diff --git a/packages/jsdoc-core/lib/config.js b/packages/jsdoc-core/lib/config.js
index fcefab99..a0e5b5af 100644
--- a/packages/jsdoc-core/lib/config.js
+++ b/packages/jsdoc-core/lib/config.js
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
  *
  * @alias module:@jsdoc/core.config
  */
-import { cosmiconfigSync, defaultLoaders } from 'cosmiconfig';
+import { cosmiconfig, defaultLoaders } from 'cosmiconfig';
 import _ from 'lodash';
 import stripBom from 'strip-bom';
 import stripJsonComments from 'strip-json-comments';
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ function loadYaml(filepath, content) {
   return defaultLoaders['.yaml'](filepath, stripBom(content));
 }
 
-const explorerSync = cosmiconfigSync(MODULE_NAME, {
+const explorer = cosmiconfig(MODULE_NAME, {
   cache: false,
   loaders: {
     '.json': loadJson,
@@ -113,13 +113,13 @@ const explorerSync = cosmiconfigSync(MODULE_NAME, {
   ],
 });
 
-export function loadSync(filepath) {
+export async function load(filepath) {
   let loaded;
 
   if (filepath) {
-    loaded = explorerSync.load(filepath);
+    loaded = await explorer.load(filepath);
   } else {
-    loaded = explorerSync.search() || {};
+    loaded = (await explorer.search()) ?? {};
   }
 
   return new Config(loaded.filepath, _.defaultsDeep({}, loaded.config, defaults));
diff --git a/packages/jsdoc-core/test/specs/lib/config.js b/packages/jsdoc-core/test/specs/lib/config.js
index aa398278..05de0989 100644
--- a/packages/jsdoc-core/test/specs/lib/config.js
+++ b/packages/jsdoc-core/test/specs/lib/config.js
@@ -31,94 +31,94 @@ describe('@jsdoc/core/lib/config', () => {
     expect(config).toBeObject();
   });
 
-  describe('loadSync', () => {
+  describe('load', () => {
     it('is a function', () => {
-      expect(config.loadSync).toBeFunction();
+      expect(config.load).toBeFunction();
     });
 
-    it('returns an object with `config` and `filepath` properties', () => {
+    it('returns an object with `config` and `filepath` properties', async () => {
       mockFs({
         'conf.json': '{}',
       });
 
-      const conf = config.loadSync('conf.json');
+      const conf = await config.load('conf.json');
 
       expect(conf.config).toBeObject();
       expect(conf.filepath).toEndWith('conf.json');
     });
 
-    it('loads settings from the specified filepath if there is one', () => {
+    it('loads settings from the specified filepath if there is one', async () => {
       mockFs({
         'conf.json': '{"foo":"bar"}',
       });
 
-      const conf = config.loadSync('conf.json');
+      const conf = await config.load('conf.json');
 
       expect(conf.config.foo).toBe('bar');
     });
 
-    it('finds the config file when no filepath is specified', () => {
+    it('finds the config file when no filepath is specified', async () => {
       mockFs({
         'package.json': '{"jsdoc":{"foo":"bar"}}',
       });
 
-      const conf = config.loadSync();
+      const conf = await config.load();
 
       expect(conf.config.foo).toBe('bar');
     });
 
-    it('parses JSON config files that have an extension and contain comments', () => {
+    it('parses JSON config files that have an extension and contain comments', async () => {
       mockFs({
         '.jsdocrc.json': '// comment\n{"foo":"bar"}',
       });
 
-      const conf = config.loadSync();
+      const conf = await config.load();
 
       expect(conf.config.foo).toBe('bar');
     });
 
-    it('parses JSON files that start with a BOM', () => {
+    it('parses JSON files that start with a BOM', async () => {
       mockFs({
         '.jsdocrc.json': '\uFEFF{"foo":"bar"}',
       });
 
-      const conf = config.loadSync();
+      const conf = await config.load();
 
       expect(conf.config.foo).toBe('bar');
     });
 
-    it('parses YAML files that start with a BOM', () => {
+    it('parses YAML files that start with a BOM', async () => {
       mockFs({
         '.jsdocrc.yaml': '\uFEFF{"foo":"bar"}',
       });
 
-      const conf = config.loadSync();
+      const conf = await config.load();
 
       expect(conf.config.foo).toBe('bar');
     });
 
-    it('provides the default config if the user config is an empty object', () => {
+    it('provides the default config if the user config is an empty object', async () => {
       mockFs({
         '.jsdocrc.json': '{}',
       });
 
-      const conf = config.loadSync();
+      const conf = await config.load();
 
       expect(conf.config).toEqual(config.defaults);
     });
 
-    it('provides the default config if there is no user config', () => {
-      const conf = config.loadSync();
+    it('provides the default config if there is no user config', async () => {
+      const conf = await config.load();
 
       expect(conf.config).toEqual(config.defaults);
     });
 
-    it('merges nested defaults with nested user settings as expected', () => {
+    it('merges nested defaults with nested user settings as expected', async () => {
       mockFs({
         '.jsdocrc.json': '{"tags":{"foo":"bar"}}',
       });
 
-      const conf = config.loadSync();
+      const conf = await config.load();
 
       expect(conf.config.tags.allowUnknownTags).toBe(config.defaults.tags.allowUnknownTags);
       expect(conf.config.tags.foo).toBe('bar');
diff --git a/packages/jsdoc/cli.js b/packages/jsdoc/cli.js
index 3ff627f5..81a5482c 100644
--- a/packages/jsdoc/cli.js
+++ b/packages/jsdoc/cli.js
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ export default (() => {
   };
 
   // TODO: docs
-  cli.loadConfig = () => {
+  cli.loadConfig = async () => {
     const env = dependencies.get('env');
 
     try {
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ export default (() => {
     }
 
     try {
-      env.conf = config.loadSync(env.opts.configure).config;
+      env.conf = (await config.load(env.opts.configure)).config;
     } catch (e) {
       cli.exit(1, `Cannot parse the config file: ${e}\n${FATAL_ERROR_MESSAGE}`);
 
diff --git a/packages/jsdoc/jsdoc.js b/packages/jsdoc/jsdoc.js
index 3286d777..3d6837b1 100755
--- a/packages/jsdoc/jsdoc.js
+++ b/packages/jsdoc/jsdoc.js
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ import cli from './cli.js';
 
 (async () => {
   env.args = process.argv.slice(2);
-  cli.setEnv(env).setVersionInfo().loadConfig().configureLogger().logStart();
+  cli.setEnv(env).setVersionInfo();
+  await cli.loadConfig();
+  cli.configureLogger().logStart();
 
   await cli.runCommand();
 })();