diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 60cef3186..d9e8812f1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -1847,6 +1847,25 @@ jobs:
           if [ "$RUNNER_OS" = Windows ]; then launcher="${launcher}.cmd"; fi
           echo "SOCKET_PATCH_MAVEN_E2E_MVN=$launcher" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
 
+      - name: Restore the Gradle ${{ matrix.gradle }} distribution
+        # Both of install-gradle.sh's origins are served by github.com
+        # releases (services.gradle.org redirects there). On 2026-11-09
+        # those returned 504 for minutes at a time, longer than curl's
+        # ~30 s of retries, and failed 9 gradle legs of the nightly (run
+        # 42568829044); the 9.8.0 legs run in the merge queue too. The zip
+        # is pinned by sha256, which the script checks on a restored copy
+        # as well, so cache it per version. Saved from main only.
+        id: gradle-dist-cache
+        if: matrix.gradle != ''
+        uses: actions/cache/restore@caa296126883cff596d87d8935842f9db880ef25 # v5.1.0
+        # A miss only means downloading the zip.
+        timeout-minutes: 5
+        continue-on-error: true
+        with:
+          path: ${{ runner.temp }}/gradle-${{ matrix.gradle }}-bin.zip
+          # The script holds the pins: a changed pin starts a fresh key.
+          key: gradle-dist-${{ matrix.gradle }}-${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('scripts/install-gradle.sh') }}
+
       - name: Install Gradle ${{ matrix.gradle }}
         if: matrix.gradle != ''
         shell: bash
@@ -1855,6 +1874,19 @@ jobs:
         # Pinned digest, GitHub-release origin: see the script.
         run: scripts/install-gradle.sh "$GRADLE_VERSION" "$RUNNER_TEMP" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
 
+      - name: Save the Gradle ${{ matrix.gradle }} distribution
+        if: >-
+          matrix.gradle != ''
+          && github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
+          && steps.gradle-dist-cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+          && steps.gradle-dist-cache.outcome == 'success'
+        uses: actions/cache/save@caa296126883cff596d87d8935842f9db880ef25 # v5.1.0
+        # Several legs share a version: the first save of a key wins and
+        # the others only log a warning, as the action does for any taken key.
+        with:
+          path: ${{ runner.temp }}/gradle-${{ matrix.gradle }}-bin.zip
+          key: ${{ steps.gradle-dist-cache.outputs.cache-primary-key }}
+
       - name: Setup .NET SDK
         if: matrix.dotnet != ''
         # Installs next to the runner's preinstalled SDKs; the suite writes
diff --git a/.github/workflows/gradle-compatibility.yml b/.github/workflows/gradle-compatibility.yml
index a3a555035..98a85e546 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gradle-compatibility.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gradle-compatibility.yml
@@ -345,6 +345,19 @@ jobs:
             echo "SOCKET_PATCH_MAVEN_E2E_REQUIRED=1"
           } >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
 
+      - name: Restore the Gradle ${{ matrix.gradle }} distribution
+        # ci.yml's e2e legs save this pinned zip from main (every version
+        # on Linux, 8.14.3 on Windows); restoring it keeps a github.com
+        # release outage from failing these legs. See the matching step
+        # there. Restore only: saving every OS x version here would add
+        # ~1 GB of near-duplicate zips to the repo's cache.
+        uses: actions/cache/restore@caa296126883cff596d87d8935842f9db880ef25 # v5.1.0
+        timeout-minutes: 5
+        continue-on-error: true
+        with:
+          path: ${{ runner.temp }}/gradle-${{ matrix.gradle }}-bin.zip
+          key: gradle-dist-${{ matrix.gradle }}-${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('scripts/install-gradle.sh') }}
+
       - name: Install Gradle ${{ matrix.gradle }}
         shell: bash
         env:
diff --git a/scripts/install-gradle.sh b/scripts/install-gradle.sh
index d0285d180..0dfc44bed 100755
--- a/scripts/install-gradle.sh
+++ b/scripts/install-gradle.sh
@@ -9,14 +9,16 @@
 # alone answering HTTP 500 for ~30 s used to fail a merge-queue leg. It is
 # only tried after the release download fails. The sha256 is pinned below
 # (from https://gradle.org/release-checksums/), so no checksum fetch can fail
-# either; a version without a pin fails closed.
+# either; a version without a pin fails closed. A zip already at
+# <dir>/gradle-<version>-bin.zip (CI restores one from the actions cache)
+# is used without any download when it matches that pin.
 #
 # Prints (stdout):
 #   SOCKET_PATCH_GRADLE_E2E_GRADLE=<launcher path>
 set -euo pipefail
 
 if [ $# -ne 2 ]; then
-  sed -n '2,15p' "$0" | sed 's/^# \{0,1\}//' >&2
+  sed -n '2,17p' "$0" | sed 's/^# \{0,1\}//' >&2
   exit 2
 fi
 VERSION="$1"
@@ -36,26 +38,41 @@ esac
 mkdir -p "$DIR"
 zip="$DIR/gradle-$VERSION-bin.zip"
 file="gradle-$VERSION-bin.zip"
+
+# python, not sha256sum: the macOS runners have only shasum.
+verify() {
+  python -c 'import hashlib, sys; d = hashlib.sha256(open(sys.argv[1], "rb").read()).hexdigest(); sys.exit(0 if d == sys.argv[2] else "sha256 mismatch: got " + d)' "$zip" "$sha"
+}
+
 fetched=""
-# --ssl-revoke-best-effort: Windows curl (schannel) otherwise fails when the
-# CA's revocation endpoint is unreachable.
-for url in \
-  "https://github.com/gradle/gradle-distributions/releases/download/v$VERSION/$file" \
-  "https://services.gradle.org/distributions/$file"; do
-  if curl -fsSL --retry 5 --retry-all-errors --ssl-revoke-best-effort "$url" -o "$zip"; then
+if [ -f "$zip" ]; then
+  if verify; then
+    echo "install-gradle.sh: using the cached $file" >&2
     fetched=1
-    break
+  else
+    rm -f "$zip"
   fi
-  echo "install-gradle.sh: download from $url failed" >&2
-done
+fi
+# --ssl-revoke-best-effort: Windows curl (schannel) otherwise fails when the
+# CA's revocation endpoint is unreachable.
+if [ -z "$fetched" ]; then
+  for url in \
+    "https://github.com/gradle/gradle-distributions/releases/download/v$VERSION/$file" \
+    "https://services.gradle.org/distributions/$file"; do
+    if curl -fsSL --retry 5 --retry-all-errors --ssl-revoke-best-effort "$url" -o "$zip"; then
+      fetched=1
+      break
+    fi
+    echo "install-gradle.sh: download from $url failed" >&2
+  done
+fi
 if [ -z "$fetched" ]; then
   echo "install-gradle.sh: every origin failed for Gradle $VERSION" >&2
   exit 1
 fi
 
-# python, not sha256sum: the macOS runners have only shasum.
-python -c 'import hashlib, sys; d = hashlib.sha256(open(sys.argv[1], "rb").read()).hexdigest(); sys.exit(0 if d == sys.argv[2] else "sha256 mismatch: got " + d)' "$zip" "$sha"
-unzip -q "$zip" -d "$DIR"
+verify
+unzip -oq "$zip" -d "$DIR"
 launcher="$DIR/gradle-$VERSION/bin/gradle"
 case "$(uname -s)" in MINGW*|MSYS*|CYGWIN*) launcher="$launcher.bat" ;; esac
 echo "SOCKET_PATCH_GRADLE_E2E_GRADLE=$launcher"