diff --git a/src/ssb.tests.c b/src/ssb.tests.c
index 732e9f73..a0b98b7e 100644
--- a/src/ssb.tests.c
+++ b/src/ssb.tests.c
@@ -1015,6 +1015,8 @@ void tf_ssb_test_publish(const tf_test_options_t* options)
 	char id[k_id_base64_len] = { 0 };
 	tf_ssb_whoami(ssb, id, sizeof(id));
 
+	tf_ssb_destroy(ssb);
+
 	char executable[1024];
 	size_t size = sizeof(executable);
 	uv_exepath(executable, &size);
@@ -1033,8 +1035,6 @@ void tf_ssb_test_publish(const tf_test_options_t* options)
 	printf("returned %d\n", WEXITSTATUS(result));
 	assert(WEXITSTATUS(result) == 0);
 
-	tf_ssb_destroy(ssb);
-
 	uv_run(&loop, UV_RUN_DEFAULT);
 	uv_loop_close(&loop);
 }