diff --git a/agent/agent.go b/agent/agent.go
index cf784a2702bfe..a7434b90d4854 100644
--- a/agent/agent.go
+++ b/agent/agent.go
@@ -229,13 +229,21 @@ type agent struct {
 	// we track 2 contexts and associated cancel functions: "graceful" which is Done when it is time
 	// to start gracefully shutting down and "hard" which is Done when it is time to close
 	// everything down (regardless of whether graceful shutdown completed).
-	gracefulCtx       context.Context
-	gracefulCancel    context.CancelFunc
-	hardCtx           context.Context
-	hardCancel        context.CancelFunc
-	closeWaitGroup    sync.WaitGroup
+	gracefulCtx    context.Context
+	gracefulCancel context.CancelFunc
+	hardCtx        context.Context
+	hardCancel     context.CancelFunc
+
+	// closeMutex protects the following:
 	closeMutex        sync.Mutex
+	closeWaitGroup    sync.WaitGroup
 	coordDisconnected chan struct{}
+	closing           bool
+	// note that once the network is set to non-nil, it is never modified, as with the statsReporter. So, routines
+	// that run after createOrUpdateNetwork and check the networkOK checkpoint do not need to hold the lock to use them.
+	network       *tailnet.Conn
+	statsReporter *statsReporter
+	// end fields protected by closeMutex
 
 	environmentVariables map[string]string
 
@@ -259,9 +267,7 @@ type agent struct {
 	reportConnectionsMu     sync.Mutex
 	reportConnections       []*proto.ReportConnectionRequest
 
-	network       *tailnet.Conn
-	statsReporter *statsReporter
-	logSender     *agentsdk.LogSender
+	logSender *agentsdk.LogSender
 
 	prometheusRegistry *prometheus.Registry
 	// metrics are prometheus registered metrics that will be collected and
@@ -274,6 +280,8 @@ type agent struct {
 }
 
 func (a *agent) TailnetConn() *tailnet.Conn {
+	a.closeMutex.Lock()
+	defer a.closeMutex.Unlock()
 	return a.network
 }
 
@@ -1205,15 +1213,15 @@ func (a *agent) createOrUpdateNetwork(manifestOK, networkOK *checkpoint) func(co
 			}
 			a.closeMutex.Lock()
 			// Re-check if agent was closed while initializing the network.
-			closed := a.isClosed()
-			if !closed {
+			closing := a.closing
+			if !closing {
 				a.network = network
 				a.statsReporter = newStatsReporter(a.logger, network, a)
 			}
 			a.closeMutex.Unlock()
-			if closed {
+			if closing {
 				_ = network.Close()
-				return xerrors.New("agent is closed")
+				return xerrors.New("agent is closing")
 			}
 		} else {
 			// Update the wireguard IPs if the agent ID changed.
@@ -1328,8 +1336,8 @@ func (*agent) wireguardAddresses(agentID uuid.UUID) []netip.Prefix {
 func (a *agent) trackGoroutine(fn func()) error {
 	a.closeMutex.Lock()
 	defer a.closeMutex.Unlock()
-	if a.isClosed() {
-		return xerrors.New("track conn goroutine: agent is closed")
+	if a.closing {
+		return xerrors.New("track conn goroutine: agent is closing")
 	}
 	a.closeWaitGroup.Add(1)
 	go func() {
@@ -1547,7 +1555,7 @@ func (a *agent) runCoordinator(ctx context.Context, tClient tailnetproto.DRPCTai
 func (a *agent) setCoordDisconnected() chan struct{} {
 	a.closeMutex.Lock()
 	defer a.closeMutex.Unlock()
-	if a.isClosed() {
+	if a.closing {
 		return nil
 	}
 	disconnected := make(chan struct{})
@@ -1772,7 +1780,10 @@ func (a *agent) HTTPDebug() http.Handler {
 
 func (a *agent) Close() error {
 	a.closeMutex.Lock()
-	defer a.closeMutex.Unlock()
+	network := a.network
+	coordDisconnected := a.coordDisconnected
+	a.closing = true
+	a.closeMutex.Unlock()
 	if a.isClosed() {
 		return nil
 	}
@@ -1849,7 +1860,7 @@ lifecycleWaitLoop:
 	select {
 	case <-a.hardCtx.Done():
 		a.logger.Warn(context.Background(), "timed out waiting for Coordinator RPC disconnect")
-	case <-a.coordDisconnected:
+	case <-coordDisconnected:
 		a.logger.Debug(context.Background(), "coordinator RPC disconnected")
 	}
 
@@ -1860,8 +1871,8 @@ lifecycleWaitLoop:
 	}
 
 	a.hardCancel()
-	if a.network != nil {
-		_ = a.network.Close()
+	if network != nil {
+		_ = network.Close()
 	}
 	a.closeWaitGroup.Wait()
 
diff --git a/agent/agent_test.go b/agent/agent_test.go
index bbf0221ab5259..69423a2f83be7 100644
--- a/agent/agent_test.go
+++ b/agent/agent_test.go
@@ -68,6 +68,54 @@ func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
 
 var sshPorts = []uint16{workspacesdk.AgentSSHPort, workspacesdk.AgentStandardSSHPort}
 
+// TestAgent_CloseWhileStarting is a regression test for https://github.com/coder/coder/issues/17328
+func TestAgent_ImmediateClose(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), testutil.WaitLong)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	logger := slogtest.Make(t, &slogtest.Options{
+		// Agent can drop errors when shutting down, and some, like the
+		// fasthttplistener connection closed error, are unexported.
+		IgnoreErrors: true,
+	}).Leveled(slog.LevelDebug)
+	manifest := agentsdk.Manifest{
+		AgentID:       uuid.New(),
+		AgentName:     "test-agent",
+		WorkspaceName: "test-workspace",
+		WorkspaceID:   uuid.New(),
+	}
+
+	coordinator := tailnet.NewCoordinator(logger)
+	t.Cleanup(func() {
+		_ = coordinator.Close()
+	})
+	statsCh := make(chan *proto.Stats, 50)
+	fs := afero.NewMemMapFs()
+	client := agenttest.NewClient(t, logger.Named("agenttest"), manifest.AgentID, manifest, statsCh, coordinator)
+	t.Cleanup(client.Close)
+
+	options := agent.Options{
+		Client:                 client,
+		Filesystem:             fs,
+		Logger:                 logger.Named("agent"),
+		ReconnectingPTYTimeout: 0,
+		EnvironmentVariables:   map[string]string{},
+	}
+
+	agentUnderTest := agent.New(options)
+	t.Cleanup(func() {
+		_ = agentUnderTest.Close()
+	})
+
+	// wait until the agent has connected and is starting to find races in the startup code
+	_ = testutil.RequireRecvCtx(ctx, t, client.GetStartup())
+	t.Log("Closing Agent")
+	err := agentUnderTest.Close()
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+}
+
 // NOTE: These tests only work when your default shell is bash for some reason.
 
 func TestAgent_Stats_SSH(t *testing.T) {