diff --git a/R/syrup.R b/R/syrup.R
index db1646f..0efec72 100644
--- a/R/syrup.R
+++ b/R/syrup.R
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ syrup <- function(expr, interval = .5, peak = FALSE, env = caller_env()) {
   # communicate with `sesh` through existence of a tempfile:
   keep_going_file <- tempfile()
   file.create(keep_going_file)
+  withr::defer(if (file.exists(keep_going_file)) file.remove(keep_going_file))
 
   # regularly take snapshots of memory usage of R sessions
   sesh$call(