diff --git a/internal/imgcache/cache.go b/internal/imgcache/cache.go
index ffbd145..f31880b 100644
--- a/internal/imgcache/cache.go
+++ b/internal/imgcache/cache.go
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ func (c *Cache) StoreSource(
 // accounting insert is best-effort (the startup reconciliation pass
 // adopts any variant file that misses its accounting row).
 func (c *Cache) StoreVariant(
-	cacheKey VariantKey, content io.Reader, contentType string,
+	ctx context.Context, cacheKey VariantKey, content io.Reader, contentType string,
 ) error {
 	if c.disabled {
 		return nil
@@ -302,7 +302,7 @@ func (c *Cache) StoreVariant(
 		return err
 	}
 
-	_, err = c.db.Exec(`
+	_, err = c.db.ExecContext(ctx, `
 		INSERT INTO variant_content (cache_key, size_bytes, content_type)
 		VALUES (?, ?, ?)
 		ON CONFLICT(cache_key) DO UPDATE SET
diff --git a/internal/imgcache/cache_internal_test.go b/internal/imgcache/cache_internal_test.go
index 3912bf8..b4026f5 100644
--- a/internal/imgcache/cache_internal_test.go
+++ b/internal/imgcache/cache_internal_test.go
@@ -177,7 +177,8 @@ func TestCache_StoreAndLookup(t *testing.T) {
 	cacheKey := CacheKey(req)
 	outputContent := []byte("fake webp data")
 
-	err = cache.StoreVariant(cacheKey, bytes.NewReader(outputContent), "image/webp")
+	err = cache.StoreVariant(
+		t.Context(), cacheKey, bytes.NewReader(outputContent), "image/webp")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("StoreVariant() error = %v", err)
 	}
@@ -295,7 +296,8 @@ func TestCache_VariantLookup(t *testing.T) {
 	cacheKey := CacheKey(req)
 	outputContent := []byte("output data")
 
-	err := cache.StoreVariant(cacheKey, bytes.NewReader(outputContent), "image/webp")
+	err := cache.StoreVariant(
+		t.Context(), cacheKey, bytes.NewReader(outputContent), "image/webp")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("StoreVariant() error = %v", err)
 	}
@@ -344,7 +346,8 @@ func TestCache_GetVariant_ReturnsContentType(t *testing.T) {
 	cacheKey := CacheKey(req)
 	outputContent := []byte("output webp data")
 
-	err := cache.StoreVariant(cacheKey, bytes.NewReader(outputContent), "image/webp")
+	err := cache.StoreVariant(
+		t.Context(), cacheKey, bytes.NewReader(outputContent), "image/webp")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("StoreVariant() error = %v", err)
 	}
@@ -395,7 +398,8 @@ func TestCache_GetVariant(t *testing.T) {
 	cacheKey := CacheKey(req)
 	outputContent := []byte("the actual output content")
 
-	err := cache.StoreVariant(cacheKey, bytes.NewReader(outputContent), "image/webp")
+	err := cache.StoreVariant(
+		t.Context(), cacheKey, bytes.NewReader(outputContent), "image/webp")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("StoreVariant() error = %v", err)
 	}
diff --git a/internal/imgcache/eviction_internal_test.go b/internal/imgcache/eviction_internal_test.go
index 56434b3..0ff2ed8 100644
--- a/internal/imgcache/eviction_internal_test.go
+++ b/internal/imgcache/eviction_internal_test.go
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ func storeEvictionTestVariant(
 ) {
 	t.Helper()
 
-	err := cache.StoreVariant(key, bytes.NewReader(content), "image/webp")
+	err := cache.StoreVariant(t.Context(), key, bytes.NewReader(content), "image/webp")
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("StoreVariant(%s) failed: %v", key, err)
 	}
@@ -531,7 +531,7 @@ func assertDisabledCacheWritesAreNoOps(
 	ctx := t.Context()
 
 	err := cache.StoreVariant(
-		CacheKey(req), bytes.NewReader([]byte("data")), "image/webp",
+		ctx, CacheKey(req), bytes.NewReader([]byte("data")), "image/webp",
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("StoreVariant on disabled cache must be a no-op, got error: %v", err)
diff --git a/internal/imgcache/service.go b/internal/imgcache/service.go
index bc0b68f..ecb745d 100644
--- a/internal/imgcache/service.go
+++ b/internal/imgcache/service.go
@@ -425,7 +425,7 @@ func (s *Service) processAndStore(
 
 	// Store variant to cache
 	err = s.cache.StoreVariant(
-		cacheKey, bytes.NewReader(processedData), processResult.ContentType,
+		ctx, cacheKey, bytes.NewReader(processedData), processResult.ContentType,
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		s.log.Warn("failed to store variant", "error", err)