diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 6b17dd1..4bdedbb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -15,9 +15,8 @@ py-hamt provides efficient storage and retrieval of large sets of key-value mapp
 dClimate primarily created this for storing large [zarrs](https://zarr.dev/) on IPFS. To see this in action, see our [data ETLs](https://github.com/dClimate/etl-scripts).
 
 # Installation and Usage
-To install, since we do not publish this package to PyPI, add this library to your project directly from git.
 ```sh
-pip install 'git+https://github.com/dClimate/py-hamt'
+pip install py-hamt
 ```
 
 For usage information, take a look at our [API documentation](https://dclimate.github.io/py-hamt/py_hamt.html), major items have example code.
diff --git a/py_hamt/store.py b/py_hamt/store.py
index e0838b9..015a2c6 100644
--- a/py_hamt/store.py
+++ b/py_hamt/store.py
@@ -217,12 +217,13 @@ def _loop_session(self) -> aiohttp.ClientSession:
         try:
             return self._session_per_loop[loop]
         except KeyError:
-            # Create a session with a connector that closes more quickly
+            # Create a connector that keeps connections alive for reuse.
+            # Cleaning up closed connections ensures resources are eventually
+            # released even if the user forgets to explicitly close the session.
             connector = aiohttp.TCPConnector(
                 limit=64,
                 limit_per_host=32,
-                force_close=True,  # Force close connections
-                enable_cleanup_closed=True,  # Enable cleanup of closed connections
+                enable_cleanup_closed=True,
             )
 
             sess = aiohttp.ClientSession(
@@ -261,6 +262,24 @@ async def __aenter__(self) -> "KuboCAS":
     async def __aexit__(self, *exc: Any) -> None:
         await self.aclose()
 
+    def __del__(self) -> None:
+        """Best-effort close for internally-created sessions."""
+        if not self._owns_session:
+            return
+        try:
+            loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
+        except RuntimeError:
+            loop = None
+
+        try:
+            if loop is None or not loop.is_running():
+                asyncio.run(self.aclose())
+            else:
+                loop.create_task(self.aclose())
+        except Exception:
+            # Suppress all errors during interpreter shutdown or loop teardown
+            pass
+
     # --------------------------------------------------------------------- #
     # save() – now uses the per-loop session                                #
     # --------------------------------------------------------------------- #
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 08ed51a..f8ad8e0 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "py-hamt"
-version = "3.0.0"
+version = "3.0.1"
 description = "HAMT implementation for a content-addressed storage system."
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.12"
diff --git a/tests/test_kubocas_session.py b/tests/test_kubocas_session.py
index eeb102a..48a1b04 100644
--- a/tests/test_kubocas_session.py
+++ b/tests/test_kubocas_session.py
@@ -99,3 +99,24 @@ async def test_distinct_loops_get_distinct_sessions():
     # Clean‑up
     await kubo.aclose()
     assert secondary_session.closed
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_del_closes_session():
+    """`KuboCAS` should close sessions when the instance is garbage collected."""
+    kubo = KuboCAS(
+        rpc_base_url="http://127.0.0.1:5001",
+        gateway_base_url="http://127.0.0.1:8080",
+    )
+
+    session = await _maybe_await(kubo._loop_session())
+    assert not session.closed
+
+    # Drop the reference and force garbage collection
+    del kubo
+    import gc
+
+    gc.collect()
+    await asyncio.sleep(0)
+
+    assert session.closed