diff --git a/services/backend/app/main.py b/services/backend/app/main.py
index 3579403..5bc7562 100644
--- a/services/backend/app/main.py
+++ b/services/backend/app/main.py
@@ -10,9 +10,13 @@
 
 from app.crud import create_item, delete_item, list_items
 from app.deps import get_db
-from app.metrics import HTTP_REQUESTS_TOTAL, REQUEST_LATENCY_SECONDS
+from app.metrics import FE_WEB_VITAL, HTTP_REQUESTS_TOTAL, REQUEST_LATENCY_SECONDS
 from app.schemas import ItemCreate, ItemOut
 
+# Known web-vitals names; the gauge label stays a bounded set by
+# construction, anything else from the network is rejected
+ALLOWED_WEB_VITALS = {"CLS", "FCP", "INP", "LCP", "TTFB"}
+
 # Logging configuration
 logging.basicConfig(level=logging.INFO, format="%(asctime)s - %(name)s - %(levelname)s - %(message)s", datefmt="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -23,6 +27,18 @@
 app.add_middleware(CORSMiddleware, allow_origins=["*"], allow_methods=["*"], allow_headers=["*"])
 
 
+def _endpoint_label(request: Request) -> str:
+    """Metric label for the endpoint: the matched route template.
+
+    Never the raw URL path -- raw paths (/items/1, /items/2, scanner
+    noise) create unbounded label cardinality, and path parameters make
+    routes like DELETE /items/{item_id} invisible to SLO rules that
+    filter on the endpoint label.
+    """
+    route = request.scope.get("route")
+    return getattr(route, "path", None) or "__unmatched__"
+
+
 @app.middleware("http")
 async def metrics_mw(request: Request, call_next) -> Response:
     """Middleware for HTTP metrics and logging"""
@@ -31,8 +47,9 @@ async def metrics_mw(request: Request, call_next) -> Response:
     try:
         response: Response = await call_next(request)
         duration = time.time() - start
-        REQUEST_LATENCY_SECONDS.labels(request.method, request.url.path).observe(duration)
-        HTTP_REQUESTS_TOTAL.labels(request.method, request.url.path, str(response.status_code)).inc()
+        endpoint = _endpoint_label(request)
+        REQUEST_LATENCY_SECONDS.labels(request.method, endpoint).observe(duration)
+        HTTP_REQUESTS_TOTAL.labels(request.method, endpoint, str(response.status_code)).inc()
         logger.info(f"Response: {request.method} {request.url.path} - {response.status_code} ({duration:.3f}s)")
         return response
     except Exception as e:
@@ -92,13 +109,19 @@ def metrics() -> PlainTextResponse:
     return PlainTextResponse(generate_latest(), media_type=CONTENT_TYPE_LATEST)
 
 
-# Receive web-vitals from frontend (if added)
+# Receive web-vitals reports from the frontend
 @app.post("/metrics/frontend")
 async def metrics_frontend(req: Request) -> dict[str, bool]:
-    data = await req.json()
-    from app.metrics import FE_WEB_VITAL  # import here to avoid cycles
-
-    name = str(data.get("name"))
-    value = float(data.get("value", 0))
+    try:
+        data = await req.json()
+    except Exception:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="Invalid JSON") from None
+    name = data.get("name")
+    if name not in ALLOWED_WEB_VITALS:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="Unknown metric name")
+    try:
+        value = float(data.get("value"))
+    except (TypeError, ValueError):
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="Invalid metric value") from None
     FE_WEB_VITAL.labels(name=name).set(value)
     return {"ok": True}
diff --git a/services/backend/pyproject.toml b/services/backend/pyproject.toml
index aa63c8b..45dd28d 100644
--- a/services/backend/pyproject.toml
+++ b/services/backend/pyproject.toml
@@ -39,7 +39,11 @@ packages = ["app"]
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
 # Use auto mode for compatibility with anyio (Starlette)
 asyncio_mode = "auto"
-asyncio_default_fixture_loop_scope = "function"
+# One event loop for the whole suite: the engine (and its connection
+# pool) is module-global, and pooled asyncpg connections are bound to
+# the loop they were created on -- per-test loops would poison the pool
+asyncio_default_fixture_loop_scope = "session"
+asyncio_default_test_loop_scope = "session"
 
 [tool.ruff]
 target-version = "py312"
diff --git a/services/backend/tests/conftest.py b/services/backend/tests/conftest.py
index 1cfc70f..fe7c459 100644
--- a/services/backend/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/services/backend/tests/conftest.py
@@ -38,13 +38,17 @@ async def _cleanup_db_pool():
 
             warnings.warn(f"Failed to cleanup items: {e}", stacklevel=2)
 
-    # Then close all connections from pool before closing event loop
-    # This helps avoid "Event loop is closed" errors
-    from contextlib import suppress
 
-    with suppress(Exception):
-        # Close all active connections from pool
-        await engine.dispose()
+@pytest_asyncio.fixture(scope="session", autouse=True)
+async def _dispose_engine_pool():
+    """Dispose the shared engine pool once, after the whole session.
+
+    Runs on the session-scoped event loop (see pyproject pytest config),
+    the same loop every pooled connection was created on. The previous
+    per-test dispose existed only to survive per-test loops.
+    """
+    yield
+    await engine.dispose()
 
 
 @pytest_asyncio.fixture
diff --git a/services/backend/tests/test_metrics.py b/services/backend/tests/test_metrics.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8b668db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/backend/tests/test_metrics.py
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+import pytest
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_web_vital_accepted(client):
+    resp = await client.post("/metrics/frontend", json={"name": "LCP", "value": 1234.5})
+    assert resp.status_code == 200
+    assert resp.json() == {"ok": True}
+
+    metrics = (await client.get("/metrics")).text
+    assert 'fe_web_vital{name="LCP"} 1234.5' in metrics
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_web_vital_unknown_name_rejected(client):
+    resp = await client.post("/metrics/frontend", json={"name": "EVIL" * 10, "value": 1})
+    assert resp.status_code == 400
+
+    metrics = (await client.get("/metrics")).text
+    assert "EVIL" not in metrics
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_web_vital_bad_value_rejected(client):
+    resp = await client.post("/metrics/frontend", json={"name": "CLS", "value": "not-a-number"})
+    assert resp.status_code == 400
+
+    resp = await client.post("/metrics/frontend", json={"name": "CLS"})
+    assert resp.status_code == 400
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_web_vital_invalid_json_rejected(client):
+    resp = await client.post("/metrics/frontend", content=b"not json", headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"})
+    assert resp.status_code == 400
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_endpoint_label_uses_route_template(client):
+    # 404 on a real route: still the template, not the raw path
+    resp = await client.delete("/items/999999")
+    assert resp.status_code == 404
+
+    metrics = (await client.get("/metrics")).text
+    assert 'endpoint="/items/{item_id}"' in metrics
+    assert 'endpoint="/items/999999"' not in metrics
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_endpoint_label_bounded_for_unmatched_paths(client):
+    resp = await client.get("/definitely/not/a/route")
+    assert resp.status_code == 404
+
+    metrics = (await client.get("/metrics")).text
+    assert 'endpoint="__unmatched__"' in metrics
+    assert 'endpoint="/definitely/not/a/route"' not in metrics