diff --git a/src/async/async.c b/src/async/async.c
index 4d9b980a3..56c3ecf77 100644
--- a/src/async/async.c
+++ b/src/async/async.c
@@ -26,12 +26,13 @@ struct async_work {
 };
 
 struct re_async {
-	thrd_t thr;
+	thrd_t *thrd;
 	uint16_t nthrds;
 	RE_ATOMIC bool run;
 	cnd_t wait;
 	mtx_t mtx;
 	struct list workl;
+	struct list curl;
 	struct tmr tmr;
 	struct mqueue *mqueue;
 };
@@ -56,9 +57,9 @@ static int worker_thread(void *arg)
 			mtx_unlock(&async->mtx);
 			continue;
 		}
-
 		le = list_head(&async->workl);
 		list_unlink(le);
+		list_append(&async->curl, le, le->data);
 		mtx_unlock(&async->mtx);
 
 		work	  = le->data;
@@ -79,12 +80,17 @@ static void async_destructor(void *data)
 	mtx_lock(&async->mtx);
 	cnd_broadcast(&async->wait);
 	mtx_unlock(&async->mtx);
-	thrd_join(async->thr, NULL);
+
+	for (int i = 0; i < async->nthrds; i++) {
+		thrd_join(async->thrd[i], NULL);
+	}
 
 	list_flush(&async->workl);
+	list_flush(&async->curl);
 	cnd_destroy(&async->wait);
 	mtx_destroy(&async->mtx);
 	mem_deref(async->mqueue);
+	mem_deref(async->thrd);
 }
 
 
@@ -102,7 +108,7 @@ static void job_check(void *arg)
 }
 
 
-/* called by re main fd_poll */
+/* called by re main event loop */
 static void queueh(int id, void *data, void *arg)
 {
 	struct async_work *work = data;
@@ -110,6 +116,7 @@ static void queueh(int id, void *data, void *arg)
 	(void)id;
 
 	work->cb(work->err, work->arg);
+	list_unlink(&work->le);
 	mem_deref(work);
 }
 
@@ -137,6 +144,13 @@ int re_async_alloc(struct re_async **asyncp, uint16_t nthrds)
 		return err;
 	}
 
+	async->thrd = mem_zalloc(sizeof(thrd_t) * nthrds, NULL);
+	if (!async->thrd) {
+		mem_deref(async->mqueue);
+		mem_deref(async);
+		return ENOMEM;
+	}
+
 	mtx_init(&async->mtx, mtx_plain);
 	cnd_init(&async->wait);
 	tmr_init(&async->tmr);
@@ -146,10 +160,13 @@ int re_async_alloc(struct re_async **asyncp, uint16_t nthrds)
 	async->nthrds = nthrds;
 	re_atomic_rlx_set(&async->run, true);
 
-	err = thread_create_name(&async->thr, "async worker thread",
-				 worker_thread, async);
-	if (err)
-		return err;
+	for (int i = 0; i < async->nthrds; i++) {
+		err = thread_create_name(&async->thrd[i],
+					 "async worker thread", worker_thread,
+					 async);
+		if (err)
+			return err;
+	}
 
 	tmr_start(&async->tmr, 10, job_check, async);
 
@@ -183,9 +200,8 @@ int re_async(struct re_async *async, re_async_work *work, re_async_h *cb,
 	async_work->cb	 = cb;
 	async_work->arg	 = arg;
 
-	list_append(&async->workl, &async_work->le, async_work);
-
 	mtx_lock(&async->mtx);
+	list_append(&async->workl, &async_work->le, async_work);
 	cnd_signal(&async->wait);
 	mtx_unlock(&async->mtx);