diff --git a/nestsClient/src/jvmAndroid/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/nestsclient/OkHttpNestsClient.kt b/nestsClient/src/jvmAndroid/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/nestsclient/OkHttpNestsClient.kt
index cbb35b806..6d373da2f 100644
--- a/nestsClient/src/jvmAndroid/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/nestsclient/OkHttpNestsClient.kt
+++ b/nestsClient/src/jvmAndroid/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/nestsclient/OkHttpNestsClient.kt
@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@ import okhttp3.MediaType.Companion.toMediaType
 import okhttp3.OkHttpClient
 import okhttp3.Request
 import okhttp3.RequestBody.Companion.toRequestBody
+import okhttp3.Response
+import java.io.EOFException
 import java.io.IOException
+import java.net.SocketException
 
 /**
  * OkHttp-backed [NestsClient] used on JVM + Android. A shared [OkHttpClient]
@@ -71,8 +74,7 @@ class OkHttpNestsClient(
                 .build()
 
         return withContext(Dispatchers.IO) {
-            runCatching { http.newCall(request).execute() }
-                .getOrElse { throw NestsException("Failed to reach $url", it) }
+            executeWithTransportRetry(request, url)
                 .use { response ->
                     val body = response.body.string()
                     if (!response.isSuccessful) {
@@ -94,6 +96,44 @@ class OkHttpNestsClient(
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Send [request] and tolerate one transport-layer hiccup. OkHttp's
+     * built-in `retryOnConnectionFailure` does NOT retry POSTs once any
+     * byte of the request body has been written — but a stale pooled
+     * connection can RST or EOF *exactly* in that window, especially on
+     * mobile networks (and during interop test runs after an idle gap
+     * between test classes). One retry on `SocketException` /
+     * `EOFException` / `IOException` recovers cleanly because
+     * `Request` builders are immutable; OkHttp opens a fresh
+     * connection on the second try.
+     *
+     * Anything that's not a transient transport failure (HTTP 4xx /
+     * 5xx, malformed response) is left to the caller as before.
+     */
+    private fun executeWithTransportRetry(
+        request: Request,
+        url: String,
+    ): Response {
+        var lastError: Throwable? = null
+        repeat(2) { attempt ->
+            try {
+                return http.newCall(request).execute()
+            } catch (e: SocketException) {
+                lastError = e
+            } catch (e: EOFException) {
+                lastError = e
+            } catch (e: IOException) {
+                // OkHttp wraps a wide variety of transport faults
+                // (StreamResetException, ConnectionShutdownException,
+                // …) under IOException. Retry once; second pass either
+                // succeeds against a fresh connection or surfaces the
+                // real error.
+                lastError = e
+            }
+        }
+        throw NestsException("Failed to reach $url", lastError)
+    }
+
     private companion object {
         private val JSON_MEDIA_TYPE = "application/json".toMediaType()
     }
diff --git a/nestsClient/src/jvmTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/nestsclient/interop/NostrNestsHarness.kt b/nestsClient/src/jvmTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/nestsclient/interop/NostrNestsHarness.kt
index 0d6f8efe9..45da9a1d8 100644
--- a/nestsClient/src/jvmTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/nestsclient/interop/NostrNestsHarness.kt
+++ b/nestsClient/src/jvmTest/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/nestsclient/interop/NostrNestsHarness.kt
@@ -154,6 +154,13 @@ class NostrNestsHarness private constructor(
             try {
                 waitForPort("127.0.0.1", AUTH_HOST_PORT, PORT_READY_TIMEOUT_MS)
                 waitForPort("127.0.0.1", MOQ_HOST_PORT, PORT_READY_TIMEOUT_MS)
+                // moq-auth's Node runtime opens the listen socket
+                // before its handlers are wired, so the first POST that
+                // arrives in the gap can RST-on-write. Wait for /health
+                // to actually return 200 — that proves the request
+                // pipeline is live and avoids the SocketException that
+                // otherwise hits the first test of the second class.
+                waitForHealth("http://127.0.0.1:$AUTH_HOST_PORT/health", PORT_READY_TIMEOUT_MS)
             } catch (t: Throwable) {
                 // If readiness probe fails, tear down so we don't leak the
                 // stack into the next test run.
@@ -300,5 +307,41 @@ class NostrNestsHarness private constructor(
                 lastError,
             )
         }
+
+        /**
+         * Poll [healthUrl] until it returns 200. moq-auth opens its
+         * listen socket before its handlers are ready; without this,
+         * the first POST that arrives during that window gets a TCP
+         * RST. Uses HttpURLConnection so we don't pull a heavy HTTP
+         * client into the harness.
+         */
+        private fun waitForHealth(
+            healthUrl: String,
+            timeoutMs: Long,
+        ) {
+            val deadline = System.currentTimeMillis() + timeoutMs
+            var lastError: Throwable? = null
+            val url = java.net.URI(healthUrl).toURL()
+            while (System.currentTimeMillis() < deadline) {
+                try {
+                    val conn = url.openConnection() as java.net.HttpURLConnection
+                    conn.connectTimeout = 1_000
+                    conn.readTimeout = 1_000
+                    conn.requestMethod = "GET"
+                    try {
+                        if (conn.responseCode == 200) return
+                    } finally {
+                        conn.disconnect()
+                    }
+                } catch (t: Throwable) {
+                    lastError = t
+                }
+                Thread.sleep(PORT_PROBE_INTERVAL_MS)
+            }
+            throw IllegalStateException(
+                "$healthUrl did not return 200 within ${timeoutMs}ms",
+                lastError,
+            )
+        }
     }
 }