diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.d.ts b/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.d.ts
index af9afded3..8bf76c90c 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.d.ts
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.d.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ export interface SearchOptions {
  */
 export function getRPCServerPath(
   options?: Partial<SearchOptions>
-): Promise<string>;
+): string;
 
 
 
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ export interface StartOptions {
  * @param directory directory for accounts folder
  * @param options 
  */
-export function startDeltaChat(directory: string, options?: Partial<SearchOptions & StartOptions> ): Promise<DeltaChatOverJsonRpcServer>
+export function startDeltaChat(directory: string, options?: Partial<SearchOptions & StartOptions> ): DeltaChatOverJsonRpcServer
 
 
 export namespace FnTypes {
diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.js b/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.js
index aafc9041e..445323089 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.js
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 //@ts-check
 import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
-import { stat } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { statSync } from "node:fs";
 import os from "node:os";
 import process from "node:process";
 import { ENV_VAR_NAME, PATH_EXECUTABLE_NAME } from "./src/const.js";
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ function findRPCServerInNodeModules() {
 }
 
 /** @type {import("./index").FnTypes.getRPCServerPath} */
-export async function getRPCServerPath(options = {}) {
+export function getRPCServerPath(options = {}) {
   const { takeVersionFromPATH, disableEnvPath } = {
     takeVersionFromPATH: false,
     disableEnvPath: false,
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ export async function getRPCServerPath(options = {}) {
   // 1. check if it is set as env var
   if (process.env[ENV_VAR_NAME] && !disableEnvPath) {
     try {
-      if (!(await stat(process.env[ENV_VAR_NAME])).isFile()) {
+      if (!statSync(process.env[ENV_VAR_NAME]).isFile()) {
         throw new Error(
           `expected ${ENV_VAR_NAME} to point to the deltachat-rpc-server executable`
         );
@@ -68,8 +68,8 @@ export async function getRPCServerPath(options = {}) {
 import { StdioDeltaChat } from "@deltachat/jsonrpc-client";
 
 /** @type {import("./index").FnTypes.startDeltaChat} */
-export async function startDeltaChat(directory, options = {}) {
-  const pathToServerBinary = await getRPCServerPath(options);
+export function startDeltaChat(directory, options = {}) {
+  const pathToServerBinary = getRPCServerPath(options);
   const server = spawn(pathToServerBinary, {
     env: {
       RUST_LOG: process.env.RUST_LOG,