diff --git a/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/admin-server.js b/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/admin-server.js
index 8f8912673..2efdeb7ea 100644
--- a/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/admin-server.js
+++ b/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/admin-server.js
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ const { fork } = require("child_process");
 const ConsoleIO = require("./console-io");
 const makeDefer = require("@xarc/defer");
 const logger = require("@xarc/app/lib/logger");
+const xaa = require("xaa");
 
 const APP_SERVER_NAME = "your app server";
 const DEV_SERVER_NAME = "Electrode webpack dev server";
@@ -103,14 +104,14 @@ class AdminServer {
     const info = this.getServer(name);
     info._cancelled = true;
     if (info._startDefer) {
-      await info._startDefer.promise;
+      await xaa.try(() => xaa.runTimeout(info._startDefer.promise, 1000));
     }
     const child = info._child;
     if (child) {
       const defer = makeDefer();
       child.once("close", () => defer.resolve());
       child.kill(sig);
-      await defer.promise;
+      await xaa.try(() => xaa.runTimeout(defer.promise, 5000));
       child.kill("SIGKILL");
       info._child = undefined;
       info._starting = false;
diff --git a/packages/xarc-app-dev/package.json b/packages/xarc-app-dev/package.json
index 285452d57..08991e220 100644
--- a/packages/xarc-app-dev/package.json
+++ b/packages/xarc-app-dev/package.json
@@ -74,7 +74,6 @@
     "fs-extra": "^0.26.5",
     "identity-obj-proxy": "^3.0.0",
     "isomorphic-loader": "^3.0.0",
-    "nyc": "^14.1.1",
     "jsonfile": "^2.2.2",
     "loader-utils": "^1.1.0",
     "lodash": "^4.13.1",
@@ -82,6 +81,7 @@
     "mini-css-extract-plugin": "^0.7.0",
     "mkdirp": "^0.5.1",
     "nix-clap": "^1.3.7",
+    "nyc": "^14.1.1",
     "offline-plugin": "^4.6.1",
     "optimize-css-assets-webpack-plugin": "^5.0.1",
     "optional-require": "^1.0.0",
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@
     "webpack-hot-middleware": "^2.22.2",
     "webpack-stats-plugin": "^0.2.1",
     "winston": "^2.3.1",
+    "xaa": "^1.2.2",
     "xclap": "^0.2.38",
     "xenv-config": "^1.3.0",
     "xsh": "^0.4.4"