diff --git a/datadriven.go b/datadriven.go
index a7692f5..d6f9e04 100644
--- a/datadriven.go
+++ b/datadriven.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"regexp"
+	"runtime"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
@@ -568,6 +569,53 @@ func (td *TestData) ScanArgs(t testing.TB, key string, dests ...interface{}) {
 	arg.scan(t, td.Pos, dests...)
 }
 
+// Retry is used for tests that depend on background goroutines to finish work.
+// It takes a function that produces the output of the testcase and calls it
+// repeatedly until it matches the expected output (for at most 1 second).
+//
+// Returns the last value returned by f (which can be directly returned from the
+// function passed to RunTest).
+//
+// If --rewrite is used, just sleeps for 100ms.
+func (td *TestData) Retry(tb testing.TB, f func() string) string {
+	return td.RetryFor(tb, time.Second, f)
+}
+
+// RetryFor is like Retry but with a custom timeout.
+func (td *TestData) RetryFor(tb testing.TB, d time.Duration, f func() string) string {
+	if td.Rewrite {
+		// For rewrite mode, we have nothing to compare the output to. Just sleep a
+		// reasonable amount, under the assumption that --rewrite won't be used
+		// under stress or a loaded system.
+		time.Sleep(d / 10)
+		return f()
+	}
+	runtime.Gosched()
+	// We are going to evaluate f until it produces the correct answer numStable
+	// times in a row.
+	const numAttempts = 100
+	const numStable = 3
+	// numOk is the number of consecutive calls of f() that have returned the
+	// correct answer.
+	numOk := 0
+	expected := strings.TrimSpace(td.Expected)
+	for i := 0; ; i++ {
+		s := f()
+		if strings.TrimSpace(s) == expected {
+			numOk++
+		} else {
+			numOk = 0
+		}
+		if numOk == numStable || i == numAttempts {
+			if i >= numStable {
+				td.Logf(tb, "retried for %s (%d times)", time.Duration(i-numStable+1)*d/numAttempts, i-numStable+1)
+			}
+			return s
+		}
+		time.Sleep(d/numAttempts + 1)
+	}
+}
+
 // CmdArg contains information about an argument on the directive line. An
 // argument is specified in one of the following forms:
 //   - argument
@@ -766,6 +814,13 @@ func (arg CmdArg) scanScalarErr(i int, dest interface{}) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// Logf is a wrapper for tb.Logf which adds file position information, so
+// that it's easy to locate the source of the log.
+func (td TestData) Logf(tb testing.TB, format string, args ...interface{}) {
+	tb.Helper()
+	tb.Logf("%s: %s", td.Pos, fmt.Sprintf(format, args...))
+}
+
 // Fatalf wraps a fatal testing error with test file position information, so
 // that it's easy to locate the source of the error.
 func (td TestData) Fatalf(tb testing.TB, format string, args ...interface{}) {
diff --git a/datadriven_test.go b/datadriven_test.go
index 7fe0e0e..0f790d6 100644
--- a/datadriven_test.go
+++ b/datadriven_test.go
@@ -18,11 +18,13 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
+	"math/rand"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"reflect"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -140,6 +142,33 @@ output`
 	})
 }
 
+func TestRetry(t *testing.T) {
+	var v atomic.Uint32
+	RunTest(t, "testdata/retry", func(t *testing.T, d *TestData) string {
+		switch d.Cmd {
+		case "inc":
+			n := 1
+			d.MaybeScanArgs(t, "n", &n)
+			for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
+				go func() {
+					time.Sleep(time.Duration(rand.Intn(10)) * time.Microsecond)
+					v.Add(1)
+				}()
+			}
+			return ""
+
+		case "read":
+			return d.Retry(t, func() string {
+				return fmt.Sprint(v.Load())
+			})
+
+		default:
+			t.Fatalf("unknown directive: %s", d.Cmd)
+		}
+		return d.Expected
+	})
+}
+
 func TestDirective(t *testing.T) {
 	RunTest(t, "testdata/directive", func(t *testing.T, d *TestData) string {
 		var buf bytes.Buffer
diff --git a/testdata/retry b/testdata/retry
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..703b15b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/retry
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+read
+----
+0
+
+inc
+----
+
+read
+----
+1
+
+inc n=20
+----
+
+read
+----
+21