diff --git a/helix-term/src/main.rs b/helix-term/src/main.rs
index 3a0f4d204..da03569d6 100644
--- a/helix-term/src/main.rs
+++ b/helix-term/src/main.rs
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ pub struct Args {
     files: Vec<PathBuf>,
 }
 
-fn main() -> Result<()> {
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() -> Result<()> {
     let help = format!(
         "\
 {} {}
@@ -113,13 +114,9 @@ FLAGS:
     let config = toml::from_slice(toml).context("Could not parse languages.toml")?;
     LOADER.get_or_init(|| Loader::new(config));
 
-    let runtime = tokio::runtime::Runtime::new().context("unable to start tokio runtime")?;
-
     // TODO: use the thread local executor to spawn the application task separately from the work pool
     let mut app = Application::new(args).context("unable to create new appliction")?;
-    runtime.block_on(async move {
-        app.run().await;
-    });
+    app.run().await;
 
     Ok(())
 }