diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index f874aa5..8e0e494 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -175,13 +175,27 @@
 
 ---
 
-### 8. 🔌 Пул соединений HTTP (`httpx.AsyncClient` с Keep-Alive)
-- [ ] В [`app/dictionary.py`](file:///home/ai-projects/services/study.qpid.pro/app/dictionary.py) создать синглтон-клиент `get_http_client()` с пулом соединений:
+### 7.1. 🖼️ Извлечение и отображение схем, топологий и диаграмм из PDF / EPUB (Planned)
+- [ ] **Извлечение бинарных изображений на диск**:
+  - При парсинге PDF/EPUB извлекать графические объекты (`page.images` / архивы изображений) на файловую систему в изолированную директорию книги: `data/books/{book_id}/images/{img_name}`.
+  - Избегать раздувания базы данных SQLite: база хранит только текст и метаданные, бинарная графика хранится на диске.
+- [ ] **Кэширующий медиа-эндпоинт**:
+  - Создать эндпоинт `GET /api/books/{book_id}/images/{image_name}` с заголовками кэширования (`Cache-Control: public, max-age=31536000, immutable`).
+- [ ] **Встраивание в текст читалки**:
+  - Привязывать иллюстрации к соответствующей странице/главе через Markdown-теги: `![Схема топологии](/api/books/{book_id}/images/{img_name})`.
+  - Интерактивный просмотр и зум схем по клику в читалке.
+
+---
+
+### 8. 🔌 Пул соединений HTTP (`httpx.AsyncClient` с Keep-Alive) (Completed)
+- [x] В [`app/dictionary.py`](file:///home/ai-projects/services/study.qpid.pro/app/dictionary.py) создать синглтон-клиент `get_http_client()` с пулом соединений:
   ```python
-  limits = httpx.Limits(max_keepalive_connections=10, max_connections=20)
+  limits = httpx.Limits(max_keepalive_connections=10, max_connections=20, keepalive_expiry=60.0)
   ```
-- [ ] Заменить вызовы `async with httpx.AsyncClient()` в парсерах на переиспользуемый клиент.
-- [ ] Устранить 5 повторных TCP/TLS хэндшейков на каждое слово, сократив пинг внешних запросов на 300–600 мс.
+- [x] Заменить вызовы `async with httpx.AsyncClient()` в парсерах на переиспользуемый клиент.
+- [x] Устранить 5 повторных TCP/TLS хэндшейков на каждое слово, сократив задержку внешних запросов на 300–600 мс.
+- [x] Добавить вызов `close_http_client()` в `lifespan` FastAPI при остановке приложения для чистого закрытия открытых сокетов.
+- [x] Добавить юнит-тесты `test_http_connection_pooling` в `tests/test_api.py` (22/22 passed).
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/app/dictionary.py b/app/dictionary.py
index 39c4161..a35f495 100644
--- a/app/dictionary.py
+++ b/app/dictionary.py
@@ -8,7 +8,39 @@ from app.database import get_db
 
 USER_AGENT = "NotesApp/1.0 (https://notes.qpid.pro; admin@qpid.pro)"
 
-async def fetch_wiktionary_wikitext(word: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+_http_client: Optional[httpx.AsyncClient] = None
+
+
+def get_http_client() -> httpx.AsyncClient:
+    """
+    Returns a shared singleton httpx.AsyncClient instance with connection pooling and Keep-Alive.
+    Reuses persistent TCP/TLS connections to dictionary providers (Wiktionary, Datamuse, MyMemory)
+    eliminating 300-600ms of repeated connection handshakes per word lookup.
+    """
+    global _http_client
+    if _http_client is None or _http_client.is_closed:
+        limits = httpx.Limits(max_keepalive_connections=10, max_connections=20, keepalive_expiry=60.0)
+        timeout = httpx.Timeout(connect=3.0, read=4.0, write=3.0, pool=3.0)
+        _http_client = httpx.AsyncClient(
+            limits=limits,
+            timeout=timeout,
+            headers={"User-Agent": USER_AGENT},
+            follow_redirects=True
+        )
+    return _http_client
+
+
+async def close_http_client():
+    """
+    Closes the shared singleton HTTP client on application shutdown.
+    """
+    global _http_client
+    if _http_client is not None and not _http_client.is_closed:
+        await _http_client.aclose()
+        _http_client = None
+
+
+async def fetch_wiktionary_wikitext(word: str, client: Optional[httpx.AsyncClient] = None) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     url = "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/api.php"
     params = {
         "action": "parse",
@@ -17,111 +49,109 @@ async def fetch_wiktionary_wikitext(word: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         "format": "json"
     }
     try:
-        async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=4.0) as client:
-            resp = await client.get(url, params=params, headers={"User-Agent": USER_AGENT})
-            if resp.status_code == 200:
-                data = resp.json()
-                wikitext = data.get("parse", {}).get("wikitext", {}).get("*", "")
-                
-                # Extract IPA
-                ipa_raw = re.findall(r"\{\{IPA\|en\|([^}]+)\}\}", wikitext)
-                ipa_cleaned = []
-                for entry in ipa_raw:
-                    parts = entry.split("|")
-                    for p in parts:
-                        if p.startswith("/"):
-                            ipa_cleaned.append(p)
-                
-                # Extract Audio file names
-                audio_matches = re.findall(r"\{\{audio\|en\|([^|}]+)", wikitext)
-                
-                # Extract Russian translations
-                ru_raw = re.findall(r"\{\{t[+-]?\|ru\|([^|}]+)", wikitext)
-                ru_cleaned = []
-                for r in ru_raw:
-                    # Clean wiki markup like [[word]] or stress marks
-                    clean = r.replace("[[", "").replace("]]", "").strip()
-                    if clean and clean not in ru_cleaned:
-                        ru_cleaned.append(clean)
+        http = client or get_http_client()
+        resp = await http.get(url, params=params, timeout=4.0)
+        if resp.status_code == 200:
+            data = resp.json()
+            wikitext = data.get("parse", {}).get("wikitext", {}).get("*", "")
 
-                return {
-                    "ipa": ipa_cleaned,
-                    "audio": [],
-                    "ru_translations": ru_cleaned
-                }
+            # Extract IPA
+            ipa_raw = re.findall(r"\{\{IPA\|en\|([^}]+)\}\}", wikitext)
+            ipa_cleaned = []
+            for entry in ipa_raw:
+                parts = entry.split("|")
+                for p in parts:
+                    if p.startswith("/"):
+                        ipa_cleaned.append(p)
+
+            # Extract Russian translations
+            ru_raw = re.findall(r"\{\{t[+-]?\|ru\|([^|}]+)", wikitext)
+            ru_cleaned = []
+            for r in ru_raw:
+                clean = r.replace("[[", "").replace("]]", "").strip()
+                if clean and clean not in ru_cleaned:
+                    ru_cleaned.append(clean)
+
+            return {
+                "ipa": ipa_cleaned,
+                "audio": [],
+                "ru_translations": ru_cleaned
+            }
     except Exception:
         pass
     return {"ipa": [], "audio": [], "ru_translations": []}
 
-async def fetch_wiktionary_definitions(word: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+
+async def fetch_wiktionary_definitions(word: str, client: Optional[httpx.AsyncClient] = None) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     url = f"https://en.wiktionary.org/api/rest_v1/page/definition/{urllib.parse.quote(word)}"
     try:
-        async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=4.0) as client:
-            resp = await client.get(url, headers={"User-Agent": USER_AGENT})
-            if resp.status_code == 200:
-                data = resp.json()
-                en_entries = data.get("en", [])
-                parts_of_speech = []
-                definitions = []
-                examples = []
-                for entry in en_entries:
-                    pos = entry.get("partOfSpeech")
-                    if pos and pos not in parts_of_speech:
-                        parts_of_speech.append(pos)
-                    for d in entry.get("definitions", []):
-                        raw_def = d.get("definition", "")
-                        # strip html tags
-                        clean_def = re.sub(r"<[^>]+>", "", raw_def).strip()
-                        if clean_def and clean_def not in definitions:
-                            definitions.append(clean_def)
-                        for ex in d.get("examples", []):
-                            clean_ex = re.sub(r"<[^>]+>", "", ex).strip()
-                            if clean_ex and clean_ex not in examples:
-                                examples.append(clean_ex)
-                return {
-                    "parts_of_speech": parts_of_speech,
-                    "definitions": definitions[:4],
-                    "examples": examples[:3]
-                }
+        http = client or get_http_client()
+        resp = await http.get(url, timeout=4.0)
+        if resp.status_code == 200:
+            data = resp.json()
+            en_entries = data.get("en", [])
+            parts_of_speech = []
+            definitions = []
+            examples = []
+            for entry in en_entries:
+                pos = entry.get("partOfSpeech")
+                if pos and pos not in parts_of_speech:
+                    parts_of_speech.append(pos)
+                for d in entry.get("definitions", []):
+                    raw_def = d.get("definition", "")
+                    clean_def = re.sub(r"<[^>]+>", "", raw_def).strip()
+                    if clean_def and clean_def not in definitions:
+                        definitions.append(clean_def)
+                    for ex in d.get("examples", []):
+                        clean_ex = re.sub(r"<[^>]+>", "", ex).strip()
+                        if clean_ex and clean_ex not in examples:
+                            examples.append(clean_ex)
+            return {
+                "parts_of_speech": parts_of_speech,
+                "definitions": definitions[:4],
+                "examples": examples[:3]
+            }
     except Exception:
         pass
     return {"parts_of_speech": [], "definitions": [], "examples": []}
 
-async def fetch_datamuse(word: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+
+async def fetch_datamuse(word: str, client: Optional[httpx.AsyncClient] = None) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     url = "https://api.datamuse.com/words"
     params = {"sp": word, "md": "drp", "ipa": "1"}
     try:
-        async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=3.0) as client:
-            resp = await client.get(url, params=params)
-            if resp.status_code == 200:
-                items = resp.json()
-                if items and isinstance(items, list):
-                    first = items[0]
-                    tags = first.get("tags", [])
-                    ipa = None
-                    pos = None
-                    for t in tags:
-                        if t.startswith("ipa_pron:"):
-                            ipa = "/" + t.split(":", 1)[1] + "/"
-                        elif t in ("n", "v", "adj", "adv"):
-                            pos_map = {"n": "Noun", "v": "Verb", "adj": "Adjective", "adv": "Adverb"}
-                            pos = pos_map.get(t)
-                    
-                    defs = []
-                    for d in first.get("defs", []):
-                        parts = d.split("\t", 1)
-                        defs.append(parts[1].strip() if len(parts) > 1 else parts[0].strip())
+        http = client or get_http_client()
+        resp = await http.get(url, params=params, timeout=3.0)
+        if resp.status_code == 200:
+            items = resp.json()
+            if items and isinstance(items, list):
+                first = items[0]
+                tags = first.get("tags", [])
+                ipa = None
+                pos = None
+                for t in tags:
+                    if t.startswith("ipa_pron:"):
+                        ipa = "/" + t.split(":", 1)[1] + "/"
+                    elif t in ("n", "v", "adj", "adv"):
+                        pos_map = {"n": "Noun", "v": "Verb", "adj": "Adjective", "adv": "Adverb"}
+                        pos = pos_map.get(t)
 
-                    return {
-                        "ipa": ipa,
-                        "part_of_speech": pos,
-                        "definitions": defs[:3]
-                    }
+                defs = []
+                for d in first.get("defs", []):
+                    parts = d.split("\t", 1)
+                    defs.append(parts[1].strip() if len(parts) > 1 else parts[0].strip())
+
+                return {
+                    "ipa": ipa,
+                    "part_of_speech": pos,
+                    "definitions": defs[:3]
+                }
     except Exception:
         pass
     return {"ipa": None, "part_of_speech": None, "definitions": []}
 
-async def fetch_mymemory(query: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+
+async def fetch_mymemory(query: str, client: Optional[httpx.AsyncClient] = None) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     url = "https://api.mymemory.translated.net/get"
     params = {
         "q": query,
@@ -129,45 +159,46 @@ async def fetch_mymemory(query: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         "de": config.MYMEMORY_EMAIL
     }
     try:
-        async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=4.0) as client:
-            resp = await client.get(url, params=params)
-            if resp.status_code == 200:
-                data = resp.json()
-                main_trans = data.get("responseData", {}).get("translatedText", "").strip()
-                matches = data.get("matches", [])
-                alt_list = []
-                if main_trans:
-                    alt_list.append(main_trans)
-                for m in matches:
-                    t = m.get("translation", "").strip()
-                    if t and t not in alt_list and t.lower() != query.lower():
-                        alt_list.append(t)
-                return {
-                    "translation": main_trans,
-                    "matches": alt_list[:6]
-                }
+        http = client or get_http_client()
+        resp = await http.get(url, params=params, timeout=4.0)
+        if resp.status_code == 200:
+            data = resp.json()
+            main_trans = data.get("responseData", {}).get("translatedText", "").strip()
+            matches = data.get("matches", [])
+            alt_list = []
+            if main_trans:
+                alt_list.append(main_trans)
+            for m in matches:
+                t = m.get("translation", "").strip()
+                if t and t not in alt_list and t.lower() != query.lower():
+                    alt_list.append(t)
+            return {
+                "translation": main_trans,
+                "matches": alt_list[:6]
+            }
     except Exception:
         pass
     return {"translation": "", "matches": []}
 
-async def fetch_free_dictionary_api(word: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+
+async def fetch_free_dictionary_api(word: str, client: Optional[httpx.AsyncClient] = None) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     """Optional tier: api.dictionaryapi.dev with fast timeout."""
     url = f"https://api.dictionaryapi.dev/api/v2/entries/en/{urllib.parse.quote(word)}"
     try:
-        async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=1.5) as client:
-            resp = await client.get(url)
-            if resp.status_code == 200:
-                data = resp.json()[0]
-                phonetic = data.get("phonetic")
-                audio_url = None
-                for p in data.get("phonetics", []):
-                    if p.get("audio"):
-                        audio_url = p.get("audio")
-                        break
-                return {
-                    "phonetic": phonetic,
-                    "audio_url": audio_url
-                }
+        http = client or get_http_client()
+        resp = await http.get(url, timeout=1.5)
+        if resp.status_code == 200:
+            data = resp.json()[0]
+            phonetic = data.get("phonetic")
+            audio_url = None
+            for p in data.get("phonetics", []):
+                if p.get("audio"):
+                    audio_url = p.get("audio")
+                    break
+            return {
+                "phonetic": phonetic,
+                "audio_url": audio_url
+            }
     except Exception:
         pass
     return {"phonetic": None, "audio_url": None}
@@ -208,19 +239,21 @@ async def lookup_term(query: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     # Parallel queries via asyncio
     import asyncio
     
+    http_client = get_http_client()
+
     if is_sentence:
         # For long sentences, primary focus is translation
-        mm_data = await fetch_mymemory(query_clean)
+        mm_data = await fetch_mymemory(query_clean, client=http_client)
         result["translation"] = mm_data.get("translation", "")
         result["translations_list"] = mm_data.get("matches", [])
     else:
-        # For words and short phrases
+        # For words and short phrases: reuse keep-alive connections across providers
         tasks = [
-            fetch_wiktionary_wikitext(query_clean),
-            fetch_wiktionary_definitions(query_clean),
-            fetch_datamuse(query_clean),
-            fetch_mymemory(query_clean),
-            fetch_free_dictionary_api(query_clean)
+            fetch_wiktionary_wikitext(query_clean, client=http_client),
+            fetch_wiktionary_definitions(query_clean, client=http_client),
+            fetch_datamuse(query_clean, client=http_client),
+            fetch_mymemory(query_clean, client=http_client),
+            fetch_free_dictionary_api(query_clean, client=http_client)
         ]
         w_wiki, w_defs, d_muse, mm_data, free_dict = await asyncio.gather(*tasks)
 
diff --git a/app/main.py b/app/main.py
index edee002..aca7a56 100644
--- a/app/main.py
+++ b/app/main.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ from app.auth import (
     record_login_success,
     change_user_password,
 )
-from app.dictionary import lookup_term, USER_AGENT
+from app.dictionary import lookup_term, USER_AGENT, close_http_client
 from app.export import export_csv, export_json, export_anki_tsv, export_markdown
 from app.srs import calculate_sm2, generate_quiz_options, build_activity_heatmap, calculate_cefr_level
 from app.reader import parse_epub, parse_text, parse_pdf, count_words
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ async def lifespan(app: FastAPI):
     init_db()
     ensure_admin_user()
     yield
+    await close_http_client()
 
 
 app = FastAPI(
diff --git a/tests/test_api.py b/tests/test_api.py
index 04958a8..4293383 100644
--- a/tests/test_api.py
+++ b/tests/test_api.py
@@ -1011,3 +1011,34 @@ def test_books_pdf_multipart_upload():
 
     # Cleanup
     client.delete(f"/api/books/{book_id}")
+
+
+def test_http_connection_pooling():
+    import pytest
+    from app.dictionary import get_http_client, close_http_client, lookup_term
+    import asyncio
+
+    # 1. Singleton returns same instance
+    c1 = get_http_client()
+    c2 = get_http_client()
+    assert c1 is c2
+    assert not c1.is_closed
+
+    # 2. Check connection limits configuration
+    pool = c1._transport._pool
+    assert pool._max_keepalive_connections == 10
+    assert pool._max_connections == 20
+
+    # 3. Lookup using pooled client
+    res = asyncio.run(lookup_term("resilience"))
+    assert res["query"] == "resilience"
+    assert "translation" in res
+
+    # 4. Clean closure on shutdown
+    asyncio.run(close_http_client())
+    assert c1.is_closed
+    # Next call creates a new active client
+    c3 = get_http_client()
+    assert c3 is not c1
+    assert not c3.is_closed
+    asyncio.run(close_http_client())