diff --git a/client/globus_cw_client/client.py b/client/globus_cw_client/client.py
index 415d488..07f7ef8 100644
--- a/client/globus_cw_client/client.py
+++ b/client/globus_cw_client/client.py
@@ -2,20 +2,18 @@
 Python client API for cwlogs daemon
 """
 
-from __future__ import annotations
-
+import asyncio
+import json
 import socket
 import time
 
-import orjson
-
 
 def _checktype(value, types, message):
     if not isinstance(value, types):
         raise TypeError(message)
 
 
-def log_event(message: str | bytes, retries=10, wait=0.1):
+def log_event(message, retries=10, wait=0.1):
     """
     Log the @message string to cloudwatch logs, using the current time.
     message: bytes (valid utf8 required) or str.
@@ -26,7 +24,7 @@ def log_event(message: str | bytes, retries=10, wait=0.1):
     Returns when the message was queued to the daemon's memory queue.
     (Does not mean the message is safe in cloudwatch)
     """
-
+    # python3 json library can't handle bytes, so preemptively decode utf-8
     if isinstance(message, bytes):
         message = message.decode("utf-8")
     _checktype(message, str, "message type must be bytes or str")
@@ -39,24 +37,42 @@ def log_event(message: str | bytes, retries=10, wait=0.1):
     if wait < 0:
         raise ValueError("wait must be non-negative")
 
-    req = {
-        "message": message,
-        "timestamp": int(time.time() * 1000),
-    }
+    req = {"message": message, "timestamp": int(time.time() * 1000)}
     return _request(req, retries, wait)
 
 
+async def log_event_async(message, retries=10, wait=0.1):
+    if isinstance(message, bytes):
+        message = message.decode("utf-8")
+    _checktype(message, str, "message type must be bytes or unicode")
+
+    _checktype(retries, int, "retries must be an int")
+    if retries < 0:
+        raise ValueError("retries must be non-negative")
+
+    _checktype(wait, (int, float), "wait must be an int or float")
+    if wait < 0:
+        raise ValueError("wait must be non-negative")
+
+    req = {}
+    req["message"] = message
+    req["timestamp"] = int(time.time() * 1000)
+    return await _request_async(req, retries, wait)
+
+
+socket_path = "/tmp/org.globus.cwlogs"
+
+
 def _connect(retries, wait):
     """
     Try to connect to the daemon @retries + 1 times,
     waiting @wait seconds between tries
     Raise: Exception if max attempts exceeded
     """
-    addr = "\0org.globus.cwlogs"
     for _ in range(retries + 1):
         sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM, 0)
         try:
-            sock.connect(addr)
+            sock.connect(socket_path)
         except Exception as err:
             sock.close()
             error = err
@@ -67,22 +83,65 @@ def _connect(retries, wait):
     raise CWLoggerConnectionError("couldn't connect to cw", error)
 
 
+async def _connect_async(retries, wait):
+    for _ in range(retries + 1):
+        writer = None
+        try:
+            reader, writer = await asyncio.open_unix_connection(path=socket_path)
+        except Exception as err:
+            if writer:
+                writer.close()
+            error = err
+        else:
+            return reader, writer
+        await asyncio.sleep(wait)
+    raise CWLoggerConnectionError("couldn't connect to cw", error)
+
+
 def _request(req, retries, wait):
-    buf = orjson.dumps(req) + b"\n"
+    buf = json.dumps(req, indent=None) + "\n"
+    buf = buf.encode("utf-8")
 
     sock = _connect(retries, wait)
     sock.sendall(buf)
 
-    resp = b""
+    resp = ""
     while True:
         chunk = sock.recv(4000)
         if not chunk:
+            sock.close()
             raise Exception("no data")
-        resp += chunk
-        if chunk.endswith(b"\n"):
+        resp += chunk.decode("utf-8")
+        if resp.endswith("\n"):
             break
 
-    d = orjson.loads(resp[:-1])
+    d = json.loads(resp[:-1])
+    sock.close()
+    if isinstance(d, dict):
+        status = d["status"]
+        if status == "ok":
+            return d
+        else:
+            raise CWLoggerDaemonError("forwarded error", d["message"])
+    else:
+        raise CWLoggerDaemonError("unknown response type", d)
+
+
+async def _request_async(req, retries, wait):
+    buf = json.dumps(req, indent=None) + "\n"
+    buf = buf.encode("utf-8")
+
+    reader, writer = await _connect_async(retries, wait)
+    writer.write(buf)
+    await writer.drain()
+
+    resp = await reader.readline()
+    writer.close()
+    if not resp.endswith(b"\n"):
+        raise Exception("no data")
+    resp = resp.decode("utf-8")
+
+    d = json.loads(resp[:-1])
     if isinstance(d, dict):
         status = d["status"]
         if status == "ok":
diff --git a/client/setup.py b/client/setup.py
index 7ec4f27..e79cdbb 100644
--- a/client/setup.py
+++ b/client/setup.py
@@ -7,7 +7,4 @@
     # descriptive info, non-critical
     description="Client for Globus CloudWatch Logger",
     url="https://github.com/globus/globus-cwlogger",
-    install_requires=[
-        "orjson",
-    ],
 )
diff --git a/daemon/globus_cw_daemon/daemon.py b/daemon/globus_cw_daemon/daemon.py
index f128638..2c7970e 100644
--- a/daemon/globus_cw_daemon/daemon.py
+++ b/daemon/globus_cw_daemon/daemon.py
@@ -208,8 +208,16 @@ def main():
     _print("cwlogs: starting...")
     _log.info("starting")
 
+    addr = "/tmp/org.globus.cwlogs"
+
+    # clean up previous socket if exists
+    try:
+        os.remove(addr)
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        pass
+
+    os.umask(0)
     listen_sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM, 0)
-    addr = "\0org.globus.cwlogs"
     try:
         listen_sock.bind(addr)
     except OSError as e: