diff --git a/DEVELOPMENT.md b/DEVELOPMENT.md
index fb69a56..d9c7c9d 100644
--- a/DEVELOPMENT.md
+++ b/DEVELOPMENT.md
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ See [Effective Dart: Style](https://dart.dev/effective-dart/style) for general r
 Controllers live in `lib/controllers/` and provide a source that exposes data and logic via Riverpod providers, allowing other parts of the code to watch state changes with ref.watch (`ref.watch(MyController.provider)`), access the current value with ref.read (`ref.read(MyController.provider)`), and run helper methods on those classes using the notifier:
 
 ```dart
-ref.watch(MyController.provider.notifier).helperMethod()
+ref.read(MyController.provider.notifier).helperMethod()
 ```
 
 We use an object oriented style for controllers, where `provider` is a static member on the controller class. E.g.
diff --git a/lib/controllers/client.dart b/lib/controllers/client.dart
index 8cada03..c783f0f 100644
--- a/lib/controllers/client.dart
+++ b/lib/controllers/client.dart
@@ -91,19 +91,25 @@ class ClientController extends AsyncNotifier<int> {
     callback,
   ) async {
     final bufferPointer = data.toGomuksBufferPtr();
-    final handle = await future;
-    final response = await Isolate.run(
-      () => callback(handle, bufferPointer.ref),
-    );
 
-    calloc.free(bufferPointer);
+    try {
+      final handle = await future;
 
-    final json = response.buf.toJson();
-    if (response.command.cast<Utf8>().toDartString() == "error") {
-      throw json;
+      final response = await Isolate.run(
+        () => callback(handle, bufferPointer.ref),
+      );
+
+      final json = response.buf.toJson();
+
+      if (response.command.cast<Utf8>().toDartString() == "error") {
+        throw json;
+      }
+
+      return json;
+    } finally {
+      calloc.free(bufferPointer.ref.base);
+      calloc.free(bufferPointer);
     }
-
-    return json;
   }
 
   Future<(Event, RoomMetadata)> handlePush(Map<String, dynamic> data) async {
@@ -250,9 +256,11 @@ class ClientController extends AsyncNotifier<int> {
   Future<void> logout() => _sendCommand("logout");
 
   Future<void> markRead(Room room) async {
+    if (room.timeline.isEmpty || room.metadata == null) return;
     final eventRowId = room.timeline[room.timeline.keys.reduce(max)];
     final event = eventRowId == null ? null : room.events[eventRowId];
-    if (event == null || room.metadata == null) return;
+
+    if (event == null) return;
 
     await _sendCommand("mark_read", {
       "room_id": room.metadata!.id,
diff --git a/lib/controllers/room_chat.dart b/lib/controllers/room_chat.dart
index aeeb7f2..7b076f7 100644
--- a/lib/controllers/room_chat.dart
+++ b/lib/controllers/room_chat.dart
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ class RoomChatController(final String roomId)
     if (state.isLoading) return;
 
     state = .loading();
+
     final timelineKeys = ref
         .read(RoomsController.provider.select((value) => value[roomId]))
         ?.timeline