diff --git a/test/test.ts b/test/test.ts
index 429879e..53fe336 100644
--- a/test/test.ts
+++ b/test/test.ts
@@ -18,18 +18,18 @@ tap.test('should create a new class', async () => {
 });
 
 tap.test('key1 should be not be overwritten since it is already present', async () => {
-  expect(testQenv.getEnvVarOnDemand('key1')).toEqual('original');
-  expect(testQenv.getEnvVarOnDemand('key1')).toEqual('original');
+  expect(await testQenv.getEnvVarOnDemand('key1')).toEqual('original');
+  expect(await testQenv.getEnvVarOnDemand('key1')).toEqual('original');
 });
 
 tap.test('key2 should be read from Yml', async () => {
-  expect(testQenv.getEnvVarOnDemand('key2')).toEqual('fromJson');
-  expect(testQenv.getEnvVarOnDemand('key2')).toEqual('fromJson');
+  expect(await testQenv.getEnvVarOnDemand('key2')).toEqual('fromJson');
+  expect(await testQenv.getEnvVarOnDemand('key2')).toEqual('fromJson');
 });
 
 tap.test('keyValueObjectArray should hold all retrieved values', async () => {
-  expect(testQenv.keyValueObject.key1).toEqual('original');
-  expect(testQenv.keyValueObject.key2).toEqual('fromJson');
+  expect(await testQenv.keyValueObject.key1).toEqual('original');
+  expect(await testQenv.keyValueObject.key2).toEqual('fromJson');
 });
 
 tap.start();
diff --git a/ts/00_commitinfo_data.ts b/ts/00_commitinfo_data.ts
index a77ff84..78b5f8a 100644
--- a/ts/00_commitinfo_data.ts
+++ b/ts/00_commitinfo_data.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@
  */
 export const commitinfo = {
   name: '@push.rocks/qenv',
-  version: '5.0.5',
+  version: '6.0.0',
   description: 'easy promised environments'
 }
diff --git a/ts/qenv.classes.qenv.ts b/ts/qenv.classes.qenv.ts
index d0d881c..5bc0be4 100644
--- a/ts/qenv.classes.qenv.ts
+++ b/ts/qenv.classes.qenv.ts
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ export class Qenv {
     }
   }
 
-  public getEnvVarOnDemand(envVarName: string): string | undefined {
+  public async getEnvVarOnDemand(envVarName: string): Promise<string | undefined> {
     return (
       this.getFromEnvironmentVariable(envVarName) ||
       this.getFromEnvJsonFile(envVarName) ||
@@ -71,8 +71,18 @@ export class Qenv {
     );
   }
 
-  public getEnvVarOnDemandAsObject(envVarName: string): any {
-    const rawValue = this.getEnvVarOnDemand(envVarName);
+  public async getEnvVarOnDemandSync(envVarName: string): Promise<string | undefined> {
+    console.warn('requesting env var sync leaves out potentially important async env sources.');
+    return (
+      this.getFromEnvironmentVariable(envVarName) ||
+      this.getFromEnvJsonFile(envVarName) ||
+      this.getFromDockerSecret(envVarName) ||
+      this.getFromDockerSecretJson(envVarName)
+    );
+  }
+
+  public async getEnvVarOnDemandAsObject(envVarName: string): Promise<any> {
+    const rawValue = await this.getEnvVarOnDemand(envVarName);
     if (rawValue && rawValue.startsWith('base64Object:')) {
       const base64Part = rawValue.split('base64Object:')[1];
       return this.decodeBase64(base64Part);