diff --git a/.changeset/gold-schools-explain.md b/.changeset/gold-schools-explain.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..95e95389d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/gold-schools-explain.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@electric-sql/start': patch
+---
+
+fix: made sure executable runs
diff --git a/packages/start/package.json b/packages/start/package.json
index dbfc1b6ce9..a8f32aec20 100644
--- a/packages/start/package.json
+++ b/packages/start/package.json
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
   "type": "module",
   "main": "./dist/index.js",
   "bin": {
-    "start": "./dist/cli.js"
+    "start": "./dist/bin.js"
   },
   "exports": {
     "./package.json": "./package.json",
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
   "scripts": {
     "build": "shx rm -rf dist && tsup",
     "prepack": "pnpm build",
-    "dev": "pnpm run build && node dist/cli.js",
+    "dev": "pnpm run build && node dist/bin.js",
     "format": "eslint . --fix",
     "stylecheck": "eslint . --quiet",
     "test": "pnpm exec vitest",
diff --git a/packages/start/src/bin.ts b/packages/start/src/bin.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fc347cfd71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/start/src/bin.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+import { main } from './cli.js'
+
+main().catch((error) => {
+  console.error(`Unexpected error:`, error)
+  process.exit(1)
+})
diff --git a/packages/start/src/cli.ts b/packages/start/src/cli.ts
index 5397192713..bc26bbb9af 100644
--- a/packages/start/src/cli.ts
+++ b/packages/start/src/cli.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 
 import { execSync } from 'child_process'
+import { realpathSync } from 'fs'
 import { provisionElectricResources } from './electric-api.js'
 import { setupTemplate } from './template-setup.js'
 import { join } from 'path'
@@ -98,11 +99,4 @@ async function main() {
   }
 }
 
-if (import.meta.url === `file://${process.argv[1]}`) {
-  main().catch((error) => {
-    console.error(`Unexpected error:`, error)
-    process.exit(1)
-  })
-}
-
 export { main }
diff --git a/packages/start/tsup.config.ts b/packages/start/tsup.config.ts
index 2c50ddbce3..929a73c212 100644
--- a/packages/start/tsup.config.ts
+++ b/packages/start/tsup.config.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ export default defineConfig((options) => {
   const commonOptions: Partial<Options> = {
     entry: {
       index: `src/index.ts`,
-      cli: `src/cli.ts`,
+      bin: `src/bin.ts`,
     },
     tsconfig: `./tsconfig.build.json`,
     sourcemap: true,