diff --git a/client/connection.go b/client/connection.go
index e0bbc47..f98bc68 100644
--- a/client/connection.go
+++ b/client/connection.go
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ type Conn struct {
 	out         chan string
 	connected   bool
 
-	// Control channel and WaitGroup for goroutines
-	die chan struct{}
+	// CancelFunc and WaitGroup for goroutines
+	die context.CancelFunc
 	wg  sync.WaitGroup
 
 	// Internal counters for flood protection
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ func (conn *Conn) initialise() {
 	conn.sock = nil
 	conn.in = make(chan *Line, 32)
 	conn.out = make(chan string, 32)
-	conn.die = make(chan struct{})
+	conn.die = nil
 	if conn.st != nil {
 		conn.st.Wipe()
 	}
@@ -404,24 +404,25 @@ func (conn *Conn) internalConnect(ctx context.Context) error {
 		conn.sock = s
 	}
 
-	conn.postConnect(true)
+	conn.postConnect(ctx, true)
 	conn.connected = true
 	return nil
 }
 
 // postConnect performs post-connection setup, for ease of testing.
-func (conn *Conn) postConnect(start bool) {
+func (conn *Conn) postConnect(ctx context.Context, start bool) {
 	conn.io = bufio.NewReadWriter(
 		bufio.NewReader(conn.sock),
 		bufio.NewWriter(conn.sock))
 	if start {
+		ctx, conn.die = context.WithCancel(ctx)
 		conn.wg.Add(3)
-		go conn.send()
+		go conn.send(ctx)
 		go conn.recv()
-		go conn.runLoop()
+		go conn.runLoop(ctx)
 		if conn.cfg.PingFreq > 0 {
 			conn.wg.Add(1)
-			go conn.ping()
+			go conn.ping(ctx)
 		}
 	}
 }
@@ -434,8 +435,8 @@ func hasPort(s string) bool {
 
 // send is started as a goroutine after a connection is established.
 // It shuttles data from the output channel to write(), and is killed
-// when Conn.die is closed.
-func (conn *Conn) send() {
+// when the context is cancelled.
+func (conn *Conn) send(ctx context.Context) {
 	for {
 		select {
 		case line := <-conn.out:
@@ -446,7 +447,7 @@ func (conn *Conn) send() {
 				conn.Close()
 				return
 			}
-		case <-conn.die:
+		case <-ctx.Done():
 			// control channel closed, bail out
 			conn.wg.Done()
 			return
@@ -483,14 +484,14 @@ func (conn *Conn) recv() {
 
 // ping is started as a goroutine after a connection is established, as
 // long as Config.PingFreq >0. It pings the server every PingFreq seconds.
-func (conn *Conn) ping() {
+func (conn *Conn) ping(ctx context.Context) {
 	defer conn.wg.Done()
 	tick := time.NewTicker(conn.cfg.PingFreq)
 	for {
 		select {
 		case <-tick.C:
 			conn.Ping(fmt.Sprintf("%d", time.Now().UnixNano()))
-		case <-conn.die:
+		case <-ctx.Done():
 			// control channel closed, bail out
 			tick.Stop()
 			return
@@ -501,13 +502,13 @@ func (conn *Conn) ping() {
 // runLoop is started as a goroutine after a connection is established.
 // It pulls Lines from the input channel and dispatches them to any
 // handlers that have been registered for that IRC verb.
-func (conn *Conn) runLoop() {
+func (conn *Conn) runLoop(ctx context.Context) {
 	defer conn.wg.Done()
 	for {
 		select {
 		case line := <-conn.in:
 			conn.dispatch(line)
-		case <-conn.die:
+		case <-ctx.Done():
 			// control channel closed, bail out
 			return
 		}
@@ -572,7 +573,9 @@ func (conn *Conn) Close() error {
 	logging.Info("irc.Close(): Disconnected from server.")
 	conn.connected = false
 	err := conn.sock.Close()
-	close(conn.die)
+	if conn.die != nil {
+		conn.die()
+	}
 	// Drain both in and out channels to avoid a deadlock if the buffers
 	// have filled. See TestSendDeadlockOnFullBuffer in connection_test.go.
 	conn.drainIn()
diff --git a/client/connection_test.go b/client/connection_test.go
index e56df44..b4f3145 100644
--- a/client/connection_test.go
+++ b/client/connection_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package client
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"runtime"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
@@ -54,6 +55,7 @@ func setUp(t *testing.T, start ...bool) (*Conn, *testState) {
 	nc := MockNetConn(t)
 	c := SimpleClient("test", "test", "Testing IRC")
 	c.initialise()
+	ctx := context.Background()
 
 	c.st = st
 	c.sock = nc
@@ -61,7 +63,7 @@ func setUp(t *testing.T, start ...bool) (*Conn, *testState) {
 	c.connected = true
 	// If a second argument is passed to setUp, we tell postConnect not to
 	// start the various goroutines that shuttle data around.
-	c.postConnect(len(start) == 0)
+	c.postConnect(ctx, len(start) == 0)
 	// Sleep 1ms to allow background routines to start.
 	<-time.After(time.Millisecond)
 
@@ -166,7 +168,7 @@ func TestClientAndStateTracking(t *testing.T) {
 	ctrl.Finish()
 }
 
-func TestSendExitsOnDie(t *testing.T) {
+func TestSendExitsOnCancel(t *testing.T) {
 	// Passing a second value to setUp stops goroutines from starting
 	c, s := setUp(t, false)
 	defer s.tearDown()
@@ -178,10 +180,11 @@ func TestSendExitsOnDie(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// We want to test that the a goroutine calling send will exit correctly.
 	exited := callCheck(t)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	// send() will decrement the WaitGroup, so we must increment it.
 	c.wg.Add(1)
 	go func() {
-		c.send()
+		c.send(ctx)
 		exited.call()
 	}()
 
@@ -194,13 +197,9 @@ func TestSendExitsOnDie(t *testing.T) {
 	c.out <- "SENT AFTER START"
 	s.nc.Expect("SENT AFTER START")
 
-	// Now, use the control channel to exit send and kill the goroutine.
-	// This sneakily uses the fact that the other two goroutines that would
-	// normally be waiting for die to close are not running, so we only send
-	// to the goroutine started above. Normally Close() closes c.die and
-	// signals to all three goroutines (send, ping, runLoop) to exit.
+	// Now, cancel the context to exit send and kill the goroutine.
 	exited.assertNotCalled("Exited before signal sent.")
-	c.die <- struct{}{}
+	cancel()
 	exited.assertWasCalled("Didn't exit after signal.")
 	s.nc.ExpectNothing()
 
@@ -221,7 +220,7 @@ func TestSendExitsOnWriteError(t *testing.T) {
 	// send() will decrement the WaitGroup, so we must increment it.
 	c.wg.Add(1)
 	go func() {
-		c.send()
+		c.send(context.Background())
 		exited.call()
 	}()
 
@@ -251,6 +250,7 @@ func TestSendDeadlockOnFullBuffer(t *testing.T) {
 	// We want to test that the a goroutine calling send will exit correctly.
 	loopExit := callCheck(t)
 	sendExit := callCheck(t)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	// send() and runLoop() will decrement the WaitGroup, so we must increment it.
 	c.wg.Add(2)
 
@@ -274,13 +274,13 @@ func TestSendDeadlockOnFullBuffer(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 	// And trigger it by starting runLoop and inserting a line into conn.in:
 	go func() {
-		c.runLoop()
+		c.runLoop(ctx)
 		loopExit.call()
 	}()
 	c.in <- &Line{Cmd: PRIVMSG, Raw: "WRITE THAT CAUSES DEADLOCK"}
 
 	// At this point the handler should be blocked on a write to conn.out,
-	// preventing runLoop from looping and thus noticing conn.die is closed.
+	// preventing runLoop from looping and thus noticng the cancelled context.
 	//
 	// The next part is to force send() to call conn.Close(), which can
 	// be done by closing the fake net.Conn so that it returns an error on
@@ -292,8 +292,9 @@ func TestSendDeadlockOnFullBuffer(t *testing.T) {
 	// to write it to the socket. It should immediately receive an error and
 	// call conn.Close(), triggering the deadlock as it waits forever for
 	// runLoop to call conn.wg.Done.
+	c.die = cancel // Close needs to cancel the context for us.
 	go func() {
-		c.send()
+		c.send(ctx)
 		sendExit.call()
 	}()
 
@@ -407,10 +408,11 @@ func TestPing(t *testing.T) {
 
 	// Start ping loop.
 	exited := callCheck(t)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	// ping() will decrement the WaitGroup, so we must increment it.
 	c.wg.Add(1)
 	go func() {
-		c.ping()
+		c.ping(ctx)
 		exited.call()
 	}()
 
@@ -438,13 +440,9 @@ func TestPing(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("Line not output after another %s.", 2*res)
 	}
 
-	// Now kill the ping loop.
-	// This sneakily uses the fact that the other two goroutines that would
-	// normally be waiting for die to close are not running, so we only send
-	// to the goroutine started above. Normally Close() closes c.die and
-	// signals to all three goroutines (send, ping, runLoop) to exit.
+	// Now kill the ping loop by cancelling the context.
 	exited.assertNotCalled("Exited before signal sent.")
-	c.die <- struct{}{}
+	cancel()
 	exited.assertWasCalled("Didn't exit after signal.")
 	// Make sure we're no longer pinging by waiting >2x PingFreq
 	<-time.After(2*c.cfg.PingFreq + res)
@@ -478,10 +476,11 @@ func TestRunLoop(t *testing.T) {
 	// We want to test that the a goroutine calling runLoop will exit correctly.
 	// Now, we can expect the call to Dispatch to take place as runLoop starts.
 	exited := callCheck(t)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	// runLoop() will decrement the WaitGroup, so we must increment it.
 	c.wg.Add(1)
 	go func() {
-		c.runLoop()
+		c.runLoop(ctx)
 		exited.call()
 	}()
 	h002.assertWasCalled("002 handler not called after runLoop started.")
@@ -492,13 +491,9 @@ func TestRunLoop(t *testing.T) {
 	c.in <- l3
 	h003.assertWasCalled("003 handler not called while runLoop started.")
 
-	// Now, use the control channel to exit send and kill the goroutine.
-	// This sneakily uses the fact that the other two goroutines that would
-	// normally be waiting for die to close are not running, so we only send
-	// to the goroutine started above. Normally Close() closes c.die and
-	// signals to all three goroutines (send, ping, runLoop) to exit.
+	// Now, cancel the context to exit runLoop and kill the goroutine.
 	exited.assertNotCalled("Exited before signal sent.")
-	c.die <- struct{}{}
+	cancel()
 	exited.assertWasCalled("Didn't exit after signal.")
 
 	// Sending more on c.in shouldn't dispatch any further events