diff --git a/.github/actions/install/action.yml b/.github/actions/install/action.yml
index 2c393821c..aa139a4f6 100644
--- a/.github/actions/install/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/install/action.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ inputs:
   zig-v8:
     description: 'zig v8 version to install'
     required: false
-    default: 'v0.5.0'
+    default: 'v0.5.1'
   v8:
     description: 'v8 version to install'
     required: false
diff --git a/.github/actions/v8-snapshot/action.yml b/.github/actions/v8-snapshot/action.yml
index cbb998f1c..1fca406e7 100644
--- a/.github/actions/v8-snapshot/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/v8-snapshot/action.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ inputs:
   zig-v8:
     description: 'zig-v8 release tag the prebuilt lib came from'
     required: false
-    default: 'v0.5.0'
+    default: 'v0.5.1'
 
 runs:
   using: "composite"
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index cef60fd8d..70b5cf5db 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ FROM debian:stable-slim
 ARG MINISIG=0.12
 ARG ZIG_MINISIG=RWSGOq2NVecA2UPNdBUZykf1CCb147pkmdtYxgb3Ti+JO/wCYvhbAb/U
 ARG V8=14.9.207.35
-ARG ZIG_V8=v0.5.0
+ARG ZIG_V8=v0.5.1
 ARG TARGETPLATFORM
 
 RUN apt-get update -yq && \
diff --git a/build.zig.zon b/build.zig.zon
index 81d2eb67e..92f960358 100644
--- a/build.zig.zon
+++ b/build.zig.zon
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
     .minimum_zig_version = "0.15.2",
     .dependencies = .{
         .v8 = .{
-            .url = "https://github.com/lightpanda-io/zig-v8-fork/archive/refs/tags/v0.5.0.tar.gz",
-            .hash = "v8-0.0.0-xddH613pAgDFIxC9Xq1zCPVj2n-8Dxsm-TVMfSRVzq6Z",
+            .url = "https://github.com/lightpanda-io/zig-v8-fork/archive/refs/tags/v0.5.1.tar.gz",
+            .hash = "v8-0.0.0-xddH6_vtAgAdI8KeSyuBCgVOEFDN_0BfMekjdP6fkRqk",
         },
         // .v8 = .{ .path = "../zig-v8-fork" },
         .brotli = .{
diff --git a/src/App.zig b/src/App.zig
index db456b569..acb06a10b 100644
--- a/src/App.zig
+++ b/src/App.zig
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ arena_pool: ArenaPool,
 app_dir_path: ?[]const u8,
 
 pub fn init(allocator: Allocator, config: *const Config) !*App {
-    const platform = try Platform.init();
+    const platform = try Platform.init(config.v8Flags());
     errdefer platform.deinit();
 
     const snapshot = try Snapshot.load();
diff --git a/src/Config.zig b/src/Config.zig
index 11a89fb6a..c5c574f8b 100644
--- a/src/Config.zig
+++ b/src/Config.zig
@@ -114,6 +114,8 @@ const CommonOptions = .{
     .{ .name = "disable_subframes", .type = bool },
     .{ .name = "disable_workers", .type = bool },
     .{ .name = "enable_external_stylesheets", .type = bool },
+    .{ .name = "v8_flags_unsafe", .type = ?[]const u8 },
+    .{ .name = "v8_max_heap_mb", .type = ?u32 },
 };
 
 fn dumpValidator(_: Allocator, args: *std.process.ArgIterator) !?DumpFormat {
@@ -337,6 +339,20 @@ pub fn enableExternalStylesheets(self: *const Config) bool {
     };
 }
 
+pub fn v8Flags(self: *const Config) ?[]const u8 {
+    return switch (self.mode) {
+        inline .serve, .fetch, .mcp, .agent => |opts| opts.v8_flags_unsafe,
+        else => unreachable,
+    };
+}
+
+pub fn v8MaxHeapMb(self: *const Config) ?u32 {
+    return switch (self.mode) {
+        inline .serve, .fetch, .mcp, .agent => |opts| opts.v8_max_heap_mb,
+        else => unreachable,
+    };
+}
+
 pub fn httpProxy(self: *const Config) ?[:0]const u8 {
     return switch (self.mode) {
         inline .serve, .fetch, .mcp, .agent => |opts| opts.http_proxy,
diff --git a/src/browser/Browser.zig b/src/browser/Browser.zig
index 23926ccf6..59c4867d7 100644
--- a/src/browser/Browser.zig
+++ b/src/browser/Browser.zig
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ pub fn init(self: *Browser, app: *App, opts: InitOpts, cdp: ?*CDP) !void {
         .fc_identity_pool = .init(allocator),
         .selector_cache = .init(allocator),
     };
+    self.env.protectHeapLimit();
     try self.http_client.init(allocator, &app.network, cdp);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/browser/js/Env.zig b/src/browser/js/Env.zig
index 299038ad5..6edda76bd 100644
--- a/src/browser/js/Env.zig
+++ b/src/browser/js/Env.zig
@@ -132,6 +132,14 @@ pub fn init(app: *App, opts: InitOpts) !Env {
 
     params.external_references = &snapshot.external_references;
 
+    if (app.config.v8MaxHeapMb()) |mb| {
+        v8.v8__ResourceConstraints__ConfigureDefaultsFromHeapSize(
+            &params.constraints,
+            0,
+            @as(usize, mb) * 1024 * 1024,
+        );
+    }
+
     var isolate = js.Isolate.init(params);
     errdefer isolate.deinit();
     const isolate_handle = isolate.handle;
@@ -391,7 +399,7 @@ pub fn runMicrotasks(self: *Env) void {
 
         const v8_isolate = self.isolate.handle;
 
-        if (v8.v8__Isolate__IsExecutionTerminating(v8_isolate)) {
+        if (v8.v8__Isolate__IsExecutionTerminating(v8_isolate) or self.terminatePending()) {
             return;
         }
 
@@ -409,7 +417,7 @@ pub fn runMicrotasks(self: *Env) void {
 }
 
 pub fn runMacrotasks(self: *Env) !void {
-    if (v8.v8__Isolate__IsExecutionTerminating(self.isolate.handle)) {
+    if (v8.v8__Isolate__IsExecutionTerminating(self.isolate.handle) or self.terminatePending()) {
         return;
     }
 
@@ -542,6 +550,34 @@ pub fn terminate(self: *Env) void {
     v8.v8__Isolate__TerminateExecution(self.isolate.handle);
 }
 
+// We need a stable pointer for *Env, so can't be setup in init.
+pub fn protectHeapLimit(self: *Env) void {
+    v8.v8__Isolate__AddNearHeapLimitCallback(self.isolate.handle, nearHeapLimit, self);
+}
+
+// v8 is telling us it's about to run out of memory for this isolate. We'll
+// do two things:
+// 1 - Terminate the execution (attempting to prevent v8 from OOM'ing the process)
+// 2 - Tell v8 that it can use 8MB more memory, hopefully giving it enough memory
+//     to properly shutdown
+//
+// The terminate must go through requestTerminate (RequestInterrupt), NOT a
+// direct TerminateExecution: we're mid-GC, which is an arbitrary point —
+// possibly inside a microtask run — and flagging termination there lets the
+// run complete with a result while the isolate is terminating, tripping
+// V8's DCHECK(maybe_result.is_null()) in MicrotaskQueue::RunMicrotasks. The
+// interrupt lands at a stack-guard check, where termination unwinds the way
+// V8 expects.
+fn nearHeapLimit(data: ?*anyopaque, current_limit: usize, initial_limit: usize) callconv(.c) usize {
+    const self: *Env = @ptrCast(@alignCast(data.?));
+    log.err(.app, "JS heap limit reached", .{
+        .initial_limit = initial_limit,
+        .current_limit = current_limit,
+    });
+    self.requestTerminate();
+    return current_limit + 8 * 1024 * 1024;
+}
+
 // Called from the network thread, caused v8 to eventually call terminateInterrupt
 pub fn requestTerminate(self: *Env) void {
     self.terminate_requested.store(true, .release);
diff --git a/src/browser/js/Platform.zig b/src/browser/js/Platform.zig
index 0a1733311..ab9a60c08 100644
--- a/src/browser/js/Platform.zig
+++ b/src/browser/js/Platform.zig
@@ -22,7 +22,11 @@ const v8 = js.v8;
 const Platform = @This();
 handle: *v8.Platform,
 
-pub fn init() !Platform {
+pub fn init(v8_flags: ?[]const u8) !Platform {
+    if (v8_flags) |flags| {
+        v8.v8__V8__SetFlagsFromString(flags.ptr, flags.len);
+    }
+
     if (v8.v8__V8__InitializeICU() == false) {
         return error.FailedToInitializeICU;
     }
diff --git a/src/cdp/CDP.zig b/src/cdp/CDP.zig
index 1f76c9ab6..ba3875bc8 100644
--- a/src/cdp/CDP.zig
+++ b/src/cdp/CDP.zig
@@ -239,6 +239,14 @@ pub fn sendJSON(self: *CDP, message: anytype) !void {
 }
 
 pub fn tick(self: *CDP) !bool {
+    // terminatePending means someone decided this browser must die (e.g. the
+    // heap limit was reached). Nothing in the CDP path ever calls cancelTerminate
+    // so the flag can't be a stale leftover here. Exit.
+    if (self.browser.env.terminatePending()) {
+        log.warn(.cdp, "closing connection", .{ .reason = "pending terminate" });
+        return false;
+    }
+
     // Liveness is enforced by TCP keepalive configured in
     // Server.configureSocket; the wakeup lets V8 run or terminate.
     const wait_ms: u32 = 1000; // 1s
diff --git a/src/help.zon b/src/help.zon
index 9867f737a..2be7e812f 100644
--- a/src/help.zon
+++ b/src/help.zon
@@ -338,6 +338,16 @@
     \\          still sends Sec-Ch-Ua. Incompatible with --user-agent-suffix.
     \\  --user-agent-suffix <STRING>
     \\          Suffix appended to the Lightpanda/X.Y User-Agent.
+    \\  --v8-flags-unsafe <FLAGS>
+    \\          Flags passed as-is to the V8 JavaScript engine, space-separated.
+    \\          e.g. --v8-flags-unsafe "--expose-gc --stack-size 1000".
+    \\          Unsupported escape hatch: V8 does not validate flags against the
+    \\          prebuilt snapshot, so an incompatible flag can misbehave or
+    \\          crash at any point.
+    \\  --v8-max-heap-mb <INT>
+    \\          Maximum V8 heap size in megabytes, per browser instance. Values
+    \\          below ~16 are clamped by V8 and all behave the same.
+    \\          Defaults to the V8 default (based on available memory).
     \\  --web-bot-auth-domain <DOMAIN>
     \\          Your domain, e.g. yourdomain.com.
     \\  --web-bot-auth-key-file <PATH>
diff --git a/src/main_snapshot_creator.zig b/src/main_snapshot_creator.zig
index 57500fca8..56ebfd228 100644
--- a/src/main_snapshot_creator.zig
+++ b/src/main_snapshot_creator.zig
@@ -22,7 +22,26 @@ const lp = @import("lightpanda");
 pub fn main() !void {
     const allocator = std.heap.c_allocator;
 
-    var platform = try lp.js.Platform.init();
+    // usage: snapshot_creator [--v8-flags-unsafe "<flags>"] [outfile]
+    // A snapshot only deserializes correctly under the flags it was created
+    // with, so a runtime using --v8-flags-unsafe needs a snapshot built with
+    // the same value.
+    var v8_flags: ?[]const u8 = null;
+    var out_path: ?[]const u8 = null;
+    var args = try std.process.argsWithAllocator(allocator);
+    _ = args.next(); // executable name
+    while (args.next()) |arg| {
+        if (std.mem.eql(u8, arg, "--v8-flags-unsafe")) {
+            v8_flags = args.next() orelse {
+                std.debug.print("--v8-flags-unsafe requires a value\n", .{});
+                return error.MissingArgument;
+            };
+        } else {
+            out_path = arg;
+        }
+    }
+
+    var platform = try lp.js.Platform.init(v8_flags);
     defer platform.deinit();
 
     const snapshot = try lp.js.Snapshot.create();
@@ -30,9 +49,7 @@ pub fn main() !void {
 
     var is_stdout = true;
     var file = std.fs.File.stdout();
-    var args = try std.process.argsWithAllocator(allocator);
-    _ = args.next(); // executable name
-    if (args.next()) |n| {
+    if (out_path) |n| {
         is_stdout = false;
         file = try std.fs.cwd().createFile(n, .{});
     }
diff --git a/src/script/Runtime.zig b/src/script/Runtime.zig
index df51f2a6b..ec8d1e476 100644
--- a/src/script/Runtime.zig
+++ b/src/script/Runtime.zig
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ pub fn init(
     // + terminate/microtask carrier; the agent context is bare (no WebAPIs).
     self.env = lp.js.Env.init(app, .{}) catch return error.RuntimeInitFailed;
     errdefer self.env.deinit();
+    self.env.protectHeapLimit();
 
     try self.createContext();
     errdefer self.resetContext();