diff --git a/.agents/references/testing-guide.md b/.agents/references/testing-guide.md
index a7b5c128a2..4140bfc6e3 100644
--- a/.agents/references/testing-guide.md
+++ b/.agents/references/testing-guide.md
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ description: Testing frameworks, conventions, and commands for the MongoDB Java
 
 # Scala tests (all versions)
 ./gradlew scalaCheck
+
+# Custom test JVM heap size (default: 4g)
+./gradlew :driver-core:test -PtestMaxHeapSize=1g
 ```
 
 ## Module-Specific Notes
diff --git a/.evergreen/run-fle-on-demand-credential-test.sh b/.evergreen/run-fle-on-demand-credential-test.sh
index 6445b53c66..2a45db4d50 100755
--- a/.evergreen/run-fle-on-demand-credential-test.sh
+++ b/.evergreen/run-fle-on-demand-credential-test.sh
@@ -20,6 +20,11 @@ if ! which java ; then
     sudo apt install openjdk-17-jdk -y
 fi
 
+if ! which gpg ; then
+    echo "Installing gpg..."
+    sudo apt install gnupg -y
+fi
+
 export PROVIDER=${PROVIDER}
 
 echo "Running gradle version"
diff --git a/.evergreen/run-mongodb-aws-ecs-test.sh b/.evergreen/run-mongodb-aws-ecs-test.sh
index 63e4232839..eee2999813 100755
--- a/.evergreen/run-mongodb-aws-ecs-test.sh
+++ b/.evergreen/run-mongodb-aws-ecs-test.sh
@@ -36,6 +36,11 @@ if ! which git ; then
     apt install git -y
 fi
 
+if ! which gpg ; then
+    echo "Installing gpg..."
+    sudo apt install gnupg -y
+fi
+
 cd src
 
 RELATIVE_DIR_PATH="$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE:-$0}")"
diff --git a/.evergreen/run-mongodb-oidc-test.sh b/.evergreen/run-mongodb-oidc-test.sh
index 778b8962c0..e96f05a6f4 100755
--- a/.evergreen/run-mongodb-oidc-test.sh
+++ b/.evergreen/run-mongodb-oidc-test.sh
@@ -41,6 +41,11 @@ if ! which java ; then
     echo "Installed java."
 fi
 
+if ! which gpg ; then
+    echo "Installing gpg..."
+    sudo apt install gnupg -y
+fi
+
 which java
 export OIDC_TESTS_ENABLED=true
 
@@ -49,18 +54,21 @@ TO_REPLACE="mongodb://"
 REPLACEMENT="mongodb://$OIDC_ADMIN_USER:$OIDC_ADMIN_PWD@"
 ADMIN_URI=${MONGODB_URI/$TO_REPLACE/$REPLACEMENT}
 
+# Limit memory for the containers
+GRADLE_EXTRA_VARS="--no-daemon -Dorg.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx512m -PtestMaxHeapSize=1g"
+
 echo "Running gradle version"
-./gradlew -version
+./gradlew $GRADLE_EXTRA_VARS -version
 
 echo "Running gradle classes compile for driver-sync and driver-reactive-streams: ${FULL_DESCRIPTION}"
-./gradlew --parallel --stacktrace --info  \
+./gradlew $GRADLE_EXTRA_VARS --parallel --stacktrace --info  \
   driver-sync:classes driver-reactive-streams:classes
 
 echo "Running OIDC authentication tests against driver-sync: ${FULL_DESCRIPTION}"
-./gradlew -Dorg.mongodb.test.uri="$ADMIN_URI" \
+./gradlew $GRADLE_EXTRA_VARS -Dorg.mongodb.test.uri="$ADMIN_URI" \
   --stacktrace --debug --info \
   driver-sync:test --tests OidcAuthenticationProseTests --tests UnifiedAuthTest
 
 echo "Running OIDC authentication tests against driver-reactive-streams: ${FULL_DESCRIPTION}"
-./gradlew -Dorg.mongodb.test.uri="$ADMIN_URI" \
+./gradlew $GRADLE_EXTRA_VARS -Dorg.mongodb.test.uri="$ADMIN_URI" \
   --stacktrace --debug --info driver-reactive-streams:test --tests OidcAuthenticationAsyncProseTests
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8cc6afec7d..02e9bdf0e2 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -59,8 +59,12 @@ local.properties
 # per-developer Agent overrides
 .AGENTS.md
 .claude/settings.local.json
+.claude/docs
 CLAUDE.local.md
 
+# Eclipse annotation processing
+driver-benchmarks/.factorypath
+
 # bin build directories
 **/bin
 
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/conventions/testing-base.gradle.kts b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/conventions/testing-base.gradle.kts
index 4708c742d4..e368bab0a6 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/conventions/testing-base.gradle.kts
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/conventions/testing-base.gradle.kts
@@ -29,7 +29,8 @@ plugins {
 }
 
 tasks.withType<Test> {
-    maxHeapSize = "4g"
+    // Override with -PtestMaxHeapSize=<size> (e.g. "1g", "512m"). Defaults to 4g.
+    maxHeapSize = findProperty("testMaxHeapSize")?.toString() ?: "4g"
     maxParallelForks = 1
 
     useJUnitPlatform()