diff --git a/server/src/git-serve.ts b/server/src/git-serve.ts
index 5ee1ac008..aefaecb8f 100644
--- a/server/src/git-serve.ts
+++ b/server/src/git-serve.ts
@@ -10,17 +10,19 @@ async function sleep(ms: number) {
 const EXIT_FILE = '.exit';
 const UPDATE_FILE = '.update';
 
-async function runCommand(command: string) {
-    const cp = child_process.exec(command);
+async function runCommand(command: string, ...args: string[]) {
+    const cp = child_process.spawn(command, args, {
+        stdio: 'inherit'
+    });
     await once(cp, 'exit');
 }
 
-async function runCommandEatError(command: string) {
+async function runCommandEatError(command: string, ...args: string[]) {
     try {
-        await runCommand(command);
+        await runCommand(command, ...args);
     }
     catch (e) {
-        console.warn(command, 'command exited with error, ignoring', e)
+        console.warn(command, args, 'command exited with error, ignoring', e)
     }
 }
 
@@ -31,7 +33,7 @@ async function main() {
 
         try {
             console.log('starting scrypted main...');
-            await runCommand('npm run serve-no-build')
+            await runCommand('npm', 'run', 'serve-no-build')
         }
         catch (e) {
             console.error('scrypted server exited with error', e);
@@ -44,14 +46,14 @@ async function main() {
 
         if (fs.existsSync(UPDATE_FILE)) {
             console.log(`${UPDATE_FILE} found. pulling and rebuilding.`);
-            await runCommandEatError('git reset --hard');
-            await runCommandEatError('git pull');
-            await runCommandEatError('npm install');
-            await runCommandEatError('npm run build');
+            await runCommandEatError('git', 'reset', '--hard');
+            await runCommandEatError('git', 'pull');
+            await runCommandEatError('npm', 'install');
+            await runCommandEatError('npm', 'run', 'build');
         }
 
         console.log(`${EXIT_FILE} not found. restarting momentarily.`);
-        sleep(10000);
+        await sleep(10000);
     }
 }