diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/DSLContext.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/DSLContext.java
index aae525536e..30c2f4d22c 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/DSLContext.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/DSLContext.java
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Optional;
+import java.util.Properties;
 import java.util.stream.Stream;
 
 import javax.annotation.Generated;
@@ -121,7 +122,30 @@ import org.jooq.tools.jdbc.MockRunnable;
  * @see Configuration
  * @author Lukas Eder
  */
-public interface DSLContext extends Scope {
+public interface DSLContext extends Scope /* [java-8] */, AutoCloseable /* [/java-8] */ {
+
+    // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    // XXX AutoCloseable API
+    // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    /**
+     * Close the underlying resources, if any resources have been allocated when
+     * constructing this <code>DSLContext</code>.
+     * <p>
+     * Some {@link DSLContext} constructors, such as {@link DSL#using(String)},
+     * {@link DSL#using(String, Properties)}, or
+     * {@link DSL#using(String, String, String)} allocate a {@link Connection}
+     * resource, which is inaccessible to the outside of the {@link DSLContext}
+     * implementation. Proper resource management must thus be done via this
+     * {@link #close()} method.
+     *
+     * @throws DataAccessException When something went wrong closing the
+     *             underlying resources.
+     */
+    /* [java-8] */
+    @Override
+    /* [/java-8] */
+    void close() throws DataAccessException;
 
     // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
     // XXX Configuration API
diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/DefaultConnectionProvider.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/DefaultConnectionProvider.java
index 75d709af35..72e9718f0a 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/DefaultConnectionProvider.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/DefaultConnectionProvider.java
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ public class DefaultConnectionProvider implements ConnectionProvider {
 
     private static final JooqLogger log = JooqLogger.getLogger(DefaultConnectionProvider.class);
     Connection                      connection;
-    private boolean                 finalize;
+    final boolean                   finalize;
 
     public DefaultConnectionProvider(Connection connection) {
         this(connection, false);
diff --git a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/DefaultDSLContext.java b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/DefaultDSLContext.java
index 6f023a23d4..c681457eec 100644
--- a/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/DefaultDSLContext.java
+++ b/jOOQ/src/main/java/org/jooq/impl/DefaultDSLContext.java
@@ -212,6 +212,7 @@ import org.jooq.exception.SQLDialectNotSupportedException;
 import org.jooq.impl.BatchCRUD.Action;
 import org.jooq.tools.JooqLogger;
 import org.jooq.tools.csv.CSVReader;
+import org.jooq.tools.jdbc.JDBCUtils;
 import org.jooq.tools.jdbc.MockCallable;
 import org.jooq.tools.jdbc.MockConfiguration;
 import org.jooq.tools.jdbc.MockDataProvider;
@@ -279,6 +280,24 @@ public class DefaultDSLContext extends AbstractScope implements DSLContext, Seri
         super(configuration);
     }
 
+    // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    // XXX AutoCloseable
+    // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    @Override
+    public void close() {
+        ConnectionProvider cp = configuration().connectionProvider();
+
+        if (cp instanceof DefaultConnectionProvider) {
+            DefaultConnectionProvider dcp = (DefaultConnectionProvider) cp;
+
+            if (dcp.finalize) {
+                JDBCUtils.safeClose(dcp.connection);
+                dcp.connection = null;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     // -------------------------------------------------------------------------
     // XXX Configuration API
     // -------------------------------------------------------------------------