diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
index 97bce11..4e31c15 100644
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  ".": "0.23.0"
+  ".": "0.23.1"
 }
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2cd5fac..682f1a1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,20 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 0.23.1 (2026-02-05)
+
+Full Changelog: [v0.23.0...v0.23.1](https://github.com/perplexityai/perplexity-node/compare/v0.23.0...v0.23.1)
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* **client:** avoid memory leak with abort signals ([ec22b56](https://github.com/perplexityai/perplexity-node/commit/ec22b560c4a668a49dc5c8e2bf0fa69a155ccb93))
+* **client:** avoid removing abort listener too early ([12e45f7](https://github.com/perplexityai/perplexity-node/commit/12e45f70f41991f4c0385886a9dc407173c8bc7c))
+
+
+### Chores
+
+* **client:** do not parse responses with empty content-length ([31c81b4](https://github.com/perplexityai/perplexity-node/commit/31c81b49e1bad9d4e287eeb455b202398f4ec8ef))
+* **client:** restructure abort controller binding ([c93217d](https://github.com/perplexityai/perplexity-node/commit/c93217db4a28bea06115b20cd21557fdf989ddd1))
+
 ## 0.23.0 (2026-01-27)
 
 Full Changelog: [v0.22.0...v0.23.0](https://github.com/perplexityai/perplexity-node/compare/v0.22.0...v0.23.0)
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 814f0fd..f515c5a 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@perplexity-ai/perplexity_ai",
-  "version": "0.23.0",
+  "version": "0.23.1",
   "description": "The official TypeScript library for the Perplexity API",
   "author": "Perplexity <api@perplexity.ai>",
   "types": "dist/index.d.ts",
diff --git a/src/client.ts b/src/client.ts
index 11dd6e3..f2a53fa 100644
--- a/src/client.ts
+++ b/src/client.ts
@@ -508,9 +508,10 @@ export class Perplexity {
     controller: AbortController,
   ): Promise<Response> {
     const { signal, method, ...options } = init || {};
-    if (signal) signal.addEventListener('abort', () => controller.abort());
+    const abort = this._makeAbort(controller);
+    if (signal) signal.addEventListener('abort', abort, { once: true });
 
-    const timeout = setTimeout(() => controller.abort(), ms);
+    const timeout = setTimeout(abort, ms);
 
     const isReadableBody =
       ((globalThis as any).ReadableStream && options.body instanceof (globalThis as any).ReadableStream) ||
@@ -677,6 +678,12 @@ export class Perplexity {
     return headers.values;
   }
 
+  private _makeAbort(controller: AbortController) {
+    // note: we can't just inline this method inside `fetchWithTimeout()` because then the closure
+    //       would capture all request options, and cause a memory leak.
+    return () => controller.abort();
+  }
+
   private buildBody({ options: { body, headers: rawHeaders } }: { options: FinalRequestOptions }): {
     bodyHeaders: HeadersLike;
     body: BodyInit | undefined;
diff --git a/src/internal/parse.ts b/src/internal/parse.ts
index a9270fb..323a055 100644
--- a/src/internal/parse.ts
+++ b/src/internal/parse.ts
@@ -43,6 +43,12 @@ export async function defaultParseResponse<T>(client: Perplexity, props: APIResp
     const mediaType = contentType?.split(';')[0]?.trim();
     const isJSON = mediaType?.includes('application/json') || mediaType?.endsWith('+json');
     if (isJSON) {
+      const contentLength = response.headers.get('content-length');
+      if (contentLength === '0') {
+        // if there is no content we can't do anything
+        return undefined as T;
+      }
+
       const json = await response.json();
       return json as T;
     }
diff --git a/src/version.ts b/src/version.ts
index d77fad4..40afe2f 100644
--- a/src/version.ts
+++ b/src/version.ts
@@ -1 +1 @@
-export const VERSION = '0.23.0'; // x-release-please-version
+export const VERSION = '0.23.1'; // x-release-please-version