diff --git a/.changeset/green-waves-marry.md b/.changeset/green-waves-marry.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..84803af
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/green-waves-marry.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@zenml-io/react-component-library": patch
+---
+
+sidebar: start closing immediately when "close" button clicked, ignoring hover
diff --git a/src/components/Sidebar/Sidebar.tsx b/src/components/Sidebar/Sidebar.tsx
index b7de5db..7a8bb2d 100644
--- a/src/components/Sidebar/Sidebar.tsx
+++ b/src/components/Sidebar/Sidebar.tsx
@@ -14,13 +14,13 @@ import { useSidebarContext } from "./SidebarContext";
 
 export const Sidebar = forwardRef<HTMLDivElement, HTMLProps<HTMLDivElement>>(
 	({ className, children, ...rest }, ref) => {
-		const { isOpen } = useSidebarContext();
+		const { isOpen, isClosing } = useSidebarContext();
 
 		return (
 			<nav
 				ref={ref}
 				className={cn(
-					`group flex-1 h-full flex w-9 ${isOpen ? "w-[220px]" : "hover:w-[220px]"}  bg-neutral-100 transition-all overflow-x-hidden duration-300 flex-col items-center border-r border-theme-border-moderate`,
+					`group flex-1 h-full flex w-9 ${isOpen ? "w-[220px]" : isClosing ? "" : "hover:w-[220px]"}  bg-neutral-100 transition-all overflow-x-hidden duration-300 flex-col items-center border-r border-theme-border-moderate`,
 					className
 				)}
 				{...rest}
diff --git a/src/components/Sidebar/SidebarContext.tsx b/src/components/Sidebar/SidebarContext.tsx
index 594a671..07592d1 100644
--- a/src/components/Sidebar/SidebarContext.tsx
+++ b/src/components/Sidebar/SidebarContext.tsx
@@ -7,8 +7,11 @@ import React, {
 	useState
 } from "react";
 
+import { Setter, getValueFromSetter } from "../../utilities";
+
 type SidebarContextProps = {
 	isOpen: boolean;
+	isClosing: boolean;
 	setIsOpen: Dispatch<SetStateAction<boolean>>;
 };
 
@@ -18,10 +21,35 @@ export function SidebarProvider({
 	children,
 	initialOpen = false
 }: PropsWithChildren<{ initialOpen?: boolean }>) {
-	const [isOpen, setIsOpen] = useState(initialOpen);
+	const [isOpen, _setIsOpen] = useState(initialOpen);
+	const [isClosing, setIsClosing] = useState(false);
+
+	/**
+	 * wrapper around `_setIsOpen`, to control `isClosing`.
+	 * we should instead have a single "status" variable, but refactoring might suck..
+	 *
+	 * the purpose of `isClosing` is single:
+	 * when sidebar is opened, and user hovers over it and clicks the button to close it,
+	 * then the sidebar gets automatically closed, instead of waiting for the user
+	 * to hover away from it before closing.
+	 */
+	function setIsOpen(newValue: Setter<boolean>): void {
+		_setIsOpen((currIsOpen) => {
+			const value: boolean = getValueFromSetter(newValue, currIsOpen);
+
+			if (value === false) {
+				setIsClosing(true);
+				setTimeout(() => setIsClosing(false), 300);
+			}
+
+			return value;
+		});
+	}
 
 	return (
-		<SidebarContext.Provider value={{ isOpen, setIsOpen }}>{children}</SidebarContext.Provider>
+		<SidebarContext.Provider value={{ isOpen, setIsOpen, isClosing }}>
+			{children}
+		</SidebarContext.Provider>
 	);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/utilities/index.ts b/src/utilities/index.ts
index b24d9bd..2b1d183 100644
--- a/src/utilities/index.ts
+++ b/src/utilities/index.ts
@@ -28,3 +28,9 @@ const customTwMerge = extendTailwindMerge({
 export function cn(...inputs: ClassValue[]) {
 	return customTwMerge(clsx(inputs));
 }
+
+export type Setter<T> = T | ((prevValue: T) => T);
+
+export function getValueFromSetter<T>(newValue: Setter<T>, currValue: T): T {
+	return newValue instanceof Function ? newValue(currValue) : newValue;
+}