diff --git a/.github/workflows/schemathesis.yml b/.github/workflows/schemathesis.yml
index 8f67cde..7ad7ca3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/schemathesis.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/schemathesis.yml
@@ -38,6 +38,14 @@ jobs:
       - run: docker --version
       - name: Start the docker-compose stack
         run: docker compose up --detach --wait
+      # `up --wait` doesn't wait for the loadtest container to finish
+      - name: Wait for the test corpus to be loaded
+        run: |
+          status=$(docker wait "$(docker compose ps --all --quiet loadtest)")
+          if [ "$status" != 0 ]; then
+            docker compose logs loadtest api
+            exit 1
+          fi
       - name: Test if /info returns a response
         run: curl --verbose http://localhost:8081/exist/restxq/v1/info
       - name: Test if corpus returns a response
diff --git a/compose.t.yml b/compose.t.yml
index 8f38f78..07887e1 100644
--- a/compose.t.yml
+++ b/compose.t.yml
@@ -44,13 +44,17 @@ services:
           -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
           -d '{"load": true}' \
           http://api:8080/exist/restxq/v1/corpora/test
-        echo "Waiting for corpus contents to be available..."
+        # The load job records the commit of the corpus after loading all
+        # of its plays. (Every play has a commit, too, so check the corpus
+        # list, which has no plays.) Check only every 5 s for up to 5
+        # minutes, as loading keeps the database busy.
+        echo "Waiting for the corpus to be loaded..."
         for i in $$(seq 1 60); do
-          if curl -sf http://api:8080/exist/restxq/v1/corpora/test | grep -q '"plays":\[{'; then
+          if curl -sf http://api:8080/exist/restxq/v1/corpora | grep -q '"commit"'; then
             echo "Test corpus loaded."
             exit 0
           fi
-          sleep 1
+          sleep 5
         done
         echo "Timed out waiting for test corpus to load." >&2
         exit 1