diff --git a/pingora-core/src/apps/mod.rs b/pingora-core/src/apps/mod.rs
index 93bea8b4..d19e2f7b 100644
--- a/pingora-core/src/apps/mod.rs
+++ b/pingora-core/src/apps/mod.rs
@@ -292,6 +292,7 @@ where
             let mut result = self.process_new_http(session, shutdown).await;
             while let Some((stream, persistent_settings)) = result.map(|r| r.consume()) {
                 let mut session = ServerSession::new_http1(stream);
+                session.set_reused(true);
                 if let Some(persistent_settings) = persistent_settings {
                     persistent_settings.apply_to_session(&mut session);
                 }
diff --git a/pingora-core/src/protocols/http/server.rs b/pingora-core/src/protocols/http/server.rs
index bdf2bdc5..71c0ebaa 100644
--- a/pingora-core/src/protocols/http/server.rs
+++ b/pingora-core/src/protocols/http/server.rs
@@ -318,6 +318,22 @@ impl Session {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Set whether this session is on a reused keepalive connection.
+    pub fn set_reused(&mut self, reused: bool) {
+        if let Self::H1(s) = self {
+            s.set_reused(reused);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Whether this session is on a reused keepalive connection.
+    pub fn is_reused(&self) -> bool {
+        if let Self::H1(s) = self {
+            s.is_reused()
+        } else {
+            false
+        }
+    }
+
     /// Set user-defined context to carry across requests on the same keepalive connection.
     ///
     /// Only applicable for HTTP/1.x connections; noop for h2, subrequest, and custom sessions.
diff --git a/pingora-core/src/protocols/http/v1/server.rs b/pingora-core/src/protocols/http/v1/server.rs
index 9144c6e5..952e8c09 100644
--- a/pingora-core/src/protocols/http/v1/server.rs
+++ b/pingora-core/src/protocols/http/v1/server.rs
@@ -128,6 +128,8 @@ pub struct HttpSession {
     connection_user_context: Option<Box<dyn Any + Send + Sync>>,
     /// Whether the client has closed the TCP connection (sent FIN / read returned 0).
     half_closed: bool,
+    /// Whether this session is on a reused keepalive connection.
+    is_reused: bool,
     /// When true (default), a client close after the request body is surfaced as a
     /// `ConnectionClosed` error so the proxy aborts immediately. When false, the
     /// close is tolerated and `read_body_or_idle` stays pending so the proxy can
@@ -179,6 +181,7 @@ impl HttpSession {
             keepalive_reuses_remaining: None,
             connection_user_context: None,
             half_closed: false,
+            is_reused: false,
             abort_on_close: true,
             proxy_tasks_enabled: false,
         }
@@ -1102,6 +1105,16 @@ impl HttpSession {
         self.half_closed
     }
 
+    /// Set whether this session is on a reused keepalive connection.
+    pub fn set_reused(&mut self, reused: bool) {
+        self.is_reused = reused;
+    }
+
+    /// Whether this session is on a reused keepalive connection.
+    pub fn is_reused(&self) -> bool {
+        self.is_reused
+    }
+
     /// Return the raw bytes of the request header.
     pub fn get_headers_raw_bytes(&self) -> Bytes {
         self.raw_header.as_ref().unwrap().get_bytes(&self.buf)
diff --git a/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/boringssl_openssl/stream.rs b/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/boringssl_openssl/stream.rs
index 894244c0..49e0f59a 100644
--- a/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/boringssl_openssl/stream.rs
+++ b/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/boringssl_openssl/stream.rs
@@ -209,7 +209,11 @@ impl SslDigest {
             None => (Vec::new(), None, None),
         };
 
-        SslDigest::new(cipher, ssl.version_str(), org, sn, cert_digest)
+        let server_name = ssl
+            .servername(ssl::NameType::HOST_NAME)
+            .map(|s| s.to_string());
+
+        SslDigest::new(cipher, ssl.version_str(), org, sn, cert_digest, server_name)
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/digest.rs b/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/digest.rs
index 58ecf3b6..d0c6b314 100644
--- a/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/digest.rs
+++ b/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/digest.rs
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ pub struct SslDigest {
     pub serial_number: Option<String>,
     /// The digest of the peer's certificate
     pub cert_digest: Vec<u8>,
+    /// The SNI (Server Name Indication) of this connection
+    pub server_name: Option<String>,
     /// The user-defined TLS data
     pub extension: SslDigestExtension,
 }
@@ -43,6 +45,7 @@ impl SslDigest {
         organization: Option<String>,
         serial_number: Option<String>,
         cert_digest: Vec<u8>,
+        server_name: Option<String>,
     ) -> Self
     where
         S: Into<Cow<'static, str>>,
@@ -53,6 +56,7 @@ impl SslDigest {
             organization,
             serial_number,
             cert_digest,
+            server_name,
             extension: SslDigestExtension::default(),
         }
     }
diff --git a/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/rustls/stream.rs b/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/rustls/stream.rs
index f2a0ddae..1b41f4c8 100644
--- a/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/rustls/stream.rs
+++ b/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/rustls/stream.rs
@@ -390,7 +390,19 @@ impl SslDigest {
             .map(|(organization, serial)| (organization, Some(serial)))
             .unwrap_or_default();
 
-        SslDigest::new(cipher, version, organization, serial_number, cert_digest)
+        let server_name = match stream {
+            RusTlsStream::Server(s) => s.get_ref().1.server_name().map(|s| s.to_string()),
+            RusTlsStream::Client(_) => None,
+        };
+
+        SslDigest::new(
+            cipher,
+            version,
+            organization,
+            serial_number,
+            cert_digest,
+            server_name,
+        )
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/s2n/stream.rs b/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/s2n/stream.rs
index 3f12ea44..92965045 100644
--- a/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/s2n/stream.rs
+++ b/pingora-core/src/protocols/tls/s2n/stream.rs
@@ -307,12 +307,15 @@ impl SslDigest {
             }
         }
 
+        let server_name = conn.server_name().map(|s| s.to_string());
+
         SslDigest::new(
             cipher,
             version,
             organization,
             serial_number,
             cert_digest.unwrap_or_default(),
+            server_name,
         )
     }
 }
diff --git a/pingora-core/tests/test_basic.rs b/pingora-core/tests/test_basic.rs
index ae6ee810..e1a6d6aa 100644
--- a/pingora-core/tests/test_basic.rs
+++ b/pingora-core/tests/test_basic.rs
@@ -103,3 +103,29 @@ async fn test_h2c_tcp_still_works() {
     assert_eq!(res.status(), reqwest::StatusCode::OK);
     assert_eq!(res.version(), reqwest::Version::HTTP_11);
 }
+
+#[cfg(feature = "any_tls")]
+#[tokio::test]
+async fn test_sni_digest_extraction() {
+    utils::init();
+
+    let client = reqwest::Client::builder()
+        .danger_accept_invalid_certs(true)
+        .resolve_to_addrs(
+            "myapp.example.com",
+            &[std::net::SocketAddr::from(([127, 0, 0, 1], 6146))],
+        )
+        .build()
+        .unwrap();
+
+    let res = client
+        .get("https://myapp.example.com:6146")
+        .send()
+        .await
+        .unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(res.status(), reqwest::StatusCode::OK);
+    assert_eq!(
+        res.headers().get("x-sni").unwrap().to_str().unwrap(),
+        "myapp.example.com"
+    );
+}
diff --git a/pingora-core/tests/utils/mod.rs b/pingora-core/tests/utils/mod.rs
index a8d526b7..61ea7432 100644
--- a/pingora-core/tests/utils/mod.rs
+++ b/pingora-core/tests/utils/mod.rs
@@ -53,10 +53,17 @@ impl ServeHttp for EchoApp {
             }
         };
 
+        let sni = http_stream
+            .digest()
+            .and_then(|d| d.ssl_digest.as_ref())
+            .and_then(|s| s.server_name.as_deref())
+            .unwrap_or("none");
+
         Response::builder()
             .status(StatusCode::OK)
             .header(http::header::CONTENT_TYPE, "text/html")
             .header(http::header::CONTENT_LENGTH, body.len())
+            .header("x-sni", sni)
             .body(body.to_vec())
             .unwrap()
     }
diff --git a/pingora-http/src/lib.rs b/pingora-http/src/lib.rs
index 954be81b..e9d1b08d 100644
--- a/pingora-http/src/lib.rs
+++ b/pingora-http/src/lib.rs
@@ -258,18 +258,16 @@ impl RequestHeader {
     /// This API is to allow supporting non UTF-8 cases.
     pub fn set_raw_path(&mut self, path: &[u8]) -> Result<()> {
         if let Ok(p) = std::str::from_utf8(path) {
-            let uri = Uri::builder()
-                .path_and_query(p)
-                .build()
+            let uri = p
+                .parse::<Uri>()
                 .explain_err(InvalidHTTPHeader, |_| format!("invalid uri {}", p))?;
             self.base.uri = uri;
             // keep raw_path empty, no need to store twice
         } else {
             // put a valid utf-8 path into base for read only access
             let lossy_str = String::from_utf8_lossy(path);
-            let uri = Uri::builder()
-                .path_and_query(lossy_str.as_ref())
-                .build()
+            let uri = lossy_str
+                .parse::<Uri>()
                 .explain_err(InvalidHTTPHeader, |_| format!("invalid uri {}", lossy_str))?;
             self.base.uri = uri;
             self.raw_path_fallback = path.to_vec();
@@ -297,15 +295,13 @@ impl RequestHeader {
     pub fn raw_path(&self) -> &[u8] {
         if !self.raw_path_fallback.is_empty() {
             &self.raw_path_fallback
+        } else if let Some(pq) = self.base.uri.path_and_query() {
+            pq.as_str().as_bytes()
         } else {
-            // Url should always be set
             self.base
                 .uri
-                .path_and_query()
-                .as_ref()
-                .unwrap()
-                .as_str()
-                .as_bytes()
+                .authority()
+                .map_or(b"", |a| a.as_str().as_bytes())
         }
     }
 
@@ -771,7 +767,7 @@ mod tests {
 
     #[test]
     fn test_single_header() {
-        let mut req = RequestHeader::build("GET", b"\\", None).unwrap();
+        let mut req = RequestHeader::build("GET", b"/", None).unwrap();
         req.insert_header("foo", "bar").unwrap();
         req.insert_header("FoO", "Bar").unwrap();
         let mut buf: Vec<u8> = vec![];
@@ -833,7 +829,7 @@ mod tests {
 
     #[test]
     fn test_multiple_header() {
-        let mut req = RequestHeader::build("GET", b"\\", None).unwrap();
+        let mut req = RequestHeader::build("GET", b"/", None).unwrap();
         req.append_header("FoO", "Bar").unwrap();
         req.append_header("fOO", "bar").unwrap();
         req.append_header("BAZ", "baR").unwrap();
diff --git a/pingora-proxy/src/lib.rs b/pingora-proxy/src/lib.rs
index 4ce9e5e5..f1284b95 100644
--- a/pingora-proxy/src/lib.rs
+++ b/pingora-proxy/src/lib.rs
@@ -233,15 +233,24 @@ where
         SV: ProxyHttp + Send + Sync,
         SV::CTX: Send + Sync,
     {
-        // phase 1 read request header
+        // 1. Lock-free check first: if already shutting down, abort immediately
+        if self.shutdown_flag.load(Ordering::Acquire) {
+            return None;
+        }
 
-        let res = tokio::select! {
-            biased; // biased select is cheaper, and we don't want to drop already buffered requests
-            res = downstream_session.read_request() => { res }
-            _ = self.shutdown.notified() => {
-                // service shutting down, dropping the connection to stop more req from coming in
-                return None;
+        // 2. Only select on the shutdown Notify primitive if the connection is reused (keepalive).
+        // For new connections, the client will send the request immediately, avoiding registration lock contention.
+        let res = if downstream_session.is_reused() {
+            tokio::select! {
+                biased; // biased select is cheaper, and we don't want to drop already buffered requests
+                res = downstream_session.read_request() => { res }
+                _ = self.shutdown.notified() => {
+                    // service shutting down, dropping the connection to stop more req from coming in
+                    return None;
+                }
             }
+        } else {
+            downstream_session.read_request().await
         };
         match res {
             Ok(true) => {
diff --git a/pingora-rustls/src/lib.rs b/pingora-rustls/src/lib.rs
index deb0c88b..d8916b57 100644
--- a/pingora-rustls/src/lib.rs
+++ b/pingora-rustls/src/lib.rs
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ pub use rustls::server::danger::{ClientCertVerified, ClientCertVerifier};
 pub use rustls::server::{ClientCertVerifierBuilder, WebPkiClientVerifier};
 pub use rustls::{
     client::WebPkiServerVerifier, crypto::CryptoProvider, version, CertificateError, ClientConfig,
-    DigitallySignedStruct, Error as RusTlsError, KeyLogFile, RootCertStore, ServerConfig,
-    SignatureScheme, Stream,
+    Connection, DigitallySignedStruct, Error as RusTlsError, KeyLogFile, RootCertStore,
+    ServerConfig, SignatureScheme, Stream,
 };
 
 /// Install the default `ring` CryptoProvider for rustls.