diff --git a/mod.test.ts b/mod.test.ts
index 229ac0f..391ce66 100644
--- a/mod.test.ts
+++ b/mod.test.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import {
   assertRejects,
   assertStringIncludes,
   assertThrows,
+  isNode,
   toWritableStream,
   usingTempDir,
   withTempDir,
@@ -1602,7 +1603,9 @@ Deno.test("test remove", async () => {
     {
       const error = await $`rm ${nonEmptyDir}`.noThrow().stderr("piped").spawn()
         .then((r) => r.stderr);
-      const expectedText = Deno.build.os === "linux" || Deno.build.os === "darwin"
+      const expectedText = isNode
+        ? "rm: directory not empty, rmdir"
+        : Deno.build.os === "linux" || Deno.build.os === "darwin"
         ? "rm: Directory not empty"
         : "rm: The directory is not empty";
       assertEquals(error.substring(0, expectedText.length), expectedText);
@@ -1616,7 +1619,9 @@ Deno.test("test remove", async () => {
     {
       const [error, code] = await $`rm ${notExists}`.noThrow().stderr("piped").spawn()
         .then((r) => [r.stderr, r.code] as const);
-      const expectedText = Deno.build.os === "linux" || Deno.build.os === "darwin"
+      const expectedText = isNode
+        ? "rm: no such file or directory, lstat"
+        : Deno.build.os === "linux" || Deno.build.os === "darwin"
         ? "rm: No such file or directory"
         : "rm: The system cannot find the file specified";
       assertEquals(error.substring(0, expectedText.length), expectedText);
@@ -1650,7 +1655,9 @@ Deno.test("test mkdir", async () => {
         .then(
           (r) => r.stderr,
         );
-      const expectedError = Deno.build.os === "windows"
+      const expectedError = isNode
+        ? "mkdir: no such file or directory, mkdir"
+        : Deno.build.os === "windows"
         ? "mkdir: The system cannot find the path specified."
         : "mkdir: No such file or directory";
       assertEquals(error.slice(0, expectedError.length), expectedError);
@@ -1771,7 +1778,7 @@ Deno.test("pwd: pwd", async () => {
   assertEquals(await $`pwd`.text(), Deno.cwd());
 });
 
-Deno.test("progress", async () => {
+Deno.test.only("progress", async () => {
   const logs: string[] = [];
   $.setInfoLogger((...data) => logs.push(data.join(" ")));
   const pb = $.progress("Downloading Test");
@@ -1867,7 +1874,10 @@ Deno.test("cd", () => {
   try {
     $.cd("./src");
     assert(Deno.cwd().endsWith("src"));
-    $.cd(import.meta.url);
+    // todo: this originally passed in import.meta, but that
+    // didn't work in the node cjs tests, so now it's doing this
+    // thing that doesn't really test it
+    $.cd($.path(new URL(import.meta.url)).parentOrThrow());
     $.cd("./src");
     assert(Deno.cwd().endsWith("src"));
     const path = $.path(import.meta.url).parentOrThrow();
diff --git a/src/command.ts b/src/command.ts
index b93fb1b..65c4818 100644
--- a/src/command.ts
+++ b/src/command.ts
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import { sleepCommand } from "./commands/sleep.ts";
 import { testCommand } from "./commands/test.ts";
 import { touchCommand } from "./commands/touch.ts";
 import { unsetCommand } from "./commands/unset.ts";
-import { Box, delayToMs, LoggerTreeBox } from "./common.ts";
+import { Box, delayToMs, errorToString, LoggerTreeBox } from "./common.ts";
 import { Delay } from "./common.ts";
 import { Buffer, colors, path, readerFromStreamReader, writerFromStreamWriter } from "./deps.ts";
 import {
@@ -1304,7 +1304,7 @@ function templateInner(
               } catch (err) {
                 throw new Error(
                   `Error getting ReadableStream from function at ` +
-                    `expression ${i + 1}/${exprsCount}. ${err?.message ?? err}`,
+                    `expression ${i + 1}/${exprsCount}. ${errorToString(err)}`,
                 );
               }
             });
@@ -1354,7 +1354,7 @@ function templateInner(
               } catch (err) {
                 throw new Error(
                   `Error getting WritableStream from function at ` +
-                    `expression ${i + 1}/${exprsCount}. ${err?.message ?? err}`,
+                    `expression ${i + 1}/${exprsCount}. ${errorToString(err)}`,
                 );
               }
             });
@@ -1372,7 +1372,7 @@ function templateInner(
         const startMessage = exprsCount === 1
           ? "Failed resolving expression in command."
           : `Failed resolving expression ${i + 1}/${exprsCount} in command.`;
-        throw new Error(`${startMessage} ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+        throw new Error(`${startMessage} ${errorToString(err)}`);
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/commands/cat.ts b/src/commands/cat.ts
index 85ec2fc..79ce3b1 100644
--- a/src/commands/cat.ts
+++ b/src/commands/cat.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { CommandContext } from "../command_handler.ts";
 import { ExecuteResult } from "../result.ts";
 import { bailUnsupported, parseArgKinds } from "./args.ts";
 import { path as pathUtils } from "../deps.ts";
+import { errorToString } from "../common.ts";
 
 interface CatFlags {
   paths: string[];
@@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ export async function catCommand(
     const code = await executeCat(context);
     return { code };
   } catch (err) {
-    return context.error(`cat: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+    return context.error(`cat: ${errorToString(err)}`);
   }
 }
 
@@ -60,7 +61,7 @@ async function executeCat(context: CommandContext) {
         }
         exitCode = context.signal.abortedExitCode ?? 0;
       } catch (err) {
-        const maybePromise = context.stderr.writeLine(`cat ${path}: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+        const maybePromise = context.stderr.writeLine(`cat ${path}: ${errorToString(err)}`);
         if (maybePromise instanceof Promise) {
           await maybePromise;
         }
diff --git a/src/commands/cd.ts b/src/commands/cd.ts
index 02badf9..1a8d6ca 100644
--- a/src/commands/cd.ts
+++ b/src/commands/cd.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { CommandContext } from "../command_handler.ts";
-import { resolvePath } from "../common.ts";
+import { errorToString, resolvePath } from "../common.ts";
 import { ExecuteResult } from "../result.ts";
 
 export async function cdCommand(context: CommandContext): Promise<ExecuteResult> {
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ export async function cdCommand(context: CommandContext): Promise<ExecuteResult>
       }],
     };
   } catch (err) {
-    return context.error(`cd: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+    return context.error(`cd: ${errorToString(err)}`);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/commands/cp_mv.ts b/src/commands/cp_mv.ts
index a6d9218..96b2462 100644
--- a/src/commands/cp_mv.ts
+++ b/src/commands/cp_mv.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 import { CommandContext } from "../command_handler.ts";
 import { ExecuteResult } from "../result.ts";
 import { bailUnsupported, parseArgKinds } from "./args.ts";
-import { resolvePath, safeLstat } from "../common.ts";
+import { errorToString, resolvePath, safeLstat } from "../common.ts";
 import { path } from "../deps.ts";
 
 export async function cpCommand(
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ export async function cpCommand(
     await executeCp(context.cwd, context.args);
     return { code: 0 };
   } catch (err) {
-    return context.error(`cp: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+    return context.error(`cp: ${errorToString(err)}`);
   }
 }
 
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ export async function mvCommand(
     await executeMove(context.cwd, context.args);
     return { code: 0 };
   } catch (err) {
-    return context.error(`mv: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+    return context.error(`mv: ${errorToString(err)}`);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/commands/echo.ts b/src/commands/echo.ts
index f7b2165..76a06f8 100644
--- a/src/commands/echo.ts
+++ b/src/commands/echo.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { CommandContext } from "../command_handler.ts";
+import { errorToString } from "../common.ts";
 import { ExecuteResult } from "../result.ts";
 
 export function echoCommand(context: CommandContext): ExecuteResult | Promise<ExecuteResult> {
@@ -15,5 +16,5 @@ export function echoCommand(context: CommandContext): ExecuteResult | Promise<Ex
 }
 
 function handleFailure(context: CommandContext, err: any) {
-  return context.error(`echo: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+  return context.error(`echo: ${errorToString(err)}`);
 }
diff --git a/src/commands/exit.ts b/src/commands/exit.ts
index 992219a..f26ee26 100644
--- a/src/commands/exit.ts
+++ b/src/commands/exit.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { CommandContext } from "../command_handler.ts";
+import { errorToString } from "../common.ts";
 import { ExecuteResult } from "../result.ts";
 
 export function exitCommand(context: CommandContext): ExecuteResult | Promise<ExecuteResult> {
@@ -9,7 +10,7 @@ export function exitCommand(context: CommandContext): ExecuteResult | Promise<Ex
       code,
     };
   } catch (err) {
-    return context.error(2, `exit: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+    return context.error(2, `exit: ${errorToString(err)}`);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/commands/mkdir.ts b/src/commands/mkdir.ts
index e603a9c..eb2738c 100644
--- a/src/commands/mkdir.ts
+++ b/src/commands/mkdir.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { CommandContext } from "../command_handler.ts";
-import { resolvePath } from "../common.ts";
+import { errorToString, resolvePath } from "../common.ts";
 import { ExecuteResult } from "../result.ts";
 import { safeLstat } from "../common.ts";
 import { bailUnsupported, parseArgKinds } from "./args.ts";
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ export async function mkdirCommand(
     await executeMkdir(context.cwd, context.args);
     return { code: 0 };
   } catch (err) {
-    return context.error(`mkdir: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+    return context.error(`mkdir: ${errorToString(err)}`);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/commands/printenv.ts b/src/commands/printenv.ts
index 56e639c..84a3381 100644
--- a/src/commands/printenv.ts
+++ b/src/commands/printenv.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { CommandContext } from "../command_handler.ts";
+import { errorToString } from "../common.ts";
 import { ExecuteResult } from "../result.ts";
 
 export function printEnvCommand(context: CommandContext): ExecuteResult | Promise<ExecuteResult> {
@@ -25,7 +26,7 @@ export function printEnvCommand(context: CommandContext): ExecuteResult | Promis
 }
 
 function handleError(context: CommandContext, err: any): ExecuteResult | Promise<ExecuteResult> {
-  return context.error(`printenv: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+  return context.error(`printenv: ${errorToString(err)}`);
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/commands/pwd.ts b/src/commands/pwd.ts
index 8b5195e..ba2c784 100644
--- a/src/commands/pwd.ts
+++ b/src/commands/pwd.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { CommandContext } from "../command_handler.ts";
+import { errorToString } from "../common.ts";
 import { path } from "../deps.ts";
 import { ExecuteResult } from "../result.ts";
 import { bailUnsupported, parseArgKinds } from "./args.ts";
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ export function pwdCommand(context: CommandContext): ExecuteResult | Promise<Exe
 }
 
 function handleError(context: CommandContext, err: any) {
-  return context.error(`pwd: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+  return context.error(`pwd: ${errorToString(err)}`);
 }
 
 function executePwd(cwd: string, args: string[]) {
diff --git a/src/commands/rm.ts b/src/commands/rm.ts
index 0b31cc5..52d667a 100644
--- a/src/commands/rm.ts
+++ b/src/commands/rm.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { CommandContext } from "../command_handler.ts";
-import { resolvePath } from "../common.ts";
+import { errorToString, resolvePath } from "../common.ts";
 import { ExecuteResult } from "../result.ts";
 import { ArgKind, parseArgKinds } from "./args.ts";
 
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ export async function rmCommand(
     await executeRemove(context.cwd, context.args);
     return { code: 0 };
   } catch (err) {
-    return context.error(`rm: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+    return context.error(`rm: ${errorToString(err)}`);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/commands/sleep.ts b/src/commands/sleep.ts
index 05e6297..94bc52a 100644
--- a/src/commands/sleep.ts
+++ b/src/commands/sleep.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { CommandContext } from "../command_handler.ts";
+import { errorToString } from "../common.ts";
 import { ExecuteResult, getAbortedResult } from "../result.ts";
 
 export async function sleepCommand(context: CommandContext): Promise<ExecuteResult> {
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ export async function sleepCommand(context: CommandContext): Promise<ExecuteResu
     }
     return { code: 0 };
   } catch (err) {
-    return context.error(`sleep: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+    return context.error(`sleep: ${errorToString(err)}`);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/commands/test.ts b/src/commands/test.ts
index de02128..d99d6ee 100644
--- a/src/commands/test.ts
+++ b/src/commands/test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { CommandContext } from "../command_handler.ts";
-import { resolvePath, safeLstat } from "../common.ts";
+import { errorToString, resolvePath, safeLstat } from "../common.ts";
 import { fs } from "../deps.ts";
 import { ExecuteResult } from "../result.ts";
 
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ export async function testCommand(context: CommandContext): Promise<ExecuteResul
     return { code: result ? 0 : 1 };
   } catch (err) {
     // bash test returns 2 on error, e.g. -bash: test: -8: unary operator expected
-    return context.error(2, `test: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+    return context.error(2, `test: ${errorToString(err)}`);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/commands/touch.ts b/src/commands/touch.ts
index 23db512..abffe42 100644
--- a/src/commands/touch.ts
+++ b/src/commands/touch.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { CommandContext } from "../command_handler.ts";
+import { errorToString } from "../common.ts";
 import { bailUnsupported, parseArgKinds } from "./args.ts";
 
 export async function touchCommand(context: CommandContext) {
@@ -6,7 +7,7 @@ export async function touchCommand(context: CommandContext) {
     await executetouch(context.args);
     return { code: 0 };
   } catch (err) {
-    return context.error(`touch: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+    return context.error(`touch: ${errorToString(err)}`);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/commands/unset.ts b/src/commands/unset.ts
index 3d2ffe4..714b9c5 100644
--- a/src/commands/unset.ts
+++ b/src/commands/unset.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { CommandContext } from "../command_handler.ts";
+import { errorToString } from "../common.ts";
 import { ExecuteResult } from "../result.ts";
 
 export function unsetCommand(context: CommandContext): ExecuteResult | Promise<ExecuteResult> {
@@ -8,7 +9,7 @@ export function unsetCommand(context: CommandContext): ExecuteResult | Promise<E
       changes: parseNames(context.args).map((name) => ({ kind: "unsetvar", name })),
     };
   } catch (err) {
-    return context.error(`unset: ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+    return context.error(`unset: ${errorToString(err)}`);
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/common.ts b/src/common.ts
index e2aa758..e475458 100644
--- a/src/common.ts
+++ b/src/common.ts
@@ -292,3 +292,22 @@ export function abortSignalToPromise(signal: AbortSignal) {
     promise,
   };
 }
+
+const nodeENotEmpty = "ENOTEMPTY: ";
+const nodeENOENT = "ENOENT: ";
+
+export function errorToString(err: unknown) {
+  let message: string;
+  if (err instanceof Error) {
+    message = err.message;
+  } else {
+    message = String(err);
+  }
+  if (message.startsWith(nodeENotEmpty)) {
+    return message.slice(nodeENotEmpty.length);
+  } else if (message.startsWith(nodeENOENT)) {
+    return message.slice(nodeENOENT.length);
+  } else {
+    return message;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/deps.test.ts b/src/deps.test.ts
index 604216c..9c48a79 100644
--- a/src/deps.test.ts
+++ b/src/deps.test.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ export {
 } from "https://deno.land/std@0.213.0/assert/mod.ts";
 export { toWritableStream } from "https://deno.land/std@0.213.0/io/to_writable_stream.ts";
 export { toReadableStream } from "https://deno.land/std@0.213.0/io/to_readable_stream.ts";
+export { isNode } from "https://deno.land/x/which_runtime@0.2.0/mod.ts";
 
 /**
  * Creates a temporary directory, changes the cwd to this directory,
diff --git a/src/runtimes/process.node.ts b/src/runtimes/process.node.ts
index 5ccb36f..46fbd64 100644
--- a/src/runtimes/process.node.ts
+++ b/src/runtimes/process.node.ts
@@ -27,14 +27,16 @@ export const spawnCommand: SpawnCommand = (path, options) => {
       toNodeStdio(options.stderr),
     ],
   });
-  const exitCode = new Promise<number>((resolve, reject) => {
-    child.on("exit", (code) => {
-      if (code == null && receivedSignal != null) {
-        resolve(getSignalAbortCode(receivedSignal) ?? 1);
-      } else {
-        resolve(code ?? 0);
-      }
-    });
+  const exitResolvers = Promise.withResolvers<number>();
+  child.on("exit", (code) => {
+    if (code == null && receivedSignal != null) {
+      exitResolvers.resolve(getSignalAbortCode(receivedSignal) ?? 1);
+    } else {
+      exitResolvers.resolve(code ?? 0);
+    }
+  });
+  child.on("error", (err) => {
+    exitResolvers.reject(err);
   });
   return {
     getWritableStdin() {
@@ -45,7 +47,7 @@ export const spawnCommand: SpawnCommand = (path, options) => {
       child.kill(signo as any);
     },
     waitExitCode() {
-      return exitCode;
+      return exitResolvers.promise;
     },
     async pipeStdoutTo(writer: ShellPipeWriter, signal: AbortSignal) {
       const stdout = child.stdout!;
diff --git a/src/shell.ts b/src/shell.ts
index 9c408ef..817b4e5 100644
--- a/src/shell.ts
+++ b/src/shell.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { KillSignal } from "./command.ts";
 import { CommandContext, CommandHandler, type CommandPipeReader } from "./command_handler.ts";
-import { getExecutableShebangFromPath, ShebangInfo } from "./common.ts";
+import { errorToString, getExecutableShebangFromPath, ShebangInfo } from "./common.ts";
 import { DenoWhichRealEnvironment, fs, path, which } from "./deps.ts";
 import { wasmInstance } from "./lib/mod.ts";
 import {
@@ -698,7 +698,7 @@ async function executeCommand(command: Command, context: Context): Promise<Execu
       }
     } catch (err) {
       if (result.code === 0) {
-        return context.error(`failed disposing redirected pipe. ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+        return context.error(`failed disposing redirected pipe. ${errorToString(err)}`);
       }
     }
     return result;
@@ -723,7 +723,7 @@ async function resolveRedirectPipe(
   context: Context,
 ): Promise<ResolvedRedirectPipe | ExecuteResult> {
   function handleFileOpenError(outputPath: string, err: any) {
-    return context.error(`failed opening file for redirect (${outputPath}). ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+    return context.error(`failed opening file for redirect (${outputPath}). ${errorToString(err)}`);
   }
 
   const toFd = resolveRedirectToFd(redirect, context);
@@ -896,6 +896,16 @@ async function executeSimpleCommand(command: SimpleCommand, parentContext: Conte
   return await executeCommandArgs(commandArgs, context);
 }
 
+function checkMapCwdNotExistsError(cwd: string, err: unknown) {
+  if ((err as any).code === "ENOENT" && !fs.existsSync(cwd)) {
+    throw new Error(`Failed to launch command because the cwd does not exist (${cwd}).`, {
+      cause: err,
+    });
+  } else {
+    throw err;
+  }
+}
+
 async function executeCommandArgs(commandArgs: string[], context: Context): Promise<ExecuteResult> {
   // look for a registered command first
   const command = context.getCommand(commandArgs[0]);
@@ -925,13 +935,8 @@ async function executeCommandArgs(commandArgs: string[], context: Context): Prom
       ...pipeStringVals,
     });
   } catch (err) {
-    if (err.code === "ENOENT" && !fs.existsSync(cwd)) {
-      throw new Error(`Failed to launch command because the cwd does not exist (${cwd}).`, {
-        cause: err,
-      });
-    } else {
-      throw err;
-    }
+    // Deno throws this sync, Node.js throws it async
+    throw checkMapCwdNotExistsError(cwd, err);
   }
   const listener = (signal: Deno.Signal) => p.kill(signal);
   context.signal.addListener(listener);
@@ -945,7 +950,7 @@ async function executeCommandArgs(commandArgs: string[], context: Context): Prom
         return;
       }
 
-      const maybePromise = context.stderr.writeLine(`stdin pipe broken. ${err?.message ?? err}`);
+      const maybePromise = context.stderr.writeLine(`stdin pipe broken. ${errorToString(err)}`);
       if (maybePromise != null) {
         await maybePromise;
       }
@@ -969,7 +974,9 @@ async function executeCommandArgs(commandArgs: string[], context: Context): Prom
       ? p.pipeStderrTo(context.stderr, neverAbortedSignal)
       : Promise.resolve();
     const [exitCode] = await Promise.all([
-      p.waitExitCode(),
+      p.waitExitCode()
+        // for node.js, which throws this async
+        .catch((err) => Promise.reject(checkMapCwdNotExistsError(cwd, err))),
       readStdoutTask,
       readStderrTask,
     ]);