diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.d.ts b/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.d.ts
index a3cd2c421..640a65535 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.d.ts
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.d.ts
@@ -20,17 +20,20 @@ export function getRPCServerPath(
 
 
 export type DeltaChatOverJsonRpcServer = StdioDeltaChat & {
-    shutdown: () => Promise<void>;
     readonly pathToServerBinary: string;
 };
 
+export interface StartOptions {
+  /** whether to disable outputting stderr to the parent process's stderr */
+  muteStdErr: boolean;
+}
 
 /**
  * 
  * @param directory directory for accounts folder
  * @param options 
  */
-export function startDeltaChat(directory: string, options?: Partial<SearchOptions> ): Promise<DeltaChatOverJsonRpcServer>
+export function startDeltaChat(directory: string, options?: Partial<SearchOptions & StartOptions> ): Promise<DeltaChatOverJsonRpcServer>
 
 
 export namespace FnTypes {
diff --git a/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.js b/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.js
index 35d348f9f..e1dc4db84 100644
--- a/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.js
+++ b/deltachat-rpc-server/npm-package/index.js
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ export async function startDeltaChat(directory, options) {
       RUST_LOG: process.env.RUST_LOG || "info",
       DC_ACCOUNTS_PATH: directory,
     },
+    stdio: ["pipe", "pipe", options.muteStdErr ? "ignore" : "inherit"],
   });
 
   server.on("error", (err) => {
@@ -144,13 +145,11 @@ export async function startDeltaChat(directory, options) {
     throw new Error("Server quit");
   });
 
-  server.stderr.pipe(process.stderr);
-
   /** @type {import('./index').DeltaChatOverJsonRpcServer} */
   //@ts-expect-error
   const dc = new StdioDeltaChat(server.stdin, server.stdout, true);
 
-  dc.shutdown = async () => {
+  dc.close = () => {
     shouldClose = true;
     if (!server.kill()) {
       console.log("server termination failed");