diff --git a/doc/api/module.md b/doc/api/module.md
index 3bb25c3f313da1..665a64c0505b66 100644
--- a/doc/api/module.md
+++ b/doc/api/module.md
@@ -199,6 +199,13 @@ Compilation cache generated by one version of Node.js can not be reused by a dif
 version of Node.js. Cache generated by different versions of Node.js will be stored
 separately if the same base directory is used to persist the cache, so they can co-exist.
 
+At the moment, when the compile cache is enabled and a module is loaded afresh, the
+code cache is generated from the compiled code immediately, but will only be written
+to disk when the Node.js instance is about to exit. This is subject to change. The
+[`module.flushCompileCache()`][] method can be used to ensure the accumulated code cache
+is flushed to disk in case the application wants to spawn other Node.js instances
+and let them share the cache long before the parent exits.
+
 ### `module.getCompileCacheDir()`
 
 <!-- YAML
@@ -1101,6 +1108,21 @@ added:
 `path` is the resolved path for the file for which a corresponding source map
 should be fetched.
 
+### `module.flushCompileCache()`
+
+<!-- YAML
+added:
+ - REPLACEME
+-->
+
+> Stability: 1.1 - Active Development
+
+Flush the [module compile cache][] accumulated from modules already loaded
+in the current Node.js instance to disk. This returns after all the flushing
+file system operations come to an end, no matter they succeed or not. If there
+are any errors, this will fail silently, since compile cache misses should not
+interfer with the actual operation of the application.
+
 ### Class: `module.SourceMap`
 
 <!-- YAML
@@ -1216,6 +1238,7 @@ returned object contains the following keys:
 [`initialize`]: #initialize
 [`module.constants.compileCacheStatus`]: #moduleconstantscompilecachestatus
 [`module.enableCompileCache()`]: #moduleenablecompilecachecachedir
+[`module.flushCompileCache()`]: #moduleflushcompilecache
 [`module.getCompileCacheDir()`]: #modulegetcompilecachedir
 [`module`]: #the-module-object
 [`os.tmpdir()`]: os.md#ostmpdir
diff --git a/lib/internal/modules/helpers.js b/lib/internal/modules/helpers.js
index a31c2a74d88b36..e5cd20ed0369c4 100644
--- a/lib/internal/modules/helpers.js
+++ b/lib/internal/modules/helpers.js
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ const {
   enableCompileCache: _enableCompileCache,
   getCompileCacheDir: _getCompileCacheDir,
   compileCacheStatus: _compileCacheStatus,
+  flushCompileCache,
 } = internalBinding('modules');
 
 let debug = require('internal/util/debuglog').debuglog('module', (fn) => {
@@ -485,6 +486,7 @@ module.exports = {
   assertBufferSource,
   constants,
   enableCompileCache,
+  flushCompileCache,
   getBuiltinModule,
   getCjsConditions,
   getCompileCacheDir,
diff --git a/lib/module.js b/lib/module.js
index fe0eb937eaeac0..48ba9215b081eb 100644
--- a/lib/module.js
+++ b/lib/module.js
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ const { SourceMap } = require('internal/source_map/source_map');
 const {
   constants,
   enableCompileCache,
+  flushCompileCache,
   getCompileCacheDir,
 } = require('internal/modules/helpers');
 
@@ -15,5 +16,7 @@ Module.register = register;
 Module.SourceMap = SourceMap;
 Module.constants = constants;
 Module.enableCompileCache = enableCompileCache;
+Module.flushCompileCache = flushCompileCache;
+
 Module.getCompileCacheDir = getCompileCacheDir;
 module.exports = Module;
diff --git a/src/compile_cache.cc b/src/compile_cache.cc
index e5262a19d1549c..d4ae86669712b8 100644
--- a/src/compile_cache.cc
+++ b/src/compile_cache.cc
@@ -309,6 +309,13 @@ void CompileCacheHandler::Persist() {
 
   // TODO(joyeecheung): do this using a separate event loop to utilize the
   // libuv thread pool and do the file system operations concurrently.
+  // TODO(joyeecheung): Currently flushing is triggered by either process
+  // shutdown or user requests. In the future we should simply start the
+  // writes right after module loading on a separate thread, and this method
+  // only blocks until all the pending writes (if any) on the other thread are
+  // finished. In that case, the off-thread writes should finish long
+  // before any attempt of flushing is made so the method would then only
+  // incur a negligible overhead from thread synchronization.
   for (auto& pair : compiler_cache_store_) {
     auto* entry = pair.second.get();
     if (entry->cache == nullptr) {
diff --git a/src/env.cc b/src/env.cc
index 3a15a63f878a0d..c7c34be24b62c1 100644
--- a/src/env.cc
+++ b/src/env.cc
@@ -847,14 +847,12 @@ Environment::Environment(IsolateData* isolate_data,
     }
   }
 
-  // We are supposed to call builtin_loader_.SetEagerCompile() in
-  // snapshot mode here because it's beneficial to compile built-ins
-  // loaded in the snapshot eagerly and include the code of inner functions
-  // that are likely to be used by user since they are part of the core
-  // startup. But this requires us to start the coverage collections
-  // before Environment/Context creation which is not currently possible.
-  // TODO(joyeecheung): refactor V8ProfilerConnection classes to parse
-  // JSON without v8 and lift this restriction.
+  // Compile builtins eagerly when building the snapshot so that inner functions
+  // of essential builtins that are loaded in the snapshot can have faster first
+  // invocation.
+  if (isolate_data->is_building_snapshot()) {
+    builtin_loader()->SetEagerCompile();
+  }
 
   // We'll be creating new objects so make sure we've entered the context.
   HandleScope handle_scope(isolate);
diff --git a/src/node_modules.cc b/src/node_modules.cc
index 721b5e1e4b457d..821eaa08741c11 100644
--- a/src/node_modules.cc
+++ b/src/node_modules.cc
@@ -435,6 +435,25 @@ void BindingData::GetPackageScopeConfig(
           .ToLocalChecked());
 }
 
+void FlushCompileCache(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
+  Isolate* isolate = args.GetIsolate();
+  Local<Context> context = isolate->GetCurrentContext();
+  Environment* env = Environment::GetCurrent(context);
+
+  if (!args[0]->IsBoolean() && !args[0]->IsUndefined()) {
+    THROW_ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE(env,
+                               "keepDeserializedCache should be a boolean");
+    return;
+  }
+  Debug(env,
+        DebugCategory::COMPILE_CACHE,
+        "[compile cache] module.flushCompileCache() requested.\n");
+  env->FlushCompileCache();
+  Debug(env,
+        DebugCategory::COMPILE_CACHE,
+        "[compile cache] module.flushCompileCache() finished.\n");
+}
+
 void EnableCompileCache(const FunctionCallbackInfo<Value>& args) {
   Isolate* isolate = args.GetIsolate();
   Local<Context> context = isolate->GetCurrentContext();
@@ -480,6 +499,7 @@ void BindingData::CreatePerIsolateProperties(IsolateData* isolate_data,
   SetMethod(isolate, target, "getPackageScopeConfig", GetPackageScopeConfig);
   SetMethod(isolate, target, "enableCompileCache", EnableCompileCache);
   SetMethod(isolate, target, "getCompileCacheDir", GetCompileCacheDir);
+  SetMethod(isolate, target, "flushCompileCache", FlushCompileCache);
 }
 
 void BindingData::CreatePerContextProperties(Local<Object> target,
@@ -512,6 +532,7 @@ void BindingData::RegisterExternalReferences(
   registry->Register(GetPackageScopeConfig);
   registry->Register(EnableCompileCache);
   registry->Register(GetCompileCacheDir);
+  registry->Register(FlushCompileCache);
 }
 
 }  // namespace modules
diff --git a/test/fixtures/compile-cache-flush.js b/test/fixtures/compile-cache-flush.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..8054f67b0ddaea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/compile-cache-flush.js
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const { flushCompileCache, getCompileCacheDir } = require('module');
+const { spawnSync } = require('child_process');
+const assert = require('assert');
+
+if (process.argv[2] !== 'child') {
+  // The test should be run with the compile cache already enabled and NODE_DEBUG_NATIVE=COMPILE_CACHE.
+  assert(getCompileCacheDir());
+  assert(process.env.NODE_DEBUG_NATIVE.includes('COMPILE_CACHE'));
+
+  flushCompileCache();
+
+  const child1 = spawnSync(process.execPath, [__filename, 'child']);
+  console.log(child1.stderr.toString().trim().split('\n').map(line => `[child1]${line}`).join('\n'));
+
+  flushCompileCache();
+
+  const child2 = spawnSync(process.execPath, [__filename, 'child']);
+  console.log(child2.stderr.toString().trim().split('\n').map(line => `[child2]${line}`).join('\n'));
+}
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-compile-cache-api-flush.js b/test/parallel/test-compile-cache-api-flush.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..7e66b1fee103db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-compile-cache-api-flush.js
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+'use strict';
+
+// This tests module.flushCompileCache() works as expected.
+
+require('../common');
+const { spawnSyncAndAssert } = require('../common/child_process');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const tmpdir = require('../common/tmpdir');
+const fixtures = require('../common/fixtures');
+
+{
+  // Test that it works with non-existent directory.
+  tmpdir.refresh();
+  const cacheDir = tmpdir.resolve('compile_cache');
+  spawnSyncAndAssert(
+    process.execPath,
+    [fixtures.path('compile-cache-flush.js')],
+    {
+      env: {
+        ...process.env,
+        NODE_DEBUG_NATIVE: 'COMPILE_CACHE',
+        NODE_COMPILE_CACHE: cacheDir,
+      },
+      cwd: tmpdir.path
+    },
+    {
+      stdout(output) {
+        // This contains output from the nested spawnings of compile-cache-flush.js.
+        assert.match(output, /child1.* cache for .*compile-cache-flush\.js was accepted, keeping the in-memory entry/);
+        assert.match(output, /child2.* cache for .*compile-cache-flush\.js was accepted, keeping the in-memory entry/);
+        return true;
+      },
+      stderr(output) {
+        // This contains output from the top-level spawning of compile-cache-flush.js.
+        assert.match(output, /reading cache from .*compile_cache.* for CommonJS .*compile-cache-flush\.js/);
+        assert.match(output, /compile-cache-flush\.js was not initialized, initializing the in-memory entry/);
+
+        const writeRE = /writing cache for .*compile-cache-flush\.js.*success/;
+        const flushRE = /module\.flushCompileCache\(\) finished/;
+        assert.match(output, writeRE);
+        assert.match(output, flushRE);
+        // The cache writing should happen before flushing finishes i.e. it's not delayed until process shutdown.
+        assert(output.match(writeRE).index < output.match(flushRE).index);
+        return true;
+      }
+    });
+}