diff --git a/src/backend/base/langflow/api/v1/endpoints.py b/src/backend/base/langflow/api/v1/endpoints.py
index 3514d23aa..c12c2f470 100644
--- a/src/backend/base/langflow/api/v1/endpoints.py
+++ b/src/backend/base/langflow/api/v1/endpoints.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import asyncio
 import time
 from http import HTTPStatus
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Annotated
@@ -556,7 +557,7 @@ async def create_upload_file(
     """
     try:
         flow_id_str = str(flow_id)
-        file_path = save_uploaded_file(file, folder_name=flow_id_str)
+        file_path = await asyncio.to_thread(save_uploaded_file, file, folder_name=flow_id_str)
 
         return UploadFileResponse(
             flow_id=flow_id_str,
diff --git a/src/backend/base/langflow/custom/directory_reader/directory_reader.py b/src/backend/base/langflow/custom/directory_reader/directory_reader.py
index 7b60ebf5a..ffc95d580 100644
--- a/src/backend/base/langflow/custom/directory_reader/directory_reader.py
+++ b/src/backend/base/langflow/custom/directory_reader/directory_reader.py
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ class DirectoryReader:
         except UnicodeDecodeError:
             # This is happening in Windows, so we need to open the file in binary mode
             # The file is always just a python file, so we can safely read it as utf-8
-            with async_open(_file_path, "rb") as f:
+            async with async_open(_file_path, "rb") as f:
                 return (await f.read()).decode("utf-8")
 
     def get_files(self):
diff --git a/src/backend/base/langflow/initial_setup/setup.py b/src/backend/base/langflow/initial_setup/setup.py
index 153bb35f5..b2ed742ee 100644
--- a/src/backend/base/langflow/initial_setup/setup.py
+++ b/src/backend/base/langflow/initial_setup/setup.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ from pathlib import Path
 from uuid import UUID
 
 import orjson
+from aiofile import async_open
 from emoji import demojize, purely_emoji
 from loguru import logger
 from sqlalchemy.exc import NoResultFound
@@ -545,13 +546,14 @@ async def load_flows_from_directory() -> None:
         user_id = user.id
         _flows_path = Path(flows_path)
         files = [f for f in _flows_path.iterdir() if f.is_file()]
-        for f in files:
-            if f.suffix != ".json":
+        for file_path in files:
+            if file_path.suffix != ".json":
                 continue
-            logger.info(f"Loading flow from file: {f.name}")
-            content = f.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+            logger.info(f"Loading flow from file: {file_path.name}")
+            async with async_open(file_path, "r", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+                content = await f.read()
             flow = orjson.loads(content)
-            no_json_name = f.stem
+            no_json_name = file_path.stem
             flow_endpoint_name = flow.get("endpoint_name")
             if _is_valid_uuid(no_json_name):
                 flow["id"] = no_json_name
diff --git a/src/backend/base/langflow/services/storage/local.py b/src/backend/base/langflow/services/storage/local.py
index 5a112294c..bbe037141 100644
--- a/src/backend/base/langflow/services/storage/local.py
+++ b/src/backend/base/langflow/services/storage/local.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-import asyncio
 from pathlib import Path
 
+from aiofile import async_open
 from loguru import logger
 
 from .service import StorageService
@@ -33,11 +33,9 @@ class LocalStorageService(StorageService):
         folder_path.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
         file_path = folder_path / file_name
 
-        def write_file(file_path: Path, data: bytes) -> None:
-            file_path.write_bytes(data)
-
         try:
-            await asyncio.to_thread(write_file, file_path, data)
+            async with async_open(file_path, "wb") as f:
+                await f.write(data)
             logger.info(f"File {file_name} saved successfully in flow {flow_id}.")
         except Exception:
             logger.exception(f"Error saving file {file_name} in flow {flow_id}")
@@ -57,10 +55,9 @@ class LocalStorageService(StorageService):
             msg = f"File {file_name} not found in flow {flow_id}"
             raise FileNotFoundError(msg)
 
-        def read_file(file_path: Path) -> bytes:
-            return file_path.read_bytes()
+        async with async_open(file_path, "rb") as f:
+            content = await f.read()
 
-        content = await asyncio.to_thread(read_file, file_path)
         logger.debug(f"File {file_name} retrieved successfully from flow {flow_id}.")
         return content