diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Architecture/DbContextEncapsulationTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Architecture/DbContextEncapsulationTests.cs
index eb71d71..fb5505e 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Architecture/DbContextEncapsulationTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Architecture/DbContextEncapsulationTests.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 using ExpertiseApi.Data;
-using FluentAssertions;
 
 namespace ExpertiseApi.Tests.Architecture;
 
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests.csproj b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests.csproj
index 3d4ec01..da95eb6 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests.csproj
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests.csproj
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
       the original FluentAssertions package (which is now Xceed-commercial v8+)
       so it cannot re-land here.
     -->
-    <PackageReference Include="AwesomeAssertions" Version="8.*" />
+    <PackageReference Include="AwesomeAssertions" Version="9.*" />
     <PackageReference Include="xunit" Version="2.9.*" />
     <PackageReference Include="xunit.runner.visualstudio" Version="3.1.*">
       <IncludeAssets>runtime; build; native; contentfiles; analyzers; buildtransitive</IncludeAssets>
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/GlobalUsings.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/GlobalUsings.cs
index 3499391..a965a15 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/GlobalUsings.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/GlobalUsings.cs
@@ -1,2 +1,6 @@
 global using Xunit;
 global using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
+// AwesomeAssertions 9.x renamed the namespace (`FluentAssertions` →
+// `AwesomeAssertions`); hoisting the import here lets every test file drop
+// its per-file using and stay namespace-agnostic at the call sites.
+global using AwesomeAssertions;
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/ApprovalWorkflowTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/ApprovalWorkflowTests.cs
index 698cf97..e1a9277 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/ApprovalWorkflowTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/ApprovalWorkflowTests.cs
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 using ExpertiseApi.Data;
 using ExpertiseApi.Models;
 using ExpertiseApi.Tests.Infrastructure;
-using FluentAssertions;
 using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
 
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/AuthEndpointTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/AuthEndpointTests.cs
index 5cc5d7d..3eeca45 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/AuthEndpointTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/AuthEndpointTests.cs
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 using System.Net;
 using System.Net.Http.Headers;
 using ExpertiseApi.Tests.Infrastructure;
-using FluentAssertions;
 
 namespace ExpertiseApi.Tests.Integration;
 
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/ExpertiseEndpointTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/ExpertiseEndpointTests.cs
index 7b3d14d..f2d6311 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/ExpertiseEndpointTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/ExpertiseEndpointTests.cs
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 using ExpertiseApi.Data;
 using ExpertiseApi.Models;
 using ExpertiseApi.Tests.Infrastructure;
-using FluentAssertions;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
 
 namespace ExpertiseApi.Tests.Integration;
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/HealthEndpointTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/HealthEndpointTests.cs
index f927f78..e6bd3d4 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/HealthEndpointTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/HealthEndpointTests.cs
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 using System.Net;
 using System.Net.Http.Json;
 using ExpertiseApi.Tests.Infrastructure;
-using FluentAssertions;
 
 namespace ExpertiseApi.Tests.Integration;
 
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/JwtAuthenticationTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/JwtAuthenticationTests.cs
index e4c1fa3..d21fb5e 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/JwtAuthenticationTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/JwtAuthenticationTests.cs
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 using System.Net;
 using System.Net.Http.Headers;
 using ExpertiseApi.Tests.Infrastructure;
-using FluentAssertions;
 
 namespace ExpertiseApi.Tests.Integration;
 
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/MetricsEndpointTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/MetricsEndpointTests.cs
index 2d430e1..7cf4679 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/MetricsEndpointTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/MetricsEndpointTests.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 using System.Net;
 using ExpertiseApi.Tests.Infrastructure;
-using FluentAssertions;
 
 namespace ExpertiseApi.Tests.Integration;
 
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/MigrationReversibilityTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/MigrationReversibilityTests.cs
index 731601b..1e2b9dc 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/MigrationReversibilityTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/MigrationReversibilityTests.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 using ExpertiseApi.Auth;
 using ExpertiseApi.Data;
-using FluentAssertions;
 using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
 using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Infrastructure;
 using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Migrations;
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/SearchEndpointTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/SearchEndpointTests.cs
index 2d86e11..c995fba 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/SearchEndpointTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/SearchEndpointTests.cs
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 using ExpertiseApi.Data;
 using ExpertiseApi.Models;
 using ExpertiseApi.Tests.Infrastructure;
-using FluentAssertions;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
 
 namespace ExpertiseApi.Tests.Integration;
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/TenantIsolationTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/TenantIsolationTests.cs
index 10a0ecd..2c1f52c 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/TenantIsolationTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Integration/TenantIsolationTests.cs
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 using ExpertiseApi.Data;
 using ExpertiseApi.Models;
 using ExpertiseApi.Tests.Infrastructure;
-using FluentAssertions;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
 
 namespace ExpertiseApi.Tests.Integration;
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/ApiKeyAuthHandlerLoggingTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/ApiKeyAuthHandlerLoggingTests.cs
index 72beb50..91c2f1e 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/ApiKeyAuthHandlerLoggingTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/ApiKeyAuthHandlerLoggingTests.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 using System.Text.Encodings.Web;
 using ExpertiseApi.Auth;
-using FluentAssertions;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authentication;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/ApiKeyAuthHandlerTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/ApiKeyAuthHandlerTests.cs
index b6c0474..a7d96e0 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/ApiKeyAuthHandlerTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/ApiKeyAuthHandlerTests.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 using System.Security.Cryptography;
 using System.Text;
-using FluentAssertions;
 
 namespace ExpertiseApi.Tests.Unit;
 
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/AuthModeStartupGuardTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/AuthModeStartupGuardTests.cs
index 9a370bf..e280810 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/AuthModeStartupGuardTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/AuthModeStartupGuardTests.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 using ExpertiseApi.Auth;
-using FluentAssertions;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;
 
 namespace ExpertiseApi.Tests.Unit;
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/CosineDistanceTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/CosineDistanceTests.cs
index f21ab91..1c15496 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/CosineDistanceTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/CosineDistanceTests.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 using ExpertiseApi.Data;
-using FluentAssertions;
 
 namespace ExpertiseApi.Tests.Unit;
 
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/DeduplicationServiceTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/DeduplicationServiceTests.cs
index 6be1870..6e147c3 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/DeduplicationServiceTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/DeduplicationServiceTests.cs
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 using ExpertiseApi.Models;
 using ExpertiseApi.Services;
 using ExpertiseApi.Tests.Infrastructure;
-using FluentAssertions;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
 using NSubstitute;
 using Pgvector;
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/IntegrityHashServiceTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/IntegrityHashServiceTests.cs
index 4b6621e..711af35 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/IntegrityHashServiceTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/IntegrityHashServiceTests.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 using ExpertiseApi.Models;
 using ExpertiseApi.Services;
-using FluentAssertions;
 
 namespace ExpertiseApi.Tests.Unit;
 
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/JwtTenantContextEventsTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/JwtTenantContextEventsTests.cs
index 37d26a7..dc4037e 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/JwtTenantContextEventsTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/JwtTenantContextEventsTests.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 using ExpertiseApi.Auth;
-using FluentAssertions;
 
 namespace ExpertiseApi.Tests.Unit;
 
diff --git a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/ScopeAuthorizationHandlerTests.cs b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/ScopeAuthorizationHandlerTests.cs
index 8afde28..6a550a0 100644
--- a/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/ScopeAuthorizationHandlerTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ExpertiseApi.Tests/Unit/ScopeAuthorizationHandlerTests.cs
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 using System.Security.Claims;
 using ExpertiseApi.Auth;
-using FluentAssertions;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authorization;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;