diff --git a/include/dpp/cluster.h b/include/dpp/cluster.h
index 44a7f521f2..aad6d024e3 100644
--- a/include/dpp/cluster.h
+++ b/include/dpp/cluster.h
@@ -178,6 +178,11 @@ class DPP_EXPORT cluster {
 	 */
 	std::unique_ptr<thread_pool> pool{nullptr};
 
+	/**
+	 * @brief Used to spawn the socket engine into its own thread if
+	 * the cluster is started with dpp::st_return. It is unused otherwise.
+	 */
+	std::unique_ptr<std::jthread> engine_thread{nullptr};
 
 public:
 	/**
@@ -233,9 +238,13 @@ class DPP_EXPORT cluster {
 	websocket_protocol_t ws_mode;
 
 	/**
-	 * @brief Condition variable notified when the cluster is terminating.
+	 * @brief Atomic bool to set to true when the cluster is terminating.
+	 *
+	 * D++ itself does not set this value, it is for library users to set if they want
+	 * the cluster to terminate outside of a flow where they may have simple access to
+	 * destruct the cluster object.
 	 */
-	std::condition_variable terminating;
+	std::atomic_bool terminating{false};
 
 	/**
 	 * @brief The time (in seconds) that a request is allowed to take.
diff --git a/src/dpp/cluster.cpp b/src/dpp/cluster.cpp
index 9c804a9075..a7fdf7d975 100644
--- a/src/dpp/cluster.cpp
+++ b/src/dpp/cluster.cpp
@@ -202,10 +202,10 @@ dpp::utility::uptime cluster::uptime()
 
 void cluster::start(bool return_after) {
 
-	auto block_calling_thread = [this]() {
-		std::mutex thread_mutex;
-		std::unique_lock thread_lock(thread_mutex);
-		this->terminating.wait(thread_lock);
+	auto event_loop = [this]() -> void {
+		do {
+			socketengine->process_events();
+		} while (!this->terminating);
 	};
 
 	if (on_guild_member_add && !(intents & dpp::i_guild_members)) {
@@ -300,13 +300,13 @@ void cluster::start(bool return_after) {
 		log(ll_debug, "Shards started.");
 	});
 
-	do {
-		// TODO: Thread this
-		socketengine->process_events();
-	} while (true);
-
-	if (!return_after) {
-		block_calling_thread();
+	if (return_after) {
+		engine_thread = std::make_unique<std::jthread>(std::jthread([event_loop]() {
+			dpp::utility::set_thread_name("event_loop");
+			event_loop();
+		}));
+	} else {
+		event_loop();
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/src/unittest/test.cpp b/src/unittest/test.cpp
index 5c586da5e9..6c89f89358 100644
--- a/src/unittest/test.cpp
+++ b/src/unittest/test.cpp
@@ -1163,12 +1163,6 @@ Markdown lol \\|\\|spoiler\\|\\| \\~\\~strikethrough\\~\\~ \\`small \\*code\\* b
 			}
 		});
 
-		set_test(SYNC, false);
-		if (!offline) {
-			dpp::message m = dpp::sync<dpp::message>(&bot, &dpp::cluster::message_create, dpp::message(TEST_TEXT_CHANNEL_ID, "TEST"));
-			set_test(SYNC, m.content == "TEST");
-		}
-
 		bot.on_guild_create([&](const dpp::guild_create_t & event) {
 			if (event.created->id == TEST_GUILD_ID) {
 				set_test(GUILDCREATE, true);
diff --git a/src/unittest/test.h b/src/unittest/test.h
index 97637b7711..a687287623 100644
--- a/src/unittest/test.h
+++ b/src/unittest/test.h
@@ -144,7 +144,6 @@ DPP_TEST(MD_ESC_1, "Markdown escaping (ignore code block contents)", tf_offline)
 DPP_TEST(MD_ESC_2, "Markdown escaping (escape code block contents)", tf_offline);
 DPP_TEST(URLENC, "URL encoding", tf_offline);
 DPP_TEST(BASE64ENC, "Base 64 encoding", tf_offline);
-DPP_TEST(SYNC, "sync<T>()", tf_online);
 DPP_TEST(COMPARISON, "manged object comparison", tf_offline);
 DPP_TEST(CHANNELCACHE, "find_channel()", tf_online);
 DPP_TEST(CHANNELTYPES, "channel type flags", tf_online);