diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-nodejs.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-nodejs.yml
index 97773a7bf04f..e102f88d71cc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-nodejs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-nodejs.yml
@@ -85,6 +85,9 @@ jobs:
                         # so no app image is built here. Dockerfile.node is gated separately in
                         # ci-nodejs-container.yml.
                         - 'docker*.yml'
+                        # The compose stack mounts this ClickHouse config; the Kafka engine settings
+                        # in it set how long every ClickHouse-backed Jest test waits for a row.
+                        - 'docker/clickhouse/**'
                       rust:
                         - 'rust/**'
                         - 'proto/**'
diff --git a/docker/clickhouse/users-dev.xml b/docker/clickhouse/users-dev.xml
index 1a784485f3f4..af4b2f46f570 100644
--- a/docker/clickhouse/users-dev.xml
+++ b/docker/clickhouse/users-dev.xml
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
             <number_of_mutations_to_throw>1</number_of_mutations_to_throw>
 
             <stream_poll_timeout_ms>50</stream_poll_timeout_ms>
-            <stream_flush_interval_ms>500</stream_flush_interval_ms>
+            <stream_flush_interval_ms>100</stream_flush_interval_ms>
 
             <!-- Development performance optimizations -->
             <max_threads>2</max_threads>