diff --git a/src/autoresearch.rs b/src/autoresearch.rs
index 6185c5f..64fe589 100644
--- a/src/autoresearch.rs
+++ b/src/autoresearch.rs
@@ -104,8 +104,9 @@ impl AutoresearchConfig {
         Ok(())
     }
 
-    pub fn load(path: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<Self> {
-        let content = std::fs::read_to_string(path)
+    pub async fn load(path: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<Self> {
+        let content = tokio::fs::read_to_string(path)
+            .await
             .with_context(|| format!("reading autoresearch spec {}", path.display()))?;
         let config: Self = toml::from_str(&content)
             .with_context(|| format!("parsing autoresearch spec {}", path.display()))?;
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 6876de9..fde3574 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1405,7 +1405,7 @@ async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
             } else {
                 workspace.join(spec)
             };
-            let mut autoresearch_config = AutoresearchConfig::load(&spec_path)?;
+            let mut autoresearch_config = AutoresearchConfig::load(&spec_path).await?;
             if let Some(iterations) = iterations {
                 autoresearch_config.max_iterations = iterations;
             }