diff --git a/packages/gatsby-cli/src/init-starter.ts b/packages/gatsby-cli/src/init-starter.ts
index 48548e749cf03..d1c3de9683b26 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-cli/src/init-starter.ts
+++ b/packages/gatsby-cli/src/init-starter.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import isValid from "is-valid-path"
 import sysPath from "path"
 import prompts from "prompts"
 import url from "url"
-import { createServiceLock } from "gatsby-core-utils/dist/service-lock"
+import { updateSiteMetadata } from "gatsby-core-utils"
 import report from "./reporter"
 import { getPackageManager, promptPackageManager } from "./util/package-manager"
 import { isTTY } from "./util/is-tty"
@@ -358,11 +358,14 @@ export async function initStarter(
       )
     })
 
-  await createServiceLock(sitePath, `metadata`, {
-    name: sitePackageJson?.name || rootPath,
-    sitePath,
-    lastRun: Date.now(),
-  }).then(unlock => unlock?.())
+  await updateSiteMetadata(
+    {
+      name: sitePackageJson?.name || rootPath,
+      sitePath,
+      lastRun: Date.now(),
+    },
+    false
+  )
 
   successMessage(rootPath)
   trackCli(`NEW_PROJECT_END`)
diff --git a/packages/gatsby-core-utils/package.json b/packages/gatsby-core-utils/package.json
index 4fbeacf761254..afa9e9cc079e2 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-core-utils/package.json
+++ b/packages/gatsby-core-utils/package.json
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
   "homepage": "https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/tree/master/packages/gatsby-core-utils#readme",
   "license": "MIT",
   "main": "dist/index.js",
+  "types": "dist/index.d.ts",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
     "url": "https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby.git",
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@
     "fs-extra": "^8.1.0",
     "node-object-hash": "^2.0.0",
     "proper-lockfile": "^4.1.1",
+    "tmp": "^0.2.1",
     "xdg-basedir": "^4.0.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
diff --git a/packages/gatsby-core-utils/src/index.ts b/packages/gatsby-core-utils/src/index.ts
index e7ee972f9057f..b60b5ff681e8b 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-core-utils/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/gatsby-core-utils/src/index.ts
@@ -6,3 +6,5 @@ export { getCIName, isCI } from "./ci"
 export { createRequireFromPath } from "./create-require-from-path"
 export { getConfigStore } from "./get-config-store"
 export { getGatsbyVersion } from "./get-gatsby-version"
+export * from "./service-lock"
+export * from "./site-metadata"
diff --git a/packages/gatsby-core-utils/src/site-metadata.ts b/packages/gatsby-core-utils/src/site-metadata.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..e42e6896591a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/gatsby-core-utils/src/site-metadata.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+import { createServiceLock, getService } from "./service-lock"
+
+export interface ISiteMetadata {
+  sitePath: string
+  name?: string
+  pid?: number
+  lastRun?: number
+}
+
+export async function getSiteMetadata(
+  sitePath: string
+): Promise<ISiteMetadata | null> {
+  return getService(sitePath, `metadata`, true)
+}
+
+export async function updateSiteMetadata(
+  metadata: ISiteMetadata,
+  merge = true
+): Promise<void> {
+  if (merge) {
+    const oldMetadata = await getSiteMetadata(metadata.sitePath)
+    if (oldMetadata) {
+      metadata = { ...oldMetadata, ...metadata }
+    }
+  }
+
+  return createServiceLock(
+    metadata.sitePath,
+    `metadata`,
+    metadata
+  ).then(unlock => unlock?.())
+}
diff --git a/packages/gatsby-core-utils/tsconfig.json b/packages/gatsby-core-utils/tsconfig.json
index dd788c21d6cab..214c464b5e456 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-core-utils/tsconfig.json
+++ b/packages/gatsby-core-utils/tsconfig.json
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
 {
   "extends": "../../tsconfig.json",
-  "exclude": ["node_modules", "src/__tests__", "src/__mocks__", "dist"]
+  "exclude": [
+    "node_modules",
+    "src/__tests__",
+    "src/__mocks__",
+    "dist",
+    "./node.d.ts"
+  ]
 }
diff --git a/packages/gatsby-plugin-manifest/src/__tests__/gatsby-node.js b/packages/gatsby-plugin-manifest/src/__tests__/gatsby-node.js
index 84cae490d7d7e..16cfe17183cb5 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-plugin-manifest/src/__tests__/gatsby-node.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby-plugin-manifest/src/__tests__/gatsby-node.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 jest.mock(`fs`, () => {
   return {
+    ...jest.requireActual(`fs`),
     existsSync: jest.fn().mockImplementation(() => true),
     writeFileSync: jest.fn(),
     mkdirSync: jest.fn(),
diff --git a/packages/gatsby-plugin-manifest/src/__tests__/gatsby-ssr.js b/packages/gatsby-plugin-manifest/src/__tests__/gatsby-ssr.js
index 61bbabf6bd763..c7b73a203e153 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-plugin-manifest/src/__tests__/gatsby-ssr.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby-plugin-manifest/src/__tests__/gatsby-ssr.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 jest.mock(`fs`, () => {
   return {
+    ...jest.requireActual(`fs`),
     readFileSync: jest.fn().mockImplementation(() => `someIconImage`),
   }
 })
diff --git a/packages/gatsby-recipes/src/graphql-server/index.js b/packages/gatsby-recipes/src/graphql-server/index.js
index e5b1c631e939d..e3ca634190d14 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-recipes/src/graphql-server/index.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby-recipes/src/graphql-server/index.js
@@ -2,10 +2,7 @@ const execa = require(`execa`)
 const path = require(`path`)
 const fs = require(`fs`)
 const detectPort = require(`detect-port`)
-const {
-  getService,
-  createServiceLock,
-} = require(`gatsby-core-utils/dist/service-lock`)
+const { getService, createServiceLock } = require(`gatsby-core-utils`)
 
 // NOTE(@mxstbr): The forceStart boolean enforces us to start the recipes graphql server
 // even if another instance might already be running. This is necessary to ensure the gatsby
diff --git a/packages/gatsby-recipes/src/providers/gatsby/page.js b/packages/gatsby-recipes/src/providers/gatsby/page.js
index 63bf49229ec34..6aedb0f8f8279 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby-recipes/src/providers/gatsby/page.js
+++ b/packages/gatsby-recipes/src/providers/gatsby/page.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 const Joi = require(`@hapi/joi`)
-const { getService } = require(`gatsby-core-utils/dist/service-lock`)
+const { getService } = require(`gatsby-core-utils`)
 const fetch = require(`node-fetch`)
 
 const { REQUIRES_KEYS } = require(`./utils/constants`)
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/commands/build.ts b/packages/gatsby/src/commands/build.ts
index aad0076f589a8..06a5f065d51f3 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/commands/build.ts
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/commands/build.ts
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ import {
   markWebpackStatusAsPending,
   markWebpackStatusAsDone,
 } from "../utils/webpack-status"
-import { createServiceLock } from "gatsby-core-utils/dist/service-lock"
+import { updateSiteMetadata } from "gatsby-core-utils"
 
 let cachedPageData
 let cachedWebpackCompilationHash
@@ -64,11 +64,12 @@ module.exports = async function build(program: IBuildArgs): Promise<void> {
     )
   }
 
-  await createServiceLock(program.directory, `metadata`, {
+  await updateSiteMetadata({
     name: program.sitePackageJson.name,
     sitePath: program.directory,
     lastRun: Date.now(),
-  }).then(unlock => unlock?.())
+    pid: process.pid,
+  })
 
   markWebpackStatusAsPending()
 
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/commands/develop.ts b/packages/gatsby/src/commands/develop.ts
index 9d47b4f13c3cc..d9e99d8dce1e8 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/commands/develop.ts
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/commands/develop.ts
@@ -12,8 +12,9 @@ import { isCI, slash } from "gatsby-core-utils"
 import {
   createServiceLock,
   getService,
-} from "gatsby-core-utils/dist/service-lock"
-import { UnlockFn } from "gatsby-core-utils/src/service-lock"
+  updateSiteMetadata,
+  UnlockFn,
+} from "gatsby-core-utils"
 import reporter from "gatsby-cli/lib/reporter"
 import { getSslCert } from "../utils/get-ssl-cert"
 import { startDevelopProxy } from "../utils/develop-proxy"
@@ -283,13 +284,12 @@ module.exports = async (program: IProgram): Promise<void> => {
         port: proxyPort,
       }
     )
-    // We don't need to keep a lock on this, as it's just site metadata
-    await createServiceLock(program.directory, `metadata`, {
+    await updateSiteMetadata({
       name: program.sitePackageJson.name,
       sitePath: program.directory,
       pid: process.pid,
       lastRun: Date.now(),
-    }).then(unlock => unlock?.())
+    })
 
     if (!statusUnlock || !developUnlock) {
       const data = await getService(program.directory, `developproxy`)
diff --git a/packages/gatsby/src/utils/develop-proxy.ts b/packages/gatsby/src/utils/develop-proxy.ts
index e0f44f780b895..9f46bf8fe78c4 100644
--- a/packages/gatsby/src/utils/develop-proxy.ts
+++ b/packages/gatsby/src/utils/develop-proxy.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import https from "https"
 import httpProxy from "http-proxy"
 import path from "path"
 import fs from "fs-extra"
-import { getServices } from "gatsby-core-utils/dist/service-lock"
+import { getServices } from "gatsby-core-utils"
 import st from "st"
 import restartingScreen from "./restarting-screen"
 import { IProgram } from "../commands/types"
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
index 239e7d906b345..d487b0e506e11 100644
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -6139,20 +6139,6 @@ boxen@^1.2.1:
     term-size "^1.2.0"
     widest-line "^2.0.0"
 
-boxen@^3.0.0:
-  version "3.2.0"
-  resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/boxen/-/boxen-3.2.0.tgz#fbdff0de93636ab4450886b6ff45b92d098f45eb"
-  integrity sha512-cU4J/+NodM3IHdSL2yN8bqYqnmlBTidDR4RC7nJs61ZmtGz8VZzM3HLQX0zY5mrSmPtR3xWwsq2jOUQqFZN8+A==
-  dependencies:
-    ansi-align "^3.0.0"
-    camelcase "^5.3.1"
-    chalk "^2.4.2"
-    cli-boxes "^2.2.0"
-    string-width "^3.0.0"
-    term-size "^1.2.0"
-    type-fest "^0.3.0"
-    widest-line "^2.0.0"
-
 boxen@^4.2.0:
   version "4.2.0"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/boxen/-/boxen-4.2.0.tgz#e411b62357d6d6d36587c8ac3d5d974daa070e64"