diff --git a/backend/app/services/orchestrator/runner.py b/backend/app/services/orchestrator/runner.py
index d021443..758f5ac 100644
--- a/backend/app/services/orchestrator/runner.py
+++ b/backend/app/services/orchestrator/runner.py
@@ -63,18 +63,21 @@ def run_step(step_name: str, week_start_date: Optional[date] = None) -> None:
 
     week = week_start_date or _current_week_start()
     db = SessionLocal()
-    families = db.query(FamilyProfile).all()
-    if not families:
-        logger.warning("run_step(%s): no family profiles, skipping", step_name)
-        return
-    for family in families:
-        run = _get_or_create_run(db, family.id, week)
-        try:
-            step_fns[step_name](run, db)
-        except Exception:
-            logger.exception(
-                "run_step(%s) failed for family %s", step_name, family.id
-            )
+    try:
+        families = db.query(FamilyProfile).all()
+        if not families:
+            logger.warning("run_step(%s): no family profiles, skipping", step_name)
+            return
+        for family in families:
+            run = _get_or_create_run(db, family.id, week)
+            try:
+                step_fns[step_name](run, db)
+            except Exception:
+                logger.exception(
+                    "run_step(%s) failed for family %s", step_name, family.id
+                )
+    finally:
+        db.close()
 
 
 def run_week(week_start_date: Optional[date] = None) -> None:
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_orchestrator.py b/backend/tests/test_orchestrator.py
index f26ef62..c0ced39 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_orchestrator.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_orchestrator.py
@@ -434,9 +434,18 @@ def test_run_step_upserts_weekly_run(db, family, monkeypatch):
         "app.services.orchestrator.steps.ScraperService.run_scrape",
         lambda self, **kw: {"status": "success", "items_scraped": 0},
     )
+
+    class _NoCloseSession:
+        """Proxy that delegates all attribute access to the test session
+        but turns close() into a no-op so the transactional fixture stays live."""
+        def __getattr__(self, name):
+            return getattr(db, name)
+        def close(self):
+            pass
+
     monkeypatch.setattr(
         "app.services.orchestrator.runner.SessionLocal",
-        lambda: db,
+        lambda: _NoCloseSession(),
     )
     from app.services.orchestrator.runner import run_step
     run_step("scrape", WEEK)