diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 434d3c2cc..eab2419dd 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 ## New features
 
-- Enable the `caching` argument for `"clustermq"` parallelism. Now, `make(parallelism = "clustermq", caching = "master")` will do all the caching with the master process, and `make(parallelism = "clustermq", caching = "worker")` will do all the caching with the workers.
+- Enable the `caching` argument for the `"clustermq"` and `"clustermq_staged"` parallel backends. Now, `make(parallelism = "clustermq", caching = "master")` will do all the caching with the master process, and `make(parallelism = "clustermq", caching = "worker")` will do all the caching with the workers. The same is true for `parallelism = "clustermq_staged"`.
 
 ## Bug fixes
 
diff --git a/R/clustermq.R b/R/clustermq.R
index aac73333b..d8ca451bc 100644
--- a/R/clustermq.R
+++ b/R/clustermq.R
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ cmq_set_common_data <- function(config){
   if (identical(config$envir, globalenv())){
     export <- as.list(config$envir, all.names = TRUE) # nocov
   }
+  config$cache$flush_cache()
   export$config <- config
   config$workers$set_common_data(
     export = export,
@@ -134,7 +135,10 @@ cmq_conclude_build <- function(msg, config){
   cmq_conclude_target(target = build$target, config = config)
   if (identical(config$caching, "worker")){
     mc_wait_checksum(
-      target = build$target, checksum = build$checksum, config = config)
+      target = build$target,
+      checksum = build$checksum,
+      config = config
+    )
     return()
   }
   set_attempt_flag(key = build$target, config = config)
diff --git a/R/config.R b/R/config.R
index 61eaa6e97..c8c03166a 100644
--- a/R/config.R
+++ b/R/config.R
@@ -305,7 +305,7 @@
 #'   use `clean(destroy = TRUE)`.
 #'
 #' @param caching character string, only applies to
-#'   `"clustermq"` and `"future"` parallelism.
+#'   `"clustermq"`, `"clustermq_staged"`, and `"future"` parallel backends.
 #'   The `caching` argument can be either `"master"` or `"worker"`.
 #'   - `"master"`: Targets are built by remote workers and sent back to
 #'     the master process. Then, the master process saves them to the
diff --git a/R/staged.R b/R/staged.R
index f31b23479..75f816976 100644
--- a/R/staged.R
+++ b/R/staged.R
@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@ run_clustermq_staged <- function(config){
   assert_pkg("clustermq", version = "0.8.4.99")
   schedule <- config$schedule
   workers <- NULL
+  config$cache$flush_cache()
   while (length(V(schedule)$name)){
     stage <- next_stage(
       config = config,
@@ -238,23 +239,37 @@ run_clustermq_staged <- function(config){
       workers = workers,
       export = export
     )
-    lightly_parallelize(
-      X = builds,
-      FUN = function(build){
-        mc_wait_outfile_checksum(
-          target = build$target,
-          checksum = build$checksum,
-          config = config
-        )
-        conclude_build(
-          target = build$target,
-          value = build$value,
-          meta = build$meta,
-          config = config
-        )
-      },
-      jobs = 1 # config$jobs_imports # nolint
-    )
+    if (identical(config$caching, "master")){
+      lightly_parallelize(
+        X = builds,
+        FUN = function(build){
+          mc_wait_outfile_checksum(
+            target = build$target,
+            checksum = build$checksum,
+            config = config
+          )
+          conclude_build(
+            target = build$target,
+            value = build$value,
+            meta = build$meta,
+            config = config
+          )
+        },
+        jobs = 1 # config$jobs_imports # nolint
+      )
+    } else if (identical(config$caching, "worker")){
+      lightly_parallelize(
+        X = builds,
+        FUN = function(build){
+          mc_wait_checksum(
+            target = build$target,
+            checksum = build$checksum,
+            config = config
+          )
+        },
+        jobs = 1 # config$jobs_imports # nolint
+      )
+    }
   }
   if (!is.null(workers) && workers$cleanup()){
     on.exit()
@@ -278,7 +293,16 @@ cmq_staged_build <- function(target, meta_list, config){
     meta = meta_list[[target]],
     config = config
   )
-  build$checksum <- mc_output_file_checksum(target, config)
-  build
+  if (identical(config$caching, "master")){
+    build$checksum <- mc_output_file_checksum(target, config)
+    return(build)
+  }
+  conclude_build(
+    target = build$target,
+    value = build$value,
+    meta = build$meta,
+    config = config
+  )
+  list(target = target, checksum = mc_get_checksum(target, config))
   # nocov end
 }
diff --git a/inst/testing/scenarios.csv b/inst/testing/scenarios.csv
index 84706c2e5..2aa53a8ca 100644
--- a/inst/testing/scenarios.csv
+++ b/inst/testing/scenarios.csv
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@ envir,parallelism,jobs,backend,caching
 "local","mclapply",1,,
 "local","mclapply",9,,
 "local","mclapply_staged",2,,
-"local","clustermq",2,,
-"local","clustermq_staged",9,,
+"local","clustermq",2,,"master"
+"local","clustermq_staged",9,,"worker"
 "local","Makefile",9,,
 "local","future_lapply",2,"future::multisession",
 "local","future_lapply_staged",1,"future::multisession",
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ envir,parallelism,jobs,backend,caching
 "global","mclapply",1,,
 "global","mclapply",2,,
 "global","mclapply_staged",9,,
-"global","clustermq",9,,
-"global","clustermq_staged",2,,
+"global","clustermq",9,,"worker"
+"global","clustermq_staged",2,,"master"
 "global","Makefile",2,,
 "global","future_lapply",1,"future::multisession",
 "global","future_lapply_staged",2,"future::multisession",
diff --git a/man/drake_config.Rd b/man/drake_config.Rd
index a2b35a750..c7907869c 100644
--- a/man/drake_config.Rd
+++ b/man/drake_config.Rd
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ To reset the random number generator seed for a project,
 use \code{clean(destroy = TRUE)}.}
 
 \item{caching}{character string, only applies to
-\code{"clustermq"} and \code{"future"} parallelism.
+\code{"clustermq"}, \code{"clustermq_staged"}, and \code{"future"} parallel backends.
 The \code{caching} argument can be either \code{"master"} or \code{"worker"}.
 \itemize{
 \item \code{"master"}: Targets are built by remote workers and sent back to
diff --git a/man/make.Rd b/man/make.Rd
index f43090319..141ae8362 100644
--- a/man/make.Rd
+++ b/man/make.Rd
@@ -322,7 +322,7 @@ To reset the random number generator seed for a project,
 use \code{clean(destroy = TRUE)}.}
 
 \item{caching}{character string, only applies to
-\code{"clustermq"} and \code{"future"} parallelism.
+\code{"clustermq"}, \code{"clustermq_staged"}, and \code{"future"} parallel backends.
 The \code{caching} argument can be either \code{"master"} or \code{"worker"}.
 \itemize{
 \item \code{"master"}: Targets are built by remote workers and sent back to
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-clustermq.R b/tests/testthat/test-clustermq.R
index 3c51b0b43..6eb911168 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-clustermq.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-clustermq.R
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ test_with_dir("clustermq parallelism", {
   load_mtcars_example(envir = e)
   for (parallelism in c("clustermq", "clustermq_staged")){
     for (caching in c("master", "worker")){
+      config <- drake_config(e$my_plan, envir = e)
+      expect_equal(length(outdated(config)), nrow(config$plan))
       make(
         e$my_plan,
         parallelism = parallelism,
@@ -23,7 +25,6 @@ test_with_dir("clustermq parallelism", {
         verbose = 4,
         garbage_collection = TRUE
       )
-      config <- drake_config(e$my_plan, envir = e)
       expect_equal(outdated(config), character(0))
       make(
         e$my_plan,