diff --git a/packages/phoenix/packages/pty/exports.js b/packages/phoenix/packages/pty/exports.js
index bbab56ef..da317532 100644
--- a/packages/phoenix/packages/pty/exports.js
+++ b/packages/phoenix/packages/pty/exports.js
@@ -34,22 +34,25 @@ export class BetterReader {
 
         const chunk = await this.getChunk_();
 
-        if ( ! opt_buffer ) {
+        if ( ! opt_buffer || ! chunk ) {
             return chunk;
         }
 
         this.chunks_.push(chunk);
 
         while ( this.getTotalBytesReady_() < opt_buffer.length ) {
-            this.chunks_.push(await this.getChunk_())
+            const read_chunk = await this.getChunk_();
+            if ( ! read_chunk ) {
+                break;
+            }
+            this.chunks_.push(read_chunk);
         }
 
-        // TODO: need to handle EOT condition in this loop
         let offset = 0;
-        for (;;) {
+        while ( this.chunks_.length > 0 && offset < opt_buffer.length ) {
             let item = this.chunks_.shift();
             if ( item === undefined ) {
-                throw new Error('calculation is wrong')
+                break;
             }
             if ( offset + item.length > opt_buffer.length ) {
                 const diff = opt_buffer.length - offset;
@@ -58,16 +61,16 @@ export class BetterReader {
             }
             opt_buffer.set(item, offset);
             offset += item.length;
-
-            if ( offset == opt_buffer.length ) break;
         }
 
-        // return opt_buffer.length;
+        return offset;
     }
 
     async getChunk_() {
         if ( this.chunks_.length === 0 ) {
-            const { value } = await this.delegate.read();
+            const { value } = await this.delegate.read().catch( ( err ) => {
+                return {};
+            });
             return value;
         }
 
@@ -87,6 +90,11 @@ export class BetterReader {
     getTotalBytesReady_ () {
         return this.chunks_.reduce((sum, chunk) => sum + chunk.length, 0);
     }
+
+    async releaseLock() {
+        console.log('cancelling betterreader, delegate is', this.delegate);
+        await this.delegate.releaseLock();
+    }
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/packages/phoenix/src/ansi-shell/pipeline/Coupler.js b/packages/phoenix/src/ansi-shell/pipeline/Coupler.js
index 2845be3a..b66af605 100644
--- a/packages/phoenix/src/ansi-shell/pipeline/Coupler.js
+++ b/packages/phoenix/src/ansi-shell/pipeline/Coupler.js
@@ -24,7 +24,9 @@ export class Coupler {
         Does not close the write stream when the read stream is closed.
     `
 
-    constructor (source, target) {
+    constructor (source, target, debug) {
+        this.debug = debug || false;
+        console.log('creating coupler. source is', this.source);
         this.source = source;
         this.target = target;
         this.on_ = true;
@@ -39,8 +41,9 @@ export class Coupler {
     on () { this.on_ = true; }
 
     close () {
+        if (this.debug) console.log('closing coupler. source is', this.source);
+        this.source.releaseLock();
         this.closed_.resolve({
-            value: undefined,
             done: true,
         });
     }
diff --git a/packages/phoenix/src/ansi-shell/pipeline/Pipeline.js b/packages/phoenix/src/ansi-shell/pipeline/Pipeline.js
index 27ae2c56..a6507c2b 100644
--- a/packages/phoenix/src/ansi-shell/pipeline/Pipeline.js
+++ b/packages/phoenix/src/ansi-shell/pipeline/Pipeline.js
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ export class PreparedCommand {
         }
 
         const internal_input_pipe = new Pipe();
-        const valve = new Coupler(in_, internal_input_pipe.in);
+        const valve = new Coupler(in_, internal_input_pipe.in, true);
         in_ = internal_input_pipe.out;
 
         // simple naive implementation for now
diff --git a/packages/phoenix/src/ansi-shell/readline/readline.js b/packages/phoenix/src/ansi-shell/readline/readline.js
index e7f816d2..9f8e69c7 100644
--- a/packages/phoenix/src/ansi-shell/readline/readline.js
+++ b/packages/phoenix/src/ansi-shell/readline/readline.js
@@ -57,7 +57,10 @@ const ReadlineProcessorBuilder = builder => builder
         const { locals, externs } = ctx;
 
         const byteBuffer = new Uint8Array(1);
-        await externs.in_.read(byteBuffer);
+        const bytesRead = await externs.in_.read(byteBuffer);
+        if (bytesRead !== 1) {
+            console.warn('Failed to read byte in get-byte state of readline');
+        }
         locals.byteBuffer = byteBuffer;
         locals.byte = byteBuffer[0];
     })