diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d938e13..d3d518e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -11,18 +11,18 @@ and swap the HTTP client while inheriting everything else.
 `requirements.txt`:
 
 ```
-aioweb @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/aioweb.git@v0.1.10
+aioweb @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/aioweb.git@v0.1.11
 ```
 
 Direct:
 
 ```bash
-pip install "aioweb @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/aioweb.git@v0.1.10"
+pip install "aioweb @ git+ssh://git@git.rethinkstudios.io/rethink-public/aioweb.git@v0.1.11"
 ```
 
 Requires `aiohttp` and `yarl` (pulled transitively).
 
-Drop the `@v0.1.10` suffix from the line above to install the latest unpinned.
+Drop the `@v0.1.11` suffix from the line above to install the latest unpinned.
 
 ## Usage
 
@@ -97,10 +97,15 @@ s.overwrite_domain("internal.local", "127.0.0.1")   # host-substring rewrite
 print(s.preview("POST", url, json={"a": 1}).as_curl())   # equivalent cURL command
 ```
 
-`as_curl()` renders `params` (merged into the url's query string) and `timeout` (as
-`--max-time`) as well as headers/body/proxy, so the emitted command is faithful to what
-`request()` actually sends. Pass `debug=True` to `request_with_retries` to log the cURL
-preview and request flow.
+`preview()` is synchronous and never touches the backend session — it works before any
+event loop is running (e.g. building a preview at import/setup time), not just inside
+`asyncio.run()`. Its default cookie lookup only reads cookies from an already-built
+session; if the session hasn't been built yet there are no cookies to read, so it
+returns none by default (pass `cookies=` explicitly to preview cookies for a session
+that hasn't sent a request yet). `as_curl()` renders `params` (merged into the url's
+query string) and `timeout` (as `--max-time`) as well as headers/body/proxy, so the
+emitted command is faithful to what `request()` actually sends. Pass `debug=True` to
+`request_with_retries` to log the cURL preview and request flow.
 
 ## Custom backends
 
@@ -144,6 +149,23 @@ Two changes can't be shimmed without re-introducing the bugs they fix:
 
 ## Changelog
 
+### v0.1.11
+
+- **`preview()` no longer requires a running event loop.** Its default cookie
+  lookup (`cookies=` not passed) previously called `_cookies_for_url()`, which
+  reached the backend session and built it if absent — under aiohttp>=3.14 that
+  needs a running loop, so `preview()` raised `RuntimeError('no running event
+  loop')` when called before the loop starts, defeating its own pre-loop
+  build/inspect use case (v0.1.7). Now the default cookie lookup is skipped
+  entirely when the session hasn't been built yet (nothing could have been set
+  on a session that doesn't exist); `cookies={}` and in-loop calls are unaffected.
+- **`set_cookie(domain=None)` now honors `path`.** The `domain=None` branch
+  returned right after `update_cookies()`, before the line that sets the
+  morsel's `path` — so a shared cookie (`set_cookie(name, value, path="/api")`,
+  no `domain=`) always stored the `SimpleCookie` default `path="/"` instead. The
+  morsel's `path` is now set before the `domain=None` early return. The
+  domain-bound branch was already correct and is unchanged.
+
 ### v0.1.10
 
 - Docs-only pass: compressed module/method docstrings and comments that restated
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index de71344..039d282 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
 name = "aioweb"
-version = "0.1.10"
+version = "0.1.11"
 description = "Async HTTP session wrapper over aiohttp — proxies, header overwrites, retries, previews. Config-free, installable."
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
 dependencies = [
diff --git a/src/aioweb/session.py b/src/aioweb/session.py
index ae38c51..afc242e 100644
--- a/src/aioweb/session.py
+++ b/src/aioweb/session.py
@@ -227,12 +227,12 @@ class ExtendedSession:
         """
         cookie = SimpleCookie()
         cookie[name] = value
+        cookie[name]["path"] = path
         if domain is None:
             self.session.cookie_jar.update_cookies(cookie)
             return
         if "://" not in domain:
             domain = "http://" + domain
-        cookie[name]["path"] = path
         self.session.cookie_jar.update_cookies(cookie, response_url=URL(domain))
 
     def clear_cookies(self):
@@ -247,11 +247,15 @@ class ExtendedSession:
     #   preview
 
     def preview(self, method, url, **kwargs):
-        """build a RequestPreview for a request without sending it
+        """build a RequestPreview for a request without sending it - synchronous, no loop required
 
         url is domain-rewritten before cookies are resolved, matching the real
         request - cookie binding is host-based, so resolving against the pre-rewrite
-        host could miss or misattribute cookies.
+        host could miss or misattribute cookies. the default cookie lookup never
+        touches the backend session: building it needs a running loop (aiohttp>=3.14),
+        which would defeat preview()'s own pre-loop inspection use case, and an unbuilt
+        session has no cookies to report anyway - pass cookies= explicitly to preview
+        cookies that would come from a not-yet-built session.
         """
         url = self._apply_domain_overwrites(url)
         proxy = self._get_proxy(url, kwargs.pop("proxies", None))
@@ -262,7 +266,7 @@ class ExtendedSession:
         timeout_total = timeout if isinstance(timeout, (int, float)) else None
 
         cookies = kwargs.pop("cookies", None)
-        if cookies is None:
+        if cookies is None and self._session is not None:
             cookies = self._cookies_for_url(url)
         if cookies:
             cookie_header = "; ".join(f"{k}={v}" for k, v in cookies.items())