diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 8525481..24b0f92 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ def daemon(loglevel, testdir, arb_addr):
 
     cmdargs = [
         sys.executable, '-c',
-        "import tractor; tractor.run_daemon((), arbiter_addr={}, loglevel={})"
+        "import tractor; tractor.run_daemon([], arbiter_addr={}, loglevel={})"
         .format(
             arb_addr,
             "'{}'".format(loglevel) if loglevel else None)
diff --git a/tractor/__init__.py b/tractor/__init__.py
index 80eaf05..ea61d88 100644
--- a/tractor/__init__.py
+++ b/tractor/__init__.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ tractor: An actor model micro-framework built on
 """
 import importlib
 from functools import partial
-from typing import Tuple, Any, Optional
+from typing import Tuple, Any, Optional, List
 import typing
 
 import trio  # type: ignore
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ def run(
 
 
 def run_daemon(
-    rpc_module_paths: Tuple[str],
+    rpc_module_paths: List[str],
     **kwargs
 ) -> None:
     """Spawn daemon actor which will respond to RPC.
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ def run_daemon(
     ``tractor.run(trio.sleep(float('inf')))`` such that the first actor spawned
     is meant to run forever responding to RPC requests.
     """
-    kwargs['rpc_module_paths'] = rpc_module_paths
+    kwargs['rpc_module_paths'] = list(rpc_module_paths)
 
     for path in rpc_module_paths:
         importlib.import_module(path)
diff --git a/tractor/testing/_tractor_test.py b/tractor/testing/_tractor_test.py
index 3db56e5..65f199f 100644
--- a/tractor/testing/_tractor_test.py
+++ b/tractor/testing/_tractor_test.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import inspect
 import platform
 from functools import partial, wraps
 
-from .. import run
+from tractor import run
 
 
 __all__ = ['tractor_test']
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ def tractor_test(fn):
             # injects test suite fixture value to test as well
             # as `run()`
             kwargs['arb_addr'] = arb_addr
+
         if 'loglevel' in inspect.signature(fn).parameters:
             # allows test suites to define a 'loglevel' fixture
             # that activates the internal logging
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@ def tractor_test(fn):
         if 'start_method' in inspect.signature(fn).parameters:
             # set of subprocess spawning backends
             kwargs['start_method'] = start_method
+
         return run(
             partial(fn, *args, **kwargs),
             arbiter_addr=arb_addr,