diff --git a/test/test_schedule.py b/test/test_schedule.py
index c6e7cd0b00..cbcb6a6ca4 100644
--- a/test/test_schedule.py
+++ b/test/test_schedule.py
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ class TestSchedule(unittest.TestCase):
     with Context(FUSE_ARANGE=1, NOOPT=1): self.test_arange_avgpool2d(kcount=1)
 
   # linearizer error
+  @unittest.skip("recursion error no longer raised")
   @unittest.skipUnless(Device[Device.DEFAULT].renderer.supports_float4, "needs supports_float4 to fail")
   def test_arange_avgpool2d_fused(self):
     with self.assertRaises(RecursionError):
diff --git a/test/test_softmax_fusion.py b/test/test_softmax_fusion.py
index fd0dedc068..23e1a4b773 100644
--- a/test/test_softmax_fusion.py
+++ b/test/test_softmax_fusion.py
@@ -153,6 +153,7 @@ class TestSoftmaxFusion(unittest.TestCase):
 
     np.testing.assert_allclose(sout.numpy(), out.numpy())
 
+  @unittest.skip("recursion error no longer raised")
   def test_softmax_bw(self):
     print("*** softmax bw ***")
     self.test.requires_grad_()
diff --git a/test/unit/test_graph_rewrite.py b/test/unit/test_graph_rewrite.py
index 97816f2e89..385bfda897 100644
--- a/test/unit/test_graph_rewrite.py
+++ b/test/unit/test_graph_rewrite.py
@@ -253,6 +253,7 @@ class TestSubstitute(unittest.TestCase):
 
   # broken due to infinite recursion
   # NOTE: VIZ hangs and doesn't recover if you click this one
+  @unittest.skip("recursion error no longer raised")
   def test_assert_inf_recurse(self):
     a = UOp.variable('a', 0, 10)
     n1 = a.sin()
diff --git a/tinygrad/uop/ops.py b/tinygrad/uop/ops.py
index e28224505a..5e06b71913 100644
--- a/tinygrad/uop/ops.py
+++ b/tinygrad/uop/ops.py
@@ -996,30 +996,45 @@ class RewriteContext:
     self.pm: PatternMatcher = pm
     self.ctx = ctx
     self.replace: dict[UOp, UOp] = {}
-  def top_down_rewrite(self, n:UOp) -> UOp:
-    if (rn := self.replace.get(n)) is not None: return rn
-    new_src = tuple([self.top_down_rewrite(x) for x in n.src])
-    new_n = self.pm.rewrite(n, self.ctx) if new_src == n.src else UOp(n.op, n.dtype, new_src, n.arg)
-    self.replace[n] = ret = n if new_n is None else self.top_down_rewrite(new_n)
-    return ret
-  def bottom_up_rewrite(self, n:UOp) -> UOp:
-    if (rn := self.replace.get(n)) is not None: return rn
-    new_n = self.pm.fixed_point_rewrite(n, self.ctx)
-    new_src = tuple([self.bottom_up_rewrite(x) for x in new_n.src])
-    self.replace[n] = ret = new_n if new_src == new_n.src else self.bottom_up_rewrite(UOp(new_n.op, new_n.dtype, new_src, new_n.arg))
-    return ret
+
+  def unified_rewrite(self, root:UOp, bottom_up=False) -> UOp:
+    stack: list[tuple[UOp, int, UOp]] = [(root, 0, root)]
+    while stack:
+      n, stage, new_n = stack.pop()
+      if n in self.replace: continue  # skip any nodes we have seen
+      if stage == 0:
+        # if bottom up, we rewrite this node early. in both cases, we add its parents to the stack
+        if bottom_up: new_n = self.pm.fixed_point_rewrite(new_n, self.ctx)
+        stack.append((n, 1, new_n))
+        for x in reversed(new_n.src): stack.append((x, 0, x))
+      elif stage == 1:
+        if (new_src:=tuple([self.replace[x] for x in new_n.src])) == new_n.src:
+          # if top down, do the rewrite. if no rewrite or bottom up, we are done rewriting this node so we add it to the dict
+          if bottom_up or (new_src_n:=self.pm.rewrite(new_n, self.ctx)) is None:
+            self.replace[n] = new_n
+            continue
+        else:
+          # if srcs changed from rewrites, construct a new UOp with the new srcs
+          new_src_n = UOp(new_n.op, new_n.dtype, new_src, new_n.arg)
+        # trigger a rewrite of new_src_n, then after that rewrite is done, link it back to n
+        stack.append((n, 2, new_src_n))
+        stack.append((new_src_n, 0, new_src_n))
+      else:
+        # in stage 2, we link the result of new_n to the result of n
+        self.replace[n] = self.replace[new_n]
+    return self.replace[root]
 
 @track_matches
 def graph_rewrite(sink:UOp, pm:PatternMatcher, ctx=None, bottom_up=False, name=None) -> UOp:
   rewrite_ctx = RewriteContext(pm, ctx)
-  return rewrite_ctx.bottom_up_rewrite(sink) if bottom_up else rewrite_ctx.top_down_rewrite(sink)
+  return rewrite_ctx.unified_rewrite(sink, bottom_up)
 
 @track_matches
 def graph_rewrite_map(sink:UOp, pm:PatternMatcher, ctx=None, bottom_up=False, name=None, input_map:dict[UOp, UOp]|None=None) -> dict[UOp, UOp]:
   rewrite_ctx = RewriteContext(pm, ctx)
   new_map: dict[UOp, UOp] = {}
   for k in sink.toposort():
-    new_map[k] = v = rewrite_ctx.bottom_up_rewrite(k) if bottom_up else rewrite_ctx.top_down_rewrite(k)
+    new_map[k] = v = rewrite_ctx.unified_rewrite(k, bottom_up)
     if k.metadata is not None: all_metadata[v] = tuple(dedup(all_metadata.get(v, ())))+k.metadata
   if input_map is not None:
     for k,v in input_map.items(): new_map[k] = new_map.get(v,v)