diff --git a/js/spec/binary-client.spec.ts b/js/spec/binary-client.spec.ts
index d7c0444..128121c 100644
--- a/js/spec/binary-client.spec.ts
+++ b/js/spec/binary-client.spec.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import crypto from "crypto";
 import * as fs from "fs";
 import { Client } from "pg";
 import { encodeContent } from "../src";
@@ -131,6 +132,29 @@ describe("binary client operations", () => {
     expect(JSON.stringify(result)).toMatch('{"count":0}');
     expect(result.count).toStrictEqual(0);
   });
+
+  it("can timeout while rebuilding the file system", async () => {
+    const project = 1337n;
+
+    await grpcClient.newProject(project, []);
+
+    const stream = grpcClient.updateObjects(project);
+    for (let i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
+      const content = encodeContent(crypto.randomBytes(512 * 1024).toString("hex"));
+      await stream.send({
+        path: `hello-${i}.txt`,
+        mode: 0o755n,
+        content: content,
+        size: BigInt(content.length),
+        deleted: false,
+      });
+    }
+    await stream.complete();
+
+    const dir = tmpdir();
+    const rebuildPromise = binaryClient.rebuild(project, null, dir, { timeout: 1 });
+    await expect(rebuildPromise).rejects.toThrow(/context deadline exceeded/);
+  }, 20_000);
 });
 
 describe("Gadget file match tests", () => {
@@ -140,8 +164,9 @@ describe("Gadget file match tests", () => {
 
     await grpcClient.newProject(project, []);
 
+    const stream = grpcClient.updateObjects(project);
     for (const path of paths) {
-      await grpcClient.updateObject(project, {
+      await stream.send({
         path,
         mode: 0o755n,
         content: encodedContent,
@@ -149,6 +174,7 @@ describe("Gadget file match tests", () => {
         deleted: false,
       });
     }
+    await stream.complete();
 
     const dir = tmpdir();
     const result = await binaryClient.rebuild(project, null, dir, { matchInclude: include, matchExclude: exclude });
diff --git a/js/src/binary-client.ts b/js/src/binary-client.ts
index 4600635..8a4ddbf 100644
--- a/js/src/binary-client.ts
+++ b/js/src/binary-client.ts
@@ -148,10 +148,12 @@ export class DateiLagerBinaryClient {
           ? {
               update: options.timeout,
               rebuild: options.timeout,
+              gc: options.timeout,
             }
           : {
               update: 0,
               rebuild: 0,
+              gc: 0,
               ...options.timeout,
             },
       tracing: options.tracing ?? false,
@@ -365,6 +367,9 @@ export class DateiLagerBinaryClient {
       baseArgs.push("--headless-host", this._options.headlessHost);
     }
 
+    const timeout = options?.timeout ?? this._options.timeout[method];
+    baseArgs.push("--timeout", String(timeout));
+
     if (this._options.tracing) {
       const carrier = {};
       propagation.inject(context.active(), carrier);
@@ -375,7 +380,6 @@ export class DateiLagerBinaryClient {
     const subprocess = execa(this._options.command, baseArgs.concat(args), {
       cwd,
       cleanup: false, // don't terminate this subprocess process eagerly when the parent process is terminated, which is execa's default behaviour. we use graceful shutdown gadget-side to give running operations a chance to complete, and we don't want to terminate them prematurely
-      timeout: options?.timeout ?? this._options.timeout[method],
       env: { DL_TOKEN: await this._options.token() },
     });
 
diff --git a/pkg/cli/client.go b/pkg/cli/client.go
index 1644a5d..7da1125 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/client.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/client.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -33,9 +34,12 @@ func NewClientCommand() *cobra.Command {
 		otelContext  string
 		host         string
 		port         uint16
+		timeout      uint16
 		headlessHost string
 	)
 
+	var cancel context.CancelFunc
+
 	cmd := &cobra.Command{
 		Use:               "client",
 		Short:             "DateiLager client",
@@ -57,6 +61,12 @@ func NewClientCommand() *cobra.Command {
 
 			ctx := cmd.Context()
 
+			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "timeout: %v\n", timeout)
+			if timeout != 0 {
+				ctx, cancel = context.WithTimeout(cmd.Context(), time.Duration(timeout)*time.Second)
+				fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "duration: %v\n", time.Duration(timeout)*time.Second)
+			}
+
 			if tracing {
 				shutdownTelemetry = telemetry.Init(ctx, telemetry.Client)
 			}
@@ -88,6 +98,12 @@ func NewClientCommand() *cobra.Command {
 
 			return nil
 		},
+		PersistentPostRunE: func(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) error {
+			if cancel != nil {
+				cancel()
+			}
+			return nil
+		},
 	}
 
 	flags := cmd.PersistentFlags()
@@ -99,6 +115,7 @@ func NewClientCommand() *cobra.Command {
 	flags.StringVar(&otelContext, "otel-context", "", "Open Telemetry context")
 	flags.StringVar(&host, "host", "", "GRPC server hostname")
 	flags.Uint16Var(&port, "port", 5051, "GRPC server port")
+	flags.Uint16Var(&timeout, "timeout", 0, "GRPC client timeout")
 	flags.StringVar(&headlessHost, "headless-host", "", "Alternative headless hostname to use for round robin connections")
 
 	cmd.AddCommand(NewCmdGet())
@@ -115,11 +132,8 @@ func NewClientCommand() *cobra.Command {
 }
 
 func ClientExecute() {
-	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 200*time.Second)
-	defer cancel()
-
+	ctx := context.Background()
 	cmd := NewClientCommand()
-
 	err := cmd.ExecuteContext(ctx)
 
 	client := client.FromContext(cmd.Context())