diff --git a/tests/test_http_client.py b/tests/test_http_client.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c5f9ec1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_http_client.py
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+"""HTTPClient had zero test coverage before this: connect() hardcoded
+http2=True in the httpx.AsyncClient(...) call, which raises ImportError
+unless the optional 'h2' package is installed -- never declared as a
+dependency anywhere, so the default constructor was unusable out of the
+box for anyone who only installed velocix's declared requirements.
+"""
+
+import asyncio
+
+from velocix.http.client import HTTPClient
+
+
+def _run(coro):
+    return asyncio.run(coro)
+
+
+def test_default_client_connects_without_h2_installed():
+    async def scenario():
+        client = HTTPClient()
+        await client.connect()
+        assert not client.is_closed
+        await client.close()
+
+    _run(scenario())
+
+
+def test_default_client_as_context_manager():
+    async def scenario():
+        async with HTTPClient() as client:
+            assert not client.is_closed
+
+    _run(scenario())
+
+
+def test_http2_is_opt_in():
+    async def scenario():
+        client = HTTPClient(http2=False)
+        await client.connect()
+        await client.close()
+
+    _run(scenario())
diff --git a/velocix/http/client.py b/velocix/http/client.py
index 4f855ae..156239f 100644
--- a/velocix/http/client.py
+++ b/velocix/http/client.py
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ class HTTPClient:
         "_limits",
         "_verify_ssl",
         "_follow_redirects",
+        "_http2",
     )
 
     def __init__(
@@ -60,6 +61,7 @@ def __init__(
         max_keepalive: int = 20,
         verify_ssl: bool = True,
         follow_redirects: bool = True,
+        http2: bool = False,
     ) -> None:
         self._client: httpx.AsyncClient | None = None
         self._timeout = timeout
@@ -71,6 +73,11 @@ def __init__(
         )
         self._verify_ssl = verify_ssl
         self._follow_redirects = follow_redirects
+        # Opt-in: httpx raises ImportError from AsyncClient(http2=True) unless
+        # the optional 'h2' package is installed, so defaulting this to True
+        # made HTTPClient unusable out of the box for anyone who only
+        # installed velocix's declared dependencies (just httpx, no h2).
+        self._http2 = http2
 
     async def __aenter__(self) -> "HTTPClient":
         await self.connect()
@@ -94,7 +101,7 @@ async def connect(self) -> None:
             limits=self._limits,
             verify=self._verify_ssl,
             follow_redirects=self._follow_redirects,
-            http2=True,  # Enable HTTP/2 support
+            http2=self._http2,
         )
 
     async def close(self) -> None: