diff --git a/crates/rmcp/src/transport/child_process.rs b/crates/rmcp/src/transport/child_process.rs
index 2e7c034f..21435959 100644
--- a/crates/rmcp/src/transport/child_process.rs
+++ b/crates/rmcp/src/transport/child_process.rs
@@ -1,14 +1,17 @@
-use std::process::Stdio;
+use std::{process::Stdio, sync::Arc};
 
+use futures::future::Future;
 use process_wrap::tokio::{TokioChildWrapper, TokioCommandWrap};
 use tokio::{
-    io::AsyncRead,
+    io::{AsyncRead, AsyncWriteExt},
     process::{ChildStderr, ChildStdin, ChildStdout},
+    sync::Mutex,
 };
 
-use super::{IntoTransport, Transport};
+use super::{RxJsonRpcMessage, Transport, TxJsonRpcMessage};
 use crate::service::ServiceRole;
 
+const MAX_WAIT_ON_DROP_SECS: u64 = 3;
 /// The parts of a child process.
 type ChildProcessParts = (
     Box<dyn TokioChildWrapper>,
@@ -36,18 +39,24 @@ fn child_process(mut child: Box<dyn TokioChildWrapper>) -> std::io::Result<Child
 
 pub struct TokioChildProcess {
     child: ChildWithCleanup,
-    child_stdin: ChildStdin,
+    child_stdin: Arc<Mutex<ChildStdin>>,
     child_stdout: ChildStdout,
 }
 
 pub struct ChildWithCleanup {
-    inner: Box<dyn TokioChildWrapper>,
+    inner: Option<Box<dyn TokioChildWrapper>>,
 }
 
 impl Drop for ChildWithCleanup {
     fn drop(&mut self) {
-        if let Err(e) = self.inner.start_kill() {
-            tracing::warn!("Failed to kill child process: {e}");
+        // We should not use start_kill(), instead we should use kill() to avoid zombies
+        if let Some(mut inner) = self.inner.take() {
+            // We don't care about the result, just try to kill it
+            tokio::spawn(async move {
+                if let Err(e) = Box::into_pin(inner.kill()).await {
+                    tracing::warn!("Error killing child process: {}", e);
+                }
+            });
         }
     }
 }
@@ -64,7 +73,7 @@ pin_project_lite::pin_project! {
 impl TokioChildProcessOut {
     /// Get the process ID of the child process.
     pub fn id(&self) -> Option<u32> {
-        self.child.inner.id()
+        self.child.inner.as_ref()?.id()
     }
 }
 
@@ -92,23 +101,51 @@ impl TokioChildProcess {
 
     /// Get the process ID of the child process.
     pub fn id(&self) -> Option<u32> {
-        self.child.inner.id()
+        self.child.inner.as_ref()?.id()
+    }
+
+    /// Gracefully shutdown the child process
+    ///
+    /// This will first wait for the child process to exit normally with a timeout.
+    /// If the child process doesn't exit within the timeout, it will be killed.
+    pub async fn graceful_shutdown(&mut self) -> std::io::Result<()> {
+        if let Some(mut child) = self.child.inner.take() {
+            let wait_fut = Box::into_pin(child.wait());
+            tokio::select! {
+                _ = tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_secs(MAX_WAIT_ON_DROP_SECS)) => {
+                    if let Err(e) = Box::into_pin(child.kill()).await {
+                        tracing::warn!("Error killing child: {e}");
+                        return Err(e);
+                    }
+                },
+                res = wait_fut => {
+                    match res {
+                        Ok(status) => {
+                            tracing::info!("Child exited gracefully {}", status);
+                        }
+                        Err(e) => {
+                            tracing::warn!("Error waiting for child: {e}");
+                            return Err(e);
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+    /// Take ownership of the inner child process
+    pub fn into_inner(mut self) -> Option<Box<dyn TokioChildWrapper>> {
+        self.child.inner.take()
     }
 
     /// Split this helper into a reader (stdout) and writer (stdin).
+    #[deprecated(
+        since = "0.5.0",
+        note = "use the Transport trait implementation instead"
+    )]
     pub fn split(self) -> (TokioChildProcessOut, ChildStdin) {
-        let TokioChildProcess {
-            child,
-            child_stdin,
-            child_stdout,
-        } = self;
-        (
-            TokioChildProcessOut {
-                child,
-                child_stdout,
-            },
-            child_stdin,
-        )
+        unimplemented!("This method is deprecated, use the Transport trait implementation instead");
     }
 }
 
@@ -157,19 +194,61 @@ impl TokioChildProcessBuilder {
         let (child, stdout, stdin, stderr_opt) = child_process(self.cmd.spawn()?)?;
 
         let proc = TokioChildProcess {
-            child: ChildWithCleanup { inner: child },
-            child_stdin: stdin,
+            child: ChildWithCleanup { inner: Some(child) },
+            child_stdin: Arc::new(Mutex::new(stdin)),
             child_stdout: stdout,
         };
         Ok((proc, stderr_opt))
     }
 }
 
-impl<R: ServiceRole> IntoTransport<R, std::io::Error, ()> for TokioChildProcess {
-    fn into_transport(self) -> impl Transport<R, Error = std::io::Error> + 'static {
-        IntoTransport::<R, std::io::Error, super::async_rw::TransportAdapterAsyncRW>::into_transport(
-            self.split(),
-        )
+impl<R: ServiceRole> Transport<R> for TokioChildProcess {
+    type Error = std::io::Error;
+
+    fn send(
+        &mut self,
+        item: TxJsonRpcMessage<R>,
+    ) -> impl Future<Output = Result<(), Self::Error>> + Send + 'static {
+        let json = serde_json::to_string(&item).unwrap();
+        let child_stdin = Arc::clone(&self.child_stdin);
+
+        async move {
+            let mut child_stdin = child_stdin.lock().await;
+            let serialized = format!("{}\n", json);
+            child_stdin.write_all(serialized.as_bytes()).await?;
+            child_stdin.flush().await?;
+            Ok(())
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn receive(&mut self) -> impl Future<Output = Option<RxJsonRpcMessage<R>>> + Send {
+        use tokio::io::{AsyncBufReadExt, BufReader};
+
+        // Create a new BufReader for each call to receive
+        let stdout = &mut self.child_stdout;
+        let mut buf_reader = BufReader::new(stdout);
+        let mut line = String::new();
+
+        async move {
+            match buf_reader.read_line(&mut line).await {
+                Ok(0) => None, // EOF
+                Ok(_) => match serde_json::from_str::<RxJsonRpcMessage<R>>(&line) {
+                    Ok(msg) => Some(msg),
+                    Err(e) => {
+                        tracing::error!("Failed to deserialize message: {}", e);
+                        None
+                    }
+                },
+                Err(e) => {
+                    tracing::error!("Error reading from child process: {}", e);
+                    None
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn close(&mut self) -> impl Future<Output = Result<(), Self::Error>> + Send {
+        self.graceful_shutdown()
     }
 }
 
@@ -183,3 +262,78 @@ impl ConfigureCommandExt for tokio::process::Command {
         self
     }
 }
+
+#[cfg(unix)]
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use tokio::process::Command;
+
+    use super::*;
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn test_tokio_child_process_drop() {
+        let r = TokioChildProcess::new(Command::new("sleep").configure(|cmd| {
+            cmd.arg("30");
+        }));
+        assert!(r.is_ok());
+        let child_process = r.unwrap();
+        let id = child_process.id();
+        assert!(id.is_some());
+        let id = id.unwrap();
+        // Drop the child process
+        drop(child_process);
+        // Wait a moment to allow the cleanup task to run
+        tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_secs(MAX_WAIT_ON_DROP_SECS + 1)).await;
+        // Check if the process is still running
+        let status = Command::new("ps")
+            .arg("-p")
+            .arg(id.to_string())
+            .status()
+            .await;
+        match status {
+            Ok(status) => {
+                assert!(
+                    !status.success(),
+                    "Process with PID {} is still running",
+                    id
+                );
+            }
+            Err(e) => {
+                panic!("Failed to check process status: {}", e);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn test_tokio_child_process_graceful_shutdown() {
+        let r = TokioChildProcess::new(Command::new("sleep").configure(|cmd| {
+            cmd.arg("30");
+        }));
+        assert!(r.is_ok());
+        let mut child_process = r.unwrap();
+        let id = child_process.id();
+        assert!(id.is_some());
+        let id = id.unwrap();
+        child_process.graceful_shutdown().await.unwrap();
+        // Wait a moment to allow the cleanup task to run
+        tokio::time::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_secs(MAX_WAIT_ON_DROP_SECS + 1)).await;
+        // Check if the process is still running
+        let status = Command::new("ps")
+            .arg("-p")
+            .arg(id.to_string())
+            .status()
+            .await;
+        match status {
+            Ok(status) => {
+                assert!(
+                    !status.success(),
+                    "Process with PID {} is still running",
+                    id
+                );
+            }
+            Err(e) => {
+                panic!("Failed to check process status: {}", e);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}