diff --git a/internal/lsp/cache/load.go b/internal/lsp/cache/load.go
index 085c7c2800..5f24d0f08e 100644
--- a/internal/lsp/cache/load.go
+++ b/internal/lsp/cache/load.go
@@ -37,6 +37,15 @@ func (s *snapshot) load(ctx context.Context, allowNetwork bool, scopes ...interf
 	var query []string
 	var containsDir bool // for logging
 
+	// Unless the context was canceled, set "shouldLoad" to false for all
+	// of the metadata we attempted to load.
+	defer func() {
+		if errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) {
+			return
+		}
+		s.clearShouldLoad(scopes...)
+	}()
+
 	// Keep track of module query -> module path so that we can later correlate query
 	// errors with errors.
 	moduleQueries := make(map[string]string)
@@ -44,14 +53,6 @@ func (s *snapshot) load(ctx context.Context, allowNetwork bool, scopes ...interf
 		if !s.shouldLoad(scope) {
 			continue
 		}
-		// Unless the context was canceled, set "shouldLoad" to false for all
-		// of the metadata we attempted to load.
-		defer func() {
-			if errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) {
-				return
-			}
-			s.clearShouldLoad(scope)
-		}()
 		switch scope := scope.(type) {
 		case PackagePath:
 			if source.IsCommandLineArguments(string(scope)) {
@@ -196,7 +197,7 @@ func (s *snapshot) load(ctx context.Context, allowNetwork bool, scopes ...interf
 		}
 		// TODO: once metadata is immutable, we shouldn't have to lock here.
 		s.mu.Lock()
-		err := s.setMetadataLocked(ctx, PackagePath(pkg.PkgPath), pkg, cfg, query, updates, nil)
+		err := s.computeMetadataUpdates(ctx, PackagePath(pkg.PkgPath), pkg, cfg, query, updates, nil)
 		s.mu.Unlock()
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
@@ -438,10 +439,10 @@ func getWorkspaceDir(ctx context.Context, h *memoize.Handle, g *memoize.Generati
 	return span.URIFromPath(v.(*workspaceDirData).dir), nil
 }
 
-// setMetadataLocked extracts metadata from pkg and records it in s. It
-// recurs through pkg.Imports to ensure that metadata exists for all
-// dependencies.
-func (s *snapshot) setMetadataLocked(ctx context.Context, pkgPath PackagePath, pkg *packages.Package, cfg *packages.Config, query []string, updates map[PackageID]*KnownMetadata, path []PackageID) error {
+// computeMetadataUpdates populates the updates map with metadata updates to
+// apply, based on the given pkg. It recurs through pkg.Imports to ensure that
+// metadata exists for all dependencies.
+func (s *snapshot) computeMetadataUpdates(ctx context.Context, pkgPath PackagePath, pkg *packages.Package, cfg *packages.Config, query []string, updates map[PackageID]*KnownMetadata, path []PackageID) error {
 	id := PackageID(pkg.ID)
 	if new := updates[id]; new != nil {
 		return nil
@@ -532,7 +533,7 @@ func (s *snapshot) setMetadataLocked(ctx context.Context, pkgPath PackagePath, p
 			continue
 		}
 		if s.noValidMetadataForIDLocked(importID) {
-			if err := s.setMetadataLocked(ctx, importPkgPath, importPkg, cfg, query, updates, append(path, id)); err != nil {
+			if err := s.computeMetadataUpdates(ctx, importPkgPath, importPkg, cfg, query, updates, append(path, id)); err != nil {
 				event.Error(ctx, "error in dependency", err)
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/internal/lsp/cache/snapshot.go b/internal/lsp/cache/snapshot.go
index 369baca8de..ef06a10f6b 100644
--- a/internal/lsp/cache/snapshot.go
+++ b/internal/lsp/cache/snapshot.go
@@ -1191,10 +1191,12 @@ func (s *snapshot) shouldLoad(scope interface{}) bool {
 	s.mu.Lock()
 	defer s.mu.Unlock()
 
+	g := s.meta
+
 	switch scope := scope.(type) {
 	case PackagePath:
 		var meta *KnownMetadata
-		for _, m := range s.meta.metadata {
+		for _, m := range g.metadata {
 			if m.PkgPath != scope {
 				continue
 			}
@@ -1206,12 +1208,12 @@ func (s *snapshot) shouldLoad(scope interface{}) bool {
 		return false
 	case fileURI:
 		uri := span.URI(scope)
-		ids := s.meta.ids[uri]
+		ids := g.ids[uri]
 		if len(ids) == 0 {
 			return true
 		}
 		for _, id := range ids {
-			m, ok := s.meta.metadata[id]
+			m, ok := g.metadata[id]
 			if !ok || m.ShouldLoad {
 				return true
 			}
@@ -1222,34 +1224,40 @@ func (s *snapshot) shouldLoad(scope interface{}) bool {
 	}
 }
 
-func (s *snapshot) clearShouldLoad(scope interface{}) {
+func (s *snapshot) clearShouldLoad(scopes ...interface{}) {
 	s.mu.Lock()
 	defer s.mu.Unlock()
 
-	switch scope := scope.(type) {
-	case PackagePath:
-		var meta *KnownMetadata
-		for _, m := range s.meta.metadata {
-			if m.PkgPath == scope {
-				meta = m
+	g := s.meta
+
+	var updates map[PackageID]*KnownMetadata
+	markLoaded := func(m *KnownMetadata) {
+		if updates == nil {
+			updates = make(map[PackageID]*KnownMetadata)
+		}
+		next := *m
+		next.ShouldLoad = false
+		updates[next.ID] = &next
+	}
+	for _, scope := range scopes {
+		switch scope := scope.(type) {
+		case PackagePath:
+			for _, m := range g.metadata {
+				if m.PkgPath == scope {
+					markLoaded(m)
+				}
 			}
-		}
-		if meta == nil {
-			return
-		}
-		meta.ShouldLoad = false
-	case fileURI:
-		uri := span.URI(scope)
-		ids := s.meta.ids[uri]
-		if len(ids) == 0 {
-			return
-		}
-		for _, id := range ids {
-			if m, ok := s.meta.metadata[id]; ok {
-				m.ShouldLoad = false
+		case fileURI:
+			uri := span.URI(scope)
+			ids := g.ids[uri]
+			for _, id := range ids {
+				if m, ok := g.metadata[id]; ok {
+					markLoaded(m)
+				}
 			}
 		}
 	}
+	s.meta = g.Clone(updates)
 }
 
 // noValidMetadataForURILocked reports whether there is any valid metadata for