diff --git a/.editorconfig b/.editorconfig
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0da8f80f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.editorconfig
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[*]
+indent_size = 2
+indent_style = space
diff --git a/.eslintignore b/.eslintignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..41da105b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.eslintignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+test/fixtures
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.mocharc.json b/.mocharc.json
index 9c55803b..b2cf2654 100644
--- a/.mocharc.json
+++ b/.mocharc.json
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 {
   "require": ["./env.js"],
   "extension": ["ts"],
-  "recursive": true
+  "recursive": true,
+  "exclude": "test/fixtures/**",
+  "node-option": [
+    "experimental-specifier-resolution=node",
+    "loader=ts-node/esm"
+  ]
 }
diff --git a/src/asyncAssignTasks.ts b/src/asyncAssignTasks.ts
index 485ff752..33d2a391 100644
--- a/src/asyncAssignTasks.ts
+++ b/src/asyncAssignTasks.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { readdirSync } from 'fs'
 import path from 'path'
+import { pathToFileURL } from 'url'
 
 export default async function asyncAssignTasks<T>(thisObj: T, tasksDir: string): Promise<void> {
   if (!tasksDir) throw new Error(`tasksDir was ${tasksDir}`)
@@ -16,16 +17,19 @@ export default async function asyncAssignTasks<T>(thisObj: T, tasksDir: string):
   }
 
   async function loadTask(name: string) {
-    const path = `${tasksDir}/${name}`
-    try {
-      // Typescript has issues with dynamic imports, even though node supports them
-      // for both commonjs and esmodules. see: https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/issues/43329
-      const task = await Function(`return import("${path}")`)()
-      return task[name]
-    } catch (err) {
-      return () => {
-        throw new Error(`No task in: ${path}.{ts,js,tsx,jsx}`)
-      }
+    // this is needed for Windows, or you get ERR_UNSUPPORTED_ESM_URL_SCHEME
+    const path = pathToFileURL(`${tasksDir}/${name}`).href
+
+    // Typescript has issues with dynamic imports, even though node supports them
+    // for both commonjs and esmodules. see: https://github.com/microsoft/TypeScript/issues/43329
+    const task = await Function(`return import("${path}")`)()
+
+    // if typescript is using commonjs modules
+    if (task.default) {
+      return task.default[name]
     }
+
+    // if typescript is using es modules
+    return task[name]
   }
 }
diff --git a/test/asyncTasks.test.ts b/test/asyncTasks.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5e2b34b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/asyncTasks.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import assert = require('assert')
+import { Action, ActorWorld } from '../src'
+import type { IActorWorldOptions } from '../src/ActorWorld'
+import asyncAssignTasks from '../src/asyncAssignTasks'
+
+describe(asyncAssignTasks.name, () => {
+  const options: IActorWorldOptions = { parameters: {} } as IActorWorldOptions
+
+  // success
+  it('successfully loads a task', async () => {
+    class TestWorld extends ActorWorld {
+      public goodtask: () => Action<void>
+    }
+
+    const world = new TestWorld(options)
+
+    // Load the task
+    await asyncAssignTasks(world, `${__dirname}/fixtures/tasks/goodtasks`)
+
+    // Execute the task
+    world.goodtask()
+  })
+
+  // error compiling
+  it('fails with a helpful error message if the task could not be compiled', async () => {
+    class TestWorld extends ActorWorld {
+      public brokentask: () => Action<void>
+    }
+
+    const world = new TestWorld(options)
+
+    // Try to load the task
+    await assert.rejects(asyncAssignTasks(world, `${__dirname}/fixtures/tasks/brokentask`), {
+      name: 'TSError',
+      message: /Cannot find module '\.\/src'/,
+    })
+  })
+})
diff --git a/test/fixtures/tasks/brokentask/brokentask.ts b/test/fixtures/tasks/brokentask/brokentask.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a7183239
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/tasks/brokentask/brokentask.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+// this import will fail
+import { type Action } from './src'
+
+export const badtask = (): Action => {
+  // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-empty-function
+  return () => {}
+}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/tasks/goodtasks/goodtask.ts b/test/fixtures/tasks/goodtasks/goodtask.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2f764a82
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/tasks/goodtasks/goodtask.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+import { type Action } from '../../../../src'
+
+export const goodtask = (): Action<void> => {
+  // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-empty-function
+  return () => {}
+}
diff --git a/tsconfig.json b/tsconfig.json
index 974cd221..4f23e21c 100644
--- a/tsconfig.json
+++ b/tsconfig.json
@@ -20,5 +20,6 @@
     "strictNullChecks": true,
     "noImplicitReturns": true
   },
-  "include": ["src", "test"]
+  "include": ["src", "test"],
+  "exclude": ["test/fixtures"]
 }