diff --git a/pkg/mcp/internal/testutil/pulsar.go b/pkg/mcp/internal/testutil/pulsar.go
index c527fce..2d2e5b3 100644
--- a/pkg/mcp/internal/testutil/pulsar.go
+++ b/pkg/mcp/internal/testutil/pulsar.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/apache/pulsar-client-go/pulsaradmin"
@@ -29,10 +30,10 @@ import (
 
 // PulsarTestHelper provides helper functions for Pulsar E2E testing.
 type PulsarTestHelper struct {
-	adminClient  pulsaradmin.Client
-	adminURL     string
-	serviceURL   string
-	httpClient   *http.Client
+	adminClient pulsaradmin.Client
+	adminURL    string
+	serviceURL  string
+	httpClient  *http.Client
 }
 
 // NewPulsarTestHelper creates a new PulsarTestHelper.
@@ -106,7 +107,12 @@ func (h *PulsarTestHelper) EnsureNamespace(ctx context.Context, tenant, namespac
 
 	// Check if namespace exists
 	namespaces, err := h.adminClient.Namespaces().GetNamespaces(tenant)
-	if err == nil {
+	if err != nil {
+		// If we cannot list namespaces, we'll try to create it anyway.
+		// This could be due to permission issues or other transient errors.
+		// The CreateNamespace call will fail with a proper error if there's a real issue.
+	} else {
+		// Successfully retrieved namespaces, check if ours exists
 		for _, ns := range namespaces {
 			if ns == fullNamespace {
 				return nil // Already exists
@@ -114,9 +120,24 @@ func (h *PulsarTestHelper) EnsureNamespace(ctx context.Context, tenant, namespac
 		}
 	}
 
-	// Create namespace
+	// Create namespace - this will fail if it already exists or if there are permission/connection issues
 	err = h.adminClient.Namespaces().CreateNamespace(fullNamespace)
 	if err != nil {
+		// Check if the error is because namespace already exists.
+		// The Pulsar admin client doesn't provide typed errors, so we check the error message.
+		// This is a best-effort approach for test utilities - we check for common patterns:
+		// - "already exists" (common HTTP API message)
+		// - "alreadyexists" (possible gRPC/protobuf message)
+		// - "409" (HTTP Conflict status code)
+		// - "conflict" (HTTP status text)
+		// Using case-insensitive matching for robustness
+		errMsg := strings.ToLower(err.Error())
+		if strings.Contains(errMsg, "already exists") ||
+			strings.Contains(errMsg, "alreadyexists") ||
+			strings.Contains(errMsg, "409") ||
+			strings.Contains(errMsg, "conflict") {
+			return nil // Namespace already exists, which is what we want
+		}
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create namespace %s: %w", fullNamespace, err)
 	}