diff --git a/.env b/.env
index 3dbfa84..842a23b 100644
--- a/.env
+++ b/.env
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ POSTGRES_PORT=5432
 POSTGRES_DB=devdb
 POSTGRES_USER=devdb
 POSTGRES_TEST_DB=testdb
-POSTGRES_TEST_USER=testdb
 POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secret
 
 # Redis
diff --git a/app/config.py b/app/config.py
index c79d0d6..dbe4877 100644
--- a/app/config.py
+++ b/app/config.py
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ class Settings(BaseSettings):
     POSTGRES_PASSWORD: str
     POSTGRES_HOST: str
     POSTGRES_DB: str
-    POSTGRES_TEST_USER: str
     POSTGRES_TEST_DB: str
 
     @computed_field
diff --git a/app/database.py b/app/database.py
index 7f34e70..e1003d7 100644
--- a/app/database.py
+++ b/app/database.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 test_engine = create_async_engine(
     global_settings.test_asyncpg_url.unicode_string(),
     future=True,
-    echo=True,
+    echo=False,
 )
 
 # expire_on_commit=False will prevent attributes from being expired
diff --git a/tests/api/test_auth.py b/tests/api/test_auth.py
index 9000ef3..2d6cd84 100644
--- a/tests/api/test_auth.py
+++ b/tests/api/test_auth.py
@@ -37,17 +37,28 @@ async def test_add_user(client: AsyncClient):
 
 # TODO: parametrize test with diff urls including 404 and 401
 async def test_get_token(client: AsyncClient):
-    payload = {"email": "joe@grillazz.com", "password": "s1lly"}
+    # Create the user first
+    user_payload = {
+        "email": "joe@grillazz.com",
+        "first_name": "Joe",
+        "last_name": "Garcia",
+        "password": "s1lly",
+    }
+    create_user_response = await client.post("/user/", json=user_payload)
+    assert create_user_response.status_code == status.HTTP_201_CREATED
+
+    # Now request the token
+    token_payload = {"email": "joe@grillazz.com", "password": "s1lly"}
     response = await client.post(
         "/user/token",
-        data=payload,
+        data=token_payload,
         headers={"Content-Type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"},
     )
     assert response.status_code == status.HTTP_201_CREATED
     claimset = jwt.decode(
         response.json()["access_token"], options={"verify_signature": False}
     )
-    assert claimset["email"] == payload["email"]
+    assert claimset["email"] == token_payload["email"]
     assert claimset["expiry"] == IsPositiveFloat()
     assert claimset["platform"] == "python-httpx/0.28.1"
 
diff --git a/tests/api/test_stuff.py b/tests/api/test_stuff.py
index e420b07..3b57da0 100644
--- a/tests/api/test_stuff.py
+++ b/tests/api/test_stuff.py
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@
 from httpx import AsyncClient
 from inline_snapshot import snapshot
 from polyfactory.factories.pydantic_factory import ModelFactory
+from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import AsyncSession
 
+from app.models import Stuff
 from app.schemas.stuff import StuffSchema
 
 pytestmark = pytest.mark.anyio
@@ -32,22 +34,26 @@ async def test_add_stuff(client: AsyncClient):
     )
 
 
-async def test_get_stuff(client: AsyncClient):
+async def test_get_stuff(client: AsyncClient, db_session: AsyncSession):
     response = await client.get("/stuff/nonexistent")
     assert response.status_code == status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND
     assert response.json() == snapshot(
         {"no_response": "The requested resource was not found"}
     )
+    # test if db_session and client share the same in-memory db and rollback works
     stuff = StuffFactory.build(factory_use_constructors=True).model_dump(mode="json")
-    await client.post("/stuff", json=stuff)
-    name = stuff["name"]
+    stuff = Stuff(**stuff)
+    name = stuff.name
+    db_session.add(stuff)
+    await db_session.commit()
+
     response = await client.get(f"/stuff/{name}")
     assert response.status_code == status.HTTP_200_OK
     assert response.json() == snapshot(
         {
             "id": IsUUID(4),
-            "name": stuff["name"],
-            "description": stuff["description"],
+            "name": stuff.name,
+            "description": stuff.description,
         }
     )
 
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 107d3bc..25b3a50 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 from sqlalchemy import text
 from sqlalchemy.exc import ProgrammingError
 
-from app.database import engine, get_db, get_test_db, test_engine
+from app.database import TestAsyncSessionFactory, engine, get_db, test_engine
 from app.main import app
 from app.models.base import Base
 from app.redis import get_redis
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ def _create_db_schema(conn) -> None:
         pass
 
 
-@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
+@pytest.fixture(scope="session", autouse=True)
 async def start_db():
     # The `engine` is configured for the default 'postgres' database.
     # We connect to it and create the test database.
@@ -63,16 +63,36 @@ async def start_db():
     await test_engine.dispose()
 
 
-@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
-async def client(start_db) -> AsyncGenerator[AsyncClient, Any]:  # noqa: ARG001
+@pytest.fixture()
+async def db_session():
+    connection = await test_engine.connect()
+    transaction = await connection.begin()
+    session = TestAsyncSessionFactory(bind=connection)
+
+    try:
+        yield session
+    finally:
+        # Rollback the overall transaction, restoring the state before the test ran.
+        await session.close()
+        if transaction.is_active:
+            await transaction.rollback()
+        await connection.close()
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope="function")
+async def client(db_session) -> AsyncGenerator[AsyncClient, Any]:
     transport = ASGITransport(
         app=app,
     )
+
+    async def override_get_db():
+        yield db_session
+
     async with AsyncClient(
         base_url="http://testserver/v1",
         headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"},
         transport=transport,
     ) as test_client:
-        app.dependency_overrides[get_db] = get_test_db
+        app.dependency_overrides[get_db] = override_get_db
         app.redis = await get_redis()
         yield test_client