diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index aaf5f63..9c6a3bf 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ disable = [
   # Disabled on purpose:
   "line-too-long", # covered by black
   "protected-access", # covered by ruff SLF001
+  "redefined-builtin", # covered by ruff
   "too-many-branches", # covered by ruff C901
   "wrong-import-order", # covered by ruff
   # TODO(ssbarnea): remove temporary skips adding during initial adoption:
@@ -195,6 +196,7 @@ exclude = [
   ".tox",
   "build",
   "venv",
-  "src/subprocess_tee/_version.py"
+  "src/subprocess_tee/_version.py",
+  "src/subprocess_tee/_types.py"
 ]
 paths = ["src", "test"]
diff --git a/src/subprocess_tee/__init__.py b/src/subprocess_tee/__init__.py
index ffec20c..534c8f7 100644
--- a/src/subprocess_tee/__init__.py
+++ b/src/subprocess_tee/__init__.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 """tee like run implementation."""
 
+# cspell: ignore popenargs
+
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import asyncio
@@ -21,7 +23,9 @@
 __all__ = ["CompletedProcess", "__version__", "run"]
 
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
-    CompletedProcess = subprocess.CompletedProcess[Any]  # pylint: disable=E1136
+    from subprocess_tee._types import SequenceNotStr
+
+    CompletedProcess = subprocess.CompletedProcess[Any]
     from collections.abc import Callable
 else:
     CompletedProcess = subprocess.CompletedProcess
@@ -39,7 +43,7 @@ async def _read_stream(stream: StreamReader, callback: Callable[..., Any]) -> No
 
 
 async def _stream_subprocess(  # noqa: C901
-    args: str | list[str],
+    args: str | tuple[str, ...],
     **kwargs: Any,
 ) -> CompletedProcess:
     platform_settings: dict[str, Any] = {}
@@ -136,7 +140,16 @@ def tee_func(line: bytes, sink: list[str], pipe: Any | None) -> None:
         )
 
 
-def run(args: str | list[str], **kwargs: Any) -> CompletedProcess:
+# signature is based on stdlib
+# subprocess.run()
+def run(
+    *popenargs: str | SequenceNotStr[str],
+    input: bytes | str | None = None,  # noqa: A002
+    capture_output: bool = False,
+    timeout: int | None = None,
+    check: bool = False,
+    **kwargs: Any,
+) -> CompletedProcess:
     """Drop-in replacement for subprocess.run that behaves like tee.
 
     Extra arguments added by our version:
@@ -148,12 +161,31 @@ def run(args: str | list[str], **kwargs: Any) -> CompletedProcess:
 
     Raises:
         CalledProcessError: ...
+        TypeError: ...
 
     """
     # run was called with a list instead of a single item but asyncio
     # create_subprocess_shell requires command as a single string, so
     # we need to convert it to string
-    cmd = args if isinstance(args, str) else join(args)
+    # breakpoint()
+    # if len(popenargs) == 1 and isinstance(popenargs[0], list):
+    #     cmd = join(popenargs[0])
+    # else:
+    args: str | tuple[str, ...]
+    if len(popenargs) == 0:
+        args = ()
+    else:
+        if not isinstance(popenargs, str):  # make mypy/pyright happy
+            raise TypeError(popenargs)
+        _ = popenargs[0]
+        if not isinstance(_, str):  # make mypy/pyright happy
+            raise TypeError(_)
+        args = _
+    cmd = popenargs if isinstance(popenargs, str) else join(args)
+    kwargs["check"] = check
+    kwargs["input"] = input
+    kwargs["timeout"] = timeout
+    kwargs["capture_output"] = capture_output
 
     check = kwargs.get("check", False)
 
diff --git a/src/subprocess_tee/_types.py b/src/subprocess_tee/_types.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..74a1231
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/subprocess_tee/_types.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+"""Internally used types."""
+
+# Source from https://github.com/python/typing/issues/256#issuecomment-1442633430
+from collections.abc import Iterator, Sequence
+from typing import Any, Protocol, SupportsIndex, TypeVar, overload
+
+_T_co = TypeVar("_T_co", covariant=True)
+
+
+class SequenceNotStr(Protocol[_T_co]):
+    """Lists of strings which are not strings themselves."""
+
+    @overload
+    def __getitem__(self, index: SupportsIndex, /) -> _T_co: ...
+    @overload
+    def __getitem__(self, index: slice, /) -> Sequence[_T_co]: ...
+    def __contains__(self, value: object, /) -> bool: ...
+    def __len__(self) -> int: ...
+    def __iter__(self) -> Iterator[_T_co]: ...
+    def index(  # pylint: disable=C0116
+        self, value: Any, start: int = 0, stop: int = ..., /
+    ) -> int: ...
+    def count(self, value: Any, /) -> int: ...  # pylint: disable=C0116
+
+    def __reversed__(self) -> Iterator[_T_co]: ...