diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 164b6b2..105749c 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "@replit/ruspty",
-  "version": "3.1.1",
+  "version": "3.1.2",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "@replit/ruspty",
-      "version": "3.1.1",
+      "version": "3.1.2",
       "license": "MIT",
       "devDependencies": {
         "@napi-rs/cli": "^2.18.2",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b50b062..daae6b7 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@replit/ruspty",
-  "version": "3.1.1",
+  "version": "3.1.2",
   "main": "dist/wrapper.js",
   "types": "dist/wrapper.d.ts",
   "author": "Szymon Kaliski <hi@szymonkaliski.com>",
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 59cf337..fd75578 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ use napi::threadsafe_function::{ErrorStrategy, ThreadsafeFunction, ThreadsafeFun
 use napi::Status::GenericFailure;
 use napi::{self, Env};
 use nix::errno::Errno;
-use nix::fcntl::{fcntl, FcntlArg, FdFlag};
+use nix::fcntl::{fcntl, FcntlArg, FdFlag, OFlag};
 use nix::poll::{poll, PollFd, PollFlags, PollTimeout};
 use nix::pty::{openpty, Winsize};
 use nix::sys::termios::{self, SetArg};
@@ -117,12 +117,14 @@ impl Pty {
     }
 
     // open pty pair, and set close-on-exec to avoid unwanted copies of the FDs from finding their
-    // way into subprocesses.
+    // way into subprocesses. Also set the nonblocking flag to avoid Node from consuming a full I/O
+    // thread for this.
     let pty_res = openpty(&window_size, None).map_err(cast_to_napi_error)?;
     let controller_fd = pty_res.master;
     let user_fd = pty_res.slave;
     set_close_on_exec(controller_fd.as_raw_fd(), true)?;
     set_close_on_exec(user_fd.as_raw_fd(), true)?;
+    set_nonblocking(controller_fd.as_raw_fd())?;
 
     // duplicate pty user_fd to be the child's stdin, stdout, and stderr
     cmd.stdin(Stdio::from(user_fd.try_clone()?));
@@ -362,3 +364,29 @@ fn get_close_on_exec(fd: i32) -> Result<bool, napi::Error> {
     )),
   }
 }
+
+/// Set the file descriptor to be non-blocking.
+#[allow(dead_code)]
+fn set_nonblocking(fd: i32) -> Result<(), napi::Error> {
+  let old_flags = match fcntl(fd, FcntlArg::F_GETFL) {
+    Ok(flags) => OFlag::from_bits_truncate(flags),
+    Err(err) => {
+      return Err(napi::Error::new(
+        GenericFailure,
+        format!("fcntl F_GETFL: {}", err),
+      ));
+    }
+  };
+
+  let mut new_flags = old_flags;
+  new_flags.set(OFlag::O_NONBLOCK, true);
+  if old_flags != new_flags {
+    if let Err(err) = fcntl(fd, FcntlArg::F_SETFL(new_flags)) {
+      return Err(napi::Error::new(
+        GenericFailure,
+        format!("fcntl F_SETFL: {}", err),
+      ));
+    }
+  }
+  Ok(())
+}