From e5c0ff3294967f0e18b6dd186ed57875acd86de8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: mateo-berri <277851410+mateo-berri@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2026 19:02:54 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] fix(http): free short-lived event loops whose handler
 finalizer close finished as the loop stopped

---
 litellm/llms/custom_httpx/http_handler.py        | 11 ++++++++++-
 .../unit/llms/custom_httpx/test_http_handler.py  | 16 ++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/litellm/llms/custom_httpx/http_handler.py b/litellm/llms/custom_httpx/http_handler.py
index 0b64885df45..e19a101b817 100644
--- a/litellm/llms/custom_httpx/http_handler.py
+++ b/litellm/llms/custom_httpx/http_handler.py
@@ -1119,6 +1119,15 @@ class AsyncHTTPHandler:
     # Mirrors LiteLLMAiohttpTransport._background_close_tasks.
     _finalizer_close_tasks: ClassVar[set["asyncio.Task[None]"]] = set()  # mutable-ok: strong refs for pending closes
 
+    @classmethod
+    async def _close_client_at_finalization(cls, client: httpx.AsyncClient) -> None:
+        try:
+            await client.aclose()
+        finally:
+            task: Final = asyncio.current_task()
+            if task is not None:
+                cls._finalizer_close_tasks.discard(task)
+
     @classmethod
     def _on_finalizer_close_done(cls, task: "asyncio.Task[None]") -> None:
         cls._finalizer_close_tasks.discard(task)
@@ -1186,8 +1195,8 @@ class AsyncHTTPHandler:
                 # here is the cross-loop path the transport refuses.
                 self._dispose_wrapped_aiohttp_session()
                 return
-            task: Final = loop.create_task(self._client.aclose())
             cls: Final = type(self)
+            task: Final = loop.create_task(cls._close_client_at_finalization(self._client))
             cls._finalizer_close_tasks.add(task)
             task.add_done_callback(cls._on_finalizer_close_done)
         except Exception:
diff --git a/tests/unit/llms/custom_httpx/test_http_handler.py b/tests/unit/llms/custom_httpx/test_http_handler.py
index 1607447f7bf..5d02acea327 100644
--- a/tests/unit/llms/custom_httpx/test_http_handler.py
+++ b/tests/unit/llms/custom_httpx/test_http_handler.py
@@ -1388,6 +1388,22 @@ async def test_finalizer_with_running_loop_schedules_close_and_holds_task_ref():
     assert not (AsyncHTTPHandler._finalizer_close_tasks & scheduled)
 
 
+
+async def _drop_unused_handler() -> None:
+    AsyncHTTPHandler(timeout=61.0)
+    gc.collect()
+
+
+def test_finalizer_close_does_not_keep_a_loop_closed_right_after_it_alive():
+    loop: Final = asyncio.new_event_loop()
+    loop.run_until_complete(_drop_unused_handler())
+    loop.close()
+    closed_loop: Final = weakref.ref(loop)
+    del loop
+    gc.collect()
+
+    assert closed_loop() is None
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_sync_close_helper_respects_session_ownership():
     """The loop-less fallback closes only sessions the transport owns; a