diff --git a/listener.ts b/listener.ts
index 50a9a2d..a202371 100644
--- a/listener.ts
+++ b/listener.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,18 @@
 import { run } from "@ludus/ludus-js-pure"
 import { unlinkSync, readFileSync } from "node:fs"
 
+function random_port () {
+  return Math.floor(Math.random() * 10000)
+}
+
 export async function listen () {
-  const id = Math.floor(Math.random() * 1000) + 5000
-  const unix_socket = `/tmp/ludus-${id}.sock`
+  let id = random_port()
+  let unix_socket = `/tmp/ludus-${id}.sock`
+  // make sure the socket path isn't already taken
+  while (await Bun.file(unix_socket).exists()) {
+    id = random_port()
+    unix_socket = `/tmp/ludus-${id}.sock`
+  }
   const repl_file_path = ".lrepl"
   const repl_info = { unix_socket }
   const repl_file = Bun.file(repl_file_path)