diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 69c4337..4bb1503 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -56,6 +56,18 @@ version = "1.5.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "9b34d609dfbaf33d6889b2b7106d3ca345eacad44200913df5ba02bfd31d2ba9"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "async-scoped"
+version = "0.7.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "0e7a6a57c8aeb40da1ec037f5d455836852f7a57e69e1b1ad3d8f38ac1d6cadf"
+dependencies = [
+ "futures",
+ "pin-project",
+ "slab",
+ "tokio",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "atoi"
 version = "2.0.0"
@@ -377,6 +389,21 @@ dependencies = [
  "percent-encoding",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "futures"
+version = "0.3.28"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "23342abe12aba583913b2e62f22225ff9c950774065e4bfb61a19cd9770fec40"
+dependencies = [
+ "futures-channel",
+ "futures-core",
+ "futures-executor",
+ "futures-io",
+ "futures-sink",
+ "futures-task",
+ "futures-util",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "futures-channel"
 version = "0.3.28"
@@ -450,6 +477,7 @@ version = "0.3.28"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "26b01e40b772d54cf6c6d721c1d1abd0647a0106a12ecaa1c186273392a69533"
 dependencies = [
+ "futures-channel",
  "futures-core",
  "futures-io",
  "futures-macro",
@@ -754,6 +782,7 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
  "assert_matches",
+ "async-scoped",
  "derive_more",
  "figment",
  "futures-util",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index ddabb38..8950494 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ quick-xml = { version = "0.30.0", features = ["async-tokio"] }
 derive_more = "0.99.17"
 uuid = { version = "1.3.0", features = ["v4"] }
 sqlx = { version = "0.7.0-alpha.2", features = ["sqlite", "runtime-tokio-rustls", "migrate"] }
+async-scoped = { version = "0.7.1", features = ["use-tokio"] }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 assert_matches = "1.5.0"
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index a623441..fae4f28 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -57,7 +57,10 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
     let mut players = PlayerRegistry::empty(rooms.clone(), &mut metrics)?;
     let telemetry_terminator =
         util::telemetry::launch(telemetry_config, metrics.clone(), rooms.clone()).await?;
-    let irc = projections::irc::launch(irc_config, players.clone(), rooms.clone(), metrics.clone(), storage.clone()).await?;
+
+    // unsafe: outer future is never dropped, scope is joined on `scope.collect`
+    let mut scope = unsafe { Scope::create() };
+    let irc = projections::irc::launch(&irc_config, &players, &rooms, &metrics, &storage, &mut scope).await?;
     let xmpp = projections::xmpp::launch(xmpp_config, players.clone(), rooms.clone(), metrics.clone()).await?;
     tracing::info!("Started");
 
@@ -65,7 +68,10 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
 
     tracing::info!("Begin shutdown");
     xmpp.terminate().await?;
-    irc.terminate().await?;
+    let _ = irc.send(());
+    let _ = scope.collect().await;
+    drop(scope);
+
     telemetry_terminator.terminate().await?;
     players.shutdown_all().await?;
     drop(players);
diff --git a/src/prelude.rs b/src/prelude.rs
index 9488bc2..e01332d 100644
--- a/src/prelude.rs
+++ b/src/prelude.rs
@@ -23,3 +23,5 @@ macro_rules! ffail {
 }
 
 pub(crate) use ffail;
+
+pub type Scope<'a> = async_scoped::Scope<'a, (), async_scoped::Tokio>;
diff --git a/src/projections/irc/mod.rs b/src/projections/irc/mod.rs
index 6c36716..2f74919 100644
--- a/src/projections/irc/mod.rs
+++ b/src/projections/irc/mod.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::net::SocketAddr;
 
+use futures_util::FutureExt;
 use futures_util::future::join_all;
 use prometheus::{IntCounter, IntGauge, Registry as MetricsRegistry};
 use serde::Deserialize;
@@ -689,13 +690,14 @@ async fn produce_on_join_cmd_messages(
     Ok(())
 }
 
-pub async fn launch(
-    config: ServerConfig,
-    players: PlayerRegistry,
-    rooms: RoomRegistry,
-    metrics: MetricsRegistry,
-    storage: Storage,
-) -> Result<Terminator> {
+pub async fn launch<'a>(
+    config: &'a ServerConfig,
+    players: &'a PlayerRegistry,
+    rooms: &'a RoomRegistry,
+    metrics: &'a MetricsRegistry,
+    storage: &'a Storage,
+    scope: &mut Scope<'a>,
+) -> Result<Promise<()>> {
     log::info!("Starting IRC projection");
     let (stopped_tx, mut stopped_rx) = channel(32);
     let current_connections =
@@ -709,7 +711,8 @@ pub async fn launch(
 
     let listener = TcpListener::bind(config.listen_on).await?;
 
-    let terminator = Terminator::spawn(|mut rx| async move {
+    let (signal, mut rx) = oneshot();
+    let future = async move {
         // TODO probably should separate logic for accepting new connection and storing them
         // into two tasks so that they don't block each other
         let mut actors = HashMap::new();
@@ -771,8 +774,10 @@ pub async fn launch(
         })).await;
         log::info!("Stopped IRC projection");
         Ok(())
-    });
+    };
+
+    scope.spawn(future.map(|_: Result<()>| ()));
 
     log::info!("Started IRC projection");
-    Ok(terminator)
+    Ok(signal)
 }