diff --git a/client/src/components/Panels/utilities.ts b/client/src/components/Panels/utilities.ts
index 27dde0d1cf86..38f7f4d335fe 100644
--- a/client/src/components/Panels/utilities.ts
+++ b/client/src/components/Panels/utilities.ts
@@ -4,12 +4,7 @@
  */
 import { orderBy } from "lodash";
 
-import {
-    type FilterSettings as ToolFilters,
-    type Tool,
-    type ToolSection,
-    type ToolSectionLabel,
-} from "@/stores/toolStore";
+import type { FilterSettings as ToolFilters, Tool, ToolSection, ToolSectionLabel } from "@/stores/toolStore";
 import levenshteinDistance from "@/utils/levenshtein";
 
 const FILTER_KEYS = {
diff --git a/client/src/composables/hashedUserId.ts b/client/src/composables/hashedUserId.ts
index 5d86b2dd8c42..a7f651a3c628 100644
--- a/client/src/composables/hashedUserId.ts
+++ b/client/src/composables/hashedUserId.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
-import { useLocalStorage } from "@vueuse/core";
 import { storeToRefs } from "pinia";
 import { computed, type Ref, ref, watch } from "vue";
 
 import { type AnyUser } from "@/api";
 import { useUserStore } from "@/stores/userStore";
 
+import { usePersistentRef } from "./persistentRef";
+
 async function hash32(value: string): Promise<string> {
     const valueUtf8 = new TextEncoder().encode(value);
     const hashBuffer = await crypto.subtle.digest("SHA-256", valueUtf8);
@@ -43,7 +44,7 @@ export function useHashedUserId(user?: Ref<AnyUser>) {
     }
 
     // salt the local store, to make a user untraceable by id across different clients
-    const localStorageSalt = useLocalStorage("local-storage-salt", createSalt());
+    const localStorageSalt = usePersistentRef("local-storage-salt", createSalt());
 
     watch(
         () => currentUser.value,
diff --git a/client/src/composables/persistentRef.ts b/client/src/composables/persistentRef.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..98c9e3542029
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/src/composables/persistentRef.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/*
+   vueuse local storage has some strange, buggy side-effects,
+   so were re-implementing just the parts we need here
+*/
+
+import { type Ref, ref, watch } from "vue";
+
+import { match } from "@/utils/utils";
+
+function stringify(value: unknown): string {
+    if (typeof value !== "object") {
+        return `${value}`;
+    } else {
+        return JSON.stringify(value);
+    }
+}
+
+function parse<T>(value: string, type: "string" | "number" | "boolean" | "object"): T {
+    return match(type, {
+        string: () => value as T,
+        number: () => parseFloat(value) as T,
+        boolean: () => (value.toLowerCase().trim() === "true" ? true : false) as T,
+        object: () => JSON.parse(value),
+    });
+}
+
+export function usePersistentRef(key: string, defaultValue: string): Ref<string>;
+export function usePersistentRef(key: string, defaultValue: number): Ref<number>;
+export function usePersistentRef<T>(key: string, defaultValue: T): Ref<T>;
+export function usePersistentRef<T extends string | number | boolean | object | null>(
+    key: string,
+    defaultValue: T
+): Ref<T> {
+    const storageSyncedRef = ref(defaultValue) as Ref<T>;
+
+    const stored = window?.localStorage?.getItem(key);
+
+    if (stored) {
+        try {
+            storageSyncedRef.value = parse(stored, typeof defaultValue as "string" | "number" | "boolean" | "object");
+        } catch (e) {
+            console.error(`Failed to parse value "${stored}" from local storage key "${key}". Resetting key`);
+            window?.localStorage?.removeItem(key);
+        }
+    } else {
+        const stringified = stringify(storageSyncedRef.value);
+        window?.localStorage?.setItem(key, stringified);
+    }
+
+    watch(
+        () => storageSyncedRef.value,
+        () => {
+            const stringified = stringify(storageSyncedRef.value);
+            window?.localStorage?.setItem(key, stringified);
+        }
+    );
+
+    return storageSyncedRef;
+}
diff --git a/client/src/composables/userLocalStorage.ts b/client/src/composables/userLocalStorage.ts
index f0787732a12d..f97388cd2d59 100644
--- a/client/src/composables/userLocalStorage.ts
+++ b/client/src/composables/userLocalStorage.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-import { useLocalStorage } from "@vueuse/core";
 import { computed, customRef, type Ref, ref } from "vue";
 
 import { type AnyUser } from "@/api";
 
 import { useHashedUserId } from "./hashedUserId";
+import { usePersistentRef } from "./persistentRef";
 
 /**
  * Local storage composable specific to current user.
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ export function useUserLocalStorage<T>(key: string, initialValue: T, user?: Ref<
 
     const storedRef = computed(() => {
         if (hashedUserId.value) {
-            return useLocalStorage(`${key}-${hashedUserId.value}`, initialValue);
+            return usePersistentRef(`${key}-${hashedUserId.value}`, initialValue);
         } else {
             return ref(initialValue);
         }
diff --git a/client/src/onload/console.js b/client/src/onload/console.js
index 3cc2afb908d9..de552ac937c0 100644
--- a/client/src/onload/console.js
+++ b/client/src/onload/console.js
@@ -4,9 +4,10 @@
  * using the global functions
  * enableDebugging() and disableDebugging()
  */
-import { useLocalStorage } from "@vueuse/core";
 import { watch } from "vue";
 
+import { usePersistentRef } from "@/composables/persistentRef";
+
 export function overrideProductionConsole() {
     let defaultEnabled = true;
 
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ export function overrideProductionConsole() {
         defaultEnabled = false;
     }
 
-    const isEnabled = useLocalStorage("console-debugging-enabled", defaultEnabled);
+    const isEnabled = usePersistentRef("console-debugging-enabled", defaultEnabled);
 
     let storedConsole = null;
 
diff --git a/client/src/stores/workflowNodeInspectorStore.ts b/client/src/stores/workflowNodeInspectorStore.ts
index 6591baf1c8bb..e92683ac853d 100644
--- a/client/src/stores/workflowNodeInspectorStore.ts
+++ b/client/src/stores/workflowNodeInspectorStore.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-import { useLocalStorage } from "@vueuse/core";
 import { defineStore } from "pinia";
 import { computed, del, ref, set } from "vue";
 
+import { usePersistentRef } from "@/composables/persistentRef";
 import { ensureDefined } from "@/utils/assertions";
 import { getShortToolId } from "@/utils/tool";
 import { match } from "@/utils/utils";
@@ -26,10 +26,10 @@ function getContentId(step: Step) {
 
 export const useWorkflowNodeInspectorStore = defineStore("workflowNodeInspectorStore", () => {
     /** width of the node inspector if no other width is stored */
-    const generalWidth = useLocalStorage("workflowNodeInspectorGeneralWidth", 300);
+    const generalWidth = usePersistentRef("workflowNodeInspectorGeneralWidth", 300);
     /** maximized state of the node inspector if no other value is stored */
     const generalMaximized = ref(false);
-    const storedSizes = useLocalStorage<Record<string, StoredSize>>("workflowNodeInspectorStoredSizes", {});
+    const storedSizes = usePersistentRef<Record<string, StoredSize>>("workflowNodeInspectorStoredSizes", {});
 
     const isStored = computed(() => (step: Step) => {
         const id = getContentId(step);