diff --git a/src/packages/backend/execute-code.ts b/src/packages/backend/execute-code.ts
index 6ec607bf5a0..6a05254c880 100644
--- a/src/packages/backend/execute-code.ts
+++ b/src/packages/backend/execute-code.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,12 @@
 // Execute code in a subprocess.
 
 import { callback } from "awaiting";
-import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
+import LRU from "lru-cache";
+import {
+  ChildProcessWithoutNullStreams,
+  spawn,
+  SpawnOptionsWithoutStdio,
+} from "node:child_process";
 import { chmod, mkdtemp, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 import { join } from "node:path";
@@ -27,6 +32,15 @@ import type {
 
 const log = getLogger("execute-code");
 
+const asyncCache = new LRU<string, ExecuteCodeOutput>({
+  max: 100,
+  ttl: 1000 * 60 * 60,
+  ttlAutopurge: true,
+  allowStale: true,
+  updateAgeOnGet: true,
+  updateAgeOnHas: true,
+});
+
 // Async/await interface to executing code.
 export async function executeCode(
   opts: ExecuteCodeOptions,
@@ -52,6 +66,13 @@ export const execute_code: ExecuteCodeFunctionWithCallback = aggregate(
 async function executeCodeNoAggregate(
   opts: ExecuteCodeOptions,
 ): Promise<ExecuteCodeOutput> {
+  if (typeof opts.async_get === "string") {
+    const s = asyncCache.get(opts.async_get);
+    if (s != null) {
+      return s;
+    }
+  }
+
   if (opts.args == null) opts.args = [];
   if (opts.timeout == null) opts.timeout = 10;
   if (opts.ulimit_timeout == null) opts.ulimit_timeout = true;
@@ -138,7 +159,7 @@ function doSpawn(opts, cb) {
       "seconds",
     );
   }
-  const spawnOptions = {
+  const spawnOptions: SpawnOptionsWithoutStdio = {
     detached: true, // so we can kill the entire process group if it times out
     cwd: opts.path,
     ...(opts.uid ? { uid: opts.uid } : undefined),
@@ -150,11 +171,11 @@ function doSpawn(opts, cb) {
     },
   };
 
-  let r,
-    ran_code = false;
+  let r: ChildProcessWithoutNullStreams;
+  let ran_code = false;
   try {
     r = spawn(opts.command, opts.args, spawnOptions);
-    if (r.stdout == null || r.stderr == null) {
+    if (r.stdout == null || r.stderr == null || r.pid == null) {
       // The docs/examples at https://nodejs.org/api/child_process.html#child_process_child_process_spawn_command_args_options
       // suggest that r.stdout and r.stderr are always defined.  However, this is
       // definitely NOT the case in edge cases, as we have observed.
@@ -215,7 +236,7 @@ function doSpawn(opts, cb) {
   });
 
   r.on("exit", (code) => {
-    exit_code = code;
+    exit_code = code != null ? code : undefined;
     finish();
   });
 
@@ -318,7 +339,9 @@ function doSpawn(opts, cb) {
       }
       try {
         killed = true;
-        process.kill(-r.pid, "SIGKILL"); // this should kill process group
+        if (r.pid != null) {
+          process.kill(-r.pid, "SIGKILL"); // this should kill process group
+        }
       } catch (err) {
         // Exceptions can happen, which left uncaught messes up calling code big time.
         if (opts.verbose) {
diff --git a/src/packages/next/lib/api/schema/exec.ts b/src/packages/next/lib/api/schema/exec.ts
index 2bac10b4b52..e26c188608c 100644
--- a/src/packages/next/lib/api/schema/exec.ts
+++ b/src/packages/next/lib/api/schema/exec.ts
@@ -10,14 +10,14 @@ export const ExecInputSchema = z
   .object({
     project_id: ProjectIdSchema,
     compute_server_id: ComputeServerIdSchema.describe(
-      `If provided, the desired shell command will be run on the compute server whose id 
+      `If provided, the desired shell command will be run on the compute server whose id
        is specified in this field (if available).`,
     ).optional(),
     filesystem: z
       .boolean()
       .optional()
       .describe(
-        `If \`true\`, this shell command runs in the fileserver container on the compute 
+        `If \`true\`, this shell command runs in the fileserver container on the compute
          server; otherwise, it runs on the main compute container.`,
       ),
     path: z
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ export const ExecInputSchema = z
       .boolean()
       .optional()
       .describe(
-        `If \`true\`, this command runs in a \`bash\` shell. To do so, the provided shell 
+        `If \`true\`, this command runs in a \`bash\` shell. To do so, the provided shell
          command is written to a file and then executed via the \`bash\` command.`,
       ),
     aggregate: z
@@ -57,16 +57,16 @@ export const ExecInputSchema = z
       ])
       .optional()
       .describe(
-        `If provided, this shell command is aggregated as in 
+        `If provided, this shell command is aggregated as in
          \`src/packages/backend/aggregate.js\`. This parameter allows one to specify
-         multiple callbacks to be executed against the output of the same command 
+         multiple callbacks to be executed against the output of the same command
          (given identical arguments) within a 60-second window.`,
       ),
     err_on_exit: z
       .boolean()
       .optional()
       .describe(
-        `When \`true\`, this call will throw an error whenever the provided shell command 
+        `When \`true\`, this call will throw an error whenever the provided shell command
        exits with a non-zero exit code.`,
       ),
     env: z
@@ -75,6 +75,13 @@ export const ExecInputSchema = z
       .describe(
         "Environment variables to be passed to the shell command upon execution.",
       ),
+    async_exec: z.boolean().optional()
+      .describe(`If \`true\`, the execution happens asynchroneously.
+        This means it the API call does not block and returns an ID.
+        Later, use that ID in a call to \`async_get\` to eventually get the result`),
+    async_get: z.string().optional()
+      .describe(`For a given ID returned by \`async\`,
+          retun the status, or the result as if it is called synchroneously. Results are only cached temporarily!`),
   })
   .describe("Perform arbitrary shell commands in a compute server or project.");
 
diff --git a/src/packages/next/pages/api/v2/exec.ts b/src/packages/next/pages/api/v2/exec.ts
index 627bf82c8a0..8f56209b368 100644
--- a/src/packages/next/pages/api/v2/exec.ts
+++ b/src/packages/next/pages/api/v2/exec.ts
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ async function get(req) {
     aggregate,
     err_on_exit,
     env,
+    async_exec,
+    async_get,
   } = getParams(req);
 
   if (!(await isCollaborator({ account_id, project_id }))) {
@@ -61,6 +63,8 @@ async function get(req) {
       aggregate,
       err_on_exit,
       env,
+      async_exec,
+      async_get,
     },
   });
   // event and id don't make sense for http post api
diff --git a/src/packages/util/aggregate.d.ts b/src/packages/util/aggregate.d.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 8aab82ec479..00000000000
--- a/src/packages/util/aggregate.d.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-export const aggregate: Function;
diff --git a/src/packages/util/aggregate.js b/src/packages/util/aggregate.ts
similarity index 96%
rename from src/packages/util/aggregate.js
rename to src/packages/util/aggregate.ts
index 7cd81fa4757..964a5be1b5d 100644
--- a/src/packages/util/aggregate.js
+++ b/src/packages/util/aggregate.ts
@@ -63,16 +63,17 @@ Where options is an object.
 
 */
 
-const { copy_without, field_cmp } = require("./misc");
 const json_stable = require("json-stable-stringify");
 
+import { copy_without, field_cmp } from "./misc";
+
 // To avoid using up too much memory, results are cached at most this long
 // (so long as function is called periodically to clear the cache... if not,
 // no point in clearing, since won't grow much.)
 const DONE_CACHE_TIMEOUT_MS = 60000;
 
 function clear_old(done) {
-  const now = new Date();
+  const now = Date.now();
   for (let key in done) {
     const s = done[key];
     if (now - s.time >= DONE_CACHE_TIMEOUT_MS) {
@@ -93,7 +94,7 @@ function leq(a, b) {
   return a <= b;
 }
 
-exports.aggregate = function (options, f) {
+export function aggregate(options, f?: any) {
   if (f == null) {
     f = options;
     options = undefined;
@@ -120,7 +121,7 @@ exports.aggregate = function (options, f) {
 
   function aggregate_call_f(opts) {
     // Key is a string that determines the inputs to f **that matter**.
-    const key = json_stable(copy_without(opts, omitted_fields));
+    const key: string = json_stable(copy_without(opts, omitted_fields));
     // Check state
     const current = state[key];
     const recent = done[key];
@@ -190,4 +191,4 @@ exports.aggregate = function (options, f) {
       aggregate_call_f(opts);
     }
   };
-};
+}
diff --git a/src/packages/util/types/execute-code.ts b/src/packages/util/types/execute-code.ts
index 3c8191cde47..38e8a2578c3 100644
--- a/src/packages/util/types/execute-code.ts
+++ b/src/packages/util/types/execute-code.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ export interface ExecuteCodeOptions {
   env?: object; // if given, added to exec environment
   aggregate?: string | number; // if given, aggregates multiple calls with same sequence number into one -- see @cocalc/util/aggregate; typically make this a timestamp for compiling code (e.g., latex).
   verbose?: boolean; // default true -- impacts amount of logging
+  async_exec?: boolean; // default false -- if true, return an ID and execute it asynchroneously
+  async_get?: string; // if set, everything else is ignored and the status/output of the async call is returned
 }
 
 export interface ExecuteCodeOptionsWithCallback extends ExecuteCodeOptions {
@@ -27,5 +29,5 @@ export interface ExecuteCodeOptionsWithCallback extends ExecuteCodeOptions {
 }
 
 export type ExecuteCodeFunctionWithCallback = (
-  opts: ExecuteCodeOptionsWithCallback
+  opts: ExecuteCodeOptionsWithCallback,
 ) => void;