diff --git a/docs/GatewayTesting.md b/docs/GatewayTesting.md
index 901d13e..45c1eca 100644
--- a/docs/GatewayTesting.md
+++ b/docs/GatewayTesting.md
@@ -261,7 +261,14 @@ path and writes a JSON report under `artifacts/e2e/`:
 1. **Session + register** — opens one session and registers.
 2. **Bulk** — verifies `SubscribeBulk` / `UnsubscribeBulk` on a bounded tag
    subset (skip with `-SkipBulk`).
-3. **Add-item / advise** — adds and advises every discovered test tag.
+3. **Add-item / advise** — adds and advises every discovered test tag. The
+   loop has no `StreamEvents` consumer attached, so advised tags accumulate
+   MXAccess change events in the worker event channel
+   (`MxGateway:Events:QueueCapacity`); left unbounded it overflows under
+   `FailFast` backpressure and faults the worker. Every `-DrainEveryTags`
+   advised tags (default 15) the loop connects a short-lived `StreamEvents`
+   drain so the gateway pumps that channel empty. `-DrainEveryTags 0` disables
+   the drain.
 4. **Stream** — asserts a bounded event stream delivers at least one event
    (skip with `-SkipStream`).
 5. **Parity** — asserts MXAccess error paths are rejected rather than silently
@@ -287,6 +294,16 @@ path and writes a JSON report under `artifacts/e2e/`:
    write support (`MxAccessCommandExecutor` returning `InvalidRequest` for
    `Write`/`Write2`/`WriteSecured`/`WriteSecured2`).
 
+Before the per-client phases run, the script builds the .NET CLI
+(`dotnet build`) and installs the Java CLI (`gradle :mxgateway-cli:installDist`)
+once, then invokes the compiled artifacts directly. The matrix issues several
+hundred CLI calls per client; invoking `dotnet run` / `gradle
+:mxgateway-cli:run` per call rebuilds and cold-starts the toolchain every time,
+which stretches the add-item/advise loop long enough for the worker event
+channel to overflow under `FailFast` backpressure. The Go, Rust, and Python
+clients still build on demand (`go run` / `cargo run` / `python -m`) because
+their per-call startup is already sub-second.
+
 Build the gateway and worker, start the gateway, and provide a valid API key
 before running the client e2e script:
 
diff --git a/scripts/run-client-e2e-tests.ps1 b/scripts/run-client-e2e-tests.ps1
index 7c93436..b1acc69 100644
--- a/scripts/run-client-e2e-tests.ps1
+++ b/scripts/run-client-e2e-tests.ps1
@@ -31,6 +31,14 @@ param(
     [string]$Database = "ZB",
     [int]$EventLimit = 5,
     [int]$BulkTagCount = 6,
+    # The per-tag advise loop advises every discovered tag with no StreamEvents
+    # consumer attached, so MXAccess change events accumulate in the worker
+    # event channel (MxGateway:Events:QueueCapacity). Left unbounded the channel
+    # overflows under FailFast backpressure and faults the worker — slow,
+    # process-per-call clients (the Java CLI) hit this before the loop ends.
+    # Every DrainEveryTags advised tags the loop connects a short-lived
+    # StreamEvents drain so the gateway pumps that channel empty. 0 disables it.
+    [int]$DrainEveryTags = 15,
     [switch]$SkipStream,
     [switch]$SkipBulk,
     # Skip the bulk read+write coverage that runs alongside the existing
@@ -97,6 +105,10 @@ if ($BulkTagCount -lt 1) {
     throw "BulkTagCount must be greater than zero."
 }
 
+if ($DrainEveryTags -lt 0) {
+    throw "DrainEveryTags cannot be negative."
+}
+
 if ($WriteEchoMaxEvents -lt 1) {
     throw "WriteEchoMaxEvents must be greater than zero."
 }
@@ -454,6 +466,49 @@ function Assert-BulkResults {
     }
 }
 
+# Builds the dotnet and Java client CLIs once up front and records the path to
+# each compiled artifact. The e2e matrix issues ~250 CLI calls per client;
+# invoking `dotnet run` / `gradle :mxgateway-cli:run` per call rebuilds and
+# cold-starts the toolchain every time, stretching the per-tag advise loop long
+# enough for the worker event channel to overflow under the FailFast
+# backpressure policy. Running the compiled artifact keeps per-call latency
+# sub-second, matching the Go/Rust/Python paths.
+function Initialize-ClientBuilds {
+    if ($Clients -contains "dotnet") {
+        $cliProject = Join-Path $repoRoot "clients/dotnet/MxGateway.Client.Cli/MxGateway.Client.Cli.csproj"
+        $script:dotnetCliExe = Join-Path $repoRoot `
+            "clients/dotnet/MxGateway.Client.Cli/bin/Debug/net10.0/MxGateway.Client.Cli.exe"
+        if (-not $DryRun) {
+            Write-Host "Building the .NET client CLI once: $cliProject"
+            Invoke-NativeCommand -FilePath "dotnet" `
+                -Arguments @("build", $cliProject, "-c", "Debug", "--nologo", "-v", "quiet") `
+                -WorkingDirectory $repoRoot | Out-Null
+            if (-not (Test-Path $script:dotnetCliExe)) {
+                throw "The .NET client CLI build did not produce '$script:dotnetCliExe'."
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    if ($Clients -contains "java") {
+        $script:javaCliBat = Join-Path $repoRoot `
+            "clients/java/mxgateway-cli/build/install/mxgateway-cli/bin/mxgateway-cli.bat"
+        if (-not $DryRun) {
+            $gradleCommand = Get-Command "gradle.bat", "gradle.cmd", "gradle.exe", "gradle" `
+                -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object -First 1
+            if ($null -eq $gradleCommand) {
+                throw "The 'gradle' command was not found on PATH; the Java client e2e flow requires Gradle."
+            }
+            Write-Host "Installing the Java client CLI once via :mxgateway-cli:installDist"
+            Invoke-NativeCommand -FilePath "cmd.exe" `
+                -Arguments @("/c", $gradleCommand.Source, "--quiet", ":mxgateway-cli:installDist") `
+                -WorkingDirectory (Join-Path $repoRoot "clients/java") | Out-Null
+            if (-not (Test-Path $script:javaCliBat)) {
+                throw "The Java client CLI install did not produce '$script:javaCliBat'."
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 function Get-ClientCommand {
     param(
         [string]$Client,
@@ -476,7 +531,6 @@ function Get-ClientCommand {
     switch ($Client) {
         "dotnet" {
             $arguments = @(
-                "run", "--project", "clients/dotnet/MxGateway.Client.Cli", "--",
                 $Operation,
                 "--endpoint", $httpEndpoint,
                 "--api-key-env", $ApiKeyEnvName,
@@ -509,7 +563,7 @@ function Get-ClientCommand {
             } elseif ($Operation -eq "close-session") {
                 $arguments += @("--session-id", $Values.sessionId)
             }
-            return [pscustomobject]@{ file = "dotnet"; args = $arguments; cwd = $repoRoot; env = @{} }
+            return [pscustomobject]@{ file = $script:dotnetCliExe; args = $arguments; cwd = $repoRoot; env = @{} }
         }
         "go" {
             $arguments = @(
@@ -657,18 +711,15 @@ function Get-ClientCommand {
             } elseif ($Operation -eq "close-session") {
                 $cliArgs += @("--session-id", $Values.sessionId)
             }
-            $arguments = @("--quiet", ":mxgateway-cli:run", "--args=$($cliArgs -join ' ')")
-            # Gradle ships as gradle.bat on Windows; .NET's Process.Start
-            # (UseShellExecute=false) cannot launch a batch file directly, so
-            # resolve the launcher and run it through cmd.exe.
-            $gradleCommand = Get-Command "gradle.bat", "gradle.cmd", "gradle.exe", "gradle" `
-                -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object -First 1
-            if ($null -eq $gradleCommand) {
-                throw "The 'gradle' command was not found on PATH; the Java client e2e flow requires Gradle."
-            }
+            # The Java CLI is installed once up front (gradle
+            # :mxgateway-cli:installDist) so each call runs the generated
+            # launcher script directly instead of paying Gradle configuration
+            # plus a JVM cold-start per invocation. .NET's Process.Start
+            # (UseShellExecute=false) cannot launch a .bat directly, so the
+            # launcher runs through cmd.exe.
             return [pscustomobject]@{
                 file = "cmd.exe"
-                args = @("/c", $gradleCommand.Source) + $arguments
+                args = @("/c", $script:javaCliBat) + $cliArgs
                 cwd = (Join-Path $repoRoot "clients/java")
                 env = @{}
             }
@@ -796,6 +847,30 @@ function Invoke-ClientOperationExpectingFailure {
         -AllowFailure
 }
 
+# Connects a short-lived StreamEvents consumer so the gateway empties the worker
+# event channel. The per-tag advise loop advises every discovered tag with no
+# consumer attached; without periodic draining the worker event channel
+# (MxGateway:Events:QueueCapacity) overflows under FailFast backpressure and
+# faults the worker.
+#
+# A small bounded read is enough: the gateway's per-stream producer
+# (EventStreamService.ProduceEventsAsync) races ahead of the CLI and pulls the
+# entire worker event channel into its own buffer the instant a subscriber
+# attaches, so the channel is emptied long before the CLI finishes reading
+# these events. Run via the expecting-failure path so the drain's exit code is
+# ignored — its purpose is the side effect (emptying the channel), not output.
+function Invoke-EventDrain {
+    param(
+        [string]$Client,
+        [string]$SessionId
+    )
+
+    Invoke-ClientOperationExpectingFailure -Client $Client -Operation "stream-events" -Values @{
+        sessionId = $SessionId
+        maxEvents = 200
+    } | Out-Null
+}
+
 # Runs the full e2e flow for a single language client and returns the result
 # record. Discovered tags are passed in so the (slow) SQL discovery runs once.
 function Invoke-ClientFlow {
@@ -1000,6 +1075,7 @@ function Invoke-ClientFlow {
             }
         }
 
+        $advisedSinceDrain = 0
         foreach ($tag in $Tags) {
             $addJson = Invoke-ClientOperation -Client $Client -Operation "add-item" -Values @{
                 sessionId = $sessionId
@@ -1020,6 +1096,15 @@ function Invoke-ClientFlow {
                 itemHandle = $itemHandle
                 protectedWriteRequired = $tag.attributeName -eq "ProtectedValue"
             }
+
+            # Drain the worker event channel every DrainEveryTags advised tags
+            # so this unbounded advise loop cannot overflow it and fault the
+            # worker before the loop completes.
+            $advisedSinceDrain++
+            if ($DrainEveryTags -gt 0 -and $advisedSinceDrain -ge $DrainEveryTags) {
+                Invoke-EventDrain -Client $Client -SessionId $sessionId
+                $advisedSinceDrain = 0
+            }
         }
 
         # --- Event streaming ----------------------------------------------
@@ -1131,6 +1216,7 @@ function Get-ChildArgumentList {
         "-Database", $Database,
         "-EventLimit", "$EventLimit",
         "-BulkTagCount", "$BulkTagCount",
+        "-DrainEveryTags", "$DrainEveryTags",
         "-WriteAttribute", $WriteAttribute,
         "-WriteType", $WriteType,
         "-WriteValueBase", "$WriteValueBase",
@@ -1219,6 +1305,7 @@ if ($Parallel -and $Clients.Count -gt 1) {
         attributes = $Attributes
         eventLimit = $EventLimit
         bulkTagCount = $BulkTagCount
+        drainEveryTags = $DrainEveryTags
         skipStream = [bool]$SkipStream
         skipBulk = [bool]$SkipBulk
         verifyWrite = [bool]$VerifyWrite
@@ -1247,6 +1334,8 @@ if ($Parallel -and $Clients.Count -gt 1) {
 }
 
 # --- Serial mode -----------------------------------------------------------
+Initialize-ClientBuilds
+
 $discoveryJson = & $discoveryScript `
     -MachineStart $MachineStart `
     -MachineEnd $MachineEnd `
@@ -1277,6 +1366,7 @@ $run = [ordered]@{
     attributes = $Attributes
     eventLimit = $EventLimit
     bulkTagCount = $BulkTagCount
+    drainEveryTags = $DrainEveryTags
     skipStream = [bool]$SkipStream
     skipBulk = [bool]$SkipBulk
     verifyWrite = [bool]$VerifyWrite