diff --git a/edb/server/args.py b/edb/server/args.py
index 8396ac5d018..ea6a9fbce6b 100644
--- a/edb/server/args.py
+++ b/edb/server/args.py
@@ -164,6 +164,11 @@ class ReloadTrigger(enum.StrEnum):
     """Watch the files for changes and reload when it happens."""
 
 
+class NetWorkerMode(enum.StrEnum):
+    Default = "default"
+    Disabled = "disabled"
+
+
 class ServerAuthMethods:
 
     def __init__(
@@ -258,6 +263,7 @@ class ServerConfig(NamedTuple):
     readiness_state_file: Optional[pathlib.Path]
     disable_dynamic_system_config: bool
     reload_config_files: ReloadTrigger
+    net_worker_mode: NetWorkerMode
 
     startup_script: Optional[StartupScript]
     status_sinks: List[Callable[[str], None]]
@@ -1043,6 +1049,16 @@ def resolve_envvar_value(self, ctx: click.Context):
         help='Specifies when to reload the config files. See the docstring of '
              'ReloadTrigger for more information.',
     ),
+    click.option(
+        "--net-worker-mode",
+        envvar="EDGEDB_SERVER_NET_WORKER_MODE", cls=EnvvarResolver,
+        type=click.Choice(
+            list(NetWorkerMode.__members__.values()), case_sensitive=True
+        ),
+        hidden=True,
+        default='default',
+        help='Controls how the std::net workers work.',
+    ),
 ])
 
 
@@ -1555,6 +1571,7 @@ def parse_args(**kwargs: Any):
     kwargs['reload_config_files'] = ReloadTrigger(
         kwargs['reload_config_files']
     )
+    kwargs['net_worker_mode'] = NetWorkerMode(kwargs['net_worker_mode'])
 
     if 'EDGEDB_SERVER_CONFIG_cfg::listen_addresses' in os.environ:
         abort(
diff --git a/edb/server/cluster.py b/edb/server/cluster.py
index 1116eec07d7..f7bbd2fdd75 100644
--- a/edb/server/cluster.py
+++ b/edb/server/cluster.py
@@ -68,6 +68,9 @@ def __init__(
         compiler_pool_mode: Optional[
             edgedb_args.CompilerPoolMode
         ] = None,
+        net_worker_mode: Optional[
+            edgedb_args.NetWorkerMode
+        ] = None,
     ):
         self._edgedb_cmd = [sys.executable, '-m', 'edb.server.main']
 
@@ -114,6 +117,12 @@ def __init__(
                 str(compiler_pool_mode),
             ))
 
+        if net_worker_mode is not None:
+            self._edgedb_cmd.extend((
+                '--net-worker-mode',
+                str(net_worker_mode),
+            ))
+
         self._log_level = log_level
         self._runstate_dir = runstate_dir
         self._edgedb_cmd.extend(['--runstate-dir', str(runstate_dir)])
diff --git a/edb/server/main.py b/edb/server/main.py
index edee0be9e17..8050c88e404 100644
--- a/edb/server/main.py
+++ b/edb/server/main.py
@@ -251,6 +251,7 @@ async def _run_server(
                 srvargs.ReloadTrigger.Default,
                 srvargs.ReloadTrigger.FileSystemEvent,
             ],
+            net_worker_mode=args.net_worker_mode,
         )
         # This coroutine runs as long as the server,
         # and compiler_state is *heavy*, so make sure we don't
diff --git a/edb/server/server.py b/edb/server/server.py
index 647cb9a8988..168b4a198c8 100644
--- a/edb/server/server.py
+++ b/edb/server/server.py
@@ -162,6 +162,7 @@ def __init__(
         disable_dynamic_system_config: bool = False,
         compiler_state: edbcompiler.CompilerState,
         use_monitor_fs: bool = False,
+        net_worker_mode: srvargs.NetWorkerMode = srvargs.NetWorkerMode.Default,
     ):
         self.__loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
         self._use_monitor_fs = use_monitor_fs
@@ -228,6 +229,7 @@ def __init__(
         self._http_request_logger = None
         self._auth_gc = None
         self._net_worker_http = None
+        self._net_worker_mode = net_worker_mode
 
         self._stop_evt = asyncio.Event()
         self._tls_cert_file: str | Any = None
@@ -1044,7 +1046,10 @@ async def start(self):
 
         await self._after_start_servers()
         self._auth_gc = self.__loop.create_task(pkce.gc(self))
-        self._net_worker_http = self.__loop.create_task(net_worker.http(self))
+        if self._net_worker_mode is srvargs.NetWorkerMode.Default:
+            self._net_worker_http = self.__loop.create_task(
+                net_worker.http(self)
+            )
 
         if self._echo_runtime_info:
             ri = {
diff --git a/edb/testbase/server.py b/edb/testbase/server.py
index 77bfba6c7ef..eb8b5697e50 100644
--- a/edb/testbase/server.py
+++ b/edb/testbase/server.py
@@ -764,7 +764,18 @@ def _extract_background_errors(metrics: str) -> str | None:
 
 
 async def drop_db(conn, dbname):
-    await conn.execute(f'DROP DATABASE {dbname}')
+    # net_worker (#7742) may issue a query while DROP DATABASE happens.
+    # This is a WIP bug that should be solved when adopting notification-
+    # driven net_worker, but hack around it with a retry loop for now.
+    # Without this, tests would flake a lot.
+    async for tr in TestCase.try_until_succeeds(
+        ignore=(edgedb.ExecutionError, edgedb.ClientConnectionError),
+        timeout=30
+    ):
+        async with tr:
+            await conn.execute(
+                f'DROP DATABASE {dbname};'
+            )
 
 
 class ClusterTestCase(BaseHTTPTestCase):
@@ -2234,6 +2245,7 @@ def __init__(
         default_branch: Optional[str] = None,
         env: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = None,
         extra_args: Optional[List[str]] = None,
+        net_worker_mode: Optional[str] = None,
     ) -> None:
         self.bind_addrs = bind_addrs
         self.auto_shutdown_after = auto_shutdown_after
@@ -2268,6 +2280,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.default_branch = default_branch
         self.env = env
         self.extra_args = extra_args
+        self.net_worker_mode = net_worker_mode
 
     async def wait_for_server_readiness(self, stream: asyncio.StreamReader):
         while True:
@@ -2438,6 +2451,9 @@ async def __aenter__(self):
         if not self.multitenant_config:
             cmd += ['--instance-name=localtest']
 
+        if self.net_worker_mode:
+            cmd += ['--net-worker-mode', self.net_worker_mode]
+
         if self.extra_args:
             cmd.extend(self.extra_args)
 
@@ -2596,6 +2612,7 @@ def start_edgedb_server(
     env: Optional[Dict[str, str]] = None,
     extra_args: Optional[List[str]] = None,
     default_branch: Optional[str] = None,
+    net_worker_mode: Optional[str] = None,
 ):
     if (not devmode.is_in_dev_mode() or adjacent_to) and not runstate_dir:
         if backend_dsn or adjacent_to:
@@ -2665,6 +2682,7 @@ def start_edgedb_server(
         env=env,
         extra_args=extra_args,
         default_branch=default_branch,
+        net_worker_mode=net_worker_mode,
     )
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_server_ops.py b/tests/test_server_ops.py
index 80b7cb30ef6..99fb8110ba4 100644
--- a/tests/test_server_ops.py
+++ b/tests/test_server_ops.py
@@ -720,6 +720,7 @@ async def test_server_ops_cache_recompile_01(self):
             async with tb.start_edgedb_server(
                 data_dir=temp_dir,
                 default_auth_method=args.ServerAuthMethod.Trust,
+                net_worker_mode='disabled',
             ) as sd:
                 con = await sd.connect()
                 try:
@@ -775,6 +776,7 @@ async def test_server_ops_cache_recompile_01(self):
             async with tb.start_edgedb_server(
                 data_dir=temp_dir,
                 default_auth_method=args.ServerAuthMethod.Trust,
+                net_worker_mode='disabled',
             ) as sd:
                 con = await sd.connect()
                 try: