diff --git a/java/benchmarks/build.gradle b/java/benchmarks/build.gradle
index 3f1f0f0608..1a481388d0 100644
--- a/java/benchmarks/build.gradle
+++ b/java/benchmarks/build.gradle
@@ -45,14 +45,14 @@ java {
 application {
     // Define the main class for the application.
     mainClass = 'javababushka.benchmarks.BenchmarkingApp'
-    applicationDefaultJvmArgs += "-Djava.library.path=${projectDir}/../target/release"
+    applicationDefaultJvmArgs += "-Djava.library.path=${projectDir}/../target/release:${projectDir}/../target/debug"
 }
 
-tasks.withType(Test) { 
+tasks.withType(Test) {
     testLogging {
         exceptionFormat "full"
         events "started", "skipped", "passed", "failed"
         showStandardStreams true
     }
-    jvmArgs "-Djava.library.path=${projectDir}/../target/debug"
+    jvmArgs "-Djava.library.path=${projectDir}/../target/release:${projectDir}/../target/debug"
 }
diff --git a/java/benchmarks/src/main/java/javababushka/benchmarks/clients/babushka/JniNettyClient.java b/java/benchmarks/src/main/java/javababushka/benchmarks/clients/babushka/JniNettyClient.java
index 0a98478fef..e9d192e9e2 100644
--- a/java/benchmarks/src/main/java/javababushka/benchmarks/clients/babushka/JniNettyClient.java
+++ b/java/benchmarks/src/main/java/javababushka/benchmarks/clients/babushka/JniNettyClient.java
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ public void connectToRedis() {
 
   @Override
   public void connectToRedis(ConnectionSettings connectionSettings) {
-waitForResult(asyncConnectToRedis(connectionSettings));
+    waitForResult(asyncConnectToRedis(connectionSettings));
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/java/benchmarks/src/main/java/javababushka/benchmarks/utils/Benchmarking.java b/java/benchmarks/src/main/java/javababushka/benchmarks/utils/Benchmarking.java
index b94b9544fa..ee14f7836c 100644
--- a/java/benchmarks/src/main/java/javababushka/benchmarks/utils/Benchmarking.java
+++ b/java/benchmarks/src/main/java/javababushka/benchmarks/utils/Benchmarking.java
@@ -148,15 +148,12 @@ public static void printResults(
   public static void testClientSetGet(
       Supplier<Client> clientCreator, BenchmarkingApp.RunConfiguration config, boolean async) {
     for (int concurrentNum : config.concurrentTasks) {
-      int iterations = 100000;
-      Math.min(Math.max(LATENCY_MIN, concurrentNum * LATENCY_MULTIPLIER), LATENCY_MAX);
+      int iterations =
+          Math.min(Math.max(LATENCY_MIN, concurrentNum * LATENCY_MULTIPLIER), LATENCY_MAX);
       for (int clientCount : config.clientCount) {
         for (int dataSize : config.dataSize) {
-          System.out.printf(
-              "%n =====> %s <===== %d clients %d concurrent %d data %n%n",
-              clientCreator.get().getName(), clientCount, concurrentNum, dataSize);
           AtomicInteger iterationCounter = new AtomicInteger(0);
-          // Collections.synchronizedList
+
           Map<ChosenAction, List<Long>> actionResults =
               Map.of(
                   ChosenAction.GET_EXISTING, new ArrayList<>(),
@@ -172,6 +169,12 @@ public static void testClientSetGet(
             clients.add(newClient);
           }
 
+          String clientName = clients.get(0).getName();
+
+          System.out.printf(
+              "%n =====> %s <===== %d clients %d concurrent %d data %n%n",
+              clientName, clientCount, concurrentNum, dataSize);
+
           for (int taskNum = 0; taskNum < concurrentNum; taskNum++) {
             final int taskNumDebugging = taskNum;
             tasks.add(
@@ -214,7 +217,7 @@ public static void testClientSetGet(
                 });
           }
           if (config.debugLogging) {
-            System.out.printf("%s client Benchmarking: %n", clientCreator.get().getName());
+            System.out.printf("%s client Benchmarking: %n", clientName);
             System.out.printf(
                 "===> concurrentNum = %d, clientNum = %d, tasks = %d%n",
                 concurrentNum, clientCount, tasks.size());
@@ -257,7 +260,7 @@ public static void testClientSetGet(
                 calculatedResults,
                 config.resultsFile.get(),
                 dataSize,
-                clientCreator.get().getName(),
+                clientName,
                 clientCount,
                 concurrentNum,
                 iterations / ((after - before) / TPS_NORMALIZATION));
diff --git a/java/client/build.gradle b/java/client/build.gradle
index b4a061ad13..8dd4e5b7c5 100644
--- a/java/client/build.gradle
+++ b/java/client/build.gradle
@@ -22,17 +22,23 @@ dependencies {
 
 tasks.register('protobuf', Exec) {
     doFirst {
-        project.mkdir(Paths.get(project.projectDir.path, 'src/main/java/org/babushka/javababushka/generated').toString())
+        project.mkdir(Paths.get(project.projectDir.path, 'src/main/java/javababushka/generated').toString())
     }
     commandLine 'protoc',
         '-Iprotobuf=babushka-core/src/protobuf/',
-        '--java_out=java/client/src/main/java/org/babushka/javababushka/generated',
+        '--java_out=java/client/src/main/java/javababushka/generated',
         'babushka-core/src/protobuf/connection_request.proto',
         'babushka-core/src/protobuf/redis_request.proto',
         'babushka-core/src/protobuf/response.proto'
     workingDir Paths.get(project.rootDir.path, '..').toFile()
 }
 
+tasks.register('cleanProtobuf') {
+    doFirst {
+        project.delete(Paths.get(project.projectDir.path, 'src/main/java/javababushka/generated').toString())
+    }
+}
+
 tasks.register('buildRust', Exec) {
     commandLine 'cargo', 'build', '--release'
     workingDir project.rootDir
@@ -54,7 +60,13 @@ tasks.register('buildAll') {
 }
 
 compileJava.dependsOn('protobuf')
+clean.dependsOn('cleanProtobuf')
 
-test {
-    systemProperty("java.library.path", "${projectDir}/../target/release")
+tasks.withType(Test) {
+    testLogging {
+        exceptionFormat "full"
+        events "started", "skipped", "passed", "failed"
+        showStandardStreams true
+    }
+    jvmArgs "-Djava.library.path=${projectDir}/../target/release:${projectDir}/../target/debug"
 }
diff --git a/java/client/src/main/java/javababushka/Client.java b/java/client/src/main/java/javababushka/Client.java
index 6cd4415d14..73bc8f613d 100644
--- a/java/client/src/main/java/javababushka/Client.java
+++ b/java/client/src/main/java/javababushka/Client.java
@@ -227,28 +227,40 @@ public void run() {
   }
 
   public void closeConnection() {
-    try {
-      channel.flush();
 
+    // flush and close the channel
+    channel.flush();
+    channel.close();
+    // TODO: check that the channel is closed
+
+    // shutdown the event loop group gracefully by waiting for the remaining response
+    // and then shutting down the connection
+    try {
       long waitStarted = System.nanoTime();
       long waitUntil =
           waitStarted + PENDING_RESPONSES_ON_CLOSE_TIMEOUT_MILLIS * 100_000; // in nanos
-      for (var future : responses) {
-        if (future == null || future.isDone()) {
+      for (var responseFuture : responses) {
+        if (responseFuture == null || responseFuture.isDone()) {
           continue;
         }
         try {
-          future.get(waitUntil - System.nanoTime(), TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS);
+          responseFuture.get(waitUntil - System.nanoTime(), TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS);
         } catch (InterruptedException | ExecutionException ignored) {
+          // TODO: print warning
         } catch (TimeoutException e) {
-          future.cancel(true);
-          // TODO cancel the rest
+          responseFuture.cancel(true);
+          // TODO: cancel the rest
           break;
         }
       }
     } finally {
-      // channel.closeFuture().sync()
-      group.shutdownGracefully();
+      var shuttingDown = group.shutdownGracefully();
+      try {
+        shuttingDown.get();
+      } catch (InterruptedException | ExecutionException e) {
+        e.printStackTrace();
+      }
+      assert group.isShutdown() : "Redis connection did not shutdown gracefully";
     }
   }