Lease: context.Background(), Exports: []sandboxlink.ExportGrant{{ID: "world"}}}
+	go Serve(context.Background(), sc, finisher{}, a)
+	c := NewClient(cc)
+	defer c.Close()
+
+	interrupt := make(chan struct{})
+	close(interrupt)
+	if _, err := c.Describe(WithInterrupt(context.Background(), interrupt), &DescribeRequest{}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("interrupted describe that completed: %v", err)
+	}
+}