diff --git a/backend/app/db.py b/backend/app/db.py
index e44dd35..fa51df5 100644
--- a/backend/app/db.py
+++ b/backend/app/db.py
@@ -1,23 +1,9 @@
-import sys
-
 from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession, async_sessionmaker, create_async_engine
 from sqlalchemy.orm import DeclarativeBase
-from sqlalchemy.pool import NullPool
 
 from app.config import settings
 
-# pytest-asyncio gives each test function its own event loop by default, but
-# this engine (and its connection pool) is a module-level singleton created
-# once and reused across every test. asyncpg connections are bound to the
-# event loop they were opened on, so pooling them across per-test loops
-# raises "got Future attached to a different loop". NullPool sidesteps this
-# by opening a fresh connection per checkout instead of reusing one from a
-# prior loop. Only applied under pytest; production keeps normal pooling.
-_engine_kwargs = {"echo": False}
-if "pytest" in sys.modules:
-    _engine_kwargs["poolclass"] = NullPool
-
-engine = create_async_engine(settings.database_url, **_engine_kwargs)
+engine = create_async_engine(settings.database_url, echo=False)
 async_session_maker = async_sessionmaker(engine, expire_on_commit=False)
 
 
diff --git a/backend/tests/conftest.py b/backend/tests/conftest.py
index f372944..df46c59 100644
--- a/backend/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/backend/tests/conftest.py
@@ -1,16 +1,24 @@
 import pytest_asyncio
 from httpx import ASGITransport, AsyncClient
-from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import async_sessionmaker
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import async_sessionmaker, create_async_engine
+from sqlalchemy.pool import NullPool
 
-from app.db import Base, engine, get_db
+from app.config import settings
+from app.db import Base, get_db
 from app.main import app
 
-TestSessionLocal = async_sessionmaker(engine, expire_on_commit=False)
+# pytest-asyncio gives each test function its own event loop by default;
+# asyncpg connections are bound to the loop they were opened on, so a pooled
+# connection from one test's loop breaks the next test. NullPool sidesteps
+# this by opening a fresh connection per checkout — scoped to this dedicated
+# test engine so app.db.engine (used by production) is unaffected.
+test_engine = create_async_engine(settings.database_url, poolclass=NullPool)
+TestSessionLocal = async_sessionmaker(test_engine, expire_on_commit=False)
 
 
 @pytest_asyncio.fixture(autouse=True)
 async def _reset_db():
-    async with engine.begin() as conn:
+    async with test_engine.begin() as conn:
         await conn.run_sync(Base.metadata.drop_all)
         await conn.run_sync(Base.metadata.create_all)
     yield