diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index ad0f116511fed3f941c86de7835fc8307417f3bb..bef752a9a30ea539e059ee9cb5451bb435ccc1ad 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -7559,6 +7559,7 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "gpui_tokio"
 version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
+ "anyhow",
  "gpui",
  "tokio",
  "util",
diff --git a/crates/client/src/client.rs b/crates/client/src/client.rs
index 0f004713566bf0974e880fd41ffcea3b4a331378..5ffc04a0b013ceef60623905ac8d243af2998707 100644
--- a/crates/client/src/client.rs
+++ b/crates/client/src/client.rs
@@ -1284,19 +1284,21 @@ impl Client {
                 "http" => Http,
                 _ => Err(anyhow!("invalid rpc url: {}", rpc_url))?,
             };
-            let rpc_host = rpc_url
-                .host_str()
-                .zip(rpc_url.port_or_known_default())
-                .context("missing host in rpc url")?;
-
-            let stream = {
-                let handle = cx.update(|cx| gpui_tokio::Tokio::handle(cx)).ok().unwrap();
-                let _guard = handle.enter();
-                match proxy {
-                    Some(proxy) => connect_proxy_stream(&proxy, rpc_host).await?,
-                    None => Box::new(TcpStream::connect(rpc_host).await?),
+
+            let stream = gpui_tokio::Tokio::spawn_result(cx, {
+                let rpc_url = rpc_url.clone();
+                async move {
+                    let rpc_host = rpc_url
+                        .host_str()
+                        .zip(rpc_url.port_or_known_default())
+                        .context("missing host in rpc url")?;
+                    Ok(match proxy {
+                        Some(proxy) => connect_proxy_stream(&proxy, rpc_host).await?,
+                        None => Box::new(TcpStream::connect(rpc_host).await?),
+                    })
                 }
-            };
+            })?
+            .await?;
 
             log::info!("connected to rpc endpoint {}", rpc_url);
 
diff --git a/crates/cloud_api_client/src/cloud_api_client.rs b/crates/cloud_api_client/src/cloud_api_client.rs
index ef9a1a9a553596baf737c4e1ee60d9b3344f4ecf..055d4560fbaf19bebb481ae556b8d09dfaf52326 100644
--- a/crates/cloud_api_client/src/cloud_api_client.rs
+++ b/crates/cloud_api_client/src/cloud_api_client.rs
@@ -102,13 +102,7 @@ impl CloudApiClient {
         let credentials = credentials.as_ref().context("no credentials provided")?;
         let authorization_header = format!("{} {}", credentials.user_id, credentials.access_token);
 
-        Ok(cx.spawn(async move |cx| {
-            let handle = cx
-                .update(|cx| Tokio::handle(cx))
-                .ok()
-                .context("failed to get Tokio handle")?;
-            let _guard = handle.enter();
-
+        Ok(Tokio::spawn_result(cx, async move {
             let ws = WebSocket::connect(connect_url)
                 .with_request(
                     request::Builder::new()
diff --git a/crates/gpui_tokio/Cargo.toml b/crates/gpui_tokio/Cargo.toml
index 46d5eafd5adceadadf5fbd942d104ee4249aa941..2d4abf40631a2f011306d7216a5f96864ccdb0da 100644
--- a/crates/gpui_tokio/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/gpui_tokio/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ path = "src/gpui_tokio.rs"
 doctest = false
 
 [dependencies]
+anyhow.workspace = true
 util.workspace = true
 gpui.workspace = true
 tokio = { workspace = true, features = ["rt", "rt-multi-thread"] }
diff --git a/crates/gpui_tokio/src/gpui_tokio.rs b/crates/gpui_tokio/src/gpui_tokio.rs
index fffe18a616d9b597c9f5ed25b68df2911c8f3886..8384f2a88ec82b96c0490913019b701cdf01239c 100644
--- a/crates/gpui_tokio/src/gpui_tokio.rs
+++ b/crates/gpui_tokio/src/gpui_tokio.rs
@@ -52,6 +52,28 @@ impl Tokio {
         })
     }
 
+    /// Spawns the given future on Tokio's thread pool, and returns it via a GPUI task
+    /// Note that the Tokio task will be cancelled if the GPUI task is dropped
+    pub fn spawn_result<C, Fut, R>(cx: &C, f: Fut) -> C::Result<Task<anyhow::Result<R>>>
+    where
+        C: AppContext,
+        Fut: Future<Output = anyhow::Result<R>> + Send + 'static,
+        R: Send + 'static,
+    {
+        cx.read_global(|tokio: &GlobalTokio, cx| {
+            let join_handle = tokio.runtime.spawn(f);
+            let abort_handle = join_handle.abort_handle();
+            let cancel = defer(move || {
+                abort_handle.abort();
+            });
+            cx.background_spawn(async move {
+                let result = join_handle.await?;
+                drop(cancel);
+                result
+            })
+        })
+    }
+
     pub fn handle(cx: &App) -> tokio::runtime::Handle {
         GlobalTokio::global(cx).runtime.handle().clone()
     }