diff --git a/src/aleph/vm/orchestrator/cli.py b/src/aleph/vm/orchestrator/cli.py
index 22bd44147..65b290ba2 100644
--- a/src/aleph/vm/orchestrator/cli.py
+++ b/src/aleph/vm/orchestrator/cli.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 from sqlalchemy.ext.asyncio import create_async_engine
 
 from aleph.vm.conf import ALLOW_DEVELOPER_SSH_KEYS, make_db_url, settings
+from aleph.vm.models import VmExecution
 from aleph.vm.pool import VmPool
 from aleph.vm.version import get_version_from_apt, get_version_from_git
 
@@ -187,7 +188,8 @@ async def fake_read() -> bytes:
 
     bench: list[float] = []
 
-    pool = VmPool()
+    loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
+    pool = VmPool(loop)
     pool.setup()
 
     # Does not make sense in benchmarks
@@ -236,25 +238,24 @@ async def fake_read() -> bytes:
     print("Event result", result)
 
 
-async def start_instance(item_hash: ItemHash) -> None:
+async def start_instance(item_hash: ItemHash, pubsub: Optional[PubSub], pool) -> VmExecution:
     """Run an instance from an InstanceMessage."""
-    pool = VmPool()
+    return await start_persistent_vm(item_hash, pubsub, pool)
 
+
+async def run_instances(instances: list[ItemHash]) -> None:
+    """Run instances from a list of message identifiers."""
+    logger.info(f"Instances to run: {instances}")
+    loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
+    pool = VmPool(loop)
     # The main program uses a singleton pubsub instance in order to watch for updates.
     # We create another instance here since that singleton is not initialized yet.
     # Watching for updates on this instance will therefore not work.
     pubsub: Optional[PubSub] = None
 
-    await start_persistent_vm(item_hash, pubsub, pool)
-
-
-async def run_instances(instances: list[ItemHash]) -> None:
-    """Run instances from a list of message identifiers."""
-    logger.info(f"Instances to run: {instances}")
+    await asyncio.gather(*[start_instance(instance_id, pubsub, pool) for instance_id in instances])
 
-    await asyncio.gather(*[start_instance(item_hash=instance_id) for instance_id in instances])
     await asyncio.Event().wait()  # wait forever
-    # TODO : should we really wait forever?
 
 
 @contextlib.contextmanager