diff --git a/server/src/api/rpc.rs b/server/src/api/rpc.rs
index 5675dcd2e28062acbe3c037b94b77c33adf32474..a18241f3ed7b4a248748fcefc799f9801ca62461 100644
--- a/server/src/api/rpc.rs
+++ b/server/src/api/rpc.rs
@@ -936,7 +936,15 @@ pub async fn handle_rpc_batch(
                 line_ok(RpcResult::ForumThreads(rpc_list_forum_threads(&reduced, &room)))
             }
             RpcCommand::RoomCreate { slug, visibility } => {
-                match verify_bearer_principal(&headers, &*state.reduced.read().await) {
+                // Scope the first read so its guard drops before any nested `read().await` / `write().await`.
+                // A guard from `match verify(..., &*state.reduced.read().await)` would otherwise live for the
+                // whole `match` and deadlock here (tokio::sync::RwLock is not reentrant).
+                let principal = {
+                    let reduced = state.reduced.read().await;
+                    verify_bearer_principal(&headers, &*reduced)
+                };
+                match principal {
+                    Err((_, m)) => line_err(m, None),
                     Ok(principal) => {
                         let slug = slug.trim().to_lowercase();
                         if slug.is_empty() || slug.len() > 64 {
@@ -994,7 +1002,6 @@ pub async fn handle_rpc_batch(
                             }
                         }
                     }
-                    Err((_, m)) => line_err(m, None),
                 }
             }
             RpcCommand::RoomGrant {
@@ -1002,17 +1009,28 @@ pub async fn handle_rpc_batch(
                 username,
                 capability,
             } => {
-                match verify_bearer_principal(&headers, &*state.reduced.read().await) {
+                let principal = {
+                    let reduced = state.reduced.read().await;
+                    verify_bearer_principal(&headers, &*reduced)
+                };
+                match principal {
                     Err((_, m)) => line_err(m, None),
                     Ok(principal) => {
-                        let reduced = state.reduced.read().await;
-                        if !reduced.user_has_cap(&room, &principal, ThreadCapability::Manage) {
+                        let can_manage = {
+                            let reduced = state.reduced.read().await;
+                            reduced.user_has_cap(&room, &principal, ThreadCapability::Manage)
+                        };
+                        if !can_manage {
                             line_err("requires Manage capability", None)
                         } else {
                             match parse_username(&username) {
                                 Err(msg) => line_err("invalid username", Some(msg)),
                                 Ok(target) => {
-                                    if !reduced.users_by_provider.values().any(|u| u == &target) {
+                                    let user_exists = {
+                                        let reduced = state.reduced.read().await;
+                                        reduced.users_by_provider.values().any(|u| u == &target)
+                                    };
+                                    if !user_exists {
                                         line_err(format!("user @{target} not found"), None)
                                     } else {
                                         match parse_capability(&capability) {
diff --git a/server/tests/integration.rs b/server/tests/integration.rs
index 9162bd5bee84035e3908bfb9c8e201b7878ca339..b930120da09fe7d307f0411b84fb639fb8bd0b15 100644
--- a/server/tests/integration.rs
+++ b/server/tests/integration.rs
@@ -95,6 +95,23 @@ async fn test_healthz() {
     assert_eq!(response.text().await.unwrap(), "ok");
 }
 
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn test_room_create_private_rpc() {
+    let (addr, _tmp, _log, _handle) = create_test_server().await;
+    let client = reqwest::Client::new();
+    let batch = serde_json::json!([{
+        "RoomCreate": { "slug": "secret-project", "visibility": "private" }
+    }]);
+    let body = rpc_batch(&client, addr, Some(&test_bearer()), batch).await;
+    let line = &body["results"][0];
+    assert_eq!(line["ok"], true, "room create: {:?}", line);
+    let room_id = line["result"]["RoomCreated"]["room_id"].as_str().unwrap();
+    assert!(
+        room_id.contains("/secret-project"),
+        "expected room_id to contain slug, got {room_id}"
+    );
+}
+
 #[tokio::test]
 async fn test_index_page() {
     // HTML routes are offline during the auth-v3 refactor.
diff --git a/test/auth.bb b/test/auth.bb
index 611e04f1806ef81d678a91f499597fe55f691dd7..a67cc1de763434176d2f68e419dd37a8cd328395 100644
--- a/test/auth.bb
+++ b/test/auth.bb
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@
          (assert! (= 200 (:status poll)) "pending-session poll returns 200")
          (let [poll-json (json/parse-string (:body poll) true)]
            (assert! (:complete poll-json) "pending session complete=true")
-           (assert! (= "@bbuser" (:user poll-json)) "poll returns @bbuser")
+           (assert! (= "bbuser" (:user poll-json)) "poll returns stored username bbuser")
            (assert! (clojure.string/starts-with? (:token poll-json) "slug_") "poll returns bearer token")
 
            (println "\nwhoami…")
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@
                                :headers {"Authorization" (str "Bearer " (:token poll-json))})]
              (assert! (= 200 (:status who)) "whoami returns 200")
              (let [who-json (json/parse-string (:body who) true)]
-               (assert! (= "@bbuser" (:user who-json)) "whoami user is @bbuser"))))))
+               (assert! (= "bbuser" (:user who-json)) "whoami user is bbuser (stored form)"))))))
 
      (println "\nCLI: identity start → OAuth → identity poll → whoami…")
      (let [cli-home (str tmp-dir "/cli-home")
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@
                       (str "identity poll exits 0 (stderr: " (:err poll-proc) ")"))
              (let [poll-cli (json/parse-string (:out poll-proc) true)]
                (assert! (= "complete" (:phase poll-cli)) "identity poll --json phase")
-               (assert! (= "@cliuser" (:user poll-cli)) "CLI poll user")
+               (assert! (= "cliuser" (:user poll-cli)) "CLI poll user (stored form)")
                (assert! (clojure.string/starts-with? (:token poll-cli) "slug_") "CLI poll token")
                (let [token-path (str cli-home "/.config/slugsocial/token")]
                  (assert! (fs/exists? token-path) "token written under isolated HOME")
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@
                  (assert! (zero? (:exit who-proc))
                           (str "whoami exits 0 (stderr: " (:err who-proc) ")"))
                  (let [who-cli (json/parse-string (:out who-proc) true)]
-                   (assert! (= "@cliuser" (:user who-cli)) "CLI whoami uses saved token"))))))))
+                   (assert! (= "cliuser" (:user who-cli)) "CLI whoami uses saved token"))))))))
 
      (finally
        (when-some [s @!server] (common/kill-server s))
diff --git a/test/common.bb b/test/common.bb
index ebb16c615a8b40e8830b5d5765d1e935a45538d0..4ed450377cdbb020f5ff164a812dfbbfc23c0f47 100644
--- a/test/common.bb
+++ b/test/common.bb
@@ -78,9 +78,20 @@
 
 (defn start-server
   "Start the slugsocial-server binary with the given env map.
-   Returns the babashka.process map."
-  [server-bin env-map]
-  (p/process [server-bin] {:out :inherit :err :inherit :env env-map}))
+   Returns the babashka.process map.
+
+   When `log-file` (string path) is provided, stdout and stderr are appended there
+   instead of inheriting the parent descriptors. Inheriting shared pipes while the
+   parent blocks on HTTP I/O can fill the pipe buffer and deadlock the server on log writes."
+  ([server-bin env-map]
+   (start-server server-bin env-map nil))
+  ([server-bin env-map log-file]
+   (p/process [server-bin]
+              (if log-file
+                ;; Two string paths (same file): babashka.process can deref the process cleanly.
+                ;; :err :out + ProcessBuilder$Redirect breaks stream copying in deref/kill-server.
+                {:env env-map :out log-file :err log-file}
+                {:out :inherit :err :inherit :env env-map}))))
 
 (defn kill-server
   "Forcibly kill a server process (babashka.process map) and wait for it to exit."
diff --git a/test/grants.bb b/test/grants.bb
index 7066c1f2a57f39a362052f8524206dccf37bb7b1..793ba216f2de76a77eb20a76d08403db07ff411b 100644
--- a/test/grants.bb
+++ b/test/grants.bb
@@ -35,13 +35,14 @@
 (defn- http-client []
   (-> (java.net.http.HttpClient/newBuilder)
       (.followRedirects java.net.http.HttpClient$Redirect/ALWAYS)
+      (.connectTimeout (java.time.Duration/ofSeconds 15))
       (.build)))
 
 (defn- http-get [url & {:keys [headers]}]
   (let [b (java.net.http.HttpRequest/newBuilder (java.net.URI/create url))]
     (doseq [[k v] (or headers {})]
       (.header b k v))
-    (let [req (-> b (.GET) (.build))
+    (let [req (-> b (.timeout (java.time.Duration/ofSeconds 60)) (.GET) (.build))
           resp (.send (http-client) req (java.net.http.HttpResponse$BodyHandlers/ofString))]
       {:status (.statusCode resp) :body (.body resp)})))
 
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@
     (doseq [[k v] (or headers {})]
       (.header b k v))
     (let [req (-> b
+                  (.timeout (java.time.Duration/ofSeconds 60))
                   (.POST (java.net.http.HttpRequest$BodyPublishers/ofString body))
                   (.build))
           resp (.send (http-client) req (java.net.http.HttpResponse$BodyHandlers/ofString))]
@@ -67,6 +69,7 @@
         b (java.net.http.HttpRequest/newBuilder (java.net.URI/create url))]
     (.header b "Content-Type" "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")
     (let [req (-> b
+                  (.timeout (java.time.Duration/ofSeconds 60))
                   (.POST (java.net.http.HttpRequest$BodyPublishers/ofString pairs))
                   (.build))
           resp (.send (http-client) req (java.net.http.HttpResponse$BodyHandlers/ofString))]