diff --git a/js/spec/binary-client.spec.ts b/js/spec/binary-client.spec.ts
index 128121c..c28ff4d 100644
--- a/js/spec/binary-client.spec.ts
+++ b/js/spec/binary-client.spec.ts
@@ -113,21 +113,21 @@ describe("binary client operations", () => {
   });
 
   it("can gc random-projects and return the count cleaned up", async () => {
-    const result = await binaryClient.gcRandomProjects(90, 2, -1, { timeout: 90 });
+    const result = await binaryClient.gcRandomProjects(90, 2, -1, { timeout: 1_000 });
 
     expect(JSON.stringify(result)).toMatch('{"count":0}');
     expect(result.count).toStrictEqual(0);
   });
 
   it("can gc a specific project and return the count cleaned up", async () => {
-    const result = await binaryClient.gcProject(1, 2, -1, { timeout: 90 });
+    const result = await binaryClient.gcProject(1, 2, -1, { timeout: 1_000 });
 
     expect(JSON.stringify(result)).toMatch('{"count":0}');
     expect(result.count).toStrictEqual(0);
   });
 
   it("can gc contents and successfully return the count of contents cleaned up", async () => {
-    const result = await binaryClient.gcContents(90, { timeout: 90 });
+    const result = await binaryClient.gcContents(90, { timeout: 1_000 });
 
     expect(JSON.stringify(result)).toMatch('{"count":0}');
     expect(result.count).toStrictEqual(0);
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ describe("binary client operations", () => {
     await grpcClient.newProject(project, []);
 
     const stream = grpcClient.updateObjects(project);
-    for (let i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
+    for (let i = 0; i < 30; i++) {
       const content = encodeContent(crypto.randomBytes(512 * 1024).toString("hex"));
       await stream.send({
         path: `hello-${i}.txt`,
@@ -152,9 +152,9 @@ describe("binary client operations", () => {
     await stream.complete();
 
     const dir = tmpdir();
-    const rebuildPromise = binaryClient.rebuild(project, null, dir, { timeout: 1 });
+    const rebuildPromise = binaryClient.rebuild(project, null, dir, { timeout: 25 });
     await expect(rebuildPromise).rejects.toThrow(/context deadline exceeded/);
-  }, 20_000);
+  });
 });
 
 describe("Gadget file match tests", () => {
diff --git a/pkg/cli/client.go b/pkg/cli/client.go
index 7da1125..8cf41ff 100644
--- a/pkg/cli/client.go
+++ b/pkg/cli/client.go
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ func NewClientCommand() *cobra.Command {
 		otelContext  string
 		host         string
 		port         uint16
-		timeout      uint16
+		timeout      uint
 		headlessHost string
 	)
 
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ func NewClientCommand() *cobra.Command {
 
 			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "timeout: %v\n", timeout)
 			if timeout != 0 {
-				ctx, cancel = context.WithTimeout(cmd.Context(), time.Duration(timeout)*time.Second)
+				ctx, cancel = context.WithTimeout(cmd.Context(), time.Duration(timeout)*time.Millisecond)
 				fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "duration: %v\n", time.Duration(timeout)*time.Second)
 			}
 
@@ -115,7 +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.UintVar(&timeout, "timeout", 0, "GRPC client timeout (ms)")
 	flags.StringVar(&headlessHost, "headless-host", "", "Alternative headless hostname to use for round robin connections")
 
 	cmd.AddCommand(NewCmdGet())