diff --git a/src-tauri/src/api/mod.rs b/src-tauri/src/api/mod.rs
index fc96336..5ea20f7 100644
--- a/src-tauri/src/api/mod.rs
+++ b/src-tauri/src/api/mod.rs
@@ -22,8 +22,15 @@ pub struct MyceliumClient {
 
 impl MyceliumClient {
     pub fn new(base: impl Into<String>) -> Self {
+        // Mycelium's HTTP server seems to drop idle keep-alive connections
+        // around the 10s mark; reusing a pooled stale connection surfaces
+        // as a generic "error sending request" once `start_daemon`
+        // returned. Open a fresh TCP connection per request — overhead is
+        // negligible on loopback and immune to server-side closes.
         let http = Client::builder()
+            .pool_max_idle_per_host(0)
             .timeout(Duration::from_secs(10))
+            .connect_timeout(Duration::from_secs(3))
             .build()
             .expect("reqwest client build");
         Self {