diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-client/src/deltachat_rpc_client/rpc.py b/deltachat-rpc-client/src/deltachat_rpc_client/rpc.py
index faf0edaac..a7ec79dc4 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-client/src/deltachat_rpc_client/rpc.py
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-client/src/deltachat_rpc_client/rpc.py
@@ -80,16 +80,7 @@ class Rpc:
 
     def start(self) -> None:
         """Start RPC server subprocess."""
-        popen_kwargs = {"stdin": subprocess.PIPE, "stdout": subprocess.PIPE}
-        if sys.version_info >= (3, 11):
-            # Prevent subprocess from capturing SIGINT.
-            popen_kwargs["process_group"] = 0
-        else:
-            # `process_group` is not supported before Python 3.11.
-            popen_kwargs["preexec_fn"] = os.setpgrp  # noqa: PLW1509
-
-        popen_kwargs.update(self._kwargs)
-        self.process = subprocess.Popen(self.rpc_server_path, **popen_kwargs)
+        self.server_stdout, self.server_stdin = self.connect_to_subprocess()
         self.id_iterator = itertools.count(start=1)
         self.event_queues = {}
         self.request_results = {}
@@ -102,12 +93,25 @@ class Rpc:
         self.events_thread = Thread(target=self.events_loop)
         self.events_thread.start()
 
+    def connect_to_subprocess(self):
+        popen_kwargs = {"stdin": subprocess.PIPE, "stdout": subprocess.PIPE}
+        if sys.version_info >= (3, 11):
+            # Prevent subprocess from capturing SIGINT.
+            popen_kwargs["process_group"] = 0
+        else:
+            # `process_group` is not supported before Python 3.11.
+            popen_kwargs["preexec_fn"] = os.setpgrp  # noqa: PLW1509
+
+        popen_kwargs.update(self._kwargs)
+        process = subprocess.Popen(self.rpc_server_path, **popen_kwargs)
+        return process.stdout, process.stdin
+
     def close(self) -> None:
         """Terminate RPC server process and wait until the reader loop finishes."""
         self.closing = True
         self.stop_io_for_all_accounts()
         self.events_thread.join()
-        self.process.stdin.close()
+        self.server_stdin.close()
         self.reader_thread.join()
         self.request_queue.put(None)
         self.writer_thread.join()
@@ -122,7 +126,7 @@ class Rpc:
     def reader_loop(self) -> None:
         """Process JSON-RPC responses from the RPC server process output."""
         try:
-            while line := self.process.stdout.readline():
+            while line := self.server_stdout.readline():
                 response = json.loads(line)
                 if "id" in response:
                     response_id = response["id"]
@@ -138,8 +142,8 @@ class Rpc:
         try:
             while request := self.request_queue.get():
                 data = (json.dumps(request) + "\n").encode()
-                self.process.stdin.write(data)
-                self.process.stdin.flush()
+                self.server_stdin.write(data)
+                self.server_stdin.flush()
 
         except Exception:
             # Log an exception if the writer loop dies.