diff --git a/shared/client/client.go b/shared/client/client.go
index 084e81f6..c871b7cd 100644
--- a/shared/client/client.go
+++ b/shared/client/client.go
@@ -62,13 +62,27 @@ func New(baseURL, email, apiToken string, opts *Options) *Client {
 		BaseURL:    baseURL,
 		AuthHeader: authHeader,
 		HTTPClient: &http.Client{
-			Timeout: timeout,
+			Timeout:   timeout,
+			Transport: newTransport(),
 		},
 		Verbose:    verbose,
 		VerboseOut: verboseOut,
 	}
 }
 
+// newTransport returns a connection pool owned by one Client. Sharing
+// http.DefaultTransport lets unrelated code that calls its
+// CloseIdleConnections (httptest.Server.Close does, for example) close a
+// connection that net/http has already returned to the idle pool while the
+// response for a bodiless request (such as a 204) is still being handed to
+// the caller, which fails that request with "CloseIdleConnections called".
+func newTransport() http.RoundTripper {
+	if t, ok := http.DefaultTransport.(*http.Transport); ok {
+		return t.Clone()
+	}
+	return http.DefaultTransport
+}
+
 // Do executes an HTTP request with the given method, path, and optional body.
 //
 // The path can be either relative to the BaseURL (e.g., "/rest/api/3/issue")
diff --git a/shared/client/client_test.go b/shared/client/client_test.go
index 4dc604e7..6ebfac1f 100644
--- a/shared/client/client_test.go
+++ b/shared/client/client_test.go
@@ -65,6 +65,19 @@ func TestNew(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Error("VerboseOut not set correctly")
 		}
 	})
+
+	t.Run("owns its transport", func(t *testing.T) {
+		t.Parallel()
+		a := New("https://example.atlassian.net", "user@example.com", "token", nil)
+		b := New("https://example.atlassian.net", "user@example.com", "token", nil)
+
+		if a.HTTPClient.Transport == nil || a.HTTPClient.Transport == http.DefaultTransport {
+			t.Error("Transport should not be http.DefaultTransport")
+		}
+		if a.HTTPClient.Transport == b.HTTPClient.Transport {
+			t.Error("each Client should have its own Transport")
+		}
+	})
 }
 
 func TestClient_Do(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/tools/jtk/internal/cmd/issues/delete_test.go b/tools/jtk/internal/cmd/issues/delete_test.go
index 7b85d229..055051ad 100644
--- a/tools/jtk/internal/cmd/issues/delete_test.go
+++ b/tools/jtk/internal/cmd/issues/delete_test.go
@@ -15,6 +15,15 @@ import (
 	"github.com/open-cli-collective/jira-ticket-cli/internal/cmd/root"
 )
 
+// requireDeleted fails with the per-issue errors runDelete wrote to stderr,
+// since its returned error only carries the failure count.
+func requireDeleted(t *testing.T, err error, stderr *bytes.Buffer) {
+	t.Helper()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v\nstderr:\n%s", err, stderr.String())
+	}
+}
+
 func TestRunDelete_SingleIssue(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 
@@ -32,7 +41,7 @@ func TestRunDelete_SingleIssue(t *testing.T) {
 	opts.SetAPIClient(client)
 
 	err = runDelete(context.Background(), opts, []string{"PROJ-123"}, true)
-	testutil.RequireNoError(t, err)
+	requireDeleted(t, err, &stderr)
 	testutil.Equal(t, stdout.String(), "Deleted PROJ-123\n")
 	testutil.Equal(t, stderr.String(), "")
 }
@@ -54,7 +63,7 @@ func TestRunDelete_MultipleIssues(t *testing.T) {
 	opts.SetAPIClient(client)
 
 	err = runDelete(context.Background(), opts, []string{"PROJ-1", "PROJ-2", "PROJ-3"}, true)
-	testutil.RequireNoError(t, err)
+	requireDeleted(t, err, &stderr)
 	testutil.Equal(t, stdout.String(), "Deleted PROJ-1\nDeleted PROJ-2\nDeleted PROJ-3\n")
 	testutil.Equal(t, stderr.String(), "")
 }
@@ -146,7 +155,7 @@ func TestRunDelete_NonInteractive_WithForce_Proceeds(t *testing.T) {
 	opts.SetAPIClient(client)
 
 	err = runDelete(context.Background(), opts, []string{"PROJ-123"}, true)
-	testutil.RequireNoError(t, err)
+	requireDeleted(t, err, &stderr)
 	testutil.Equal(t, stdout.String(), "Deleted PROJ-123\n")
 }
 
@@ -165,7 +174,7 @@ func TestRunDelete_PromptDeclined(t *testing.T) {
 	opts.SetAPIClient(client)
 
 	err = runDelete(context.Background(), opts, []string{"PROJ-123"}, false)
-	testutil.RequireNoError(t, err)
+	requireDeleted(t, err, &stderr)
 	testutil.Equal(t, stdout.String(), "Deletion cancelled.\n")
 	testutil.Contains(t, stderr.String(), "permanently delete issue PROJ-123")
 }
@@ -185,7 +194,7 @@ func TestRunDelete_BatchPromptDeclined(t *testing.T) {
 	opts.SetAPIClient(client)
 
 	err = runDelete(context.Background(), opts, []string{"PROJ-1", "PROJ-2", "PROJ-3"}, false)
-	testutil.RequireNoError(t, err)
+	requireDeleted(t, err, &stderr)
 	testutil.Contains(t, stderr.String(), "3 issues")
 	testutil.Equal(t, stdout.String(), "Deletion cancelled.\n")
 }
@@ -210,7 +219,7 @@ func TestRunDelete_PromptAccepted(t *testing.T) {
 	opts.SetAPIClient(client)
 
 	err = runDelete(context.Background(), opts, []string{"PROJ-123"}, false)
-	testutil.RequireNoError(t, err)
+	requireDeleted(t, err, &stderr)
 	testutil.Equal(t, stdout.String(), "Deleted PROJ-123\n")
 }
 
@@ -234,7 +243,7 @@ func TestRunDelete_BatchPromptAccepted(t *testing.T) {
 	opts.SetAPIClient(client)
 
 	err = runDelete(context.Background(), opts, []string{"PROJ-1", "PROJ-2"}, false)
-	testutil.RequireNoError(t, err)
+	requireDeleted(t, err, &stderr)
 	testutil.Equal(t, stdout.String(), "Deleted PROJ-1\nDeleted PROJ-2\n")
 }