diff --git a/.prettierignore b/.prettierignore
index a45ebb6b..c4a7ba68 100644
--- a/.prettierignore
+++ b/.prettierignore
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@ coverage
 build
 dist
 VendorLib
+.mypy_cache
diff --git a/lib/main.js b/lib/main.js
index 43298080..b8a1a1f0 100644
--- a/lib/main.js
+++ b/lib/main.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 const { shell } = require("electron")
-const execFileSync = require("child_process").execFileSync
+const whichSync = require("which").sync
 const { AutoLanguageClient } = require("atom-languageclient")
 const { detectVirtualEnv, detectPipEnv, replacePipEnvPathVar, sanitizeConfig } = require("./utils")
 
@@ -53,10 +53,7 @@ class PythonLanguageClient extends AutoLanguageClient {
 
     let pyls = atom.config.get("ide-python.pyls") || "pylsp"
     // check if it exists
-    try {
-      execFileSync(pyls, ["--help"], { stdio: "inherit" })
-    } catch (e) {
-      console.error(e)
+    if (whichSync(pyls, { nothrow: true }) === null) {
       pyls = "pyls"
     }
     const childProcess = super.spawn(python, ["-m", pyls], {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index e4542a70..dc181bdb 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@
     "untildify": "3.0.2",
     "vscode-debugadapter": "1.24.0",
     "vscode-debugprotocol": "1.24.0",
+    "which": "^2.0.2",
     "xml2js": "0.4.17"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index 853cf510..88ab2340 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ specifiers:
   untildify: 3.0.2
   vscode-debugadapter: 1.24.0
   vscode-debugprotocol: 1.24.0
+  which: ^2.0.2
   xml2js: 0.4.17
 
 dependencies:
@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@ dependencies:
   untildify: 3.0.2
   vscode-debugadapter: 1.24.0
   vscode-debugprotocol: 1.24.0
+  which: 2.0.2
   xml2js: 0.4.17
 
 devDependencies:
@@ -2698,7 +2700,6 @@ packages:
 
   /isexe/2.0.0:
     resolution: {integrity: sha1-6PvzdNxVb/iUehDcsFctYz8s+hA=}
-    dev: true
 
   /isobject/2.1.0:
     resolution: {integrity: sha1-8GVWEJaj8dou9GJy+BXIQNh+DIk=}
@@ -3906,7 +3907,6 @@ packages:
     hasBin: true
     dependencies:
       isexe: 2.0.0
-    dev: true
 
   /window-size/0.1.4:
     resolution: {integrity: sha1-+OGqHuWlPsW/FR/6CXQqatdpeHY=}