diff --git a/swh/fuse/fuse.py b/swh/fuse/fuse.py
--- a/swh/fuse/fuse.py
+++ b/swh/fuse/fuse.py
@@ -60,9 +60,6 @@
         self._next_inode += 1
         self._inode2entry[inode] = entry
 
-        # TODO add inode recycling with invocation to invalidate_inode when
-        # the dicts get too big
-
         return inode
 
     def _remove_inode(self, inode: int) -> None:
@@ -71,6 +68,11 @@
         except KeyError:
             pass
 
+        try:
+            pyfuse3.invalidate_inode(inode)
+        except FileNotFoundError:
+            pass
+
     def inode2entry(self, inode: int) -> FuseEntry:
         """ Return the entry matching a given inode """
 
diff --git a/swh/fuse/tests/test_revision.py b/swh/fuse/tests/test_revision.py
--- a/swh/fuse/tests/test_revision.py
+++ b/swh/fuse/tests/test_revision.py
@@ -72,9 +72,14 @@
         assert depth2 in (os.listdir(dir_by_page / depth1))
 
     dir_by_date = dir_path / "by-date"
-    # TODO: rely on .status file instead to wait
-    # Wait 2 seconds to populate by-date/ dir
-    time.sleep(2)
+    # Wait max 2 seconds to populate by-date/ dir
+    for i in range(200):
+        entries = os.listdir(dir_by_date)
+        if entries and ".status" not in entries:
+            break
+        time.sleep(0.1)
+    assert not (dir_by_date / ".status").exists()
+
     for swhid in expected:
         meta = get_data_from_web_archive(str(swhid))
         date = dateutil.parser.parse(meta["date"])
@@ -84,4 +89,3 @@
         depth2 = str(swhid)
         assert (dir_by_date / depth1).exists()
         assert depth2 in (os.listdir(dir_by_date / depth1))
-    assert not (dir_by_date / ".status").exists()