diff --git a/lib/src/cli.rs b/lib/src/cli.rs
index c5bf5a1e..76b4b88f 100644
--- a/lib/src/cli.rs
+++ b/lib/src/cli.rs
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ use ostree_ext::keyfileext::KeyFileExt;
 use ostree_ext::ostree;
 use schemars::schema_for;
 
-use crate::deploy::wipe_ostree;
 use crate::deploy::RequiredHostSpec;
 use crate::lints;
 use crate::spec::Host;
@@ -929,7 +928,7 @@ async fn run_from_opt(opt: Opt) -> Result<()> {
             StateOpts::WipeOstree => {
                 let sysroot = ostree::Sysroot::new_default();
                 sysroot.load(gio::Cancellable::NONE)?;
-                wipe_ostree(&sysroot).await?;
+                crate::deploy::wipe_ostree(sysroot).await?;
                 Ok(())
             }
         },
diff --git a/lib/src/deploy.rs b/lib/src/deploy.rs
index 67a5794e..cd1ef419 100644
--- a/lib/src/deploy.rs
+++ b/lib/src/deploy.rs
@@ -288,10 +288,13 @@ pub(crate) async fn prune_container_store(sysroot: &Storage) -> Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
-pub(crate) async fn wipe_ostree(sysroot: &Sysroot) -> Result<()> {
-    sysroot
-        .write_deployments(&[], gio::Cancellable::NONE)
-        .context("removing deployments")?;
+pub(crate) async fn wipe_ostree(sysroot: Sysroot) -> Result<()> {
+    tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || {
+        sysroot
+            .write_deployments(&[], gio::Cancellable::NONE)
+            .context("removing deployments")
+    })
+    .await??;
 
     Ok(())
 }