diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 650e793375..c1782b310d 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -862,7 +862,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
  "regex",
- "rustc-hash 1.1.0",
+ "rustc-hash",
  "shlex",
  "syn 2.0.70",
  "which",
@@ -885,7 +885,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "proc-macro2",
  "quote",
  "regex",
- "rustc-hash 1.1.0",
+ "rustc-hash",
  "shlex",
  "syn 2.0.70",
  "which",
@@ -2661,7 +2661,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "pin-project-lite",
  "smallvec",
  "tokio",
- "want",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -2713,24 +2712,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "webpki-roots 0.26.3",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "hyper-rustls"
-version = "0.27.3"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "08afdbb5c31130e3034af566421053ab03787c640246a446327f550d11bcb333"
-dependencies = [
- "futures-util",
- "http 1.1.0",
- "hyper 1.4.1",
- "hyper-util",
- "rustls 0.23.11",
- "rustls-pki-types",
- "tokio",
- "tokio-rustls 0.26.0",
- "tower-service",
- "webpki-roots 0.26.3",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "hyper-timeout"
 version = "0.4.1"
@@ -2756,25 +2737,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "tungstenite",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "hyper-util"
-version = "0.1.10"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "df2dcfbe0677734ab2f3ffa7fa7bfd4706bfdc1ef393f2ee30184aed67e631b4"
-dependencies = [
- "bytes",
- "futures-channel",
- "futures-util",
- "http 1.1.0",
- "http-body 1.0.0",
- "hyper 1.4.1",
- "pin-project-lite",
- "socket2",
- "tokio",
- "tower-service",
- "tracing",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "iana-time-zone"
 version = "0.1.60"
@@ -3135,7 +3097,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "parking_lot",
  "pprof",
  "rand",
- "reqwest 0.12.9",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
  "tempfile",
@@ -3165,7 +3126,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "async-trait",
  "base64 0.21.7",
  "num-traits",
- "reqwest 0.11.27",
+ "reqwest",
  "serde_json",
  "url",
 ]
@@ -3285,7 +3246,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "prost-build",
  "rand",
  "regex",
- "reqwest 0.11.27",
+ "reqwest",
  "rheaper",
  "ring",
  "rustls 0.21.12",
@@ -4431,54 +4392,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "quinn"
-version = "0.11.5"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "8c7c5fdde3cdae7203427dc4f0a68fe0ed09833edc525a03456b153b79828684"
-dependencies = [
- "bytes",
- "pin-project-lite",
- "quinn-proto",
- "quinn-udp",
- "rustc-hash 2.0.0",
- "rustls 0.23.11",
- "socket2",
- "thiserror",
- "tokio",
- "tracing",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "quinn-proto"
-version = "0.11.8"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "fadfaed2cd7f389d0161bb73eeb07b7b78f8691047a6f3e73caaeae55310a4a6"
-dependencies = [
- "bytes",
- "rand",
- "ring",
- "rustc-hash 2.0.0",
- "rustls 0.23.11",
- "slab",
- "thiserror",
- "tinyvec",
- "tracing",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "quinn-udp"
-version = "0.5.4"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "8bffec3605b73c6f1754535084a85229fa8a30f86014e6c81aeec4abb68b0285"
-dependencies = [
- "libc",
- "once_cell",
- "socket2",
- "tracing",
- "windows-sys 0.52.0",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "quote"
 version = "1.0.36"
@@ -4637,7 +4550,7 @@ checksum = "d4a52e724646c6c0800fc456ec43b4165d2f91fba88ceaca06d9e0b400023478"
 dependencies = [
  "hashbrown 0.13.2",
  "log",
- "rustc-hash 1.1.0",
+ "rustc-hash",
  "slice-group-by",
  "smallvec",
 ]
@@ -4733,48 +4646,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "winreg",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "reqwest"
-version = "0.12.9"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "a77c62af46e79de0a562e1a9849205ffcb7fc1238876e9bd743357570e04046f"
-dependencies = [
- "base64 0.22.1",
- "bytes",
- "futures-core",
- "futures-util",
- "http 1.1.0",
- "http-body 1.0.0",
- "http-body-util",
- "hyper 1.4.1",
- "hyper-rustls 0.27.3",
- "hyper-util",
- "ipnet",
- "js-sys",
- "log",
- "mime",
- "once_cell",
- "percent-encoding",
- "pin-project-lite",
- "quinn",
- "rustls 0.23.11",
- "rustls-pemfile 2.1.2",
- "rustls-pki-types",
- "serde",
- "serde_json",
- "serde_urlencoded",
- "sync_wrapper 1.0.1",
- "tokio",
- "tokio-rustls 0.26.0",
- "tower-service",
- "url",
- "wasm-bindgen",
- "wasm-bindgen-futures",
- "web-sys",
- "webpki-roots 0.26.3",
- "windows-registry",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "rfc6979"
 version = "0.3.1"
@@ -4849,12 +4720,6 @@ version = "1.1.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "08d43f7aa6b08d49f382cde6a7982047c3426db949b1424bc4b7ec9ae12c6ce2"
 
-[[package]]
-name = "rustc-hash"
-version = "2.0.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "583034fd73374156e66797ed8e5b0d5690409c9226b22d87cb7f19821c05d152"
-
 [[package]]
 name = "rustc_version"
 version = "0.4.0"
@@ -4919,20 +4784,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "zeroize",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "rustls"
-version = "0.23.11"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "4828ea528154ae444e5a642dbb7d5623354030dc9822b83fd9bb79683c7399d0"
-dependencies = [
- "once_cell",
- "ring",
- "rustls-pki-types",
- "rustls-webpki 0.102.5",
- "subtle",
- "zeroize",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "rustls-native-certs"
 version = "0.6.3"
@@ -5680,9 +5531,6 @@ name = "sync_wrapper"
 version = "1.0.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "a7065abeca94b6a8a577f9bd45aa0867a2238b74e8eb67cf10d492bc39351394"
-dependencies = [
- "futures-core",
-]
 
 [[package]]
 name = "system-configuration"
@@ -5931,17 +5779,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "tokio",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "tokio-rustls"
-version = "0.26.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "0c7bc40d0e5a97695bb96e27995cd3a08538541b0a846f65bba7a359f36700d4"
-dependencies = [
- "rustls 0.23.11",
- "rustls-pki-types",
- "tokio",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "tokio-stream"
 version = "0.1.15"
@@ -7056,36 +6893,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "windows-targets 0.52.6",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "windows-registry"
-version = "0.2.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "e400001bb720a623c1c69032f8e3e4cf09984deec740f007dd2b03ec864804b0"
-dependencies = [
- "windows-result",
- "windows-strings",
- "windows-targets 0.52.6",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "windows-result"
-version = "0.2.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "1d1043d8214f791817bab27572aaa8af63732e11bf84aa21a45a78d6c317ae0e"
-dependencies = [
- "windows-targets 0.52.6",
-]
-
-[[package]]
-name = "windows-strings"
-version = "0.1.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "4cd9b125c486025df0eabcb585e62173c6c9eddcec5d117d3b6e8c30e2ee4d10"
-dependencies = [
- "windows-result",
- "windows-targets 0.52.6",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "windows-sys"
 version = "0.48.0"
diff --git a/libsql/Cargo.toml b/libsql/Cargo.toml
index 798b78f941..57644535cc 100644
--- a/libsql/Cargo.toml
+++ b/libsql/Cargo.toml
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ fallible-iterator = { version = "0.3", optional = true }
 
 libsql_replication = { version = "0.6", path = "../libsql-replication", optional = true }
 async-stream = { version = "0.3.5", optional = true }
-reqwest = { version = "0.12.9", default-features = false, features = [ "rustls-tls", "json" ], optional = true }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 criterion = { version = "0.5", features = ["html_reports", "async", "async_futures", "async_tokio"] }
@@ -105,7 +104,6 @@ sync = [
   "dep:bytes",
   "dep:tokio",
   "dep:futures",
-  "dep:reqwest",
   "dep:serde_json",
 ]
 hrana = [
diff --git a/libsql/src/local/database.rs b/libsql/src/local/database.rs
index 3d72e127a7..9aeb914d7f 100644
--- a/libsql/src/local/database.rs
+++ b/libsql/src/local/database.rs
@@ -476,21 +476,40 @@ impl Database {
     ) -> Result<u32> {
         let mut nr_retries = 0;
         loop {
-            let client = reqwest::Client::new();
-            let mut builder = client.post(uri.to_owned());
+            // TODO(lucio): add custom connector + tls support here
+            let client = hyper::client::Client::builder().build_http::<hyper::Body>();
+
+            let mut req = http::Request::post(uri.clone());
+
             match auth_token {
                 Some(ref auth_token) => {
-                    builder = builder
-                        .header("Authorization", format!("Bearer {}", auth_token.to_owned()));
+                    let auth_header =
+                        http::HeaderValue::try_from(format!("Bearer {}", auth_token.to_owned()))
+                            .unwrap();
+
+                    req.headers_mut()
+                        .expect("valid http request")
+                        .insert("Authorization", auth_header);
                 }
                 None => {}
             }
-            let res = builder.body(frame.to_vec()).send().await.unwrap();
+
+            // TODO(lucio): convert this to use bytes to make this clone cheap, it should be
+            // to possible use BytesMut when reading frames from the WAL and efficiently use Bytes
+            // from that.
+            let req = req.body(frame.clone().into()).expect("valid body");
+
+            let res = client.request(req).await.unwrap();
+
+            // TODO(lucio): only retry on server side errors
             if res.status().is_success() {
-                let resp = res.json::<serde_json::Value>().await.unwrap();
+                let res_body = hyper::body::to_bytes(res.into_body()).await.unwrap();
+                let resp = serde_json::from_slice::<serde_json::Value>(&res_body[..]).unwrap();
+
                 let max_frame_no = resp.get("max_frame_no").unwrap().as_u64().unwrap();
                 return Ok(max_frame_no as u32);
             }
+
             if nr_retries > max_retries {
                 return Err(crate::errors::Error::ConnectionFailed(format!(
                     "Failed to push frame: {}",