diff --git a/lib/hcl-c.c b/lib/hcl-c.c
index f6c9277..a330f06 100644
--- a/lib/hcl-c.c
+++ b/lib/hcl-c.c
@@ -666,10 +666,11 @@ static int feed_reply_data (hcl_client_t* client, const hcl_bch_t* data, hcl_oow
 			}
 
 			ptr += taken;
-			client->rep.u.length_bounded_data.tally = taken;
+			client->rep.u.length_bounded_data.tally += taken;
 			if (taken == capa)
 			{
 				/* read all data. no more */
+				HCL_ASSERT (client->dummy_hcl, client->rep.u.length_bounded_data.max == client->rep.u.length_bounded_data.tally);
 				client->state = HCL_CLIENT_STATE_START;
 				if (client->prim.end_reply(client, HCL_CLIENT_END_REPLY_STATE_OK) <= -1) goto oops;
 			}
diff --git a/lib/hcl-s.c b/lib/hcl-s.c
index 690c9b8..9e91b46 100644
--- a/lib/hcl-s.c
+++ b/lib/hcl-s.c
@@ -456,30 +456,40 @@ static HCL_INLINE int read_input (hcl_t* hcl, hcl_ioinarg_t* arg)
 	worker_hcl_xtn_t* xtn = (worker_hcl_xtn_t*)hcl_getxtn(hcl);
 	bb_t* bb;
 	hcl_oow_t bcslen, ucslen, remlen;
+	hcl_server_worker_t* worker;
 	int x;
 
 	bb = (bb_t*)arg->handle;
 	HCL_ASSERT (hcl, bb != HCL_NULL && bb->fd >= 0);
 
-	if (bb->fd == xtn->proto->worker->sck)
+	worker = xtn->proto->worker;
+
+	if (bb->fd == worker->sck)
 	{
 		ssize_t x;
+		hcl_server_t* server;
+
+		server = worker->server;
 
 	start_over:
 		while (1)
 		{
 			int n;
 			struct pollfd pfd;
-			
-			if (xtn->proto->worker->server->stopreq)
+			int tmout, actual_tmout;
+
+			if (server->stopreq)
 			{
 				hcl_seterrbfmt (hcl, HCL_EGENERIC, "stop requested");
 				return -1;
 			}
 
+			tmout = HCL_SECNSEC_TO_MSEC(server->cfg.worker_idle_timeout.sec, server->cfg.worker_idle_timeout.nsec);
+			actual_tmout = (tmout <= 0)? 10000: tmout;
+
 			pfd.fd = bb->fd;
 			pfd.events = POLLIN | POLLERR;
-			n = poll(&pfd, 1, 10000); /* TOOD: adjust this interval base on the worker_idle_timeout? */
+			n = poll(&pfd, 1, actual_tmout);
 			if (n <= -1)
 			{
 				if (errno == EINTR) goto start_over;
@@ -488,7 +498,12 @@ static HCL_INLINE int read_input (hcl_t* hcl, hcl_ioinarg_t* arg)
 			}
 			else if (n >= 1) break;
 
-/* TOOD: idle timeout check - compute idling time and check it against server->cfg.worker_idle_timeout */
+			/* timed out - no activity on the pfd */
+			if (tmout > 0)
+			{
+				hcl_seterrbfmt (hcl, HCL_EGENERIC, "no activity on the worker socket %d", worker->sck);
+				return -1;
+			}
 		}
 		
 		x = recv(bb->fd, &bb->buf[bb->len], HCL_COUNTOF(bb->buf) - bb->len, 0);
diff --git a/lib/main-c.c b/lib/main-c.c
index cac48c4..0a4006e 100644
--- a/lib/main-c.c
+++ b/lib/main-c.c
@@ -501,7 +501,7 @@ static int feed_data (hcl_client_t* client, const void* ptr, hcl_oow_t len)
 
 /* ========================================================================= */
 
-static int handle_request (hcl_client_t* client, const char* ipaddr, const char* script)
+static int handle_request (hcl_client_t* client, const char* ipaddr, const char* script, int shut_wr_after_req)
 {
 	hcl_sckaddr_t sckaddr;
 	hcl_scklen_t scklen;
@@ -576,6 +576,8 @@ static int handle_request (hcl_client_t* client, const char* ipaddr, const char*
 		iov[index].iov_len -= nwritten;
 	}
 
+	if (shut_wr_after_req) shutdown (sck, SHUT_WR);
+
 	client_xtn->data_length = 0;
 	client_xtn->reply_count = 0;
 
@@ -583,7 +585,7 @@ static int handle_request (hcl_client_t* client, const char* ipaddr, const char*
 	avail = 0;
 	while (client_xtn->reply_count == 0)
 	{
-		n = read(sck, &buf[avail], HCL_SIZEOF(buf) - avail); /* switch to recv  */
+		n = recv(sck, &buf[avail], HCL_SIZEOF(buf) - avail, 0);
 		if (n <= -1) 
 		{
 			fprintf (stderr, "Unable to read from %d - %s\n", sck, strerror(n));
@@ -601,7 +603,11 @@ static int handle_request (hcl_client_t* client, const char* ipaddr, const char*
 
 		avail += n;;
 		x = hcl_client_feed(client, buf, avail, &used);
-		if (x <= -1) goto oops;
+		if (x <= -1) 
+		{
+			fprintf (stderr, "Client error [%d]\n", hcl_client_geterrnum(client));
+			goto oops;
+		}
 
 		avail -= used;
 		if (avail > 0) memmove (&buf[0], &buf[used], avail);
@@ -622,6 +628,7 @@ int main (int argc, char* argv[])
 	static hcl_bopt_lng_t lopt[] =
 	{
 		{ ":log",                  'l'  },
+		{ "shutwr",                '\0' },
 		{ HCL_NULL,                '\0' }
 	};
 	static hcl_bopt_t opt =
@@ -635,14 +642,14 @@ int main (int argc, char* argv[])
 	hcl_client_prim_t client_prim;
 	int n;
 	const char* logopt = HCL_NULL;
+	int shut_wr_after_req = 0;
 
 	setlocale (LC_ALL, "");
 
-
 	if (argc < 2)
 	{
 	print_usage:
-		fprintf (stderr, "Usage: %s bind-address:port script-to-run\n", argv[0]);
+		fprintf (stderr, "Usage: %s [-l/--log log-options] [--shutwr] bind-address:port script-to-run\n", argv[0]);
 		return -1;
 	}
 
@@ -655,7 +662,14 @@ int main (int argc, char* argv[])
 				break;
 
 			case '\0':
-				goto print_usage;
+				if (hcl_compbcstr(opt.lngopt, "shutwr") == 0)
+				{
+					shut_wr_after_req = 1;
+				}
+				else
+				{
+					goto print_usage;
+				}
 				break;
 
 			case ':':
@@ -706,18 +720,12 @@ int main (int argc, char* argv[])
 	set_signal (SIGINT, handle_sigint);
 	set_signal_to_ignore (SIGPIPE);
 
-
-	n = handle_request (client, argv[opt.ind], argv[opt.ind + 1]);
+	n = handle_request (client, argv[opt.ind], argv[opt.ind + 1], shut_wr_after_req);
 
 	set_signal_to_default (SIGINT);
 	set_signal_to_default (SIGPIPE);
 	g_client = NULL;
 
-	if (n <= -1)
-	{
-		hcl_client_logbfmt (client, HCL_LOG_APP | HCL_LOG_FATAL, "client error[%d] - %js\n", hcl_client_geterrnum(client), hcl_client_geterrmsg(client));
-	}
-
 	if (xtn->logfd >= 0)
 	{
 		close (xtn->logfd);