diff --git a/packages/bruno-requests/src/network/agent-defaults.ts b/packages/bruno-requests/src/network/agent-defaults.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5725349c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/bruno-requests/src/network/agent-defaults.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import http from 'node:http';
+import { fastLookup } from './fast-lookup';
+
+/**
+ * Shared agent configuration for HTTP/HTTPS agents across the application.
+ *
+ * - keepAlive: Reuse TCP connections to avoid repeated handshakes.
+ * - maxSockets: 100 concurrent sockets per host — high enough for parallel
+ *   collection runs, low enough to avoid file-descriptor exhaustion.
+ * - maxFreeSockets: 10 idle sockets kept alive for reuse between bursts.
+ * - scheduling: 'fifo' distributes requests across connections evenly,
+ *   which avoids head-of-line blocking that 'lifo' (Node's default) can
+ *   cause when one connection stalls.
+ * - lookup: fastLookup uses async c-ares (dns.resolve4/6) to bypass the
+ *   libuv thread pool bottleneck, falling back to dns.lookup for /etc/hosts
+ *   and mDNS hostnames.
+ */
+export const defaultAgentOptions: http.AgentOptions = {
+  keepAlive: true,
+  maxSockets: 100,
+  maxFreeSockets: 10,
+  scheduling: 'fifo',
+  lookup: fastLookup as http.AgentOptions['lookup']
+};
diff --git a/packages/bruno-requests/src/network/axios-instance.ts b/packages/bruno-requests/src/network/axios-instance.ts
index ba778d9e8..abb4339e3 100644
--- a/packages/bruno-requests/src/network/axios-instance.ts
+++ b/packages/bruno-requests/src/network/axios-instance.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { default as axios, AxiosRequestConfig, AxiosRequestHeaders, AxiosResponse, InternalAxiosRequestConfig } from 'axios';
 import http from 'node:http';
 import https from 'node:https';
+import { defaultAgentOptions } from './agent-defaults';
 
 /**
  *
@@ -29,8 +30,8 @@ type ModifiedAxiosResponse = AxiosResponse & {
 
 const baseRequestConfig: Partial<AxiosRequestConfig> = {
   proxy: false,
-  httpAgent: new http.Agent({ keepAlive: true }),
-  httpsAgent: new https.Agent({ keepAlive: true }),
+  httpAgent: new http.Agent(defaultAgentOptions),
+  httpsAgent: new https.Agent(defaultAgentOptions),
   transformRequest: function transformRequest(data: any, headers: AxiosRequestHeaders) {
     const contentType = headers.getContentType() || '';
     const hasJSONContentType = contentType.includes('json');
diff --git a/packages/bruno-requests/src/network/fast-lookup.spec.ts b/packages/bruno-requests/src/network/fast-lookup.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..89205f3e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/bruno-requests/src/network/fast-lookup.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+import dns from 'node:dns';
+import { fastLookup } from './fast-lookup';
+
+type DnsMethod = 'resolve4' | 'resolve6';
+
+function mockResolve(method: DnsMethod, result: string[], err: Error | null = null): void {
+  (jest.spyOn(dns, method) as any).mockImplementation((_hostname: string, cb: Function) => {
+    cb(err, result);
+  });
+}
+
+function mockLookup(address: string, family: number): void {
+  (jest.spyOn(dns, 'lookup') as any).mockImplementation((_hostname: string, _options: dns.LookupOptions, cb: Function) => {
+    cb(null, address, family);
+  });
+}
+
+describe('fastLookup', () => {
+  afterEach(() => {
+    jest.restoreAllMocks();
+  });
+
+  it('should resolve a public hostname via dns.resolve4', (done) => {
+    mockResolve('resolve4', ['93.184.216.34']);
+
+    fastLookup('example.com', {}, (err, address, family) => {
+      expect(err).toBeNull();
+      expect(address).toBe('93.184.216.34');
+      expect(family).toBe(4);
+      done();
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('should fall back to dns.lookup when both resolvers fail', (done) => {
+    mockResolve('resolve4', [], new Error('ENOTFOUND'));
+    mockResolve('resolve6', [], new Error('ENOTFOUND'));
+    mockLookup('127.0.0.1', 4);
+
+    fastLookup('my-local-host', {}, (err, address, family) => {
+      expect(err).toBeNull();
+      expect(address).toBe('127.0.0.1');
+      expect(family).toBe(4);
+      done();
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('should return all addresses when options.all is true', (done) => {
+    mockResolve('resolve4', ['1.2.3.4', '5.6.7.8']);
+
+    fastLookup('example.com', { all: true }, (err, addresses) => {
+      expect(err).toBeNull();
+      expect(Array.isArray(addresses)).toBe(true);
+      expect(addresses).toEqual([
+        { address: '1.2.3.4', family: 4 },
+        { address: '5.6.7.8', family: 4 }
+      ]);
+      done();
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/packages/bruno-requests/src/network/fast-lookup.ts b/packages/bruno-requests/src/network/fast-lookup.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6f103bff8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/bruno-requests/src/network/fast-lookup.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+import dns from 'node:dns';
+
+/**
+ * Fast DNS lookup that bypasses the libuv thread pool.
+ *
+ * Tries dns.resolve4 then dns.resolve6 (async, c-ares based),
+ * falls back to dns.lookup for /etc/hosts and mDNS hostnames.
+ *
+ * NOTE: `options.family` is not currently respected — the function always
+ * tries IPv4 first regardless of the caller's preference. This is safe today
+ * because Bruno's HTTP agents use the default family (0), but should be
+ * addressed if any code path starts specifying a family.
+ */
+export function fastLookup(
+  hostname: string,
+  options: dns.LookupOptions | undefined,
+  callback: (err: Error | null, address: string | dns.LookupAddress[], family?: number) => void
+): void {
+  dns.resolve4(hostname, (err4, addresses4) => {
+    if (!err4 && addresses4?.length) {
+      return options?.all
+        ? callback(null, addresses4.map((a) => ({ address: a, family: 4 })))
+        : callback(null, addresses4[0], 4);
+    }
+
+    // Forward to standard dns.lookup for /etc/hosts, mDNS, and other
+    // non-public hostnames that c-ares cannot resolve.
+    dns.lookup(hostname, options ?? {}, (err, address, family) => {
+      callback(err, address, family);
+    });
+  });
+}
diff --git a/packages/bruno-requests/src/utils/agent-cache.ts b/packages/bruno-requests/src/utils/agent-cache.ts
index c7dc40105..b05445305 100644
--- a/packages/bruno-requests/src/utils/agent-cache.ts
+++ b/packages/bruno-requests/src/utils/agent-cache.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import tls from 'node:tls';
 import type { Agent as HttpAgent } from 'node:http';
 import type { Agent as HttpsAgent } from 'node:https';
 import { createTimelineAgentClass, createTimelineHttpAgentClass, type TimelineEntry, type AgentOptions, type HttpAgentOptions, type AgentClass, type HttpAgentClass } from './timeline-agent';
+import { defaultAgentOptions } from '../network/agent-defaults';
 
 /**
  * Agent cache for SSL session reuse.
@@ -267,8 +268,16 @@ function getOrCreateAgentInternal<TOptions extends HttpAgentOptions>(
   }
 
   const AgentClass = timeline ? getTimelineClass(BaseAgentClass) : BaseAgentClass;
+
+  // Inject shared agent defaults (DNS lookup, socket pool settings), then
+  // layer on the caller's options so per-agent overrides still take effect.
+  const optimizedOptions = {
+    ...defaultAgentOptions,
+    ...options
+  };
+
   // Convert raw `ca` to a secureContext that adds CAs on top of OpenSSL defaults
-  const resolvedOptions = applySecureContext(options);
+  const resolvedOptions = applySecureContext(optimizedOptions);
 
   let agent: HttpAgent | HttpsAgent;
   if (timeline) {