diff --git a/bin/el/src/main.rs b/bin/el/src/main.rs
index ce547a4..6c6114f 100644
--- a/bin/el/src/main.rs
+++ b/bin/el/src/main.rs
@@ -388,7 +388,8 @@ async fn run(cli: Cli) -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
             let artifact = std::fs::read(&out.artifact_path)?;
             let instructions = el_compiler::Bytecode::deserialize_all(&artifact)
                 .unwrap_or_default();
-            run_interpreter(&instructions);
+            // block_in_place lets the interpreter use reqwest::blocking from within tokio::main
+            tokio::task::block_in_place(|| run_interpreter(&instructions));
         }
 
         Command::Test { filter, e2e, all, output, manifest } => {
@@ -568,7 +569,8 @@ async fn run(cli: Cli) -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
             }
             let instructions = el_compiler::Bytecode::deserialize_all(&compiled.artifact)
                 .unwrap_or_default();
-            run_interpreter_with_args(&instructions, &args);
+            // block_in_place lets the interpreter use reqwest::blocking from within tokio::main
+            tokio::task::block_in_place(|| run_interpreter_with_args(&instructions, &args));
         }
 
         Command::BuildFile { file, target, output } => {