diff --git a/R/engine.R b/R/engine.R
index 10c757e..a26cbdb 100644
--- a/R/engine.R
+++ b/R/engine.R
@@ -51,10 +51,6 @@ run_engine <- function(engine) {
 }
 
 kill_engine <- function(engine) {
-    # technically, if we are killing the engine,
-    # we don't want to close the
-    # publlisher because we might reuse it
-    #close(engine$publisher)
     kill_runner(engine)
 }
 
diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 055b1d0..e7704ba 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -15,3 +15,8 @@
 ## 7
 
 - Nanonext is currently only used because I want an async connection for the local webpage refresh. May not need to use nanonext, considering we fake the protocol on the JS side of things anyway
+
+## 8
+
+- The CLI messages are a bit all over the place, and errors don't always cause
+the progress bar to fail
diff --git a/tests/testthat/helpers.R b/tests/testthat/helpers.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e88fca5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/helpers.R
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+new_test_engine <- function() {
+    new_engine(
+        config = new_config(
+            path = system.file("examples", "plumber.R", package = "hotwater")
+        )
+    )
+}
+
+cleanup_test_engine <- function(engine) {
+    kill_engine(engine)
+    close(engine$publisher)
+}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-cli.R b/tests/testthat/test-cli.R
index 13dc65f..f465a52 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-cli.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-cli.R
@@ -1,9 +1,5 @@
 test_that("startup/teardown messages don't error", {
-    engine <- new_engine(
-        config = new_config(
-            path = system.file("examples", "plumber.R", package = "hotwater")
-        )
-    )
+    engine <- new_test_engine()
     expect_no_error(
         suppressMessages(
             buildup_engine(engine)
@@ -14,4 +10,5 @@ test_that("startup/teardown messages don't error", {
             teardown_engine(engine)
         )
     )
+    cleanup_test_engine(engine)
 })
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-engine.R b/tests/testthat/test-engine.R
index 1c306ac..f2129a9 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-engine.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-engine.R
@@ -19,17 +19,15 @@ test_that("engine reuse", {
             )
         )
     )
+
+    cleanup_test_engine(engine)
 })
 
 test_that("can kill engine", {
-    engine <- new_engine(
-        config = new_config(
-            path = system.file("examples", "plumber.R", package = "hotwater")
-        )
-    )
+    engine <- new_test_engine()
     new_runner(engine)
     kill_engine(engine)
-
     expect_false(engine$runner$is_alive())
-    # expect_true(engine$publisher$state == "closed")
+
+    cleanup_test_engine(engine)
 })
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-middleware.R b/tests/testthat/test-middleware.R
index ae5f2ec..27bc70c 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-middleware.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-middleware.R
@@ -17,11 +17,7 @@ test_that("middleware injection works", {
 })
 
 test_that("middleware injection works with filters", {
-    engine <- new_engine(
-        new_config(
-            path = system.file("examples", "plumber.R", package = "hotwater")
-        )
-    )
+    engine <- new_test_engine()
     runner <- suppressMessages(callr::r_bg(
         function(config, middleware_filter) {
             plumber::pr(config$entry_path) |>
@@ -48,15 +44,11 @@ test_that("middleware injection works with filters", {
         httr2::resp_status()
 
     expect_identical(resp, 200L)
-    kill_engine(engine)
+    cleanup_test_engine(engine)
 })
 
 test_that("is_plumber_running works", {
-    engine <- new_engine(
-        new_config(
-            path = system.file("examples", "plumber.R", package = "hotwater")
-        )
-    )
+    engine <- new_test_engine()
     router <- suppressMessages(callr::r_bg(
         function(config) {
             plumber::pr(config$entry_path) |>
@@ -78,20 +70,15 @@ test_that("is_plumber_running works", {
     }
     router$kill_tree()
     expect_lt(i, 20L, label = "loop iterations")
-    kill_engine(engine)
+    cleanup_test_engine(engine)
 })
 
 test_that("autoreloader is attached", {
-    engine <- new_engine(
-        new_config(
-            path = system.file("examples", "plumber.R", package = "hotwater")
-
-        )
-    )
+    engine <- new_test_engine()
     new_runner(engine)
     resp <- httr2::request(sprintf("localhost:%s", engine$config$port)) |>
         httr2::req_perform() |>
         httr2::resp_body_html()
     expect_true(grepl(resp, pattern = "<script>"))
-    kill_engine(engine)
+    cleanup_test_engine(engine)
 })