diff --git a/workspaces/Cargo.toml b/workspaces/Cargo.toml
index eedec9aa..99cf4b61 100644
--- a/workspaces/Cargo.toml
+++ b/workspaces/Cargo.toml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Library for automating workflows and testing NEAR smart contracts.
 
 [dependencies]
 async-trait = "0.1"
-async-process = { version = "1.3", optional = true }
+async-process = "1.3"
 base64 = "0.13"
 borsh = "0.9"
 cargo_metadata = { version = "0.14.2", optional = true }
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3.5", features = ["env-filter"] }
 [features]
 default = ["install"]
 install = []  # Install the sandbox binary during compile time
-unstable = ["cargo_metadata", "async-process"]
+unstable = ["cargo_metadata"]
 
 [package.metadata.docs.rs]
 features = ["unstable"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/workspaces/src/network/sandbox.rs b/workspaces/src/network/sandbox.rs
index d57f3820..22e0b058 100644
--- a/workspaces/src/network/sandbox.rs
+++ b/workspaces/src/network/sandbox.rs
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ impl Sandbox {
 
     pub(crate) async fn new() -> Result<Self> {
         let mut server = SandboxServer::default();
-        server.start()?;
+        server.start().await?;
         let client = Client::new(&server.rpc_addr());
         client.wait_for_rpc().await?;
 
diff --git a/workspaces/src/network/server.rs b/workspaces/src/network/server.rs
index 769d89b5..85393d09 100644
--- a/workspaces/src/network/server.rs
+++ b/workspaces/src/network/server.rs
@@ -1,15 +1,12 @@
-use std::process::Child;
-
 use crate::error::SandboxErrorCode;
 use crate::network::Sandbox;
 use crate::result::Result;
 
+use async_process::Child;
 use portpicker::pick_unused_port;
 use tracing::info;
 
-// TODO: swap over the async version of this in the future. Won't be a breaking API
-//       since we already have async marked in the functions that we are exposing.
-use near_sandbox_utils::sync as sandbox;
+use near_sandbox_utils as sandbox;
 
 pub struct SandboxServer {
     pub(crate) rpc_port: u16,
@@ -26,7 +23,7 @@ impl SandboxServer {
         }
     }
 
-    pub fn start(&mut self) -> Result<()> {
+    pub async fn start(&mut self) -> Result<()> {
         if self.process.is_some() {
             return Err(SandboxErrorCode::AlreadyStarted.into());
         }
@@ -39,10 +36,12 @@ impl SandboxServer {
 
         // Remove dir if it already exists:
         let _ = std::fs::remove_dir_all(&home_dir);
-        sandbox::init(&home_dir)
+        let output = sandbox::init(&home_dir)
             .map_err(|e| SandboxErrorCode::InitFailure.custom(e))?
-            .wait()
+            .output()
+            .await
             .map_err(|e| SandboxErrorCode::InitFailure.custom(e))?;
+        info!(target: "workspaces", "sandbox init: {:?}", output);
 
         let child = sandbox::run(&home_dir, self.rpc_port, self.net_port)
             .map_err(|e| SandboxErrorCode::RunFailure.custom(e))?;