diff --git a/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/index.ts b/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/index.ts
index b3d3af79b9e..a2f8240f6f7 100644
--- a/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/index.ts
+++ b/tooling/noir_js_backend_barretenberg/src/index.ts
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ export class BarretenbergBackend implements Backend {
     this.acirUncompressedBytecode = acirToUint8Array(acirBytecodeBase64);
   }
 
-  private async instantiate(): Promise<void> {
+  async instantiate(): Promise<void> {
     if (!this.api) {
       // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/ban-ts-comment
       //@ts-ignore