diff --git a/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/admin-server.js b/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/admin-server.js
index 5e0e52b0b..45145bc8c 100644
--- a/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/admin-server.js
+++ b/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/admin-server.js
@@ -14,7 +14,10 @@ const WebpackDevRelay = require("./webpack-dev-relay");
 const { displayLogs } = require("./log-reader");
 const { fork } = require("child_process");
 const ConsoleIO = require("./console-io");
-const logger = require("@xarc/app/lib/logger");
+const winstonLogger = require("@xarc/app/lib/winston-logger");
+const winston = require("winston");
+const logger = winstonLogger(winston, false);
+const { doCleanup } = require("./cleanup");
 const xaa = require("xaa");
 const { formUrl } = require("../utils");
 const {
@@ -91,11 +94,6 @@ class AdminServer {
       // await this.startProxyServer("--inspect-brk");
       await this.startProxyServer();
     }
-
-    this._shutdown ||
-      setTimeout(() => {
-        this.showMenu(true);
-      }, 100);
   }
 
   logTime(msg) {
@@ -214,6 +212,9 @@ ${proxyItem}<magenta>M</> - Show this menu <magenta>Q</> - Shutdown
       this.kill(APP_SERVER_NAME, "SIGINT"),
       this.kill(PROXY_SERVER_NAME, "SIGINT")
     ]);
+
+    this._io.shutdown();
+    await doCleanup();
     this._io.exit();
   }
 
@@ -545,6 +546,11 @@ ${instruction}`
       checkLine: str => {
         if (!this._fullyStarted && str.includes("server running")) {
           this._fullyStarted = true;
+          // opens menu automatically once after startup
+          this._shutdown ||
+            setTimeout(() => {
+              this.showMenu(true);
+            }, 5000);
           this.logTime(`App is ready in dev mode, total time took`);
         }
         return str;
diff --git a/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/cleanup.js b/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/cleanup.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bed844ca0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/cleanup.js
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+"use strict";
+
+/* eslint-disable no-console, no-process-exit */
+const { psChildren } = require("ps-get");
+
+/**
+ * Attempt to clean up any child process remaining
+ */
+let cleaned = false;
+
+const doCleanup = async () => {
+  if (cleaned) {
+    return;
+  }
+  cleaned = true;
+  const children = await psChildren(process.pid);
+  children.reverse().forEach(c => {
+    try {
+      console.log(
+        "detected child process left from dev-admin, PID:",
+        c.pid,
+        "- trying to terminate it"
+      );
+      process.kill(c.pid, "SIGINT");
+    } catch {
+      //
+    }
+  });
+};
+
+["uncaughtException", "unhandledRejection"].forEach(event => {
+  process.on(event, async err => {
+    console.log("dev-admin failure", event, err.stack);
+    await doCleanup();
+    process.exit(process.exitCode);
+  });
+});
+
+["SIGTERM", "SIGINT", "SIGHUP"].forEach(sig => {
+  process.on(sig, async name => {
+    console.log("dev-admin received signal:", name);
+    await doCleanup();
+    process.exit(process.exitCode);
+  });
+});
+
+module.exports = { doCleanup };
diff --git a/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/index.js b/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/index.js
index 24209eef0..ae7eb9837 100644
--- a/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/index.js
+++ b/packages/xarc-app-dev/lib/dev-admin/index.js
@@ -20,4 +20,6 @@ const AdminServer = require("./admin-server");
 
 const admin = new AdminServer(parsed);
 
+require("./cleanup");
+
 admin.start();
diff --git a/packages/xarc-app-dev/package.json b/packages/xarc-app-dev/package.json
index 077944cb6..45cba913f 100644
--- a/packages/xarc-app-dev/package.json
+++ b/packages/xarc-app-dev/package.json
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@
     "nyc": "^14.1.1",
     "optional-require": "^1.0.0",
     "prompts": "^2.2.1",
-    "ps-get": "^1.0.1",
+    "ps-get": "^1.1.0",
     "regenerator-runtime": "^0.13.2",
     "request": "^2.88.0",
     "require-at": "^1.0.2",
diff --git a/packages/xarc-app/lib/winston-logger.js b/packages/xarc-app/lib/winston-logger.js
index 835422d2e..5620e5f05 100644
--- a/packages/xarc-app/lib/winston-logger.js
+++ b/packages/xarc-app/lib/winston-logger.js
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@
 
 /* eslint-disable no-magic-numbers */
 
-const makeWinstonLogger = winston => {
+const makeWinstonLogger = (winston, handlers = true) => {
   return new winston.Logger({
-    exceptionHandlers: [
+    exceptionHandlers: handlers && [
       new winston.transports.Console({
         colorize: true,
         prettyPrint: true