diff --git a/src/internal/task/atomic-cooperative.go b/src/internal/task/atomic-cooperative.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..60eb917a8e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/internal/task/atomic-cooperative.go
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+package task
+
+// Atomics implementation for cooperative systems. The atomic types here aren't
+// actually atomic, they assume that accesses cannot be interrupted by a
+// different goroutine or interrupt happening at the same time.
+
+type atomicIntegerType interface {
+	uintptr | uint32 | uint64
+}
+
+type pseudoAtomic[T atomicIntegerType] struct {
+	v T
+}
+
+func (x *pseudoAtomic[T]) Add(delta T) T { x.v += delta; return x.v }
+func (x *pseudoAtomic[T]) Load() T       { return x.v }
+func (x *pseudoAtomic[T]) Store(val T)   { x.v = val }
+func (x *pseudoAtomic[T]) CompareAndSwap(old, new T) (swapped bool) {
+	if x.v != old {
+		return false
+	}
+	x.v = new
+	return true
+}
+func (x *pseudoAtomic[T]) Swap(new T) (old T) {
+	old = x.v
+	x.v = new
+	return
+}
+
+// Uintptr is an atomic uintptr when multithreading is enabled, and a plain old
+// uintptr otherwise.
+type Uintptr = pseudoAtomic[uintptr]
+
+// Uint32 is an atomic uint32 when multithreading is enabled, and a plain old
+// uint32 otherwise.
+type Uint32 = pseudoAtomic[uint32]
+
+// Uint64 is an atomic uint64 when multithreading is enabled, and a plain old
+// uint64 otherwise.
+type Uint64 = pseudoAtomic[uint64]
diff --git a/src/internal/task/futex-cooperative.go b/src/internal/task/futex-cooperative.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8351f88774
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/internal/task/futex-cooperative.go
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+package task
+
+// A futex is a way for userspace to wait with the pointer as the key, and for
+// another thread to wake one or all waiting threads keyed on the same pointer.
+//
+// A futex does not change the underlying value, it only reads it before to prevent
+// lost wake-ups.
+type Futex struct {
+	Uint32
+	waiters Stack
+}
+
+// Atomically check for cmp to still be equal to the futex value and if so, go
+// to sleep. Return true if we were definitely awoken by a call to Wake or
+// WakeAll, and false if we can't be sure of that.
+func (f *Futex) Wait(cmp uint32) (awoken bool) {
+	if f.Uint32.v != cmp {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	// Push the current goroutine onto the waiter stack.
+	f.waiters.Push(Current())
+
+	// Pause until the waiters are awoken by Wake/WakeAll.
+	Pause()
+
+	// We were awoken by a call to Wake or WakeAll. There is no chance for
+	// spurious wakeups.
+	return true
+}
+
+// Wake a single waiter.
+func (f *Futex) Wake() {
+	if t := f.waiters.Pop(); t != nil {
+		scheduleTask(t)
+	}
+}
+
+// Wake all waiters.
+func (f *Futex) WakeAll() {
+	for t := f.waiters.Pop(); t != nil; t = f.waiters.Pop() {
+		scheduleTask(t)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/sync/waitgroup.go b/src/sync/waitgroup.go
index 72ef24c809..c73da3ecd4 100644
--- a/src/sync/waitgroup.go
+++ b/src/sync/waitgroup.go
@@ -3,35 +3,62 @@ package sync
 import "internal/task"
 
 type WaitGroup struct {
-	counter uint
-	waiters task.Stack
+	futex task.Futex
 }
 
 func (wg *WaitGroup) Add(delta int) {
 	if delta > 0 {
 		// Check for overflow.
-		if uint(delta) > (^uint(0))-wg.counter {
-			panic("sync: WaitGroup counter overflowed")
-		}
+		for {
+			counter := wg.futex.Load()
+			if uint32(delta) > (^uint32(0))-counter {
+				panic("sync: WaitGroup counter overflowed")
+			}
 
-		// Add to the counter.
-		wg.counter += uint(delta)
-	} else {
-		// Check for underflow.
-		if uint(-delta) > wg.counter {
-			panic("sync: negative WaitGroup counter")
+			// Add to the counter.
+			if wg.futex.CompareAndSwap(counter, counter+uint32(delta)) {
+				// Successfully added.
+				return
+			}
 		}
+	} else {
+		for {
+			counter := wg.futex.Load()
+
+			// Check for underflow.
+			if uint32(-delta) > counter {
+				panic("sync: negative WaitGroup counter")
+			}
 
-		// Subtract from the counter.
-		wg.counter -= uint(-delta)
+			// Subtract from the counter.
+			if !wg.futex.CompareAndSwap(counter, counter-uint32(-delta)) {
+				// Could not swap, trying again.
+				continue
+			}
 
-		// If the counter is zero, everything is done and the waiters should be resumed.
-		// This code assumes that the waiters cannot wake up until after this function returns.
-		// In the current implementation, this is always correct.
-		if wg.counter == 0 {
-			for t := wg.waiters.Pop(); t != nil; t = wg.waiters.Pop() {
-				scheduleTask(t)
+			// If the counter is zero, everything is done and the waiters should
+			// be resumed.
+			// When there are multiple thread, there is a chance for the counter
+			// to go to zero, WakeAll to be called, and then the counter to be
+			// incremented again before a waiting goroutine has a chance to
+			// check the new (zero) value. However the last increment is
+			// explicitly given in the docs as something that should not be
+			// done:
+			//
+			//   > Note that calls with a positive delta that occur when the
+			//   > counter is zero must happen before a Wait.
+			//
+			// So we're fine here.
+			if counter-uint32(-delta) == 0 {
+				// TODO: this is not the most efficient implementation possible
+				// because we wake up all waiters unconditionally, even if there
+				// might be none. Though since the common usage is for this to
+				// be called with at least one waiter, it's probably fine.
+				wg.futex.WakeAll()
 			}
+
+			// Successfully swapped (and woken all waiting tasks if needed).
+			return
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -41,14 +68,15 @@ func (wg *WaitGroup) Done() {
 }
 
 func (wg *WaitGroup) Wait() {
-	if wg.counter == 0 {
-		// Everything already finished.
-		return
-	}
-
-	// Push the current goroutine onto the waiter stack.
-	wg.waiters.Push(task.Current())
+	for {
+		counter := wg.futex.Load()
+		if counter == 0 {
+			return // everything already finished
+		}
 
-	// Pause until the waiters are awoken by Add/Done.
-	task.Pause()
+		if wg.futex.Wait(counter) {
+			// Successfully woken by WakeAll (in wg.Add).
+			break
+		}
+	}
 }