diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/run-tests.yml
index ddd0337..077e23f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-tests.yml
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ jobs:
       MARIADB_DB: group_project
       MARIADB_USER: appuser
       MARIADB_PASSWORD: apppass
+      # Ensure the application uses MariaDB (async) during tests
+      DATABASE_URL: mysql+asyncmy://appuser:apppass@127.0.0.1:3306/group_project
 
     steps:
       - name: Check out repository code
diff --git a/7project/backend/tests/conftest.py b/7project/backend/tests/conftest.py
index 596aced..0f29b38 100644
--- a/7project/backend/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/7project/backend/tests/conftest.py
@@ -19,8 +19,9 @@ def fastapi_app():
     return app
 
 
-@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
+@pytest.fixture(scope="function")
 def client(fastapi_app):
+    # Function-scoped to avoid leaking loop-bound resources into async tests
     return TestClient(fastapi_app, raise_server_exceptions=True)