diff --git a/api/main.go b/api/main.go
index 1fb17e5..29aaa0c 100644
--- a/api/main.go
+++ b/api/main.go
@@ -162,6 +162,8 @@ func launch(request Inbound, res http.ResponseWriter) {
         separate: &stderr,
     }
 
+    err := cmd.Run()
+
     stdout = strings.TrimSpace(stdout)
     stderr = strings.TrimSpace(stderr)
     combined = strings.TrimSpace(combined)
@@ -178,8 +180,6 @@ func launch(request Inbound, res http.ResponseWriter) {
         combined = combined[:65536]
     }
 
-    err := cmd.Run()
-
     // get the executing version of the language
     execlang := request.Language